Mike Harris Remembers Nagano and Looks Forward to Vancouver 2010
Ontario PGA Profile – VANCOUVER 2010 EDITION
Mike Harris Remembers Nagano and Looks Forward to Vancouver 2010
Written by Scott Pritchard
(Pickering, Ont., - January 7, 2010) – Mike Harris, the affable Head Professional at the Donalda Club in Toronto, once again will be heading to the Olympics. This time however, Harris will be a member of the media, a role he has served since winning the silver medal in curling at the 1998 Nagano games. Since that time Mike has switched his focus from the pebbled sheet to the broadcast booth.
“I had a pretty bad back injury following the Olympics and I had to take a full year off,” said Harris from the Pro Shop at Donalda. “After I recovered the CBC commentating gig became available. I auditioned and got the job,” added Harris, who has cut back his competitive schedule gradually since 2004
Harris was born in Montreal and moved to Brampton when he was 12. He began curling with his parents when he was nine and it was around that time that he started playing golf at a 9- hole facility in Hudson, Quebec.
“My parents were curlers and golfers so it was a natural fit for me to begin playing those two sports,” said Harris. “I really enjoyed curling right from the beginning and I knew as I got older that it was something I wanted to pursue competitively,” recalled Harris.
The first indication that Harris was a talented curler came in 1986 when he won the Ontario Junior Championship.
“I started to take curling a lot more seriously and it paid off for me in ‘86 when I won the Ontario Junior,” remembered Harris. “It’s funny how things work out but I knew that if I wanted to keep curling I would need to find a job in the off-season to complement curling and quite frankly allow me the time to still be competitive.”
Enter Wayne Middaugh. Middaugh and Harris grew up together in curling circles and were very competitive whether it be when facing one another or otherwise. Middaugh was always a very competitive golfer and had a brief stint on the Canadian Tour. So when Harris was looking for a job in the summer to complement his curling schedule, he sought the advice of Middaugh, who was working at St. George’s Golf and Country Club at the time.
“It was in the summer of 1987 that I went to visit Wayne, who was a good friend and CPGA member. He referred me to Bob Ure at Donalda where I intended to work for one summer,” laughed Harris.
“I fell in love with the golf industry and soon after I played in and became a Canadian PGA member. It seemed to be a natural fit and Wayne and I weren’t the only competitive curlers to see it that way,” added Harris, who was referring to Mark Dacey, Russ Howard, Brent Laing, Greg Balsdon, Eric Sylvain, Barry Mcphee and Rick Folk from BC, who all at one point were Golf Professionals or currently are.
From 1987 on, Harris dedicated his summers to the golf profession and his winters to curling. He battled with the legends of the game including Russ Howard, who he lost to twice in the provincial finals in 1992 and 1993 and Ed ‘The Wrench’ Werenich. It wasn’t until the 1997 qualifier for the Olympic trials when Harris’s rink had a break out tournament beating Wayne Middaugh in the finals to move on to the Olympic Trials. Harris at that point was ranked 7th heading into the trials and his rink flew under the radar from a media standpoint despite their fast start.
“I don’t think I did an interview with the media until we were 3 and 0 during the round robin,” said Harris. “It wasn’t that the other rinks didn’t know who we were. We might have been classified as the best team not to win a major championship at that point, but as we started to win, the media started to pick up on us,” recalled Harris, who didn’t let the media spotlight hamper his winning ways.
Harris went on to win the round robin at the Olympic trials with a record of 7 -2. That meant the Harris rink received a bye in the final and would face Kevin Martin’s rink, which knocked off Ed Werenich’s rink, in the semi final match. In the finals the Harris rink was considered an underdog against Martin but that didn’t deter Harris and his team whatsoever.
“We had played and beaten most of these guys and for us it was just a matter of sticking to the game plan,” said Harris.
Harris would go on to win that match 6-5 and punch his ticket to the biggest sporting stage on earth - the 1998 Nagano Olympics.
“It was a life-altering experience for me and something that I didn’t really dream about because curling wasn’t a part of the Olympic program when I started,” said Harris. “When I finally got to Nagano, it was overwhelming, there was so much going on and it was very easy to get distracted.”
