Thursday, January 24th 2008

Mr. Arda Ocal's Iqaluit Blog.

WEDNESDAY

9:05am – Myself, along with team #1 of wrestlers and crew, board the plane to Iqaluit. Note to self – never drive from Ottawa to Toronto starting at midnight for a 9am flight, not having slept an ounce the night before. I can’t sleep on the plane however because all I can think about is how this weekend will go.

12:30pm – We land safely in Iqaluit. The airport is completely yellow. When we step off the plane, it’s not as cold as I thought it would be (famous last words for the days ahead). We grab our bags, get the rental van and head for the hotel.

2:30pm – The sun sets.

4:30pm – The ring is set up and its time to treat the crew to dinner. It’s at this point that we learn that Iqaluit has the most happening Legion in all of Canada. What you would normally associate with war veterans and bingo, is actually a full restaurant and night club in Iqaluit. Go figure.

7pm – Some of us decide to take a night tour of the city (Iqaluit is technically a “city” according to the government of Canada because no capital can be designated anything but a city). We stumble across “four corners”, the downtown area of Iqaluit, some huskies and the infamous “Road to Nowhere” (after traveling along the road, yes it really does lead to nowhere!)

THURSDAY

9:00am - Big Brian Youngblood does an interview for Raven Rock.

9:45am – We sit for breakfast and realize that prices are 3-4 times what they are back home. On the other hand, a newspaper ad confirms that wages are also 3-4 times higher for the same jobs than they are back home as well.

11:00am – Brent B does an interview for Raven Rock. During his interview, a man named Tom calls in and tells Brent that he is going to interfere in his match and that he doesn’t like the skip in his step. Brent handles this potentially disastrous situation with poise and class.

1:00pm – It is dusk, and we head to the youth corrections facility for a motivation speech. There, we learn our first Inuit game – High Kick, which consists of kicking a rock in the air and landing on the same foot you kicked with. One youth offender successfully attempts an 8 ft. high kick. I fail miserably at 7 ft and sprain a hamstring in the process, ending my high kick Olympic hopes. I blame my heavy thermal boots. After the talk, the youth are surprised with tickets to the show for their recent efforts organizing charity events in the community.

4:30pm – We head to Inukshuk high School to meet the Huskies basketball teams we are benefiting and to play a little scrimmage. We learned quickly that wrestlers (also announcers) and basketball skills don’t go hand in hand (minus Brent B, who had some fancy footwork on the court). APTN was on hand to nationally broadcast our embarrassing performance.

7:00pm – Off to the youth centre to meet some troubled youth in the community, who treated us with traditional foods. I personally enjoyed the arctic char and abundance of Tostito’s (ironically that’s my native food as well!). The wrestlers learned more native games, most notably “leg wrestling” (ask one of the BSE roster to show you how it works… don’t be shy, they don’t bite. Well, some of them don’t)

10:00pm – Any hopes of eating healthy are thrown out the window when we are told there is a restaurant that delivers 24 hours a day.

10:48pm – This burger is delicious.

FRIDAY

9:30am – We arrive at the first of our three assemblies; this one’s at the elementary school (Nakasuk School). From the moment we arrived, the kids were cheering and screaming and we knew this was going to be a special moment for both parties. We did our talk and the kids just got more and more excited. After we were finished, the teachers had to postpone their classes for another 20-25 minutes so kids could get autographs and pictures with the BSE wrestlers. Many didn’t have any paper to sign so they got their shirts, jackets and arms signed (even Monster Matt our cameraman signed autographs!).

11:45am – The scene was a little different at Inukshuk High school talking to the high school students. This group was tough to crack but luckily we got them to open up and ask questions by the end.

12:45pm – I pick up team #2 from the airport. Fellow broadcast colleague Dave Blezard notes that they have an ice cream store on the way to the hotel. Amazingly, no ice cream was purchased by anyone with BSE over the course of the weekend.

2:30pm – On to the Middle school (Aqsarniit Middle School), which was another full school assembly. The atmosphere was like a show – the students were cheering and chanting throughout the entire assembly (4 or 5 teachers were kind enough to comment that this was the best assembly at their school this year). Brent and Brian were challenged to dunk a basketball and many questions were asked, including one to colour commentator “Bloodthirsty” Bob Kapur (“Where did you get your tie-dye shirt?”). We left for the arena after signing more autographs and taking more pictures.

