Bench Talk / Off The Wire

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February 8, 2010

by: Fred Wallace

Here we are on the brink of the 21st Olympic Games in Vancouver, the third time the Olympic Games have been staged in our country.

And just like the previous two Olympic Games in Canada, I'll be away from home.

In the summer of 1976 I was a camp counsellor at Camp Manitimono in the wilderness of Sturgeon Bay and our only connection to the outside world was on a transistor radio in the kitchen and an amazingly small TV in the Camp Directors cabin.

Still, the images of Ernie Afaganis, Jack Donahue & Men's Basketball, Mitch Kawasaki, Hasely Crawford and more from Montreal remain almost 35 years later.

In the Winter of 1988, the Calgary Games opened when I was on a winter vacation, but I remember catching Andy Moog shutting out Switzerland and then a week later watching as Penetanguishene's Brian Orser stumbled every so slightly but lost the gold in men's figure skating to Brian Boitano.

Now, 22 years later, I'll be away again for most of the Vancouver Games, yet somehow I know there will be significant events and memories captured and those memories again will become, " where were you when...." moments.

I'm Fred Wallace

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