Flim Buff Fran leads the Keep the Flame Alive Movie Club, in which we watch movies on the Olympics and Parlympics.

Episode 266: Film Buff Fran on “The Cutting Edge”

Release Date: December 15, 2022

Category: Movie Club

Just in time for your end-of-the-year veg fest, Film Buff Fran is back for another edition of Movie Club. This time we’re watching the 1992 classic (?) “The Cutting Edge.” This figure skating movie stars Moira Kelly and D.B. Sweeney as an unlikely pairs team who’s determined to make it to the Olympics. Check out the trailer:

Of course, there’s a fish-out-of-water element for our young hero. “Toe pick” is a great way to sum it up:

Next year’s Movie Club will feature:

Jappeloup

Zero to Hero

A Promise Kept: The Oksana Baiul Story

Over the Limit

Also on this episode, we have our last Albertville 1992 history moment, in which Jill looks at CBS’ highlights videotape. Yep, that’s a classic VHS tape hosted by the U.S. prime time hosts Tim McCarver and Paula Zahn. If these highlights are supposed to encapsulate the entire Games, well, about half of the program is still missing. But there still are some classic moments here!

Cover of CBS' 1992 Winter Olympics Highlight Video.

Cover of CBS’ 1992 Winter Olympics Highlight Video.

In our visit to TKFLASTAN, we have news from:

Plus, the International Olympic Committee is looking into a pathway for Russian and Belarussian ahtletes to compete at Paris 2024. Should they be allowed to do so?

Special shout out to our patron of the week, Stanley Yang!

Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive!


TRANSCRIPT

Note: This is an uncorrected machine-generated transcript. It contains errors. Please do not quote from the transcript; use the audio file as the record of note. 

Jill: [00:00:00]

Hello, fans of C Luan, and welcome to another episode of Keep the Flame Alive, the podcast four fans of the Olympics and Paralympics. I am your host, Jill Jaracz, joined as always by my lovely co-host, Alison Brown. Alison, hello, how are you?

Alison: Hello. It is chilly and snowy here. So I am feeling in the holiday spirit. Of course, I have yet to put my outdoor furniture away, . So my activity this afternoon is going to be the brush and.

Jill: Good technique.

Alison: I hope so. I hope I will impress the judges with my style points.

Jill: have you been watching any World Cup? I

Alison: no longer have physical therapy, so no because that’s what they had on in the physical therapist’s office, and then I’d get home and do other things and say, oh, Morocco won. Wow, that’s cool. I didn’t know they were playing, so it was No, I have not been watching World Cup.

Jill: Okay. So I have not really been watching. I’ve been keeping up in the news and I’ve been watching highlight stuff, but I did watch the US’ last group stage game and the only way to do that because it’s on during the day, I have to have the TV up in our little annex room that’s got a TV in it next to my office.

And the. Station I can get on that TV that will play. World Cup is Telemundo, so I have to watch it in Spanish and that’s okay because Andrea’s Cantor is the main commentator. So of course, you know, even if I have headphones on, that goal comes through everything and it’s fabulous. I love it. But that meant when I had to watch a video for our upcoming Albert film moment, which we will get to momentarily.

My husband had to help me with the D V D VCR setup and he turned on the TV and Telemundo was still on and he’s like, what is this? And we were watching and obstacle course race called Exec, and it was mano A lot of running around a platform track that was set up on sand and then there was like over under some stuff, some barriers and some things you had to spin.

But the last bit we thought would be great for modern pentathlon to replace the horses. Yeah. Well, I mean like this course was kind of cool and easy and it’s different from a ninja course, but the last section of it, they had like a tic-tac toe grid with. Blocks in each square that had shapes on them.

And the goal was to knock down the blocks. But you had to put them in the right order first. So they had like a main square in between the two competitors that showed you the order that the blocks were supposed to go in. So you constantly had to like, go up to the board, set the blocks, go back to the.

Main puzzle and see if you matched up correctly.

Alison: It sounds like a survivor challenge.

Jill: it was kind of a survivor challenge, but it was like, it used your brain as well as your physicality. And I think you get that a lot from modern pentathlon. It’s not necessarily just your Physicality, but you have to have some smarts too.

And we loved that challenge because when you’re active, sometimes your brain doesn’t always think like, spatially very much anymore. And that can be different. Well, and memory

Alison: athletes talk so much about working on muscle memory and not thinking that thinking is when they get themselves into. Or overthinking.

So this like biathlon where you have to go very fast and then control your heart rate. It’s that opposing forces of things that aren’t supposed to work together very

Jill: well.

Exactly. it, it was very interesting to watch modern pentathlon. Please take note.

Alison: You know what else is interesting to watch? Movies.

Jill: Movies. It’s movie Club week. Film Buff. Fran is back and we are talking The Cutting Edge. Fictional movie sent around the Olympics, and usually we don’t do fictional MO movies, but our biopic that we were going to watch on the flying seek wasn’t available, so we went with one of Fran’s all-time favorites.

She was thrilled. This is The Cutting Edge, the 1992 film starring Moira Kelly and DB Sweeney as an unlikely figure skating pair training for the Olympics in Albertville. Take a listen.

[00:04:36] Movie Club Convo: The Cutting Edge

Jill: Fran. Welcome back. We are talking The Cutting Edge. What have he got for us? Boohoo,

Film Buff Fran: Parle Vu, Olympics.

Oh, I am so stoked to talk about this movie. I know you guys must have completely loved it from start to fem.

Jill: Oh, okay. Did, oh, so this movie came out in 1992. Did you see it in the theater?

Film Buff Fran: Ooh, that’s a good question. I [00:05:00] don’t remember. I think I saw it on cable. Okay. . Okay. Back in the day, I mean, 92, I would’ve been around roughly like 20 years old.

So this is like perfect for that, young woman. I mean, it’s got all the tropes for like a perfect, cute, romantic. Movie. and of course it happens within the context of, all this Olympic stuff. So it, it kind of melded two of my favorite things, cheesy romances and Olympic stuff.

Alison: I did in fact see this in the movie theaters. I believe I saw it at Movieland on Central Avenue in Yonkers. Wow.

Film Buff Fran: I, and I remember it’s very, you can remember.

Alison: Because again, it struck me because it was an Olympic movie right at the time. That wasn’t something that I had seen before. And unlike you, Fran, I hated this movie at the time.

It made me very angry.

Film Buff Fran: It did. Now, why was that?

Alison: It made me angry because obviously figure skating is the central sport in the movie. And at the time, I, I thought they did the figure skating very, very badly. Not the skating itself, just kind of the world of figure skating.

