Rhubarb Report 073

August is always a month of anniversaries and times of reflection. I am not quite sure why, but August seems to have accumulated a lot of life events, seemingly more so than any other month.

This year has been no different. It has been a nostalgic couple of weeks since my last installment of the Report. As a matter of fact, this week marks my 23rd anniversary of moving to Austin, inching me ever closer to having lived as many years here as I did in Canada. Just for the record, the day of the 50/50 split will be July 29, 2015, assuming that Austin is still home. I don't see that changing any time soon.

In this episode of the Rhubarb Report, I go back in the time machine for a few of those August moments in time. Gretzky, Erving, and Peralta - any of those names ring a bell?

1. The date was August 9, 1988. If you were in Canada, as I was at the time, it was a day of "breaking news". You couldn't turn on the television or radio without being faced with the harsh reality that dominated the airwaves. It wasn't a war, or a stock market crash. No, it was far worse: watching Wayne Gretzky being sold to the LA Kings for $18 million.

Seriously?

First of all, no self-respecting Canuck would ever consider Los Angeles a hockey town. But then to have our Canadian hockey-meister shipped off to LaLaLand - well, it was sheer blasphemy. But there it was, right before our very eyes: Gretzky, sitting behind a microphone, teary-eyed.

In hindsight, that moment single-handedly changed the sport of hockey - if Gretzky hadn't already done so with his hockey skills. "The Great One" brought instant hockey credibility to California. The LA Kings even have a Stanley Cup championship - something that the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens haven't done in years.

But suffice it to say that my memories of Gretzky will always be in an Edmonton Oilers uniform. Now that was hockey.

2. When I was a kid, I loved basketball. Not much has changed since then I guess. We even had a hoop in the driveway.

My hero was Julius Erving - the infamous Dr. J. It was a regular occurrence to watch Erving take off from the free throw line on his incredible dunks.

Fast forward to 2013. Julius Erving is now 63 years old - and he's still skying it out and dunking! Impressive stuff, indeed. Let's see what Michael Jordan is able to do when he turns 63 ...

3. Finally, a recent sporting announcement in Austin got me thinking back to another sporting memory. Austin is going the be the host of the X Games for four years starting in 2014. Oh, thoughts of skateboarding - and the ramps and half pipes and skateparks from my youth. That was an era long before Tony Hawk ever decided to ride a pool or grab some big air - but I digress. Just check the documentary "Dogtown And Z-Boys" (directed by that era's very own Stacy Peralta, another one of my childhood heroes) to get an idea of what the sport was like long before the X Games became popular.

Even though I am old-school on that one, I still think you'll find me watching Big Air skateboarding at Circuit of the Americas next May!

Photo credits: Wikipedia

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