Big day for the Pisani boys

The West Island Special Olympics organization held the end of the year celebration this weekend. Paul was awarded Coach of the Year and Louis received Outstanding Athlete of the Year for basketball. Louis's name will forever be on a trophy here in Quebec...and he received a small one for his collection. 

We are all extra excited because his name will appear on the trophy with fellow teammates, like his friend Curtis, who received the award two years prior.

They had a fantastic season, winning a medal  in the Provincial championships this past March. Louis loves basketball almost as much as Paul enjoys coaching it.

It was a bittersweet, as earlier in the day we said good bye (for now) to our great friends in the Eastern Townships at our Special Olympics ski team at Owl's Head. Our fellow skiers presented us with a cake and a priceless card with special notes we will treasure forever.

Danielle with her fellow instructors and peer volunteers....and good friends!

We will be forever grateful for Special Olympics Quebec...it's changed us all as a family and as individuals. We're taking everything we've learned from our Quebec friends and will jump into the programs in Illinois...minus the French of course. As our ski coach Art Zentner says..."one athlete, one coach." Paul and Louis will be recruiting a ski team for sure. 

The day reminded us of what we will miss about Quebec most of all...the people and friends we have made. We will be thinking of our fellow athletes, parents, volunteers and friends as we continue our journey back to the States.

The day also reminded us of how the "special" people in our lives bring new meaning to our own lives and provide us with experiences and friendships we might not have had otherwise. Without Louis and is (dis)abilities, we likely would not have been involved in Special Olympics and the wonderful programs we experienced in Quebec.

We're certain our paths will cross again.

So as we said to our friends recently....this is not a good-bye but....

à la prochain 

When politics crosses the (goal) line

Montreal and the rest of Quebec is all a-buzz with the news of the firing of the Montreal Canadiens coach (a French dude) and the hiring of an interim coach by the name of Randy Cunneyworth. He's a unilingual anglophone -- a fancy way of saying he doesn't speak French.

Cunneyworth comes with great credentials and he was hired from within the Canadiens organization. Everyone should be happy, yes?

Of course not. Now the government is involved and suggesting the team get rid of this unilingual anglophone and instead hire someone who speaks French. They really don't care if he speaks English, as is the case with many people in Quebec, just that he speaks their language.

Separatist groups (the crazies who really do want to separate and have their own country) are insulted and calling for a boycott of Molson beer (the family owns the Canadiens). Personally, I see it as an idle threat because they probably don't drink the beer anyway.

Unfortunately, under Cunneyworth's leadership of three days, they have lost two games. The interesting element will be if he starts winning, will he be worthy? 

Our good friend Mark Kirstein emailed us today and said it best....

"Ok sell the house get back to Blackhawk country. When there is a damn near civil war over the Canadien coach not speaking French it truly has gone too far. And when that shit takes space on my sports page {Chicago Tribune} it is even worse."

A nice night

It was a beautiful night for tennis in Montreal last night. Chilly temps. Good tennis. Our American won. Full moon. Full stadium? Yes, this match was sold out even though it doesn't look like it. Good times though.

Rogers Cup

One of my favorites things each summer in Montreal is the Rogers Cup tennis tournament. Louis and I enjoy going early in the tournament where we get to see some great tennis. Lucky for us our session last night was rained out and we learned the real meaning of "raincheck."

"I'm almost fluent" word of the day 7.17.11

Of course we were hoping for a U.S. win....but here's the word of the day which is obvious.

Random photo 5.18.11

Yes, for obvious reasons we continue to be known as "The Chicago House" in the neighborhood.

The first of many lasts

As Danielle winds down her last year of high school, she is starting to experience the "last" of many events that have been a major focus of her education starting in elementary school....and especially at her high school.  Tonight was her last music concert.

Danielle with the other graduating grader 11-ers

Danielle and her graduating music classmates with the school's Headmistress

However, just an hour or so before the music concert...Danielle was here....

Danielle had just about an hour to get back to school, scrub her knees that were caked with mud, and get into her uniform. Fortunately, it's not her last school rugby game since her team won the game...thanks in part to plays like this. 

