Roar Of The Rings - Edmonton AB
Jim Armstrong took part in the opening ceremonies of the Tim Horton's Road To The Roar Olympic Trials in Edmonton, along with many familiar faces pictured above. How many do you recognise?
He was also featured in a six minute nationally televisd profile prior to TSN's coverage of the Women's Olympic Qualifying Final.
23 comments:
I think this is nice for Jim, and a great showcase for our sport. This type of coverage, while, obviously turns on Jim's situation, is a huge bonus to wheelchair curling, and gives us a ton of credibility as a mainstrem part of curling.
Like I said yesterday on the blog.
Good piece for wheelchair curling , YES totally false image of Jim and him being disabled.
The piece makes it looks like Jim is confined to a wheelcahir all the time which is NOT true at all. I mean wheeling up the sea wall , come on......
He is never in the chair that much. The peice also trys to leget his disablitiy by making it look like he was in a car accident and thats how he is confined to a wheelchair.
Again; nothing against the piece or the real facts of JIm and the "Gentle Giant" thing. But the truth needs to be ttold about his disabliablity which he does not have.
Jim's eligibility is not in question. The way the media frames this piece is totally great for the sport.
Fact is that he had a serious accident, he was further disabled, he DID lose his ability to practice dentistry....does he HAVE to keep his butt in a chair full time? Would you, with at least a chance to remain part time out of a chair, not seize the opportunity?
This type of coverage is SO IMPORTANT in progressing the game. If you want to talk about legitimatizing....Jim just legitimatized wheelchair curling, and good on him.
Man, how could we possibly get better exposure for wheelchair curling?
Even the naysayer that thinks Jim still runs the seawall has to see the impact this type of coverage has on our sport.
NO ONE in our sport could provide this type of linkage to the entire curling community.
I think all sides of the pro and anti-Armstrong arguement are well represented in the above comments.
There is only one opinion that mattered on the question of Jim's eligibility, the classifier's, and he decided Jim was eligible. There is currently no mechanism for appealing a classifier's opinion in whatever direction it is made, though that will probably be changed at the WCF meeting in Cortina next April.
Those who are frustrated at what they see as an incorrect classification should at least acknowledge that Jim is bringing needed attention to the sport.
Those who are frustrated with the objectors should acknowledge that those feelings are sincerely held, are based on a reasonable interpretation of the rules as now written, and have nothing to do with the benefits Jim may bring to the sport.
If you have a new perspective to bring by all means comment, otherwise let's all move on.
As a final footnote, Eric,
JIM HAS ALWAYS expressed concern and sensitivity regarding his place in the sport.
Don't ever think that he does not have the best interest of the sport or the participants at heart.
He bringsa lot to our sport, with no strings attached, and we should be as considerate of him as he is of our sport
Point well taken...
This piece certainly reveals a very personal and interesting sid to Jim....
I just think it is great.
Congratulations to TSN and Jim for such an interesting and insightful piece.
We can't possibly dream of any better exposure and link back to mainstream curling.
It goes without saying that Jim is our entire link back to mainstream curling, and even more o to the competitve side of curling. His relationship with the mainstream sthletes will do our sport well in maintaining the link, and credibility.
Well done.
Forget the politics.......Jim has brought us center stage, in spades......was it tough for him to do......no......did he have to?.......no......
He did bring us into the Olympic stage, and kudo's to him
Put this in perspective:
How else could wheelchair curling get this type of coverage and credibility?
We are on the redar of Olympic sports, and all of this is good for the sport.
Eric.
That interview has to be the best thing we can have for our sport. The closer, and mor parallel we get to able-bodied curling, the more credibility and exposure. We are new, and need this exposure. Jim's qbility to be seen by able-bodied players as a peer goes a LONG way to Wheelchair curling.s credibility.
This type of exposure, quite simply, can't be beat.
Unfortunately, it turns on Jim, himself, but that is where the story begins. Really good stuff.
WOW.....JUST STRAIGHT WOW....
How could we have dreamt of a better introduction of wheelchair curling?
WE HAVE ENJOYED COVERAGE, ALBEIT THROUGH JIM, THAT TWO YEARS AGO, NO ONE HAVE DREAMT OF.
Coverage at the Olympic qualifying final. Links to all the major players through Jim......
TREMENDOUS
NJow, that has BIG TIME promotional value for wheelchair curling
Tremendous article for a tremendous guy....it would be great to see Jim finish off the season with gold, given the adversities of the past few months.
I trust we are all on board for Jim and Team Canada!
Great exposure for wheelchair curling!
Could not dream of better exposure for curling.
Jim gave another great interview yesterday with Shaw. The interviewer was terrible, but you could see Jim was trying his best to turn the interviews to the wheelchair sport, as opposed to his involvement. I guess we have to accept that the promotional time we get comes with the fact that Jim has made the transition to WCC, and accept the positive spin-off.
The program can be seen at the blog entry for January 6th.
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