when rock 'n' roll first came

When rock 'n' roll first came to town

6,000 teenagers crowded into Kerrisdale Arena in 1956 to hear Bill Haley and the Comets

The Vancouver Sun

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

By John Mackie

Fifty years ago today, Haley's Comet hit the Kerrisdale Arena. Vancouver would never be the same.

The Bill Haley and the Comets show on June 27, 1956 was the first big rock and roll concert in Vancouver. About 6,000 teenagers crammed into the Kerrisdale Arena to witness the new phenomenon, and they lapped it up.

"It was just pandemonium," recalls the legendary disc jockey Red Robinson, who was emcee of the show.

"Chairs were thrown around and everything, it was wild. You couldn't hear yourself think. People were yellin' and clappin' and some were up dancing."

The audience reaction confirmed the fears of cultural conservatives who were worried about rock 'n' roll's effect on the young and impressionable. Among them was Vancouver Sun music critic Stanley Bligh.

"This was my first exposure to the rock 'n' roll medium of expression," he thundered in a review of the concert.

"I came away feeling that I had witnessed the ultimate in musical depravity . . . a cacophonous noise that might cause permanent harm in not fully developed adolescent minds."

Les Vogt begs to differ.

"It wasn't that wild," says Vogt, the Vancouver singer in Haley's opening act, the Prowlers.

"It was probably just that adults had never seen a congregation of kids like that before. They were yelling, it was crazy. [But] I didn't feel any threatening kind of feeling, it was just good noisy fun."

Haley was at the peak of his popularity when he hit town, riding high on the strength of hits like Shake, Rattle and Roll, Rock Around The Clock and See You Later Alligator.

"[His popularity] was all because of the soundtrack of the movie Blackboard Jungle, [which featured] Rock Around The Clock," Robinson recalls.

"He'd had records out, and sure we danced to them, but when that movie hit, bang! Believe it or not, here in Vancouver kids got up and danced in the aisles."

Haley was the first big rock 'nd roll star, but he was no overnight sensation. He started out singing country music in the late 1940s with bands like Bill Haley and the Four Aces of Western Swing and Bill Haley and The Saddle Men. His music (and fortune) changed in 1951 when he recorded a cover of Rocket 88, the Ike Turner tune regarded as the first rock and roll record.

Haley was 31 years old when he played the Kerrisdale Arena, a greybeard by early rock and roll standards. He would soon be eclipsed by younger, wilder artists like Elvis Presley, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, but at the time, nobody in Vancouver had seen them, and ate up Haley's show.

"It was the most exciting thing I had seen," says Vogt.

"He was not an Elvis-style performer, that's for sure, but [Rock Around The Clock] was such a huge record, it didn't matter who it was, the first big rock and roll star would fill anything."

The concert was promoted by another DJ, Jack Cullen, in concert with clothier Murray Goldman. Tickets ranged from $1.50 to $3, including tax, and the show was a total sellout.

"I think the fire marshall closed it at 6,000," says Robinson. "They were everywhere, man, they were in the aisles, everywhere."

How did Vogt, a teenage kid from East Van, manage to land the gig as the opening act to Vancouver's first rock and roll show? His band was huge fans of promoter Cullen.

"Jack Cullen was basically our mentor," Vogt recalls. "That's why we were called the Prowlers, from his Owl Prowl show."

Cullen was not a rock and roll fan, but he was a shrewd promoter. So he brought Haley to town, lined up 18-year-old rock and roll DJ Robinson to emcee, and then had one of his friends provide appropriate outfits for the opening act.

"One of his sponsors was Harrison's Clothiers, which next door to [Cullen's record store] on Hastings street there," Vogt chuckles.

"We were wearing these black and white striped jackets from [Harrison's] store, so we looked like we came out of prison. I guess that's kind of the reputation rock and roll bands had anyway."

jmackie@png.canwest.com



When Kerrisdale rocked

For a brief time in the early 1980s, Vancouver's underground music scene found an unlikely home

Vancouver Courier

Wednesday, June 7, 2006

By Aaron Chapman

On May 28, 1982, concert photographer Bev Davies arrived early to the Kerrisdale Arena and picked up her press pass for that evening's show, which featured British heavy metal rockers Motorhead. In addition to her media pass, she was handed a set of earplugs. She was surprised. "I don't think I'd ever been given earplugs before by a promoter before the show like that," she says.

Davies eventually took her position directly in front of the stage between the crowd barrier and the audience to take photographs. Prior to the show, the band members learned the media had been given complimentary earplugs, and they took offence. When the group walked on stage, Motorhead vocalist Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister, plugged in, took to the microphone and yelled to the audience, "This one is for the press who got the earplugs!" He turned up his amp and the band launched into its set. And with that musical blast, they disrupted the calm West Side neighbourhood of Kerrisdale, and set into motion the termination of a colourful chapter in Vancouver concert history.

When the Kerrisdale Arena officially opened in November 1949, the only music performed for the ribbon cutting was from an organ on loan from the Hudson's Bay Company for the anthem of "God Save the Queen" sung by those in attendance. Mayor Charles Thompson was present, along with Fred "Cyclone" Taylor from the 1915 Stanley Cup winning Vancouver Millionaires.