Film Buff Fran: Yeah. They really didn’t portray it in a very positive light.

I mean, you had overbearing coaches and you had, Snotty princesses and you had, folks that didn’t seem to care, you know, it was all about winning, so it really would’ve been nice if we had an actual, day in the life of some of the real pair skaters from either, 88 Calgary where this movie starts, or, Albertville 92, where the movie ends.

Because I guess, for me not knowing much, The sport, and what it takes to kind of make it as an Olympic champion. It’s just neat to just kind of dream, you know, well what if they took this fish out of water who yeah, knew how to play hockey, but didn’t know figure skating, but he had that innate talent, and what if they thrust him in with a good partner and a great coach? Could he fulfill his Olympic. it was more kind of like a redemption story for Doug who plays the lead protagonist, who is unfortunately a washed up hockey player. And you see why he wasn’t able to fulfill his Olympic dream, right at the onset of the movie.

I, I thought that he. Probably the better of the two characters just because they, I think they fleshed him out more, unfortunately, Kate’s character of his partner was just kind of a snotty, stuck up, uptight, girl, and they really didn’t give her much.

she was very one dimensional, character wise and you didn’t, and you couldn’t stand. Her fiance who cares about hail, he was no prize .

Alison: So setting the scene, the movie starts at Calgary 1988 and we see everybody in those wonderful Calgary.

Cowboy hats, which was yes, so much fun. And Kate is a pair skater, played by Moira Kelly and Db Sweeney is a hockey player and you mentioned his character as Doug. And somehow after these fits and tirades, they end up crashing in the tunnels under the ice skating rink. Now, I did not check facts on this, but I have a feeling that the pairs practice rank and the competition hockey rink were not the same building.

Well, I checked on that, Allison. Oh, good,

Film Buff Fran: good. Cause that stuff makes me crazy.

Alison: And you are correct.

Film Buff Fran: Shocking. They never would’ve been in the same building, so, okay. So they crashed. So unfortunately, yeah, that was. So,

Alison: Doug suffers a career ending injury. Kate has a fall with her partner and both of their dreams are shattered.

Then, quick go two years later and she has no partner because she’s a horrible person. , she’s a diva. She’s an ice cream. Right? She’s kind of all those tropes that you mentioned. Yep. And the Russian figure skating coach. Another t. . Yep. Brings the hockey player in, and now they’re going to be a parent.

Of course, they hate each other right off the bat. Mm-hmm. and antagonize each other. And in the end they’re amazing. But here’s what really gets me throughout this movie. I actually have to disagree with you, Fran. I liked Moira Kelly’s character better Hmm. Than DB Sweeney. I found DB Sweeney very one.

And I found the character very thin. So it’s funny that she, from your perspective, it was fleshed out. I found Moira Kelly very believable as the [00:10:00] diva figure skater, and very damaged, from the pressure from her parents, the pressure from her sport, the pressure to practice and be a certain size.

Mm-hmm. and present a certain image. I thought was very, very well done. And she was gorgeous on the ice. Mm-hmm. , she looked

Film Buff Fran: like a figure skater. She did look like a figure skater. Yep. And I think I still carry a slight crush for DB Sweeney , which is probably why I’m Team Sweeney . Well,

Jill: what I didn’t get was, Why did they make him from Minnesota?

They could have just put him in Boston cuz he really looked like he could’ve used a good Boston accent to make it even better. Like the whole, I’m from the rough side of the ice kind of

Film Buff Fran: thing. , and you know what, it was a made up Minnesota town too, to make it even worse.

Alison: and, I mean, the guy’s name is Db Sweeney, if that’s not a Southy name, , I don’t know what it’s, it’s from Long Island.

There you go. Close enough. Cuz basically Long Island is the south of New York.

Film Buff Fran: and, and of course Allison, and Jill, it, it was like, I just kinda geek out whenever there’s any eye related issues in a movie. So when he lost his 18% of. Peripheral vision. Eye doctors like me, we just tend to geek out over, eye stuff. How, how plausible

Jill: is that?

Film Buff Fran: That’s a good question.

It’s actually pretty plausible because if he fell and really, traumatized the back of his head, that’s where the cortex of our visual system is. So he could have. Visual damage. So that’s actually probably a, a pretty, decent thought as to why, what would cause an end to his career would be a, a visual.

Issue

Jill: and, and I can understand that being an issue in ice hockey, but I don’t know why it wasn’t a problem in pair skating , that he was missing a chunk of his peripheral vision. .

Film Buff Fran: Well, it

Alison: is choreographed, so you in theory, as we learned in Ice castles can be blind and still skate

Sure. Have you learned nothing from previous Olympics, from skating

Jill: Paralympics? Where are you with the figure skating?

Film Buff Fran: Yeah, but Allison, I mean, the, the tropes were, were just, there was so many, I couldn’t even write ’em all down. Well, you I mean, you nailed a couple, like from the

Jill: beginning. You just have to suspend disbelief because who Correct. Lets the captain of their hockey team, Not show up to their match on time

Alison: Well, first of all, we have a scheduling question because we know that pair scanning is always at the very beginning, , and why was this?

Film Buff Fran: Final hockey games, right? Why is this

Alison: major conflict, semifinal round hockey game happening on what would’ve been probably like the first Saturday of the Olympics?

Film Buff Fran: I don’t think they had their Olympic consultants with them when they were writing the script. If they, they had you guys, it would’ve been a better movie, but they had to have.

Alison: Permission because they used rings. They did. They used rings. I noticed that,

Jill: but I, I had to stay till the end of the credits because they thanked the US Olympic Committee, so I bet they got the permission

Film Buff Fran: from them.

Had to have the permission, and we’re still talking

Jill: 1990. Two. 91, 92. So I bet the IOC isn’t quite as sophisticated as they are now about their trademarks and their brand. And since the U S O C owned the trademark for America, I’m guessing that’s where the permission

Film Buff Fran: came from.

Alison: Because there was Team USA gear everywhere.

Film Buff Fran: Yes. Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. . Yes. And even on

Alison: in my favorite scene of Mara Kelly, where she confesses in the Chateau how it really was all her fault. She’s wearing a turtleneck with the rings on it like the team would’ve received. And I’m thinking, wow, they really not only got permission for the rings to be on the ice.

To use it willy-nilly throughout

which today you would never say, and all the Calgary

Jill: stuff looked really legit. Like the stuff on the signage, on the boards and things like that, that all looked like somebody had it in the closet and they just, let me loan it out to

Alison: you. Mm.