Here's to the first of many lasts she and her friends will experience in the next month.

the Daily Duke 5.11.11

Duke is ecstatic to discover that Louis has decided to try another ball sport this summer in addition to baseball....Lacrosse. I envision lots of practice in the park with Duke being his retriever. 

In case you wanted to know...the championship game of the National Lacrosse League takes place this Sunday, May 15 in Toronto at 2 pm eastern. This I know because in the last 24 hours I have learned more than I ever wanted to know about Lacrosse from Louis, thanks to Google. 

New Brunswick bound

We dropped Danielle off early this morning at her school for a road trip to New Brunswick for a school rugby tournament. This will be the third year she has gone to this tournament. The team plays an exausting schedule of games and they get to visit a beautiful part of Canada.

Why rugby you ask? We ask that ourselves. Danielle got involved in the sport her first year at the school and has been hooked ever since. She loves the team aspect of the game and we have to say she has the most amazing coach. This man, who hails from South Africa, truly understands the sport, and most importantly the safety factor. He has had very few injuries (that's reassuring) as a coach. The worst injury was a broken leg and hip -- and that was when one of his athletes was playing basketball in her driveway.

At a recent team meeting, her coach read the following quote from Sir Richard Wild, the former Chief Justice of New Zealand...

"It is the team element which provides a spur for the weaker spirit, a curb for the selfish and discipline for all. It treats every player as equal from whatever sporting background she comes; there is no yielding in the tackle, there's no privilege in the scrum."

Oh...and now that she's been appointed Captain of the team we're not sure if we should be addressing her as "Captain Danni" at home.

the Daily Duke 2.27

Is it any wonder why we are known as the Chicago sports family in the neighborhood?

Bonne Année

Happy New Year! A few days late. We've spent the last week or so at a rental cottage near our ski hill enjoying a wood stove, being somewhat unplugged, watching movies, playing games (the kids actually played Monopoly!) and skiing of course. Danielle and Paul spent four days in a class to become certified ski instructors. They spent the four days, seven hours a day, in ski boots. After the four days of instruction, skiing and testing, they are both Certified Canadian Ski Instructors! It's a huge accomplishment. Both will use their new skills this winter in the Special Olympics ski program and they can both earn some extra cash if they want teaching lessons down the road. Always good to have a back-up plan, eh?

Paul's new word of the year is "Peeee-vot" as in pivot which is what his French instructor kept saying about his skiing..."Peeee-vot."

In the middle of all that, we celebrated our 20th anniversary...it's been a wild ride.

Les Football

We're with you in spirit, Chicago. Weather and all. We have the delightful opportunity to watch today's Patriots/Bears game in English and French.

The American representing Quebec wins in America

Danielle spent American Thanksgiving weekend in New York representing Quebec in the 52nd Annual New York Thanksgiving 7s Rugby Tournament. They played on a cloudless day on Randall's Island in the Hudson River. They were one of 131 teams entered in 10 categories and her U19 team WON.

The American representing Quebec...in America

Danielle left this morning on her way to New York City (actually they are staying in New Jersey). She's part of the Quebec Rugby team and will play in a 7's tournament on Saturday in the City. We reflected on how strange it is to have this American kid, representing Quebec, playing in America. This is her second time representing Quebec in rugby. She loves the game and is certain to have a nice time visiting NYC for the first time.

When we woke up this morning Montreal was recovering from a bit of a freezing rain storm. Since we're not quite ready for winter and can't find our winter provisions, Louis did some improvising getting the car ready to take Danielle to meet her team.

Bon voyage Paul and Louis!

Paul and Louis left today for New Jersey/New York for the Bears/Giants game on Sunday night. They are so ready for some football and so ready to see the Bears. Paul has his Bears parka, even though it won't be that cold. And Louis is armed with his Urlacher jersey.

You say Three Rivers, I say Trois-Rivières

Three Rivers Stadium. Actually, it's a ball park Trois-Rivières, Quebec where we attended a Fall baseball tournament for Louis' team two weekends ago.

Trois-Rivière is not a busy town. When Paul and Louis needed to stay the night in order to make it to an early game the next morning, it was not wise to have not made reservations. Fortunately, they did not bring home any bed bugs.

