I'm a petroleum geologist who spent twenty years working in Calgary and apparently I'm also a frustrated sports writer. I've watched organized sports since 1967. Since then I've been a diehard Montreal Canadiens fan. The Expos ,Alouettes , Houston Oilers , Chicago Bears and Calgary Flames all came later. I had a share in two flames season tickets for the past ten years. I still harbour some bitterness for MLB and the 94 strike because of what they did to my Expos. I'm not all that keen on what happened to my Oilers either so you might notice some vitriol when talk of corporate greed in sports or moving franchises to make an extra buck is mentioned. I'm also a little biaised in favour of the habs, the flames, and bears. I find my judgement is skewed when it comes to those teams. Generally I try to be fair and balanced.
I'm a hockey fan first and I'm a talent fan. It's more democratic to believe in teamwork ,hardwork , sacrifice and dedication as the key path to success in team sports. I appreciate all those things and they are important and often essential. Talent though is what makes it fun ,makes it interesting and at times transcendant. The Mario Lemieux's , the Paul Coffey's, the Tiger Woods, the Michael Jordan's are the ones that do things under pressure that make sports great to watch. I'm a fan of talent.