The first year ESPN produced the Great Outdoor Games I met a producer named Ken Martin who would be cutting and pasting all of the many elements of these competitions into a cohesive program for viewers to watch on ESPN.

	“	I had committed an unforgivable act of gaucherie, looking down on this man in a condescending manner during what he considered the greatest moment of his life. Since then, I have tried to approach all sports, no matter how small or odd, through the eyes of its competitors. ”
		— Jim McKay, anchor of ABC's Wide World of Sports, in his book "The Real McKay"

Martin is a veteran sports television producer whose list of credits is as long as your arm, and includes big-name events in auto racing — names like Daytona, Lemans and Sebring. When I asked him what he found interesting about these outdoor sports he mentioned the memoirs of Jim McKay, who anchored ABC's Wide World of Sports for about a hundred years.

I quickly borrowed the book.

In "The Real McKay" I found a lot of great stories and an interesting read. But one page had the corner turned down and a little star inked beside a story about the World Demolition Championship in Islip, NY.

McKay wrote about interviewing the winner of that championship in an era when ABC's Wide World of Sports was discovering the obscure pursuits that would endear the show to millions: those little-seen sports, much like some of the ones we explore in Lake Placid.

A lessons learned

McKay said that when he made his way down to the course to interview the winner of the Demolition Derby Championship, he was thinking that the victory was akin to winning the lottery. He thought the event required little skill and he approached the interview with a tongue-in-cheek smirk. He thought the winner would be as amused as he was at the insignificance of it all. He even called the winner "Mr. Lucky" as he asked him how he accounted for his second championship in a row. Here's how Mr. McKay described the exchange.

He looked at me very seriously, thought for a few minutes and said, "Well, I worked real hard on gettin' my car ready — and I go to church a lot."

There was no humor in his voice.

I felt my face flush in embarrassment. I had committed an unforgivable act of gaucherie, looking down on this man in a condescending manner during what he considered the greatest moment of his life.

I learned a lesson that day. Since then, I have tried to approach all sports, no matter how small or odd, through the eyes of its competitors.

That last part had the star inked in beside it.

A day in the sun

I have been involved in outdoor sporting events for the last ten years, and I have been amazed, intrigued and humbled by the participants. That same year that Ken Martin reflected on his own interest in these athlete's stories, I remember standing in the Olympic Oval on the last day of competition and feeling so proud of all these competitors that were finally getting their day in the sun.

I knew of the thousands of shells that Linda Joy had gone through in becoming a world-class shotgun champion. I was aware of the millions of casts Peter "T" had made in becoming the kind of bass fisherman who could come to a lake he had never fished and catch a big limit of smallmouths.

I had watched Dave Jewett transform from an awkward teenager into a big, strong axeman who could chop through twelve inches of white pine in eleven smacks of the axe. All of these athletes had trained countless hours in their respective sports and even if the rest of the world of "stick and ball" sports fans had never heard of their disciplines, these competitors were champions, and receiving their Great Outdoor Games medals was a big moment for them.

The Great Outdoor Games are getting underway again in Lake Placid, and the sound of chainsaws revving, reels clicking, shotguns blasting and dogs barking will fill the Adirondacks. As we watch the Games in New York or on television, remember that all these folks have a tale of how they got there. I, for one, will try to watch the event through the eyes of the competitor and, no doubt, I'll be thinking of their own interesting stories.

Hopefully, we all will remember that these are quite possibly the greatest moments of their lives and will celebrate, along with them, their experience in the wide world of Outdoor Sports. I have to believe Jim McKay would love to be here.

Angie Thompson is the Research and Features Coordinator for the Great Outdoor Game. She has been a producer for ESPN Outdoors since 1994. In addition, Thompson is the host of ESPN Outdoors' Cumberland Stories and associate producer for the BASSMASTER Show.