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Gushue Exposes Curling Life, Tells Some Tales
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- Gushue Exposes Curling Life, Tells Some Tales
In turning the first page of Brad Gushue's new book, the big question remains: will he, or won't he?
Will the Best Curler in the World (his goal, his words) let us in, behind the curtain, and share what makes him really tick? And will he tell some eyebrow-raising stories along the way?
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Or will this just be a vanilla exercise?
Rest assured. In Gushue: The Making of a Champion , co-authored by Stephen Brunt and released on Nov. 3 in Canada, the two-time Olympic medallist, world champion and six-time Brier champion skip delivers a double-chocolate runback, heaped with tasty toppings.
"My wife said, Brad, if you're going to do this, you can't write a fluff piece," Gushue said earlier today, from his book tour in Toronto.
"You've got to tell the full story of who you are, warts and all."
On sale Nov. 3
Gushue, who retired just under eight months ago , acknowledges what many curling fans have known or suspected for years: He's an introvert. The 46-year-old preferred to throw hours of practice stones alone at night – even on holidays, he reveals – rather than embrace the most social aspects of high-performance tournaments and championships.
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He expresses some admiration for those who could do both, but his drive and determination to be the best made his choices easy.
Gushue, when not watching his daughters compete, spends time with USA Curling and the Grand Slam broadcast team . In the book he expresses regrets, including the treatment of some past colleagues, particularly in his younger days.
Before he learned to walk a mile in his teammates' shoes, he expected everyone to be as single-minded as he was in pursuing the ultimate on-ice goal.
He simply couldn't fathom any other way of operating.
Curling Mile One Milestone: Brad Gushue
Curling Mile One Milestone: Brad Gushue2005 Slam was the start of it all
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"I wanted to tell people some of the details that they didn't know," said Gushue. "Everybody sees what they see on TV and what they read in newspapers, but there was a lot more context to what happened throughout my journey in my life, good and bad.
"And, you know, I wasn't always the best teammate. I wasn't always the best leader… and I think it's important for people to know and understand how I evolved over the 25 years of my career, and also know some of the challenges we faced and some of the things we overcame."
For many curling fans, the behind-the-scenes stories will be eye-poppers.
There's the television series that courted Gushue – with a pilot episode already filmed – until he discovered the hidden goal of scripted reality-TV rivalries.
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There's his first trip to the big shopping mall in St. John's, days after returning home with Olympic gold, where he attracted such a crowd that security asked him to leave for "creating a disturbance."
And there's the legal papers that were served to his team – and Curling Canada – just days before a Brier was to begin; a shakedown attempt that made this reader's skin crawl.
And there's more.
Brad Gushue’s Last Curling Dance
"There were several times where I was in tears telling Stephen different things," said Gushue. "And there were times I was like, okay, if I share this, what are the implications going to be? What are people going to think? And I just got to the point where I was kind of like, you know, screw it.
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"It is who I am. It is what I went through. It's my story. It is what it is. And I think if I was going to write this and want people to know what I went through and what I was able to overcome – and what I was able to change in myself – I had to be very open and honest."
The 276-page hardcover, which contains 16 pages of colour photographs, jumps in style between chronological chapters and Gushue's diary-like entries during his final competitive season.
Gushue is, in the end, a tale of a somewhat complex family man who lives life extremely close to his wife and busy curling children, and who happens to be an extremely loyal Newfoundlander.
As he writes, he was asked many times (I thought only once) to join a big-name western skip in his early days. He repeatedly said no, as he was determined to do it the hard way… from The Rock.
Book launch in St. John's
"You know what it's like, sitting around with former teammates, telling stories," offered Gushue. "It's kind of nice. So for me throughout the year when I'd had those conversations with my teammates and Stephen, it was somewhat therapeutic, to be honest.
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"It was a rough season for me because I knew it was the end . I knew it was the right time, but it's never easy to walk away. And, having those moments where you can reflect back on what you did, and talk to your teammates about it… it was fun."
Gushue: The Making of a Champion is published by Penguin Random House Canada