Don't let the condition of the ball park fool you. These Quebecers are as serious about baseball as they are about hockey. The park, however, left a bit to be desired for this American family. It's safe to say that this would not happen in the US...a park where fall balls can easily fly directly into the Canadian crowd with little notice...sort of like in hockey. These parents are not standing where they are because they needed to stretch their legs or get a good view -- more like so they can duck. We like to call this stadium "Thank goodness we have Universal Health Care."

It was still a fun-filled weekend of good ball. And I mean, really good baseball. Although, it was hard for the Pisani family to see Louis in a Yankees uniform.

He doesn't forget his Chicago roots though, choosing the same number as his favorite White Sox player.

Louis (#14) for Konerko with his buddy Max Murphy from a nice Irish family in Montreal : )

the Daily Duke 9.28

Duke is once again defeated by a squirrel. He's feeling like a Green Bay Packers fan today.

We're ready for some futbol!

We're ready! We waited a few days to put out our USA flag. June 24th was Fête de la Saint-Jean-Baptiste day in Quebec and well, it's not wise to get all patriotic about other countries (or even Canada) on that day because it tends to piss off upset certain sectors of the Quebec population who would take it as an insult. Seriously, St. Jean Day is a big deal in Quebec and everything was closed...grocery stores, Home Depot, businesses, you name it. We wanted to go out and get some provisions and Paul came home and said he knows how our Jewish friends must feel like on Christmas day. Although, Tim Horton's was open!

So, to avoid conflict, we waited to show our enthusiasm for the World Cup and our home team.

It's amazing that here in Montreal we can watch each and every game on Canadian Broadcasting (CBC) and other stations and in a variety of languages. Seriously, EVERY game. The other day we wanted to watch the USA game and found ourselves watching again on CBC even though we ASSUMED it would be carried on ABC on our US stations (Boston). I guess the ad revenue from General Hospital is too important. We don't get ESPN here, only TSN -- the Canadian version with lots of hockey news and soccer news these days -- so I'm hoping our friends down south at least saw the game on ESPN. Today we noticed the game will be carried on ABC. That's nice of them. We can also watch on CBC and in several different languages.

But here's the irony -- we have a chance to watch all this World Cup coverage and CANADA DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A TEAM. People all over this city have their homes decorated in colours from different countries, flags on cars, jerseys on kids and adults and general enthusiasm everywhere. We hope it's like that in the States. After all, it is the biggest sport in the world -- even bigger than American Football.

A special competition in Quebec

"Disabilities are yet another manifestation of global diversity. Let us always be committed to the fundamental principles of dignity and equality for all human beings."

Kofi A. Annan, Secretary-General, United Nations

Last weekend Louis participated in the Quebec Provincial Special Olympics ski championship -- and earned GOLD in his division. It was an exciting day for Louis, and for us. We're so proud of Louis, his teammates and the volunteers we spent time with each Sunday this winter getting ready for the final competition of the season. We're especially proud of Danielle who also spent her Sundays skiing with Special Olympians when she could have stayed home and slept or Facebooked all day. 

When you have a child with a disability there are times when you feel like you miss out on the "typical" experiences of raising a child -- like getting excited about a report card or grade, or......come to think of it, while sometimes we wonder how things would be if we were typical, as I write this, there's not that much we are missing. We certainly don't miss the politics of kid's sports and there are times we're thankful we don't have to endure tryouts, traveling teams and all that goes with that stuff which seems so important at the time, but in the long run, it is not. We appreciate each and every accomplishment and we don't take things for granted.  Perhaps we've taken on the mantra "it is what it is" and we're enjoying the"12-year-old pre-teenage years before adulthood" stage of raising a child with a disability. We now focus on Louis' abilities and not his disabilities.


While we love participating in Special Olympics, we have always had Louis involved in "normal" sports as well.  I hesitate to say normal, but it is what it is. As most coaches and teammates will attest, there's not a more loyal teammate than Louis. And as a parent, it's been awesome to sit in the stands at events over the last year and a half we've been in Canada and hear the other parents cheering for Louis...as if they know he's working twice as hard as anyone. During a basketball game last week when his team was clearly in the lead, it was the parents on our team yelling "pass the ball to Louis" and cheering him on saying "way to go" each time he handled the ball.  At the same time we refuse to have him labeled as "special" in the games and unlike other teams, we won't let there be provisions and rules against guarding Louis. In other words, he does not receive any special treatment. And by the way, in his playoff game yesterday he had two great steals and his team won the Bantam championship!