For some athletes, that distraction would be difficult to block, but it didn’t seem to affect Harris or his rink. They cruised, as expected, through the round robin finishing with a record of 6 – 1, tops for the tournament. In the semi-final they faced the USA which they brought down easily 7 – 1.
“Curling is the type of game where it’s long and drawn out, kind of like golf. Once you get into it, you can pretty much focus and the anticipation on getting there (to the final) was the hardest thing to cope with,” said Harris. “We knew we were the favourites. I mean anytime you beat a battle-hardened team like Kevin Martin’s you honestly feel that no one can beat you,” he said.
Some may think that is precisely the attitude that hindered Harris and caused him to lose the final to the underdog Swiss. But they would be mistaken. In truth Harris succumbed to viral pneumonia, which had felled a number of athletes at the games.
“I can honestly say it’s the sickest I’ve ever been in my life,” said Harris.
When asked to recount the game in which he lost 9 – 3 to the Swiss, Harris can only say that he doesn’t recall any of the game.
“I can honestly say that I don’t remember taking a shot, and altering the game plan based on my sickness wasn’t an option, it really isn’t ever an option in curling,” confessed Harris.
“It’s unfortunate but it was uncontrollable and absolutely bad timing. I felt then that I had let my teammates down, it was very unfortunate” said Harris, who doesn’t regret a minute of the experience. “Looking back on it and seeing how difficult it was to get there, it was a great accomplishment. I was very fortunate with the whole experience,” recounted Harris.
Harris refuses to dwell on the loss, focusing instead on the good things that happened to him while at the Nagano games. He got to meet a number of world class athletes and experience the games from an athlete’s perspective, something most people only dream of.
“Walking into the games during the opening ceremonies and seeing the lighting of the Olympic Flame was a very cool experience and one I will never forget,” recollects Harris. “I met Wayne Gretzky while I was there and roomed with Victor Kratz and Eddy Podivinsky. Who could have asked for a better experience?”
After Nagano Harris admits that he found it hard to get back into competitive curling.
“It’s not that I lost focus, it’s just that I felt I didn’t have much more to play for,” Harris confesses. “The commentating job helped me get my fix of competitive curling and I got to experience it on the other side, which was good for me,” said Harris. “I’d like to think I do a great job and I provide a good understanding to viewers from a player’s perspective. Joan McCusker and I have a good Ying and Yang and offer a perspective on the game, which I think is unique to CBC.”
Unfortunately for Mike, he won’t be on air at the Vancouver Olympics but he will be there as a spotter. Spotters in curling are typically world class curlers themselves and help the host broadcasters get a better understanding of what is happening across all of the sheets.
“I am on sheet 3 and 4 highlighting the games, so essentially if there are big shots coming up I will alert the director and he will pan in on that game,” explained Harris. “It’s a huge production and the nice thing is I know everyone. Almost all the camera crew, producers and directors are the same group from the CBC. So on one hand it’s disappointing not to be on air but on the other it’s still pretty cool to be involved.”
One thing Harris will take advantage of is the down-time that he will have during the games. This will afford him the opportunity to catch some of the hockey games and other sports he missed while in Nagano in 1998. It will also give him an opportunity to run some curling clinics in Vancouver while he is there.
“I am going to be running clinics pretty much every day of the games for two hours at a time. It will give people a chance to talk to me about my experience and also learn some of the tricks of the trade so to speak,” explained Harris.
Harris hasn’t really competed at the level required to represent his country since 2004, his last visit to the Brier. However, he has slowly been getting the itch to return to high level competition. He now curls once a week and with all the hype surrounding the Vancouver games and his memories of Nagano so fresh in his mind, the competitive juices are starting to flow once again.
“I am certainly beginning to miss the competitive side more and more,” stated Harris. “I have some additional media responsibilities in January and April with the CBC. Who knows though what the future holds for me and my curling game? What I will say is I miss it more now than I ever imagined.”
