Raise the Hammer

It's not about being a pragmatist. There is a fine line between optimism and reality.

Getting a message from CBC and then a PR firm and then an interview with CHML made me think something might be up with this submission but the realist in me thought 'no way'.

Not because Scott Park couldn't win with the right amount of devotion and someone not as stand-back-ish as me because it could - I know it could.

I actually think now after making it through my first live on-air interview and having a couple of days to think about 'holy #$#%', what if Scott Park makes the top 15 out of some crazy miracle', that I could run with something like this if the timing was different.

I didn't put a whole lot into this and more thought of it as a learning process to see how this competition works. My online story was rushed and all over the place, I didn't realize the deadline to submit new arena entries also meant the ability to upload new material would also be closed so much of what is truly needed to make the cut was missing.

I also hadn't shared this with a lot of people except posts on my FB wall from time to time as I added new material. I think I had also only loosely mentioned the idea of this to the president of Scott Park hockey himself during my phone interview with him.

I never even thought about contacting the Dundas Hockeyville campaign leader to learn more from them until Scott Thompson mentioned it in the interview. I will work on that this week just as another learning experience and because it would either way be nice to here the full 'what it's like/what's involved' story first hand.

If the interest was there from the community I'd gladly be a part of giving this a proper run next year.

I learned a lot either way. Just in calling to interview Bob Lively, getting to know a facility within the stadium district more closely, learning about the Hockeyville process, and my first live interview now under my belt, has helped me grow that little bit more as a person.

That request for a phone interview also gave me a kick in the pants to finally write this story because this is what I wanted most from all of this. To share a bit of the Scott Park Arena story with the Hamilton community. It saddens me to see these arenas struggling. Eastwood especially. I spent a lot of time there as a kid.