6:00pm – The anxiety that has been growing since we landed really starts to hit hard as we are 2 hours from show time. The wrestlers are preparing themselves and meanwhile I’m pacing between the ticket booth and the tech area making sure we’re ready to go.

7:00pm – Doors are open, and we have a line up of ticket buyers (despite the blistering cold outside). My concern now turns to what kind of audience we’ll face tonight.

8:10pm – As the opening video finishes, the fans go into a frenzy. Their roar is deafening, and doesn’t die down for the rest of the evening. I’ve never heard a live crowd like this so loud and consistent at any live event throughout an entire evening. The crowd was into every single match!

11:30pm – No need to pack up because we’re here at the same place tomorrow night.

12:15pm – This burger is delicious.

SATURDAY

10:30am – Steak and eggs costs $24.99. Then again, a lifeguard position in the city starts at a $68,000 salary (base).

1:00pm – Qajaq, the coach of the Huskies basketball teams, is nice enough to take me to the little town of Apex, Nunavut, just outside of Iqaluit. There by the bay are original Hudson’s Bay Company buildings, definitely a sight to see. When the White Stripes visited Iqaluit, they filmed a video in front of their red doors.

3:00pm – Most of the wrestlers took the day to travel around the city and take pictures and were sharing their experiences with one another.

4:00pm – We split up the roster and put them each in the two busiest points in the city – the grocery store and the general goods store for one last minute autograph / ticket blitz. The owner of the general goods store told us he wrote a book called “Give Me My Father's Body: The Story of Minik, the New York Eskimo” about an Inuit boy taken out of his homeland from north Greenland to New York City and displayed in museums. The foreword to the book was written by Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey, who owns the movie rights to the book. Very cool and random!

5:00pm – A blizzard warning, following by high winds hit the city. We’re concerned the show tonight might not happen because of the weather. Never-the-less, the push on to the arena.

8:00pm – Time for the second show. The crowd is even hotter than the first show. This time I’m ringside, soaking in the atmosphere. The crowd is into every match.

9:45pm – The power in the arena goes out, and the emergency lights hit. This happens right before intermission, so we decide to push on with the rest of the matches just in case the emergency lights die out. We’re in an internal state of panic because we don’t know if the lights will even come back on. The fire department arrives shortly after trying to put an end to the show with flashlights in hand, but thankfully they are kept at bay. The ladies match with Kelly and Tracy goes on without any ring announcing. It was a surreal moment to see them walk out and get a huge reaction. For a moment it felt like a wrestling event frozen in time.

10:05pm – The lights come back on, just as Kelly has Tracy in a chin lock. I was told that the emergency lights would have turned off after another 4 minutes. The show continues on as planned including the intermission. We decided to reward the fans by creating a BSE Arctic Championship, held by Tyson Dux. Tyson successfully defended the title on Friday against Brent B but on Saturday the Northern Lights favoured Brent as he pinned Tyson to win the title. One of the most emotional moments happened when Brent held the title in the air. As Bob Kapur (who was doing colour commentary) and I turned to look at the fans behind us, we saw groups of children hugging each other, similar to how fans would hug each other if their favourite sports team had just won a championship. I couldn’t help but get goosebumps watching that.

10:15pm – Rhino and Robert Roode tore it up again in a No Holds Barred match. One spot saw Rhino go over the tops ropes onto the floor through a table, which broke the table into pieces. Fans tried to grab every piece of the table that they could as souveniers.

11:15pm – With the shows over, I couldn’t help but reflect on the impact the city has left on us. The feedback has been great and we’re already starting plans to come back.

11:30pm – We once again acquaint ourselves with the most happening Legion in all of Canada.

SUNDAY

1:00pm – Time to go home. Many of us wish that we could stay another day. Many of us are happy to get out of the cold. For me personally, it reminded me why I wanted to be a part of this business. If this is any indication of how 2008 will pan out for BSE, then we certainly started on the right foot.

1:30pm – The whole plane ride home we search high and low for Bob Kapur, making sure he is ok and nestled in his seat with seatbelt on. Even the flight attendants share in our concern.

-Mr. Arda Ocal

Keep checking back to Bloodsweatandears.com for more updates and comments from the locker room.

Any fans who attended the show, and would like to share their experience from BSE, please email us at info@bloodsweatandears.com