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我太懶, 沒空翻譯, 看看那位大大能幫幫忙. 看完這真事後, 應懂得積極面對人生. 學會揚長避短, 別遇上困難就放棄. @Mr%
ESPN.com: NHL /Pj
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 eUCXh^
Thursday, November 3, 2005E.J"!
Demers' secret struggle with pain, shame of illiteracy_DGX.Q
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 j-2C;
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------KLv$+?
By Scott Burnsidet
ESPN.com-:
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 Am
Jacques Demers was the king of forgetting his glasses.Ar
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 Tx
During his 15-year career as one of the NHL's most flamboyant coaches,
whenever someone asked him to read a document or article or fill out an
NHL
lineup card or sign an autograph, the longtime coach would pat his
clothes
and shrug his shoulders.4w
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 Bo?Te
"How many times did I forget my glasses? I must have forgotten my
glasses
more than anyone else," Demers told ESPN.com on Thursday as he traveled
from
Montreal to Quebec City._&\'!b
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 %;
Jacques Demers coached the Montreal Canadiens to a Stanley Cup in 1993,
all
while keeping his illiteracy a secret.|7_P
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 lFJ
Sometimes the glasses would be close at hand, in his pocket, but hidden
away
from outside view.B@gw
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 "[?
Such was Demers' life for most of his 61 years.9>v"
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 l~U*Yl
The product of an abusive home in working-class Montreal, Demers
dropped out
of school in the eighth grade and never learned to read or write.f'7p*
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 oyR$h
He hid that secret, along with the shame of his childhood abuses, away
beneath a seemingly endless reservoir of enthusiasm and raw emotion.bf:t
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"From Day One when he got to Montreal, he was always trying to create a
family. And he was successful at it. Now I know why a little bit more,"
said
Guy Carbonneau, the captain of the Demers-coached Montreal Canadiens
team
that won a Stanley Cup in 1993, the last championship in the storied
franchise's history.@QL
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 )`
"He was always up and upbeat. Always trying to turn a bad situation
into a
good situation," said Carbonneau, now the assistant GM in Dallas.|MB
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 G6*a
In Detroit, where Demers became the only coach in NHL history to be
named
coach of the year in back-to-back seasons (1987 and 1988), he wept
openly in
his Joe Louis Arena office when troubled Red Wing Bob Probert was
arrested
with cocaine in his underwear at the Windsor/Detroit border.sg
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 j&
As a Canadiens analyst with French language RDS, Demers brings that
same
emotion to his broadcasts.tmC:
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 a
There remains in Demers' voice that trademark vibrancy. Only now it is
shot
through with relief as he talks about the launch Wednesday of his book,
"Jacques Demers: En Toute Lettres" (roughly translated to "All Spelled
Out"), a book written with former Montreal Canadiens beat writer Mario
Leclerc of Le Journal de Montreal.hjFKdC
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In the book, Demers reveals these once-devastating secrets for the
first
time, a revelation that has sent shockwaves through the tightly knit
community that is the hockey world.Y
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 :
Adult Literacy(FU_+m
Jacques Demers' revelation that he is illiterate puts him in the
company of
a stunning number of American and Canadian adults who don't meet
commonly-accepted standards of literacy.X
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 _0
In Demers' home country (he was born in Montreal), statistics from ABC
CANADA, a national charity devoted to promoting literacy, show that 22
percent of all adult Canadians have serious problems dealing with any
printed material, and an additional 24 percent of Canadians can deal
only
with simple reading tasks.ZrpA =
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 i#-
"I'm very relieved," Demers said. "I could not have done this [in the
past]
because my dream of coaching in the NHL would never have been
realized."qLHI3^
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 ^q|
Would his first pro GM, Maurice Filion, have hired Demers to coach the
Quebec Nordiques if he knew Demers couldn't read or write?;|N(
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 $>x
"Never. And I couldn't have blamed him," Demers said.Roe
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It's difficult to know which part of this story is more stunning -- the
fact
a man could build in enough strategies and safeguards to coach 1,007
NHL
games, 10th all-time, without betraying his secret or that he could
keep
that secret from the people closest to him, including players, GMs,
friends,
brothers, sisters and even children.cU<P
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It wasn't until Demers called his four children Wednesday that they
learned
what their father had endured.4n, x8
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His youngest, Jason 24, who lives in Indianapolis, was stunned.(e2
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"He just said, 'whoa!' And then he said he was very proud of me,"
Demers
said.*4Gb
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 _4*c
His two younger sisters and a younger brother, who Demers cared for
following the deaths of his mother and father, likewise had no
knowledge
until Wednesday's book launch.Kp}d%&
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To coach at the NHL level requires a vast store of energy and
commitment.