Jill: there were so many facts that were just like, oh boy, oh boy.

Alison: and the fact that made me insane.

Film Buff Fran: Spotlight, only one fact. Oh, that’s Spotlight. During Spotlight skating competition. That’s a no no. You knew that. That made

Alison: me so angry, , because the skating actually now rewatching it. The skating that they put on there was actually very, very good. Mm-hmm. and

Film Buff Fran: I found out why.

Oh, choreographed. Robin Cousins,

Alison: Robin Cousins gold medalist from 1980. Lake Placid.

Film Buff Fran: Mm-hmm. . But the way they shot

Alison: the skating, the way they used elements, they showed them doing throws and twists and side by side jumps and death spirals, and side by side spins. The things [00:15:00] that pair skaters would have had to.

In their programs. So that was actually much better than I remembered it except for the spotlight

Film Buff Fran: and it was unnecessary. Yeah, and fun fact, both leads did not know how to ice skate. Shocking before. Shocking. But they actually like fired it up and learned. for the movie so that they could actually do some of their own clo I mean, because it was, I was looking for that, like, I was trying to spot the body doubles and the switches to the, the real skaters and it was kinda hard.

To tell when they switched I think they did a really good job with the skating parts of it, and that’s probably why I loved it as a kid too, because, I mean, I love ice skating, so you know, any, any ice skating movie I’m sold.

Jill: and I gotta say just the camera work on figure skating movies, part of me is like, oh, we gotta cut to the people who can skate.

Now back to the actors, now the actors doubles and back and it’s constant. So you can’t see what’s actually really happening for the most part, until you could put on a real figure skating pair who could do something besides, mm-hmm. Mo Kelly and DB Sweeney standing and looking at each other and maybe doing some, crossovers,

Alison: though, to be fair, Moira Kelly in training for this movie broke her leg. Oh, did she really? Mm. Yes. So most of the skating, skating that you see is not her, but not because she hadn’t tried. Wow.

Film Buff Fran: Mm-hmm. . And we’re also neglecting to mention that gorgeous ice skating arena. That, of course, in her fictitious world, was her own private ice skating rink on her father’s magnificent Greenwich, Connecticut property where she trained. I mean, I would die for that. To have that at your disposal on a daily basis, that would be like my dream to have that in your backyard.

Alison: I was never convinced as to why they did not make her a single skater. Right. I mean, I know they, they give you an explanation and it has to do with the dead mother. I have a dead mother, , , and , his loss and all, but, Given America’s history of ladies figure skating and its lack of history in pair skating.

that is again, a little too much suspension of disbelief. Mm-hmm. , that they would’ve made her a pair skate, they would’ve made her a single skater. She’d be the next Dorothy Hammel,

Film Buff Fran: but then there’d be no movie Allison then there’d be no movie. I know there’d be a totally different movie, but you know what?

I would kill to have. John Locke still be her father,

I did notice that, of course. Yep. The reference to lost. Yep. I’m of course referring to the fabulous Terry O. Quinn, who plays. Moira Kelly’s character, Kate’s father in the movie also is a fan favorite from the long standing US TV show Lost.

And when I watched this movie after Lost had come out and I realized, That Terry Quinn was or played her dad. It was just funny. I mean, because I can’t not see him as Locke , his character from loss.

Alison: There are two sides to every pair’s team, LA side and white side.

Jill: But why is it that every kind of eish father, It’s one of those mustaches, like he had

Film Buff Fran: Cause it makes you more evil, Jill. So we can twil it.

Alison: and every coach

Jill: is Russian, right? Right. Well, I did, but

Film Buff Fran: he was the benevolent Russian coach. He wasn’t the mean Russian coach. He was like a teddy bear. I

Jill: loved him. Maybe that’s why he was no longer a coach

Film Buff Fran: in Russia. Maybe that’s why. Because her first coach was horrific. He definitely had a go. He was the worst.

Alison: But we know now pretty common. Right? You know, It’s like this movie almost told us things that we didn’t wanna know about. Figure skating. It’s like abusive coaches, women with eating disorders.

Film Buff Fran: Check

And it was funny too, you know, it’s almost like it was a parody of. The figure skating world, because remember when they were in the room trying on the costumes and, they’re putting on these ornate things with lace and beads and DB Sweeney as Doug, he’s just.

Standing there and he just can’t stand it cuz he is like, no, this is not, what I wanna portray. This is not me, you know, I’m not gonna stand for this. This is just garbage. and everybody’s so upset when he eventually just, storms out and he’s not gonna play by their rules.

you know, and why did it have to be like that? All gussied up and, and not as dynamic? I mean, I think that’s changed, and evolved a lot since then. But it is true. There was just certain things you did and there was certain music that you used and there was certain ways that you [00:20:00] appeared and how you behaved and, and what you did skate to.

And that made a difference because the judges, wanted it to be a certain.

Alison: And speaking of judging, can we talk about the elephant in the room? Which elephant? . The poko.

Okay, so first we’re still scoring out of six, so no single move would have made or broken your program. You could not have won just because you had this move, second. It’s illegal bounce. Pins have always been legal. There were illegal, then there’s no discussion. And third, according to earth’s laws of physics, the female would’ve died

If you tried to release from a bounce pin going vertical, she would’ve flung out like a kid coming off a poel horse. Just spin it off like a centrifuge.

Film Buff Fran: Allison, you have to suspend disbelief. I cannot suspend the rules of physics. Movie just suspended. He had to catch her in the end. They love each other.

They had to win. We don’t know if they won. That’s the, that’s the, no. They won. They won. Regardless of the medals, Jill, they won. .

Alison: I can get with the, I can live with the spotlights. I can live with the fact that how are you competing at a national championships having never competed as a couple before? Okay.

Film Buff Fran: It was the Pam Chanco that broke your back, wasn’t it? It did

Alison: because when you are defying the laws of physics and you would cause the female skater to become decapitated on the sideboards. I cannot let that go,

Jill: It’s like padding never existed for, for,

Alison: or, or vice training. Right. .

Jill: It was just like, let’s throw, like she was not covered in bruises. Come on. we gotta see him in his underwear and,

Film Buff Fran: and ice tips. I know. But you know what? There was the to pick. Jill, what’d you think of the To pick. Come on. To pick. To

Alison: pick.