Kerrisdale was then considered much like it is today--one of Vancouver's more affluent neighbourhoods. Almost a village within the city, it featured small, family-run shops that lined 41st Avenue and well-kept homes where parents knew the names of every child in their street.

Little did the conservative, horn-rimmed faces of Kerrisdale's 1949 social set, so prominent in photos of the time, know what would hit the venue in only a few years. The arena changed 50 years ago this June when the Kerrisdale Arena ensured its place in Vancouver music history as the site of the city's first rock concert with a sold-out appearance by Bill Haley and the Comets on June 27, 1956. An audience of almost 6,000, primarily teenagers from all parts of the city, descended on the neighbourhood arena.

Vancouver Sun music critic Stanley Bligh called the concert, "The ultimate in musical depravity." But that was just the beginning, because use of the arena as a concert facility was born. Throughout the 1960s, Kerrisdale Arena played host to a number of well-known bands. On July 31, 1967, British rockers the Yardbirds--with notable future Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page--did a matinee and evening show. There was a sold-out performance by Frank Zappa on Aug. 25, 1968. In addition to concerts by Jefferson Airplane, the Young Rascals and Smokey Robinson, the venue was the place for concerts by popular local bands like The Collectors, Painted Ship and Mother Tuckers Yellow Duck.

But the heyday for the Kerrisdale Arena as a hall of rock had not yet arrived. Then along came the 1980s.

In the early 1980s, Norman Perry's Vancouver concert productions company Perryscope regularly staged international touring artists in Vancouver. Venues were hard to find. Local theatres like the Orpheum didn't allow rock concerts, and a decision by the city fire marshal reduced the PNE Gardens capacity from 2,800 to 1,400 persons.

"With all the restrictions at the time, the Pacific Coliseum was the only arena around, but too big for smaller concerts," remembers Riley O'Connor, who was Perryscope's general manager. "I thought the Agrodome sounded horrible, and doing them at UBC always involved scheduling nightmares with the sports department--and I really wanted to keep concerts being held within the city and in the community."

In early 1980, the Vancouver parks board, which provided the arena's budget, initiated widespread cutbacks and staff reductions. These fiscal cuts provided Perryscope its opportunity.

"I met with the Kerrisdale Arena manager who was worried he was going to have to let staff go because of the cutbacks," says O'Connor. "It looked like he'd have to cut everybody but himself and the Zamboni driver, so he was looking for other sources of revenue. That's how it started."

For the next three summers, Kerrisdale and its East Boulevard hockey arena hosted an unforgettable variety of all-ages concerts unseen before in the city.

On Aug. 13, 1980 it was Devo for just $8.50 a ticket. CBC Radio 3 producer Don Pennington, who now lives in Vancouver, travelled from Calgary to attend. "I remember when I got there thinking to myself, this is some sort of curling rink--but it was a great show." With Devo in its infamous plastic costumes and flowerpot hats, many in the audience of roughly 2,500 were also uniquely attired--boiler suits, a man with a dyed green head, another with clothes pins attached to his hair. "I'm sure Kerrisdale was living in fear when they saw all these people coming into their corner of the city," Pennington laughs, "but I think it was a good kind of fear."

The era of punk and new wave music was in full swing. On Sept. 2, 1981, 2,300 turned out for The Tubes, with masked vocalist Fee Waybill singing in bondage gear, while choreographed dancers provocatively acted out the songs with him on stage. It was a long way from the matching suits and pompadours of Bill Haley and the Comets.

To put the shows on, local crews assembled the stages in the arena, and Perryscope's production hands were an unlikely crew.

"It was great and good money," says DOA frontman Joe Keithley, remembering how members of his band and The Subhumans were hired on their off nights. "We sure made more money putting the stages together than playing our punk rock shows."

One of the most notable arena concerts was the double-bill of international reggae music stars Jimmy Cliff and Peter Tosh on Aug. 29, 1981. It was Cliff's first appearance in Western Canada. Twenty-five years later, Keithley remembers one incident at the show.

"That night the Cliff/Tosh show was sold out. We knew a bunch of kids outside without tickets couldn't get in so we'd go around to the side of the arena and open the doors and sneak some kids in."

Outside, 19-year-old student Ric Arboit was one of the kids who didn't have a ticket. "We were just standing around outside disappointed we couldn't get in when one of the side doors opened and somebody waved us in." Arboit is now the president of Nettwerk Records. "I never got a good look at who it was that opened [the door]," he says. "I only realized who it was when I read Joe Keithley's book last year where he retold the story. Thanks, Joe."

Not all Kerrisdale residents were turning their noses up at the shows. Some were ticket holders. In the audience was Thomas Gove--now Provincial Court Judge Gove--but then a young lawyer and a longtime Peter Tosh fan who lived in Kerrisdale near the arena. Gove clearly remembers walking over on the warm August night to see the concert. "The place was packed. Most everybody was on the floor but I guess some people were up in the seats. Both Cliff and Tosh did full shows. It was excellent."

