gold today, gone tomorrow

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying this week, what with no typing (boss on spring break) and curling on TSN - the Tim Horton's Brier: two games a day no less!

Part of that curling experience is the comment of Vic Rauter, Ray Turnbull and Linda Moore.

I’ve always been fascinated with Linda – her seeming uncanny knowledge of the physics of the game, and the way the men commentators ask for her opinion and defer to her judgement. They also make frequent references to her being a former skip.

Hubby and I couldn’t recall any time we ever saw her skip a game, so the other night, E. googled her and discovered her fascinating story.

In 1985 Linda Moore skipped a rink from the North Shore Winter Club (North Vancouver) and became the Canadian and world women’s champion. She did it without a single defeat in the provincial and Canadian playdowns.


(Linda is on the left in this photo of Moore's 1985 rink - from the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame)

In 1986 her rink was the first Team Canada after Scott Paper took over the event. Again they went to the final with an amazing record - only one defeat in the tournament. But her rink lost the last game to Marilyn Bodogh.

She didn’t give up, though. Instead, her team continued playing, eventually going on to win a gold medal for Canada in the 1988 Calgary Olympics when curling was a demonstration sport.

No wonder she gets a lot of respect from the guys on TSN. But on the other hand, just 18 years after winning a gold medal - who knows, who remembers? Which just goes to show how fleeting is the fame and glory of this earth. What seems like the biggest deal in the world today is forgotten tomorrow.

Which is a little lesson to me to order my priorities rightly. Because life is short. In the words of Moses: “In the morning they (man) are like grass which grows up: In the morning it flourishes and grows up; In the evening it is cut down and withers” (Psalm 90:5,6)

My goal needs to be “lay up ... treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:20), and my prayer: “So teach me to number my days that I may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12).

tags: curling, Linda Moore, priorities, brevity of life
filed in: Sports