Okay. That was the replacement for the shoe montage. , right? Cause we, in our last several movies, there’s been some scene that involves people not having the proper shoes. Correct. So the topix scene is the replacement when you’re not wearing shoes for your sport,

Jill: and then I wondered like nationals is their only event. Oh yeah. Like it’s, and it just reminded me of when people think of smaller Olympic sports and we know more about figure skating, but for a lot of people it’s just like, it shows up once every four years. So that’s what, what this movie felt like.

Like you. Twice every four years. Once at your national tournament and then once at that, and yet you can amass a whole trophy room full of trophies in one empty case for the gold medal. Your father anticipates, even though you are a para skater, that is dominated by the soviets slash of my team.

Alison: And if you notice, you know, we’ve done a whole bunch of albertville segments on the unified team. , they were still called the Soviet Union in the movie because obviously when the movie was shot, , when that history happened, right? We talked about it in, in one of our history spots that the Soviet Union fell apart basically that fall, right?

Mm-hmm. of 91. So by the time you are shooting this movie, no one has any clue that world events are just going to blow realism out the window. Oh no. Which did not see that. Didn’t bother.

Film Buff Fran: They couldn’t have known. They

Alison: couldn’t have known,

Film Buff Fran: But it’s true. I mean, I mean the, whatever you wanna call them, the, Soviet team, the Russian team, the unified team, regardless, they had completely dominated the sport for how long, like decades.

So, yeah, I mean, head to head, if we put Doug Dorsey and Kate in the middle of, all these fantastic pairs, I mean, the. An American team did in 92 was sixth place, and they didn’t even have the Pam Chanko , so,

so I mean, we, there was no way Doug was getting on that podium and they, they did not have Doug and Kate’s love. They didn. Which,

Jill: At the very end, spoiler alert, the of course, he says, I love you right before they go on the ice. I’m surprised they didn’t even just kiss before that.

Alison: But

Film Buff Fran: that would’ve blew it. We needed that tension. We needed the foreplay, Jill. But, but like the constant whole movie

Jill: waiting to go on the ice until somebody almost physically drags you out there like, don’t you wanna warm up just one last time? Get the feel for that

Film Buff Fran: ice before you’re, it doesn’t matter, but lights go on

He was bearing his soul to her. After he threw up in the corner,

Jill: felt so real. Oh, okay. We talk. Okay, so the corner scene makes me think of the little girl that they cut to. [00:25:00] Who was watching a, that was hilarious. Okay. This was a great movie to be an

Alison: extra.

Film Buff Fran: Oh, yes.

Jill: They had totally so many good extra shots.

Totally. And tons of crowd scenes watching figure skating. The girl who got to mo on DB Sweeney, when he came home for the visit, , you know, she slipped in

Film Buff Fran: the tongue. . There was a lot of girls in that party scene. that old lady was like, full, like huge lip lock. Uh uh, wait

Alison: a. Fran, that old lady was probably our age now,

Film Buff Fran: probably, probably as sad to say as it’s watch.

Alison: Yeah. A lot of people kiss DB

Film Buff Fran: Sweeney in this movie a lot. He got a lot of lip action in this movie. Yeah. It was

Jill: really the, the whole holiday thing was really bizarre because it’s almost like they have enslaved DB Sweeney .

Film Buff Fran: So he is living in the

Jill: carriage. It’s Christmas time. He can’t go home to Minnesota to get, roughed up by his brother who

Film Buff Fran: we’ll get to him. Oh, can we just talk about, oh well we have to talk

Alison: about the

Jill: brother, but So Christmas let’s exchange presents while you just got out of the shower.

First off,

Alison: Kate,

Jill: we have to give you a present. Now I’m gonna give you my treasured hockey jersey knowing that you know nothing about hockey. and then I am upset that you don’t know anything about the significance of this jersey. And then she’s like, oh wait, I just happened to have your Christmas present here in the bathroom.

Unless it’s part of her whole Ensu thing. And she gives him a fancy book.

Film Buff Fran: Like I know the, the seem oddly uneven. Right. Right.

Jill: And

Alison: then, and then the hu Essences

Film Buff Fran: are symbolic.

Jill: Yes, I get it. Symbol. I get it. Because

Alison: it’s great expectations with pick.

Jill: And then this how this New Year’s party. Where there’s just tons of people. I, I get it that the father has a big fancy fantasy holiday party and we find out that

Film Buff Fran: Kate doesn’t drink.

Well, the whole point of it. Yeah. But, but point really, the fiance, I mean, we had to have this conflict with the boyfriend, and then we had to see him cleaned up and handsome. So, she takes another look at him in a different,

Alison: The light of sparklers,

Film Buff Fran: right? And then he had, and then he had to go into their private den and look at all their family pictures and tell her how hot his, her mom was

But they were bonding. They were bonding.

Jill: It really was bizarre to see them. See him there for the holidays when we didn’t understand when nationals fit into this picture. And I get it if Nationals was right around that time. Okay. But like again with the, you are like an indentured servant here. You stand in the carriage house, you come and practice all day, every day, and then maybe we’ll let you go home for a weekend so that your brother can give you some guff about figure

Film Buff Fran: skating.

Come on. That was really funny. I thought the best was when he doesn’t even wanna cop. Oh yeah. Just saying what he’s actually doing and the look on that one extra’s face when he’s like, what did he say? , you know, they’re mortified

Alison: that he’s a figure

Film Buff Fran: skater. Right. That was classic. That was hilarious.

Jill: But, but in a way that felt true to that.

They were guys, guys. I mean, he dropped out, he lost his college scholarship, so therefore he was only qualified to work in a factory and then do some light construction around the house by which he nails Fords

Film Buff Fran: hanging from the rafter. Just, yeah, it didn’t make sense. And, and then he said he’s lucky that Russian coach showed up, right?

Jill: because, like, and to avoid being beaten by everybody. He told them he was in the ME marines , and they were all proud of that. But a figure skater? No. No, and he liked it.

Film Buff Fran: And I like it

It’s okay because I like it.

Alison: But poor Allison.

Film Buff Fran: So I think she’s enjoying it more now that we’re, we’re just completely beating it

Alison: up. Well, we, we do wanna bring up the controversial ending that is not an ending. I mean, they, they end up together, but we don’t know how they did, did the outcome of the competition. But that question is answered in the.

So then do we watch

Jill: the sequel for Movie

Alison: Club ? God, no. . So the sequel was

Film Buff Fran: Spoiler alert. Yes, yes.

Alison: Spoiler alert. The sequel was made in 2006, and the central character of the sequel is Doug and Kate’s daughter Jackie, named after Kate’s father. Ah, they go on to get married, have a child, and in that movie it is revealed that they didn’t in fact win the gold medal in.[00:30:00]

Film Buff Fran: Oh, come on. That’s ridiculous.