One wonders if it was Tosh's ganja anthem "Legalize It!" that brought out so many lawyers or lawyers to be. Also in the audience was high school student Jonathan Simkin. Now an entertainment lawyer and partner with Nickleback's Chad Kroeger in Vancouver record label 604 Records, Simkin recalls: "I don't remember all the songs he played, but I remember Tosh was dressed like a mummy in complete white. He moved slowly around the stage, brandishing some kind of walking stick. Jimmy Cliff was OK, but Tosh was magic."

But Gove recalls one drawback from the show, and a common complaint about the arena--the notoriously bad acoustics and volume. "I remember this one massive bank of speakers they had at the stage--it was just so loud in there. It was just overkill. I remember Sharon my wife leaving to listen outside. I think I lasted most of the concert, but towards the end of it even I went outside, and there were people sitting outside on the track leading up to Point Grey High School next to the arena listening there where it actually sounded much better. It was so loud in the arena I couldn't hear for a day. I really liked the show and I was a fan of the music, but it was hard to enjoy when it was so loud."

Complaints about the lousy acoustics and noise stretched back to the 1960s. The arena had been designed for hockey and ice sports. But it didn't stop the concerts from happening and the crowds kept coming.

For many fans, sports was no competition for the music. In 1982, the front marquee of the arena displayed in tile lettering "May 13th--Split Enz." It would be the pop band's second performance at the arena in as many years. An audience of 3,000 passed on that evening's game three of the Stanley Cup playoffs, in which the Vancouver Canucks lost to the New York Islanders, to attend. Reviewers noted a strong opening set by local group The Payolas who had toured as an opening act for the Split Enz. Payolas vocalist Paul Hyde recalls the Kerrisdale gig. "It was fun. I wore a Canucks hockey jersey for the one and only time I've done so on stage. I figured since it was a hockey arena I'd fit in."

On June 5, 1982, the front plaza of the arena was filled with fans in trench coats and jackets emblazoned with the Union Jack gathered to see English mod trio The Jam, with an opening set by local band The Scissors. It was to be the last ever North American appearance of The Jam. The group broke up after the tour. Approximately 3,700 people watched them perform.

"Vancouver really had such a vibrant music scene at this period," says Shane Lunny, then an independent producer of the Nitedreams music video show in the early '80s that aired on community television. "But so much of it was still underground. And Perryscope caught the wave of this."

Some 25 years later, Lunny is chief creative director of the Lunny Group, a multimedia company that most recently designed the Vancouver 2010 pavilion at the Torino Winter Games.

"Most of the major media wouldn't cover the scene at all. Tom Harrison writing for the Province was about the only one in the major papers. And we were advertising the Perryscope concerts on our TV show, and getting good ratings that confused the brass at the other stations wondering where the audience was coming from. You had all this rebel fringe media that was contributing to the scene and helping promote the shows."

It reached a height on June 26, 1982 when the Clash performed at the Kerrisdale Arena. With a stage draped in camouflage netting, and blaring police sirens, The Clash--arguably at the height of its popularity--was in full swing of the Combat Rock Tour promoting the album of the same name. The arena swelled with an audience of 4,000 in attendance, with hundreds more hanging around outside, hoping for last minute tickets or to hear the band from outside the walls. Inside, The Clash performed a near two-hour show--with a split screen backdrop displaying slide images of war, nuclear power, racism and images of the Third World and Middle East.

Columnist Bill Tieleman, who attended the concert, was at the time a political science student at UBC. He vividly recalls the night, as much as the atmosphere in the streets of Kerrisdale. "It was a real event. There were people all over 41st Avenue with mohawks, and for one night it was more like 'London Calling' than the 'tea-and-crumpets-London' of Kerrisdale."

"We were on a roll," Perryscope's Riley O'Connor recalls. "We had an amazingly positive response from the businesses on 41st Avenue from all the foot traffic and customers, and positive response by the artists that played there who enjoyed it. We had a good thing going, and best of all, we were actually keeping people employed at the arena."

It did not last. The beginning of the end for the Kerrisdale concert series came with the May 1982 Motorhead performance. The band had actually performed at the arena the summer before, opening for Ozzy Osbourne. But if the Jimmy Cliff/Peter Tosh show had been loud, Motorhead in full flight creating the wall of noise they were famous for was literally heard blocks away. Georgia Straight columnist Steve Newton recalls seeing people and passersby at the glass doors at the arena entrance standing outside with their hands over their ears. There were rumours the show was so loud it broke a Guinness World Book record for loudest concert, with a volume level of 148 decibels--the equivalent of standing 10 yards away from a landing jet.

There were inevitable noise complaints telephoned to the police. But disturbing the peace complaints weren't the only thing that would doom future concerts from taking place. The rowdy audience of 1,500 that attended might have played a factor.