Add to that keeping such secrets and it's little wonder Demers appeared
to
be wound so tight.RV
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"Every day it took energy," he said. "The NHL was the greatest thing
I'd
done in my life and I didn't want to lose that."|(O]gn
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 r]
As for coaching, that was the easy part.j`X
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 )
"I would always tell my players, I'm not a big X's and O's guy," Demers
said.+-h
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 XM=p9X
Instead, Demers learned the game by sight and taught with words and
motivation. The emotion was an obvious outlet for the psychological and
physical beating he had taken as a child, his flamboyance another
protective
shield against the truth that was buried deep inside.c$1S\7
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 F!
"My father told me I was a S.O.B. and that I wouldn't do anything right
in
my life," Demers recalled.(vfG
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 <Z&iYM
Although Demers' father Emile, a large man at 200 pounds, regularly
beat his
mother, Mignonne, a slight woman of just 105 pounds, the two stayed
together, a function of the strict moral values that dominated French
Canada
in the 1950s and 1960s.$
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 !
"I had anxiety attacks for many years because I was a battered child,"
Demers said. "But I put it aside and tried to work on all the positives
in
my life."`u6e
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 73
As for players like Carbonneau or managers like Cliff Fletcher and Jay
Feaster, whom Demers brought in to help run the Tampa Bay Lightning
when he
was briefly GM there in the late 1990s, Demers said the secret was easy
to
keep knowing the alternatives.WkR
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 Wz1)9
The hockey world is so small, he said, that if he had told just one
person
and they let it slip, his elaborately constructed ruse would have been
destroyed in a moment.veh_JJ
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"Someone's going to say something," Demers said.5x8V|
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In hindsight, Demers' plan was alarmingly simple.g0
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When he first began coaching in the U.S. with St. Louis, if a letter
needed
to be written or document signed, he would explain to staff that his
English
wasn't so good and they would happily assist. (註: 加拿大魁省長大的, 的確有些人英文很差, 一些地方甚至不用英文)4X
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 ]WQ
In Detroit, longtime public relations manager Bill Jamieson was a huge
help
to Demers. Later, when he returned to Montreal, he regularly had Habs
trainer Eddy Palchak fill out the lineup card. An assistant would then
check
it for mistakes, a common practice amongst NHL coaches.1U4e2
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The Habs' office staff was equally helpful in sorting through duties
that
required Demers to either read or write.@AM
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As time went on, Demers was able to reproduce basic words, including
his own
name, to deal with autograph seekers, although he dreaded formal public
meet-and-greet sessions that might mean requests for personalized
autographs. Invariably, those requests resulted in "Best Wishes,
Jacques
Demers" or "Thank You, Jacques Demers" in big letters.39
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 >FC1
When Demers was the coach in Tampa Bay, his last posting, he was
offered the
general manager's job, as well. He took it knowing he could never
perform
the tasks needed and immediately hired Fletcher and Feaster, who
handled all
of the contractual work.SH
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"Jay Feaster was a tremendous help without knowing it," Demers said.>eL
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 .D+F5
Looking back, Feaster said he can recall an emotional Demers coming to
his
office, waving a document and asking his assistant GM what it meant. A
lawyer by trade, Feaster never gave the moment a second thought until
Wednesday.xh`h|X
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 w\6oN
"Jacques is such a wonderful guy and caring person. Jacques was great
to me,
he was great to my family," said Feaster, now the Lightning GM. "To
hear
that about his own upbringing was very sad."4
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 >(
Although he wasn't surprised that Demers kept such a secret, Feaster
said
he's pleased Demers felt comfortable enough to unburden himself. P6
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 \:
"I think it's great that he's done it," Feaster said. "How many people
will
be helped as a result of what he's done?"Ba
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 /g
The only person with whom Demers shared his secret was his wife Debbie
with
whom he's been since 1984. She discovered her husband's secret after
pestering him to help out with the household bills.iW`P
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The release of the book is a relief to her, too, Demers said.IS:hme
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Through his wife, Demers has learned to read a little, although he
still
can't get through an entire article. And writing remains a significant
challenge. `9F'
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 ]
As for any potential backlash at revealing the details of his life,
Demers
expects little criticism and cares even less.jWI
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 `j
Part of the proceeds from the book, currently available only in French
with
an English edition set for early in 2006, will support a local battered
women's shelter and literacy programs in Quebec.m
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 05MQp
Although nothing will rival winning a Stanley Cup, Demers feels the
book,
too, is a worthy accomplishment.,JX;Hy
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 x?*x
"This is me and this is how I did it," he said. "Unfortunately, there
are a
lot of people like Jacques Demers. There are a lot of battered women
out
there. A lot of battered kids."W-B
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 ga@K
Scott Burnside is an NHL writer for ESPN.com.x(mC6
©緣生術數研究社 -- 術數研究 W.+l
(我不是鼓勵欺騙)#,B
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2005/11/04 01:57pm 
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