Alison: So I was kind of disappointed to find out that they won. I think they, yeah. I mean, it, it, it served the purpose of the sequel. I like to live in the world where they did not win. Sure. Or, or did not get better than bronze. And yet were still happy with that. Right.

Film Buff Fran: So that’s what happened.

Cause they had in my, each world, They had each other, Allison, they had

Alison: each other and that absolutely gorgeous skating dress she has. That thing

Film Buff Fran: was killer.

Jill: Both of their outfits were very beautiful and. Very understated compared to the later Hoen couple and the thing that they were trying human twins.

Alison: Yeah.

Film Buff Fran: Was it a nod to the Caruthers? Maybe. I don’t know.

Alison: I think that was just a nod to the ridiculous

Film Buff Fran: siblings. Yeah, the

Alison: the so many sibling pair and just how a lot of people thought of figure skating at the time, and probably still do. You know, When you, when you think of it, you think of the outrageous costumes and the music and the mm-hmm.

the very cartoonish aspects of it. Mm-hmm. , I guarantee you no one has ever actually skated in a real later ho

because your blade could in fact get stuck in the later hose.

Jill: Thankfully we had stellar commentators to do , and honestly, the commentator sounded exactly like the commentary on my Torino 2006 PlayStation two game .

Film Buff Fran: Well, who was were the commentators? One of them was Robin Cousins.

He had a cameo. And then there was another Olympic person. I don’t know who the other commentator was, but do you remember the woman, the blonde woman who interviewed them at the Yeah, yeah, yeah. At the Nationals. That was Jojo, Starbuck

Alison: Jojo Starbuck, and Ken Shelly. Oh man. So para skater from the US from a very long time ago.

Long time

Film Buff Fran: they would’ve been So Joe? Yep. Yeah. 68, 72, something like that. I’m sorry. I did not look up the other name of the other person. But yeah, Robin Cousins, I believe was one of those commentators as well as being the choreographer for the movie. And the

Alison: other cameo we mentioned is the, Ersatz uh, Soviet pair was actually the Canadian pair skaters who competed in the real Albertville and finished ninth.

What was the

Film Buff Fran: name for? Uh, It was Hoff and Landrey, so they were real ninth. But it was really nice too, just thinking back, you know, whenever I see, something that has an Olympic kind of theme to it, it’s always kind of prods me to go back and, look at.

That Olympic Games. So, I was looking back at 88 in Calgary and I was like, oh, well who were, the pairs that actually won the gold that year. And that was go and Groff from the Soviet team. And they were lovely. I mean, the, they were the married couple and she was so petite and he was just such this huge.

Hulking figure, but they were so amazing on the ice. They were not married yet in 88 though. True. True. And then the other, there was another Russian pair who got silver that year. It was ve Lova and Vasilia. And then actually a US team were the Bronze Watson and Aard, who I don’t recall.

They

Alison: are the last US pairs to win an Olympic. to this day? Yes. Wow. They did a Firebird program. Mm-hmm. . She was, and they were of that very big, strong hulking guy. Tiny little petite blonde, and he just threw her around the ice like it was nothing.

Film Buff Fran: Mm-hmm. . .

Alison: This movie is almost a precursor to that. Reality show the skating with celebrities where you take people who don’t skate and make them skaters. I know a version of it is very, very popular in Canada, really. And our, and our Fulani, Megan de Hamel has been both a judge and a skater, and her partner last time around was a hockey player.

Film Buff Fran: Come on. So if you go back in it’s,

Jill: it’s the Battle of the Blades. Battle of the Blades in Canada, hockey versus figure skating. So they Interesting. They

Film Buff Fran: pair interesting. Yeah.

Alison: So it’s a whole show of hockey players put together with figure skaters

Film Buff Fran: and how are they do? I’m really excited to know.

Alison: They often do very well.

Sometimes , it really depends on, The skating part of it is, staying on your skates. Mm-hmm. , but then you’ve gotta get the rest of it. The musicality, the stance, the holding your body a different way and almost going from hockey to figure skating is, is harder than going from nothing to figure skating.

Cause you have to unlearn mm-hmm. all these things in your body. Mm-hmm. And that’s something that they didn’t really show in the movie that like he had to learn all this stuff, but he other. Didn’t have a helmet to throw up in. We didn’t see a lot of the unlearning.

Film Buff Fran: Well, we did [00:35:00] see that classic, doing the ballet scene where the old white ballet teacher is trying to get him not to round his shoulders.

while Kate does everything you know, perfectly. That was another trope,

Alison: I think for Olympic Day this year. Fran Jill and I are gonna try the Poko. .

Jill: I’m not throwing you around.

Alison: No, because you’re, remember when we were watching World Games and we were talking about acrobatics and I said I would totally be a flyer and you would be a base. Mm-hmm. . So I think we set. Where Fran is Anton, the the Russian coach?

Film Buff Fran: Yes. And we just go

Alison: with no pads and no off ice training and just, bounce me and throw me up in the air and see what happens. and I will wear a proper scarf in my hair tied ever so nice.

Film Buff Fran: Well, I, I gotta say, we were, last night we, I re-watched the movie with my youngest Ava, who’s almost 10, and she’s already seen this movie with me because I’m so obsessed with it.

And she was ha more than happy to watch it again with me. And then, my husband was doing work in the background. By the last 20 minutes, both he and my older daughter were watching it with us , so it was gripping enough to get them to watch the last 20 minutes.

Alison: I do have to say this time around, I definitely saw more of the charm of the characters and was able to look past the ridiculousness of the portrayal of the sport and say, Moira Kelly.

Is just beautiful and was really fun in this movie. And Terry Quinn and

Film Buff Fran: fun, it was, watch them play with each other. I mean the hockey scene where she like slaps the puck in his nose and then he goes to the hospital and pretends he’s really sick, and then she’s mortified and then she realizes the jokes on her.

those little kind of scenes in between were really. Really sweet. And then of course, going back to the nationals when, they did come out and make the Olympic team and then she does decide to go on a bender, with DB sweetie to celebrate and then she decides to throw herself at him.

But then, he takes the high ground and. And decides to be shives and, he, he does not accept her advances and then she gets all upset. But the

Jill: amount of alcohol consumed in that scene ridiculous. The whole connection between the tequila shots and then him cleaning up the

Film Buff Fran: bar.

Yeah,

Alison: she would’ve been in the hospital. She was a tiny little girl who had never drank. Yeah,

Film Buff Fran: that was kind of ridiculous.

