Go to The Globe and Mail

 

Blogs

Featured:

Subscribe to RSS
French Immersion
This is French Immersion, a daily blog about sports - and society - in Quebec, where the personal, the political and the athletic are often indistinguishable. The idea is to present the aerial view, peer into the darker corners of the distinct society's psyche (in a way that hopefully won't be as pretentious as that phrase sounds) and hopefully spin a few wacky and wonderful yarns on topics ranging from soccer, to short-track speed skating, to goon leagues, to the national obssession that is the Montreal Canadiens. Join in, comment, praise, denounce, Sean Gordon loves a good argument.
Entry archive:
 

Thursday, November 19, 2009 10:24 AM

Something's afoot in Montreal

Sean Gordon

We take great pride in knowing our beloved city and province inside and out, but it doesn't mean we aren't surprised by new things from time to time.

For instance: we had no idea Montreal was a really dangerous place to be a left foot.

Just ask Brian Gionta's podiatrist. Or Hal Gill's, or Andrei Markov's (or short-track speed skater Francois-Louis Tremblay, for that matter).

Each of the three is suffering from a left foot injury that will keep them out for a lot longer than the Habs can afford to miss them.

And it's not like these guys are insensitive to the care and pampering of paws and hoofs - they're millionaires after all, so we bet there's more than one who has a favourite pedicure place.

Our guy Gio does this quirky thing when he tugs on his size 5s for practices and games, he jams a sponge on the top of each foot to ensure a better fit (they literally look like regular kitchen sponges - but because they're hockey accessories, they probably cost $30 each).

And over the past couple of weeks, he's put kevlar shields on the outside of his skates to ward off wayward pucks. It's a testament to Mike Cammalleri's shot that it wouldn't let a piddling little plastic shield get between it and Gionta's metatarsals.

So if last season was the year of the shoulder (Latendresse, Higgins, Komisarek, Tanguay) this is the year of the foot.

Quick, somebody get a Chinese calendar to tell us what it all means.

Latest Comments

French Immersion Contributors

Sean Gordon

Sean Gordon

Sean Gordon covers sports in the Globe and Mail's Montreal bureau, and admits to being a long-suffering Newcastle United supporter.

Raised in Ottawa, he studied political science and economics at McGill University, where he discovered the wonder that is Forum hot dogs, and journalism at the University of Regina, where he developed an unreasonable attachment to the "other" Riders.

Prior to joining the Globe in 2008, he covered crime, politics and sports, at various points, for the Calgary Herald, Montreal Gazette and Toronto Star, and during 15 years in newspapers has written on topics ranging from rodeo cowboys to street gangs in Haiti.

In a previous life he covered sovereignists, federalists and autonomists in Quebec's National Assembly, rode the buses during two federal elections as a Parliamentary correspondent, and followed Barack Obama during the Democratic primaries.

Gordon cut his teeth as a sports scribe covering the oft-lamented Montreal Expos, and has been to the Grey Cup, the World Junior Hockey Championship, the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Rugby World Cup and too many amateur sporting events to mention.

His twin career highlights are meeting Nelson Mandela and narrowly avoiding death by an errant Vladimir Guerrero batting-practice home run at spring training 2001.