"That Motorhead show was absolutely insane," remembers Joe Keithley. "It looked like everybody from Whalley had shown up in Kerrisdale. It was mostly a heavy, violent biker crowd. They were all loaded." Most arena shows ended early by 10 p.m., but after the show, loitering Motorhead fans drank and wandered around for hours outside the arena and through neighbourhood before they went home.

"After that show we had about four or five local residents with political sway who filed complaints," O'Connor remembers. "The parks board had a meeting and they shut us down directly from doing concerts at the arena by the end of that summer. They weren't interested in any good we were doing, or how successful the shows were. They just listened to those old fogies who complained. Vancouver as a whole was very conservative at this time, and wanted to keep a status quo. We tried to fight it, but they banned us."

For O'Connor, it was a prime example of the city's "No Fun" reputation. "City council back then was very conservative. Anything to do with concerts or any youth events were never given any enthusiasm and it was always a slog," he recalls.

O'Connor may have the last laugh. He is now the senior vice-president of House of Blues Concerts Canada, one of the largest global entertainment companies related to live music that brings many large concerts to Vancouver. He looks back fondly on the Kerrisdale Arena concerts that Perryscope produced, and how termination of the arena concerts became an incentive for larger events to happen elsewhere in the city.

"We had a good couple of years run out of it. And those Kerrisdale Arena shows helped the city's concert industry a lot. By the time the parks board had shut us down, the other civic venues downtown had realized how well we were doing with the arena concerts, and they opened up to concerts a little more."

On a chilly day on a Saturday afternoon at the Kerrisdale Arena in 2006, children learn to skate in the same part of the arena that once held a concert stage. It is very quiet. One wonders if the arena might ever play host to concerts again. If it does, and the children or their older brothers and sisters attend, will they stand the noise?

we're in the pink

B.C. is in the pink

We're the healthiest in Canada, led by Lower Mainland and Victoria

The Vancouver Sun
Wednesday, June 14, 2006

By Chad Skelton and Jonathan Fowlie

People in B.C. are the healthiest in Canada -- and those in the Lower Mainland and Victoria lead the pack.

Figures released Tuesday by Statistics Canada and the Canadian Institute of Health Information indicate that B.C. tops all other provinces on a number of health indicators.

Average life expectancy in B.C., for example, is 80.4 years -- the highest in the country and nearly a full year longer than the national average of 79.5.

B.C. also has the lowest smoking rate in the country (17.8 per cent, compared to 21.7 per cent nationwide) and the highest rate of physical activity (57.7 per cent, compared to 51 per cent nationwide).

But while B.C. fares well in the report -- based on a 2005 survey of more than 130,000 Canadians -- it also suggests there are wide gaps in health between the different regions of the province.

Take obesity, for example.

The survey defines someone as obese if they have a body mass index -- a calculation comparing a person's height and weight -- of more than 30.

Based on that definition, just 13.2 per cent of people in B.C. are considered obese -- the lowest rate in the country.

But that ranges from a low of eight per cent in Vancouver to a high of 23 per cent in northeast B.C.

In general, the statistics indicate residents of the Lower Mainland and Victoria are slimmer while those in the north and Interior are fatter.

Lawrence Frank, a professor of community planning at the University of B.C., said research shows obesity rates are lowest in walkable communities like Vancouver and highest in places where people must rely on cars to get around.

A study he conducted found that every additional hour a person spent in their car each day led to a six-per-cent increase in the risk of being obese.

Tuesday's survey also shows big regional differences in the rates of smoking and heavy drinking.

The lowest rate of smoking in the province is in Richmond, where just 13 per cent of people smoke.

But in Thompson-Cariboo -- the area around Kamloops and Williams Lake -- nearly one-quarter of the people (23 per cent) are smokers.

And in the northeast, 28 per cent of people smoke.

Joy Johnson, professor at UBC's school of nursing, said research shows there is a noticeable difference between smoking rates in different areas of the province, with higher rates of smoking mostly in the north and lower rates in the south.

"We often think about tobacco as an individual choice and I think it's important to bear in mind it's contextually driven as well," Johnson said Tuesday, adding family, friends and other elements in a person's life can influence a decision whether to smoke.

As an example, Johnson pointed to Vancouver, which she said has a very low rate of smoking in its schools.

"I think in part that has to do with the ethnic makeup of [Vancouver's] high school students at the present time," she said, explaining researchers have noticed a lower rate of smoking among Asian youth compared to non-Asian youth.

Johnson said this, along with aggressive anti-smoking bylaws, may also explain why Richmond has the lowest level of smoking in the province.

"There's a combination of factors at play," she said. "It's partly ethnic makeup, it's partly the fact there have been strong smoking ordinances in Richmond."

Johnson said rates are thought to be higher in northern areas largely because of a general culture of acceptance.

"If you go to northeastern B.C. there is a feeling that everybody smokes," she said. "That does influence behaviour, that's for sure."

Lorna Medd, medical officer of health for Prince George, acknowledged that northern residents have poorer health than those living in the south -- which she said is due to the impact things like income and education have on health.

"We simply don't fare well in the north on those parameters," she said.

She said the north could benefit from a province-wide ban on smoking in public places -- because few northern communities have municipal bans like those in Vancouver and Victoria.