Jill: Oh, well, I, I gotta say that actually this book ends the year nicely because we started off with a movie that if you liked Eddie, the Eagle cutting Edge is right there with it. And three outta four movies this year turned out to be either Calgary or Albertville.

And it’s great because it’s Steve, we’re celebrating Albert Phil’s

Film Buff Fran: anniversary. What this movie could have had, could have been improved by some Hugh Jack. Or some tear and Exogen for that matter, although he was probably, six months old ,

Alison: you had DB Sweeney. Calm down. I know.

Well, okay,

Jill: so then here’s what we do. We need to write another cutting edge sequel because obviously somebody is willing to throw money at this series, and then if Hugh Jackman ever really needs a pay. He’d come in and be the coach.

Film Buff Fran: That’s right.

Jill: the, it’s not a stretch. The coach from the country that just randomly won a medal in figure skating and wasn’t Soviet or unified or Russia, that happens every once in a while.

Alison: Right?

Film Buff Fran: No, just leave him as, as a, as being Australian. That would be even better because, one of the Australians ever won an ice skating competition,

But No, but it’s, you know what? At at its heart. It was just a fun. Romantic comedy, and the neat thing was it, it had some razzled dazzle of being Olympic themed in parts and, that’s what kind of wrote me in and really the chemistry between the two leads.

Really kept you staying to see, you know, oh, will they ever, resolve this? Will they ever come together? Or, is their stubbornness and their, pigheaded personalities just gonna keep them apart? Metal or no metal.

Alison: Chenko brings them together.

Film Buff Fran: That’s right. Well,

Jill: and if you were, became a fan of Moyer Kelly while watching this movie, she is in a Hallmark Christmas movie.

This.

Film Buff Fran: Oh, neat. So, well, she’s also the voice of Nala in the Lion [00:40:00] King in the original Lion King. she’s, and she was on West Wing. She’s been in a lot. She’s done a lot of, really neat stuff. Excellent.

 

Jill: All right. Fran, thank you so much for a great year of movies. it was fun. Way to wrap up and I’m glad we got to do one of your favorites.

Film Buff Fran: Oh, no problem. Thank you both. And I’m sorry, Allison, that I made you watch the cutting edge yet again, but I think you liked it just a little bit. This. Don’t pick .

Jill: Thank you so much Fran. We have a new slate of films for Movie Club 2023. Starting off with, I’m hoping that pronunciation is Japa, the story of the show Jumping Horse Who won Gold in Soul, 19 88 0 to Hero, the biopic of Sowa, the Hong Kong para athletic gold medalist the third movie is a Promise. Kept the story. And then finally, we will have a documentary called Over the Limit, which focuses on rhythmic gymnast, margarita Mamoon. So looking forward to all, all of

Alison: these. I’m ready. I’m ready for jumping horses and jumping skaters and all, all the popcorn .

Jill: All right, so let us know what you thought of this year’s movies.

We would love to hear your thoughts.

[00:41:18] Patron Shout Out

Jill: Time for a patron. Shout out. We would like to thank our patrons are vital in keeping this show afloat and keeping our flame alive. And this week we would like to give a shout out to Stanley Yang, who has been a long time patron and we really appreciate Stanley’s support big fan of the daily coverage.

Stanley is so, we appreciate him. all that he does for the show, so thank you, Stanley. If you appreciate the news, information, and entertainment you get from the show, please consider showing your support. There are a ton of different ways to support, support the show. We have one time options. We have commissions, and we have ongoing support.

Check out our website@flamealivepod.com slash support for more

[00:42:01] History Moment – Albertville 1992

Jill: detail.

That sound means it is time for our history moment and all year long we’ve been focusing on Albertville 1992 as it is the 30th anniversary of those games last day of coverage Heartfield . So what I wanted to do was discuss this wonderful high. Video called 1992, winter Olympics. Highlights video. Thank you to listener Brian, who was, I think kindly requested to clear out his Olympics VH S tapes.

And because I still have a V C R, I took them off his hands, so he sent me a whole bunch of tapes, including this this recap video, these highlight tapes were a fixture of Olympics coverage in the United States. So after every games, the official broadcaster would often put out a tape. May, I don’t know if there are any DVDs that they moved over to DVD technology at all.

Alison: I assume in the nineties they would’ve moved over.

You were like two thousands before streaming. Cuz now it’s just streaming. But yeah, I bet there was a DVD of these

Jill: at some point. Right? So you could relive the moments or the moments they chose to show you . So I would love to know if other countries did this or if this is just a, a uniquely us. Thing because there are just lots of old highlights videos out there.

So c b s was our broadcaster for these games in the States and the main co-host who also hosted this video where former major league baseball catcher turned baseball analyst, Tim Mcca Carver. and TV journalist Paula Zn. Who–

Alison: paula Z. Oh my goodness, I haven’t heard that name

Jill: in a long time. I know at the time she was co-host of CBS b s this morning, the morning news program on CBS B.

So if you watched the games in the States, you apparently did not see much of these two at all during the games at the, according to the New York Times, they were on air for about 15 minutes a night. In interstitial moments, they did some interviews. Tim MCC Carver got a lot of criticism as a host, because this is like the first winter Olympics after Jim McKay and we’ll probably talk about this in Seoul, 1988.

Apparently that’s the first one. NBC hosting and Bryant Gumball got a ton of criticism cuz he was the big main host and he followed Jim McKay. So people missed the mainstay in their household. So I would like you to guess, this is a half an hour video, let’s play guess the highlights.

we have 12 segments, what I would call 12 distinct segments for this half an hour. All right. What would you think some of these segments would include based on the highlights of Albertville that we have talked about?

Alison: Kristi Yamaguchi? Yes. Bonnie

Jill: Blair. Yes. That would be America’s favorite girl Next door, according to Tim Mcca Carver.

Yes. [00:45:00] Also in that segment was Dan Janssen blowing out. Oh, yeah.

Alison: There’s gotta be at least one non-American story. maybe like, bobsled.

Jill: Bobsled not included on the entire video.

Alison: what’s the non-American story? TM Baba. Oh, of course. Of course. Tumba Baba.

Jill: And then I would also say a women’s downhill. It had some American stuff in there, but, but there was also some non-American stuff. And I would say another segment was basically the mountain beating up every, all those, is that

Alison: every Olympics we’ll have to, as we go through the years.

Does, does it, is the real competition man versus the mountain

Jill: Very welcome.

