&
Sottis,

eee!
a 0d t

: Sg oe

By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor

ne of the most easily
identifiable parts of any
athlete has always been

the uniform that they wear, and

that becomes especially true for the
superstars of sport. In hockey, Wayne
Gretzky will always be linked with
#99, Mario Lemieux with #66 and
now Sidney Crosby with #87. In
baseball, numbers are huge as well.
Heck, just take a glance at the list of
retired sweaters for the New York
Yankees, and every number from 1-10
brings to mind a legend.

So that is why it is something of
a surprise that Cleveland Cavaliers
cornerstone and the face of the NBA,
LeBron James, has made the decision
to switch from his traditional #23,
which he’s worn his entire career, to
#6. James has said that the reason for
the change lies with his utmost respect
for Hall of Famer Michael Jordan,
who of course also wore the fabled
#23. James has made it well known
that it is his belief that no basketball
player should be permitted to don
those digits again.

Now, that’s all fine and dandy. In
fact, it’s really quite a nice gesture.
However, the truth may be that James’
motives for switching jerseys has
more to do with separating himself
from Jordan’s legacy than simply

18

LeBron’s number change

 
   

paying homage to it.

There’s no question that James,
along with L.A.’s Kobe Bryant, is
the undisputed king of the NBA. The
league’s entire projected image is
based largely around him and he’s
made no secret about his desire to
be one of the best and most prolific
players of all time.

Public perception of the number
change however, could prove to
be a mixed bag. After all, athletes,
especially superstars, who take up a
new number well into their careers,
are not usually received all that
warmly. Looking back into Vancouver
sports history, Pavel Bure’s decision
to take up #96 as his jersey number
instead of his familiar #10 was greeted
with a massive public backlash. When
you think about it, it’s really isn’t
that hard to comprehend why fans
would be angry. After all, most parents
wouldn’t be all that pleased at shelling
out hundreds of dollars for now
unfashionable jerseys.

LeBron may very well be
attempting to distance himself from
Jordan, but he’s picked the wrong way
to go about it. He’s been in the NBA
for seven years now, so it’s a little
late to make such a dramatic image
change. Regardless of if he wears
#23 or now #6, people will still be
comparing him to Michael Jordan; that
isn’t going to change.

 

 

Evgeni Plushenko

By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor

ne of the true signature
events of the Winter
Olympic Games are various

figure skating competitions, both
men’s and women’s. This time
around however, it seemed like
figure skating as a whole took quite
a beating in the arena of public
opinion. That criticism poses the
question; is it a sport?

Now, the problem with figure
skating is that sometimes the
showmanship of it all has a tendency
to disguise the pure athleticism and
skill possessed by its performers.

Yes, there’s no question
that figure skaters are as much
performers as they are athletes, but
that certainly doesn’t, or shouldn’t,
mean that they can’t be both. I’ve
heard a ton of heat being directed
to skaters like Johnny Weir, mostly
because of the outfits they wear,
but I don’t know too many people
that have the ability to skate like he
can. What about Evgeni Plushenko?
It takes a special kind of athlete to
have the talent to pull of a quadruple
axel like he can.

The root of the problem, at
least in my estimation, is that figure
skating is a naturally feminine sport,
and the outfits certainly don’t do it

 

any favours in that aspect. Many
people look at someone like Johnny
Weir and aren’t able to see beyond

the way he acts off the ice or the

attire he sports while competing.

Okay, he’s gay, we all get that. So

what? I mean, when you think about

it, who cares? Yes, he’s a feminine

guy, but should that, or more

importantly, does that, take away

from his capabilities as an athlete?

Of course not, and it shouldn’t. Say

what you will about how he lives

his life, but he’s still an Olympian,

which is a hell of a lot more than

most of his critics can say. More

to the point, don’t you think it’s

about time that we as a society

looked beyond things like that when

evaluating our athletes?

THE VERDICT:

The basic fact of the matter is that
figure skaters, both men and women,
are athletes. They compete in very
high pressure situations where the
entire focus of the competition is
on them, and they have to perform
with a very minute margin for error.
I’m not the biggest fan of judged
sports—there’s too much room for
bias there—but the structure of
figure skating is what it is, and what
it is is a sport.