The survey shows Richmond residents are also the least likely in the province to be heavy drinkers -- defined as having five or more drinks, 12 or more times a year.

Just 14 per cent of people in Richmond fit that definition.

The rate of heavy drinkers is more than twice as high in the Thompson-Cariboo, at 29 per cent, and the Kootenay-Boundary area is a close second at 28.5 per cent.

The Lower Mainland isn't tops in all categories, however.

Despite the many recreational opportunities on our doorstep, residents report relatively low rates of physical activity.

Only slightly more than half -- 55 per cent -- of Vancouver residents say they are active or moderately active.

The rates are even lower in Richmond, Surrey and the Fraser Valley.

The one exception is the North Shore, where 63.4 per cent of people say they lead an active lifestyle.

The most active people in the province are in the Victoria area, at 66.1 per cent.

On Tuesday, Victoria-area resident Kate Darling said she thinks this higher level of activity is largely due to the climate and surroundings.

"It is the beauty of the area," she said in an interview while on a five-kilometre walk to buy groceries.

"I'm from Ontario originally and I probably would not be doing this [if I were still there]," she added. "I just find the air intoxicating."

Darling added that an active community also tends to beget more activity, as friends encourage others to get outside.

The community health survey also asked people several questions about their connectedness to their community -- because research suggests strong communities encourage healthy living.

In that area, the Lower Mainland scored relatively poorly.

Asked if they felt a sense of belonging in their community, Vancouverites came dead last -- with just 62.6 per cent saying they had a "very strong" or "somewhat strong" sense of belonging.

Richmond fared only slightly better at 63.9 per cent.

In comparison, 79.2 per cent of people in northwest B.C. felt a strong tie to their community, followed by Kootenay-Boundary at 74.7 per cent.

Many people assume big-city living is more stressful than life in rural areas. But the survey suggests a more complex reality.

Only 18.2 per cent of Richmond residents said they had "quite a lot" of stress in their life -- the second-lowest rate in the province, just after north Vancouver Island at 15.8 per cent.

Vancouver was only slightly higher, at 21.8 per cent.

The outer suburbs of Vancouver are slightly more stressed -- with 22.9 per cent under "quite a lot" of stress in Surrey and 23.3 per cent in the Fraser Valley.

The most stressed community in the province, interestingly, is the North Shore -- with 25.9 per cent saying they are under quite a lot of stress.

An average of 10 key health indicators, compiled by The Vancouver Sun, suggests the residents of Victoria are the healthiest in the province and those in the northeast the least healthy.

But perhaps the best indicator of health is the most fundamental: how long people live.

On that score, the healthiest people in the province are in Richmond, where the average life expectancy is 83.4 years. The North Shore is second at 81.4.

People die the youngest in the northeast and northwest of the province, both of which have life expectancies of 77.7 years.

There are also some strange anomalies in the survey data.

The Okanagan -- where much of the province's fruit is grown -- has the second-worst rate of fruit and vegetable consumption in the province.

Only 35.3 per cent of Okanagan residents say they eat fruit or vegetables five or more times a day.

Residents of the East Kootenays are the most prolific fruit and vegetable eaters, at 48.4 per cent.

Bob Callioux, manager of Kelowna Farmers and Crafters Market, said he was surprised by the results, especially given how much produce is grown in the Okanagan area.

"Wow, that's incredible," he said about Kelowna's fruit and vegetable consumption. "I don't know who's doing the studies."

Asked if he eats more than five fruits or vegetables a day, Callioux admitted he doesn't always hit the recommended mark.

"Probably not more than five [a day] but close to it," he said. "I certainly try. I'm trying to get healthier."

Those living on the North Shore appear the most content with their own health, with 65.6 per cent rating their health status as "very good" or "excellent."

jfowlie@png.canwest.com

- - -

OBESITY

Leanest: Vancouver
Fattest: Northeast B.C.

Drinking Lightest: Richmond
Drinking Heaviest: Thompson/Cariboo

SMOKING

Lowest: Richmond
Highest: Northeast B.C.

STRESS

Least: North Van. Island
Most: North Shore

DIET

Most fruits/veggies: East Kootenay
Least fruits/veggies: Northern Interior

A GREAT DIVIDE

The regions of British Columbia differ dramatically on many measures of health and lifestyle.