Alison: Be Is there any ski ballet in this or, or the No, no. Ski ballet. No. And not the

Jill: speed skiing either, correct? No speed skiing. Oh,

Alison: wow. , I would think they would throw in the demonstration boards. There’s gotta be highlights of the opening and closing.

Correct? Are the snow ladies there? The snow globe ladies switching their snow

Jill: around. You saw them in the closing ceremony for sure because I noticed that them walking in and not really doing anything with the snow. I thank you for that, little tidbit. You’ll

Alison: never be able to look at those snow ladies again,

And so now if any other country girls, as we kind of refer to them, have an activity, we’re gonna really keep an eye on those in every opening ceremony. Now,

Jill: what else would’ve become, okay, so we have, yeah, 1, 2, 5 more segments. I would say, oh my

Alison: goodness. Oh my goodness. Is there any more figure.

Jill: Oh, Paul Wiley.

Paul Wiley. Yes. You get that come from behind one segment.

Alison: Okay. I I I give up. Go ahead. Tell, tell me,

Jill: tell me what missed. Yes. So every figure skating discipline cut its own little segment. , the Kristi Yama Gucci bit was very long, I would say comparatively, but yes, they did show. For figure skating discipline winners the pairs was gold only. And then the ice dancing, they showed the DuChene and with the Christopher Dean sighting and the, the gold medals from the unified team.

Also Donna Wein Brecht for moguls. Oh, of course. also a longish segment on the men’s hockey. Which was so US focused and quote, the biggest underdogs and biggest surprise were the men’s team. And you could not tell from these highlights that the men didn’t do very well overall. They said it wa, a huge surprise, a huge, fabulous job in the pools and getting to the metal round and then kind of downplaying that.

Their first, yeah, they got a loss, but it you know, it was still just a great overall achievement for the US men’s hockey team. according to this, there was no luge. Like we said, no bobsled, no ski jumping, no Nord to combine. No cross country, no biathlon, no short track, no speed skiing. No ski ballet.

But I guess, what would you expect for a half an hour, except for maybe chop a minute off of the Kristi Yamaguchi story and maybe another minute or so off of the men’s hockey. And you would get more in at least. But It is kind of entertaining to go back and watch these.

And of course, this is presented by Dodge, so there’s a Dodge commercial at the front of the, tape and the end of the.

Alison: Is anyone smoking on it? I mean, are we back in that situation?

Jill: No. No. But it is fun to see the 1992 Dodge trucks and what that looked like and the graphics. Oh, it’s just fantastic.

So thank you listener, Brian, for this little bit of entertainment . it is interesting to go back and, and see how focused this is on figure skating, cuz. Oh, who will buy this? Women who wanna watch figure skating and, and it’s really not You get little snippets. It’s not like you even get a whole performance, but, it just was a fun little way to, to round things up.

Wanted to talk a little bit about legacies of albertville. As you mentioned before, the ceremonies were a temporary facility, but according to the IOCs Legacy report from earlier this year, the rest of the venues are still in use. The one exception. Is the speed skiing slope at La Arks, which disappeared naturally once it stopped being maintained.

The main Olympic village was in breed Leban and it had been hotels. It’s now again hotels and it is a spa resort town, which I think we’re gonna have to go. Yes. , Maribel and Cheal will host the 2023 f i s Alpine Ski World champs, so that’s nice. It’s still being used. There’s also a permanent exhibition on Albertville 1992 at the Albertville Olympic Ice Hall, so you can go and visit that, that, and the cauldron is outside of the figure skating venue.

Alison: Very nice. Well, I have enjoyed our year in

Albertville.

Jill: I have too. It’s been very nice. So we’ve learned a lot.

Alison: We’ve, we remembered and, and learned for the first time and, and I will miss it.[00:50:00]

Jill: Exact all. So thank you listeners for choosing this one. It’s been a fun adventure. Oi al.

[00:50:15] TKFLASTAN Update

Alison: Welcome to TKFLASTAN.

Jill: Yes, it is time to travel over to TKFLASTAN to see what is up with our team. Keep the flame alive. These are past guests of the show. We are starting off with some results. Short track. Speed skater Ryan Shane competed in the Canadian invitationals and he reached the A final in the 1500 meter, so congratulations to him.

Alison: Nordic combined racer Annika Malacinski competed in two races at the Lilah Hamer Continental Cup, finishing eighth in the first race, and getting her first Continental Cup podium finish with a third place in the second.

Jill: Woo Woo. And Erin Jackson competed at the first of two I s U World Cup events in Calgary in long track speed skating.

in the 500 meter division, a race she placed a seventh, and in the 1000 meter division, a race she placed 16th. So they’re racing again in Calgary this weekend before the holiday break,

Alison: and in some news, John Naber was elected to a second term on the U S O P C.

Jill: And also competing will be Team Schuster.

They’ll be curling at the Zawa International Curling Championships.

[00:51:27] Paris 2024 Update

Jill: you may have seen some controversial news all over social media This week. And that is with regards to the Russian and Beru athlete situation. there have been many, many discussions about this at various meetings. The I O C, after their executive board meeting, they had the Olympic Summit, which had a bunch of international federations involved and some NOCs involved and one of the things that they want to see, especially Tea Bach would like to see is Russian and Bella Russian athletes competing at Paris 2024.

And they would have to be Russians who are clean, but also probably not have a big pro-war stance.

Alison: And how do you. Judge that, I mean, certainly if a federation has banned somebody because of like that gymnast with the Z on the podium think we can honor that ban.

Jill: Right. So then a little bit more controversy has popped up with the U S O P C had a conference call after having a board meeting there, and they came out in support of tee.

Hope to include Russian athletes in Paris 2024. And that’s causing a lot of controversy because of course there’s people who say, well, if Russia is going to start this war, they should be banned from everything. And they have been banned from a lot of stuff. Tea Bach, of course, who HA was affected by the 1980 boycott.

Thinks uh, you’re starting to see an attitude of, oh, this war is not gonna end. We can sanction Russia, but now we are starting to hurt individual innocent athletes, potentially innocent athletes, and we don’t want to do that. And I think it comes from a position of I have been. I have experienced. That is awful.

I don’t want that to happen to anybody else. And I think the U S O P C also feels that way because they know how devastating 1980 was to their athletes. and you heard, especially there is such a fine line and such a, a very gray situation to try to navigate. Some of the things they were talking about in including Russia and, and Suzanne Lyons, the chair of the U S O P C said, you really, if you include Russia, you have to strip away anything Russian.