You can follow Harris on Twitter beginning in February when the games officially begin and you can also visit his website for more information on his clinics at http://globaliceevents.com/.
Mike Harris Remembers Nagano and Looks Forward to Vancouver 2010
Written by Scott Pritchard
(Pickering, Ont., - January 7, 2010) – Mike Harris, the affable Head Professional at the Donalda Club in Toronto, once again will be heading to the Olympics. This time however, Harris will be a member of the media, a role he has served since winning the silver medal in curling at the 1998 Nagano games. Since that time Mike has switched his focus from the pebbled sheet to the broadcast booth.
“I had a pretty bad back injury following the Olympics and I had to take a full year off,” said Harris from the Pro Shop at Donalda. “After I recovered the CBC commentating gig became available. I auditioned and got the job,” added Harris, who has cut back his competitive schedule gradually since 2004
Harris was born in Montreal and moved to Brampton when he was 12. He began curling with his parents when he was nine and it was around that time that he started playing golf at a 9- hole facility in Hudson, Quebec.
“My parents were curlers and golfers so it was a natural fit for me to begin playing those two sports,” said Harris. “I really enjoyed curling right from the beginning and I knew as I got older that it was something I wanted to pursue competitively,” recalled Harris.
The first indication that Harris was a talented curler came in 1986 when he won the Ontario Junior Championship.
“I started to take curling a lot more seriously and it paid off for me in ‘86 when I won the Ontario Junior,” remembered Harris. “It’s funny how things work out but I knew that if I wanted to keep curling I would need to find a job in the off-season to complement curling and quite frankly allow me the time to still be competitive.”
Enter Wayne Middaugh. Middaugh and Harris grew up together in curling circles and were very competitive whether it be when facing one another or otherwise. Middaugh was always a very competitive golfer and had a brief stint on the Canadian Tour. So when Harris was looking for a job in the summer to complement his curling schedule, he sought the advice of Middaugh, who was working at St. George’s Golf and Country Club at the time.
“It was in the summer of 1987 that I went to visit Wayne, who was a good friend and CPGA member. He referred me to Bob Ure at Donalda where I intended to work for one summer,” laughed Harris.
“I fell in love with the golf industry and soon after I played in and became a Canadian PGA member. It seemed to be a natural fit and Wayne and I weren’t the only competitive curlers to see it that way,” added Harris, who was referring to Mark Dacey, Russ Howard, Brent Laing, Greg Balsdon, Eric Sylvain, Barry Mcphee and Rick Folk from BC, who all at one point were Golf Professionals or currently are.
From 1987 on, Harris dedicated his summers to the golf profession and his winters to curling. He battled with the legends of the game including Russ Howard, who he lost to twice in the provincial finals in 1992 and 1993 and Ed ‘The Wrench’ Werenich. It wasn’t until the 1997 qualifier for the Olympic trials when Harris’s rink had a break out tournament beating Wayne Middaugh in the finals to move on to the Olympic Trials. Harris at that point was ranked 7th heading into the trials and his rink flew under the radar from a media standpoint despite their fast start.
“I don’t think I did an interview with the media until we were 3 and 0 during the round robin,” said Harris. “It wasn’t that the other rinks didn’t know who we were. We might have been classified as the best team not to win a major championship at that point, but as we started to win, the media started to pick up on us,” recalled Harris, who didn’t let the media spotlight hamper his winning ways.
Harris went on to win the round robin at the Olympic trials with a record of 7 -2. That meant the Harris rink received a bye in the final and would face Kevin Martin’s rink, which knocked off Ed Werenich’s rink, in the semi final match. In the finals the Harris rink was considered an underdog against Martin but that didn’t deter Harris and his team whatsoever.
“We had played and beaten most of these guys and for us it was just a matter of sticking to the game plan,” said Harris.
Harris would go on to win that match 6-5 and punch his ticket to the biggest sporting stage on earth - the 1998 Nagano Olympics.
“It was a life-altering experience for me and something that I didn’t really dream about because curling wasn’t a part of the Olympic program when I started,” said Harris. “When I finally got to Nagano, it was overwhelming, there was so much going on and it was very easy to get distracted.”