ADULT OBESITY

% of population with Body Mass Index of 30+

Vancouver 8%
North Shore/Coast Garibaldi 8.5
Richmond 11.1
Fraser North
Burnaby and Tri-Cities 11.5
South Vancouver Island 12.5
Fraser South (Surrey and Langley) 12.6
Kootenay-Boundary 13.9
North Vancouver Island 14.2
Okanagan (Kelowna and Penticton) 14.4
Thompson/Cariboo (Kamloops and Williams Lake) 16.5
Central Vancouver Island 18.2
Fraser East (Fraser Valley) 18.5
East Kootenay 18.7
Northern Interior 20.4
Northwest B.C. 20.7
Northeast B.C. 22.6

HEAVY DRINKERS

% of population who have 5 or more drinks, 12 or more times a year

Richmond 13.5%
Fraser East (Fraser Valley) 18.3
North Shore/Coast Garibaldi 19.6
Vancouver 20
South Vancouver Island 20.2
Fraser North (Burnaby and Tri-Cities) 20.8
Fraser South (Surrey and Langley) 21.2
Okanagan (Kelowna and Penticton) 21.9
Central Vancouver Island 22
North Vancouver Island 22.4
Northern Interior 22.7
Northeast B.C. 24.9
East Kootenay 26.2
Northwest B.C. 26.3
Kootenay-Boundary 28.5
Thompson/Cariboo (Kamloops and Williams Lake) 29.1

SMOKERS

% of people who smoke

Richmond 12.6
Fraser North (Burnaby and Tri-Cities) 14.4
North Shore/Coast Garibaldi 15.2
South Vancouver Island 15.9
Fraser South (Surrey and Langley) 17.5
Vancouver 17.5
Fraser East (Fraser Valley) 17.8
Okanagan (Kelowna and Penticton) 18.3
Central Vancouver Island 18.5
East Kootenay 20.6
Northwest B.C. 20.9
North Vancouver Island 21
Kootenay-Boundary 22.1
Thompson/Cariboo (Kamloops and Williams Lake) 23.2
Northern Interior 24.3
Northeast B.C. 27.8

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

% of population who are active or moderately active

South Vancouver Island 66.1%
Kootenay-Boundary 65.5
East Kootenay 64.8
North Vancouver Island 64.1
North Shore/Coast Garibaldi 63.4
Central Vancouver Island 63
Northwest B.C. 59.6
Thompson/Cariboo (Kamloops and Williams Lake) 57.1
Fraser North (Burnaby and Tri-Cities) 56.6
Okanagan (Kelowna and Penticton) 56.4
Northern Interior 55.5
Vancouver 55
Fraser South (Surrey and Langley) 53.6
Richmond 53.4
Fraser East (Fraser Valley) 53.2
Northeast B.C. 49.5

STRESS

% of population who say they suffer from "quite a lot" of stress

North Vancouver Island 15.8
Richmond 18.2
Northeast B.C. 20.1
Vancouver 21.8
East Kootenay 22
Okanagan (Kelowna and Penticton) 22.1
Thompson/Cariboo (Kamloops and Williams Lake) 22.1
South Vancouver Island 22.2
Central Vancouver Island 22.4
Northwest B.C. 22.6
Kootenay-Boundary 22.8
Fraser South (Surrey and Langley) 22.9
Fraser East (Fraser Valley) 23.3
Northern Interior 24.7
Fraser North (Burnaby and Tri-Cities) 25
North Shore/Coast Garibaldi 25.9

GOOD MENTAL HEALTH

% of population who describe their mental health as "very good or excellent"

North Shore/ Coast Garibaldi 74.7%
Fraser South (Surrey and Langley) 73.7
South Vancouver Island 73
Fraser East (Fraser Valley) 72.8
Okanagan (Kelowna and Penticton) 72.7
Kootenay-Boundary 72.5
Northern Interior 72.1
Fraser North (Burnaby and Tri-Cities) 71.4
Thompson/Cariboo (Kamloops and Williams Lake) 71
Central Vancouver Island 70.8
Northeast B.C. 69.8
North Vancouver Island 69.5
East Kootenay 68
Northwest B.C. 67.5
Vancouver 66.3
Richmond 65.9

COMMUNITY BELONGING

% of population who say they have "very strong" or "somewhat strong" sense of community belonging

Northwest B.C. 79.2%
Kootenay-Boundary 74.7
Thompson/Cariboo (Kamloops and Williams Lake) 74
North Vancouver Island 70.1
Okanagan (Kelowna and Penticton) 69.4
South Vancouver Island 69.3
North Shore/Coast Garibaldi 68.9
Central Vancouver Island 68.8
East Kootenay 67
Fraser East (Fraser Valley) 67
Fraser South (Surrey and Langley) 66.2
Northeast B.C. 66.2
Northern Interior 65.7
Fraser North (Burnaby and Tri-Cities) 64.2
Richmond 63.9
Vancouver 62.6

FEELING HEALTHY

% of population who describe their own health status as "very good" or "excellent"

North Shore/Coast Garibaldi 65.6%
South Vancouver Island 64.8
North Vancouver Island 62.3
East Kootenay 61.2
Fraser South (Surrey and Langley) 61.2
Fraser East (Fraser Valley) 60.7
Central Vancouver Island 59.4
Northern Interior 58.5
Fraser North (Burnaby and Tri-Cities) 57.9
Northwest B.C. 57.9
Okanagan (Kelowna and Penticton) 57.7
Thompson/Cariboo (Kamloops and Williams Lake) 57.3
Vancouver 56.8
Kootenay-Boundary 55.2
Richmond 53.6
Northeast B.C. 52.6

