Misconduct | The sports biography you would like to read

The combined story of Pierre and Alex Harvey, seasoned with a few chapters devoted to Pierre’s wife and Alex’s mother, Ms.^me Belzile. A lot of substance could spring from this magical, inspiring and pure Quebecois trio. These two athletes have gone on to unique international careers in a Scandinavian-dominated sport thanks to their extraordinary performances and bonding personalities.

The biography I would like to read is that of Peter Stasny, my idol. Second player among the best of the 1980s behind Wayne Gretzky, he transcended his sport. The invasion of Czechoslovakia, his sporting achievements and his political career would form a narrative that would be fascinating, in my humble opinion. In the meantime, there is always openthe excellent biography of Andre Agassi, a tennis champion despite himself…

Tiger Woods, unequivocally. He marked the sport from all angles, starting with that of performance. His downfall was just as dramatic, but first and foremost he made money the main focus of any sporting activity, sponsorship revenue simply skyrocketed like no other era. All in all, he was bigger than his sport, bigger than all sports combined. A bio could perhaps explain this phenomenon, it would be quite a challenge.

Let’s be serious: Mikaël Kingsbury is the greatest Quebec athlete in history, all sports combined! Who has dominated and still dominates his sport since its very beginnings? OK, he escaped gold at the last Olympics, but it was a simple mistake. This man survived a horrific spinal accident and came back as strong as before. Perhaps his journey is not punctuated with tasty anecdotes like those concerning Guy Lafleur or Bob Hartley, but he has certainly experienced all sorts of things during his many trips all over the world. He is, in my opinion, the Quebec athlete whose exploits are the most underestimated, unfortunately.

Muhammad Ali, who else? He was the most famous athlete on the planet in his time. His epic fights against Joe Frazier and George Foreman, his political and religious positions, his three-year suspension, his return, his disastrous end to his career, his illness… He was The Greatest.

You will laugh… Claude Provost. The former number 14 of the Canadian impressed me in my time. His first task: to cover Gordie Howe, which he did wonderfully. And his particular skating stroke was like mine, he was running more than he was skating. 33-goal season in 1962. A little-known player who left his mark, at least in my mind.

I would choose Réjean Genois. He was a great tennis player during the 1970s. He was not very big, learned the hard way and managed to stand out without having the money that all his opponents had for their training. Despite all this, this little guy from Loretteville has already triumphed at the US Open by showing the door to a certain Sandy Mayer, then ranked 11^e world player. I love seeing these kinds of athletes who have persevered and succeeded despite modest incomes. They have merit.

Marc Tardif, first because he was a childhood friend, but above all because he had a very good career despite the fact that he voluntarily and courageously left the Canadiens during the good years of the team.

Yogi Berra [Lawrence Peter Berra de son vrai nom]. Because in addition to being an excellent baseball player, his brilliant repartee and his delicious sense of humor are precious tools to prevent me from reading a biography that looks like “déjà vu” all over again”, as Yogi said so well.

Actor and host Yvan Ponton starred in three sports classics: slapshot, Throw and count and The Boys. He has also been one of the voices of tennis for many years on RDS. Who can boast of such a career?