HALIFAX — The two-hour autograph signing session wrapped around the block.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said local legend Colleen Jones. “One woman was crying. Another was shaking. And the lineup for these guys ...”
It almost didn’t end.
“It had to be 1,000 feet long,” said John Morris, his Olympic gold medal stuffed in an old purple Crown Royal bag in his pocket when it was over.
“We signed for the full two hours and we didn’t get through (the line),” he said.
“It was out the door and around the corner,” raved second Marc Kennedy.
Every minute since they won gold a week ago at the Olympics in Vancouver to set the table for Sidney Crosby and the record 14th gold medal with his overtime goal in the hockey game Sunday, it’s been a magic carpet ride for Kevin Martin’s team that has now taken them from one coast to the other.
But the scene here yesterday might end up being the most memorable in the non-stop memory-making moments that keep coming at them.
“It was awesome. Unbelievable,” said lead Ben Hebert. “We don’t have people lining up and down the street for us as a rule. We’re sure getting to feel like real celebrities. They forget that we’re not. We’re curlers.
“It’s like when we brought our medal to the Athletes’ Village. Figure skaters and speedskaters were giving us hugs. Now everywhere we go people are thanking us. I didn’t understand the sense of pride and the extent something like this could bring Canada together.”
Kennedy said everybody keeps thanking them while they sit there and he can’t help but thank the fans back for creating such scenes for them to treasure forever.
“It’s the demographics. We’re used to older fans. But these are young kids and teenagers. It’s a whole new group of fans. Nobody could prepare us for this, even Kevin. To see what we see in the fans’ faces, to see them this happy and this proud of our country.”
While there’s a weekend of Up Close And Personal appearances at the Brier Patch, more autograph sessions, the opening banquet and opening ceremonies, Martin says he doesn’t want it to stop.
“This is just so much fun,” the Old Bear raved.
“It’s like the closing ceremonies. You don’t want it to end. We were out there feeling it’s so sad that it’s ending.”
But then it doesn’t end. It keeps going. First at home when they were met by a mob at the airport and now here where people lined up forever to meet them and touch their medals.
“It’s the closest we’re ever going to be to being the Beatles,” said Kennedy.
They only had one complete full day at home.
“Tuesday morning I took the medal to school for show and tell with my eight-year-old daughter Mykaela. The kids were all in Grade 2 and 3. They were so excited. That was very special,” said Martin.
Morris spent his first full-time day at work.
“I pulled a 24-hour shift at the Chestermere fire hall. I’d just found out I’d been hired full-time. But I did get to a school with the medal and out to do a couple things. It took 50 minutes to stop and get a coffee and two and a half hours to go out and get groceries,” he said of his only time to do anything normal before heading on the appearances run to the East.
Kennedy said he’ll always remember the hockey connection.
“We were at the Canada-Russia game and seven rows behind the American net where Sidney Crosby scored in the gold-medal game. When Sid scored we celebrated more than when we won our own gold.
“We hung out with Sid on Sunday night after he’d scored the goal. He was the most down-to-earth guy. We drank some champagne together. He told us how he’d watched our game and gave us all signed game sticks from the tournament.”
It was like they’d done this 14 gold-medal thing together.
“We kind of did,” said Martin. “It’s good that we won one more medal than the record. Everybody who won one, can feel that way.”
terry.jones@sunmedia.ca