Even though it's Special Olympics, don't think it's not competitive. These kids and adults can ski. They can ski so well it's easy to ask, "should they be in this competition?" And they want to win just like any other athlete. They want to stand on the medal stand.  And yes, some get disappointed and that's not bad either as it's also an important life lesson. One athlete at the competition looked like a member of  the Team USA Hockey Team when he received his bronze medal...he really wanted the Gold. 


We're also proud to be Americans when we participate in Special Olympics...knowing the organization was started over 40 years ago in Eunice Kennedy Shriver's backyard and now involves over 3 million athletes in 150 countries. And kudos to the Canadian government for adding $2 million to Special Olympics Canada over the next two years to help enrich the lives of Canadians with intellectual disabilities through sports. 


If there's a Special Olympics competition in your area, anywhere in the world, stop by. Cheer on the athletes. One thing is for sure, at these competitions everyone is cheering for each other. Parents, coaches, athletes, volunteers and fans. These kids (and adults) have to work harder....not just in sports but in life.

About this Curling

Oh my rocks. Those things are called rocks you know. Or more formally, stones. And they are made from granite. Imagine all those countertops.

Curling was entertaining. It was amusing. Now it's annoying. Every time we turn on the TV, it's more curling. Our Canadian friends keep telling us it's one of the most popular "sports" in the world, just not in the U.S. Really? It's like shuffleboard. It's on television in Canada ALL DAY LONG. There's nothing like turning on the television in the middle of the day to enjoy a bit of Oprah, the news, and finding curling on AGAIN. The thing is -- it's somewhat addicting. It's like flipping through the channels looking for something educational and the remote happens to stop on Bravo and before you know it you get sucked into watching the full episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County. And then you realize you wasted an entire hour where you could have been out shoveling the driveway. That's what happens when you start watching curling. Kish was hoping that all that yelling about sweeping would motivate her to...well...sweep something.

We believe that sports where you can play and enjoy a beer (or two) at the same time should not be considered Olympic sports. Ooops. That rules out skiing as Kish enjoys a glass of red before skiing, and certainly after skiing. Après-ski, but pre-ski we like to call it. Now....Ski Cross...that's some crazy shi stuff.

The following is from the Montreal Gazette's Bluffer's Guide column...

CURLING
Curling? That's the bedpan and house brush sport, right?
Stone and broom, if you please. The stones are made from Scottish granite and weigh almost
20 kilograms each. The brooms have synthetic bristles, unlike the old style, which were made with straw.


20 kilograms? So the winners are always the strongest?
Not necessarily. The idea is to get the stone as close to the centre (tee) of a circle as possible. A point is awarded for each stone closer to the tee than the opponents' best, provided that the stone is within 1.83 metres of the tee. This area is the house. Accuracy and timing are key rather than brawn.


Like all winter sports, the gold medal favourites will come from the coldest countries?
Mostly, but Great Britain's men's team won the first curling gold at Chamonix in France in 1924 and are the world champions. The sport disappeared off the Olympic radar until 1998, when Switzerland took the men's gold while Canada won the women's event. In 2002, the women's gold went to Britain.


Doesn't sound like the most gripping of sports. Any storylines I should know?
Sandra Schmirler skipped the 1998 Canada gold medal team, but died two years later at the age of 36 from cancer. In Turin in 2006, Denmark's women's team needed extra security following outrage in the Muslim world after a Danish newspaper published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.


What should I watch for in Vancouver?
Dumping. Sounds unsavoury, but it's when a player lifts his broom to leave debris on the ice, slowing down the stones of an opponent. Canadian teammates Marc Kennedy, Ben Hebert and Richard Hart were recently at loggerheads over the issue in a club game.

© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/Bluffer+Guide/2595439/story.html#ixzz0gT9wAcSc

or here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curling