So whereas for Pyeongchang and Beijing and Tokyo, they, competed as the Russian Olympic Committee and had uniforms and colors that. Obviously looked, you could identify them as Russian. This would be stripping all of that away as well and having them compete probably under an Olympic flag, competing as individual athletes or I, I wasn’t quite sure, but it was definitely stripping away the Russia element,

Alison: you know, Making them not a team identifiable with any.

Mm-hmm. , we talked about in Beijing, they used a Tchaikovsky piece instead of the national anthem. Still a Russian composer still identifiable clearly as music. That means something in the Russian culture. And this time they’re saying, no, no, no, no, no. They’re uniforms are not going to have the colors.

They’re not gonna ha they’re just gonna get the Olympic flag. The Olympic anthem. Keep them, as and not neutral athletes from Russia, like the word Russia, completely obliterated from the scenario. [00:55:00] This is so hard. This is so hard on so many levels because we’ve talked about this a million times.

At what point does punishing the sins of the Olympic committee, the sins of the government? Affect the athletes. And at one point, are the athletes themselves responsible? I mean, they’re certainly not responsible for invading Ukraine. And yet where do you separate the two? Because there have been athletes who have been very vocal in their support of the war.

Jill: exactly where do you, where do you fall on that? Where does that line go? And it’s not. Oh, go find another country to compete for and we will, if you’re innocent, we will approve that transition. I don’t even know how many athletes would be able to do that.

But how do you prove that you should be allowed to compete because. Shouldn’t take the blame for stuff that your government does.

Alison: And I always go back to what if this were our country? turn it around. What if our country was guilty of, if , you know, the United States and many other countries have been guilty of work rhymes and of inappropriate international behavior and many American athlete.

Have had systematic doping within a certain context. I mean, not through the U S O P C, but certainly there have been huge labs, doping, many, many athletes. So how would I feel as an American if this got turned around on me? I would certainly have a problem with that. And then to say, I need to come out and speak against my government to be able to.

Feels very wrong.

Right? Because wouldn’t we call that person, you know, if I came out and, and we’ve seen it, when athletes have come out and made political statements, it always becomes, how dare you be unpatriotic? Mm-hmm. . And wouldn’t a a Russian athlete have that same pressure to support his or her country and be patriotic?

and I am not comparing the governments of the United States and Russia. Please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. I’m talking about the athlete’s behavior and the fan’s view of it, and where do we come down and say the athlete needs to be punished, because that’s ultimately what’s happening when you don’t allow an athlete to compete.

It’s the athlete that is punished when there’s boycotts and there’s bands, but when is that appropriate? Because the behavior of the government and the Olympic Committee is so egregious that you can never guarantee any athlete is clean and or a viable

Jill: athlete.

Yeah. you have to take the time to really think through all of this, and this is where I understand how hours long debates have been going on within the I O C because you don’t want a country to be able to. it’s accomplishments at the Olympics while they’re doing something heinous to another country.

And, I believe inside the games, reportedly over a hundred athletes from the Ukraine have been killed in this conflict. they also didn’t ask to be invaded. And yet their country is suffering immensely, not just loss of life, but loss of training, facilities, loss of time, and it’s just the, the incredible stress being placed on them in order to survive and their, have their families survive, and if they’ve been displaced, where, where are they?

What’s happening at home? It’s, it’s a never ending cycle. Is it fair? Those athletes to see athletes from Russia be at the games, even if they’re competing under an I O C flag.

Alison: In the past there was that whole idea of sports has no place in politics and. That was always the I O C mantra, and yet it did insert itself when it’s pushing to have a United Korean team or pushing in the old days to have a united German team.

And I think we need to stop pretending officially that sports has no place in politics. You cannot have this massive international organization be unwilling to take a stance.

Right. I mean, we’re talking humid rights. I mean I’m, basic human rights. I think the I O C has to, but is that my American values being imposed on other countries? What human values can we consider universal or should be univers? and there’s no way that everyone in the world would come up with the same answer to that.

And I think the I O C needs to, I think the I O C needs to come up with its red line and work that into the charter and just say, look, we are gonna have to make political stance. There’s no way around this, so let’s make it very clear what it is so that they’re not constantly. Fighting fires like this because you think this is the last time one [01:00:00] country is gonna invade another.

No. Come on.

Jill: It’s a tough argument. And I have to wonder if Tee Box thought with the initial sanctions against. Having no competitions in Russia and Belarus and encouraging federations to ban those athletes as well. I wonder if he, if he thought this would be a quick skirmish.

Absolutely. And now we’re getting up to deadlines for 2024 and you. Facing the very real possibility of those sanctions not allowing athletes to come, which probably goes against something very core and central to Tee Box having been denied the opportunity to compete because of what his government decided to do.

Yeah,

Alison: For the Ukrainian athletes, we saw them in Beijing. We saw the pain and no one should suffer like that. And yet all the Moscow athletes that we’ve talked to who suffered through the boycott, obviously not the same suffering, but what can the I O C do to mitigate the situation and take care of its athletes?

When you have competing needs, who

Jill: comes first? Good question and one we will revisit I think many times until a final decision is made. And who knows that might not be up until the games and

Alison: who comes first when your country is the aggressor.

Jill: Right? tough way to close out the year , but that’s okay.

Alison: Because we still have fun coming before the end of

Jill: the year.

Exactly. So, we’ve got a couple of special episodes coming your way. We are talking with the fabulous men of Anything But Footy podcast and talking all things Olympics and Paralympics with them for next week. And then we’re gonna give you a preview.

Of what’s coming for patrons in 2023. So if you’ve been on the fence about becoming a patron and thought, oh, I don’t know if I if I can do this, but you like the idea of bonus content, we’re gonna give you a preview of what the main bonus episode is that we produce monthly, will be in 2023. That will be our last show of the year, and that’s then, then will be a, a year to the Olympics.

Alison: So it’ll be the end of one Olympic. In the beginning of a pre Olympic year. Thank goodness we haven’t had one of these in a long time. a true break year. This is amazing.

Jill: I don’t know what we’re gonna do with ourselves. Oh, we

Alison: have a list, . Our list is longer than Santas .

Jill: All right. If you want something on that list, how can you get in touch with us?

Alison: you can reach us by email at flame alive podd gmail.com. Caller text us at 2 0 8 3 5 2 6 3 4 8. That’s 2 0 8. Flame it. Our social handle is at Flame Alive Pod. And be sure to join the Keep the Flame Alive Podcast Group on

Jill: Facebook. So again, next week, Anything But Footy will be on for our special holiday treat.

Thank you so much for listening and, and until next time, keep the flame alive.