For some athletes, that distraction would be difficult to block, but it didn’t seem to affect Harris or his rink. They cruised, as expected, through the round robin finishing with a record of 6 – 1, tops for the tournament. In the semi-final they faced the USA which they brought down easily 7 – 1.
“Curling is the type of game where it’s long and drawn out, kind of like golf. Once you get into it, you can pretty much focus and the anticipation on getting there (to the final) was the hardest thing to cope with,” said Harris. “We knew we were the favourites. I mean anytime you beat a battle-hardened team like Kevin Martin’s you honestly feel that no one can beat you,” he said.
Some may think that is precisely the attitude that hindered Harris and caused him to lose the final to the underdog Swiss. But they would be mistaken. In truth Harris succumbed to viral pneumonia, which had felled a number of athletes at the games.
“I can honestly say it’s the sickest I’ve ever been in my life,” said Harris.
When asked to recount the game in which he lost 9 – 3 to the Swiss, Harris can only say that he doesn’t recall any of the game.
“I can honestly say that I don’t remember taking a shot, and altering the game plan based on my sickness wasn’t an option, it really isn’t ever an option in curling,” confessed Harris.
“It’s unfortunate but it was uncontrollable and absolutely bad timing. I felt then that I had let my teammates down, it was very unfortunate” said Harris, who doesn’t regret a minute of the experience. “Looking back on it and seeing how difficult it was to get there, it was a great accomplishment. I was very fortunate with the whole experience,” recounted Harris.
Harris refuses to dwell on the loss, focusing instead on the good things that happened to him while at the Nagano games. He got to meet a number of world class athletes and experience the games from an athlete’s perspective, something most people only dream of.
“Walking into the games during the opening ceremonies and seeing the lighting of the Olympic Flame was a very cool experience and one I will never forget,” recollects Harris. “I met Wayne Gretzky while I was there and roomed with Victor Kratz and Eddy Podivinsky. Who could have asked for a better experience?”
After Nagano Harris admits that he found it hard to get back into competitive curling.
“It’s not that I lost focus, it’s just that I felt I didn’t have much more to play for,” Harris confesses. “The commentating job helped me get my fix of competitive curling and I got to experience it on the other side, which was good for me,” said Harris. “I’d like to think I do a great job and I provide a good understanding to viewers from a player’s perspective. Joan McCusker and I have a good Ying and Yang and offer a perspective on the game, which I think is unique to CBC.”
Unfortunately for Mike, he won’t be on air at the Vancouver Olympics but he will be there as a spotter. Spotters in curling are typically world class curlers themselves and help the host broadcasters get a better understanding of what is happening across all of the sheets.
“I am on sheet 3 and 4 highlighting the games, so essentially if there are big shots coming up I will alert the director and he will pan in on that game,” explained Harris. “It’s a huge production and the nice thing is I know everyone. Almost all the camera crew, producers and directors are the same group from the CBC. So on one hand it’s disappointing not to be on air but on the other it’s still pretty cool to be involved.”
One thing Harris will take advantage of is the down-time that he will have during the games. This will afford him the opportunity to catch some of the hockey games and other sports he missed while in Nagano in 1998. It will also give him an opportunity to run some curling clinics in Vancouver while he is there.
“I am going to be running clinics pretty much every day of the games for two hours at a time. It will give people a chance to talk to me about my experience and also learn some of the tricks of the trade so to speak,” explained Harris.
Harris hasn’t really competed at the level required to represent his country since 2004, his last visit to the Brier. However, he has slowly been getting the itch to return to high level competition. He now curls once a week and with all the hype surrounding the Vancouver games and his memories of Nagano so fresh in his mind, the competitive juices are starting to flow once again.
“I am certainly beginning to miss the competitive side more and more,” stated Harris. “I have some additional media responsibilities in January and April with the CBC. Who knows though what the future holds for me and my curling game? What I will say is I miss it more now than I ever imagined.”
You can follow Harris on Twitter beginning in February when the games officially begin and you can also visit his website for more information on his clinics at http://globaliceevents.com/.