EATING FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

% of population who eat fruit or vegetables 5 or more times a day

East Kootenay 48.4%
South Vancouver Island 45.4
Central Vancouver Island 45.3
North Vancouver Island 45.1
Fraser North (Burnaby and Tri-Cities) 42.1
Kootenay-Boundary 41.9
North Shore/Coast Garibaldi 41.2
Thompson/Cariboo (Kamloops and Williams Lake) 39
Northwest B.C. 38.2
Vancouver 37.9
Fraser South (Surrey and Langley) 37.5
Northeast B.C. 37.2
Fraser East (Fraser Valley) 36.5
Richmond 35.9
Okanagan (Kelowna and Penticton) 35.3
Northern Interior 33.5

LIFE EXPECTANCY

Average life expectancy at birth

Richmond 83.4%
North Shore/Coast Garibaldi 81.4
Fraser South (Surrey and Langley) 80.9
Fraser North (Burnaby and Tri-Cities) 80.7
Vancouver 80.7
South Vancouver Island 80.7
Okanagan (Kelowna and Penticton) 80.6
Fraser East (Fraser Valley) 79.7
Kootenay-Boundary 79.6
Central Vancouver Island 79.6
East Kootenay 79.4
North Vancouver Island 79.4
Thompson/Cariboo (Kamloops and Williams Lake) 78.6
Northern Interior 78.1
Northwest B.C. 77.7
Northeast B.C. 77.7

Source: Most figures are based on the 2005 Statistics Canada Canadian Community Health Survey. Life expectancy figures come from Vital Statistics figures.

OVERALL AVERAGE RANKING

South Vancouver Island: 4
North Shore/Coast Garibaldi: 4.7
North Vancouver Island: 6.9
Fraser South (Surrey and Langley): 7.4
Fraser North (Burnaby and Tri-Cities): 7.6
Central Vancouver Island: 8.1
Richmond: 8.2
East Kootenay: 8.2
Vancouver: 8.4
Okanagan (Kelowna and Penticton): 8.4
Kootenay-Boundary: 8.5
Fraser East (Fraser Valley): 8.9
Thompson/Cariboo (Kamloops and Williams Lake): 9.9
Northwest B.C.: 10.5
Northern Interior: 12.3
Northeast B.C.: 12.8

suns go down (sigh)

Mavericks 102, Suns 93

Mavericks Rule the West at Long Last

The New York Times

By HOWARD BECK

June 4, 2006

PHOENIX, June 3 — Mark Cuban's eyes were red and puffy, his cap askew, his goofy grin seemingly permanent. The locker room was steamy, congested and foreign, and Cuban never looked more comfortable, joyous or at home.

His Dallas Mavericks became Western Conference champions Saturday when they at last snuffed out the supernatural resilience of the Phoenix Suns. A fantastically entertaining, six-game conference finals ended with a 102-93 Dallas victory, with Cuban clutching a shiny metal trophy and choking up as he saluted his coach, Avery Johnson.

Until that moment, Cuban was known mostly as the N.B.A.'s most irreverent, unconventional and mouthy owner. On Saturday night at the US Airways Center, he could claim something more. The team he rooted for, then bought, is going to the N.B.A. finals for the first time in its 26-year history. The Mavericks open the finals against the Miami Heat on Thursday, in Dallas.

"You know, it's not like when my daughter was born, it's not like when I got married, but," Cuban said, pausing, "it's pretty darn close."

The Heat is also making its first trip to the championship round. It is the first matchup of first-time finalists since the Bullets, then based in Baltimore, met Seattle in 1971.

Dallas earned its trip by fighting off the Suns, who stubbornly persevered through injuries and general misfortune all season. The Mavericks showed their own pluckiness Saturday, erasing an 18-point first-half deficit.

Dirk Nowitzki was shaky early but steady when it mattered, scoring 16 of his 24 points in the second half. The Mavericks finished off the Suns with a 40-point fourth quarter, fueled by Jerry Stackhouse's 13 points, Jason Terry's 10 and Josh Howard's 9.

"It's about sticking together when you're down and when you're up," said Nowitzki, who certified himself as a superstar with a 50-point performance in Game 5. "It's been a fun ride. Hopefully, we can take it to the next level and bring this franchise a ring."

Nowitzki's career pinnacle came at the expense of his former teammate and best friend, Steve Nash, the league's two-time most valuable player. The Suns made it this far because of Nash's tireless playmaking, but he and his teammates seemed gassed by the final buzzer.

That would be understandable, given the immense energy it took to get here. The Suns needed seven games to win their first two series. They were already without their star center, Amare Stoudemire, and played much of this series with their best defender, Raja Bell, dragging an injured calf.

"For me personally, to see Dirk be able to play for the championship, it's exciting," said Nash, who finished with 19 points and 9 assists but was quiet for most of the second half.

Nash has played without a true backup and has sustained numerous injuries along the way. The Suns never wanted to admit fatigue, but Nash at last conceded, "I think it would be ignorant to say it wasn't a factor at all."

Bell, who missed two games of this series, said, "A healthy body here or there, let alone two of them, I think we're the favorites to win the championship."

The valley air was thick with tension — and 109-degree heat — at tip-off, but the Suns had thrived on tension and heat for weeks. They had already faced elimination on four occasions in these playoffs and won all four of those games, by an average of 19 points. They seemed ready to stave off elimination once more, and force a third Game 7, when they jumped to a double-digit lead in the first quarter.

The Mavericks played the opening minutes like a team desperate to close out the series. It was evident in all the worst ways. Dallas missed 15 of 21 shots in the first quarter, including 8 in a row. Terry and Devin Harris were on the bench with two fouls each less than 8 minutes after the tipoff.

Nowitzki scored a point in the period and did not make his first field goal until the 9 minute 35 second mark of the second quarter. He reached halftime with 8 points and shot 2 of 9 from the field, and Phoenix led, 51-39.

Momentum began to seep toward the Mavericks in the third quarter. The Suns' Boris Diaw (30 points) and Tim Thomas went to the bench with foul trouble, and Nowitzki started to find his rhythm. Terry hit a couple of shots, the Mavericks knocked the lead down to single digits, and the locals began to get antsy.

Cedric Ceballos, the former N.B.A. swingman turned arena M.C., tried to rally spirits before the fourth quarter began, bellowing into a microphone, "Do you believe?" three times. The crowd roared its answer in the affirmative, but it sounded like wishful thinking.

Dallas scored the first 6 points of the fourth quarter to complete a 12-0 run and take a 68-66 lead, their first since the opening seconds of the game. Then came the big final kick, and the Suns withered behind missed 3-pointers and careless turnovers. Nash's running scoop shot cut the deficit to 90-83 with 1:49 to play, but Howard made a 3-pointer to push the lead back to 10.

After the final buzzer, Cuban found Nash — whom he let leave as a free agent two summers ago — and they hugged.

"He said, 'Best of luck, bring it home,' " Cuban said. "There's a part of me that wishes Steve was here," he added, then listed a number of other former Mavericks players — Michael Finley, Ceballos, Sean Rooks and Erick Strickland — "all these guys that taught me a lot along the way and impacted what this franchise became."

-30-


Nash and Suns got this far on heart

BY SCOTT BORDOW

East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.)

Sunday, June 04, 2006

PHOENIX - Steve Nash walked down the hallway toward the Suns' locker room, tears turning his tired eyes red.

He saw his twin daughters, Lola and Bella, and bent down to give them a hug.

A small smile appeared on his face and, for a moment, the heartache was gone.

But just for a moment.

It wasn't supposed to end this way. The Suns had slain so many dragons that you were sure they'd draw their sword one more time.

But their heart, resiliency and toughness ran into a sobering reality:

The better team won.

Dallas 102, Phoenix 93.

A season that seemed as if it would never end did.

"Never once did I ever think about these elimination games being the final game," Raja Bell said. "I felt like we were a team that was going to get it done and we were on the way to do it until a better team stepped up and knocked us out."

What a long, strange and wonderful trip it was.

No one expected the Suns to get this far. Not without Amare Stoudemire. Or, for the second half of the year, Kurt Thomas.

And even though the season ended on a sour note, it was the sweetest, most surprising success story since the 1975-76 Suns - "The Little Team That Could" - reached the NBA Finals.

"It hurts, but at the end of the day we have to hold our heads up high," Shawn Marion said. "The run we went on was amazing, man."

So are the memories.

Nash, using the basketball as if it were a magician's wand, winning his second straight Most Valuable Player award.

Marion, showing off the most versatile game in the NBA, and if the Suns even think about trading him in the offseason, they're nuts.

The emergence of Boris Diaw. (Joe who?)

The development of Leandro Barbosa. Bell's toughness and leadership, and the most unlikely hero of all, Tim Thomas.

They were supposed to wobble through the season and wait until next year. Instead, they gave the Valley nine months of thrills and chills, hoarse voices and water-cooler moments.

"We've got some guys with hearts as big as Phoenix," coach Mike D'Antoni said.

It appeared, for most of Game 6, that the Suns would make one last charge up the hill. They led by 15 points in the third quarter, and another dramatic Game 7 seemed at hand.

Then Phoenix ran out of gas.

Finally.

It took the final 24 minutes of the 102nd game of the season, but the Suns' short bench caught up with them. D'Antoni used just seven players Saturday - Eddie House never left the bench - and when the deeper, more talented Mavericks made their run, Phoenix didn't have a reply.

"Part of me feels that's a weak excuse but part of me feels it (fatigue) was a factor," Nash said. "You just can't tail off every second half the way we did and not expect it to mean something." The Suns will have to address their lack of depth next season if they want to win a championship. Having Stoudemire and Kurt Thomas back will help, but Phoenix also needs to find a reliable backup point guard for Nash.

Nash might be getting better as he gets older, but he's not a wind-up toy. Losing in the Western Conference finals for a second straight season will feed the critics who say the Suns can't win a title racing down the court and tossing up 3s, but it's a flawed argument.

Phoenix didn't come up short this season because of its style; it failed because it wasn't the team it was supposed to be.

Ask yourself this: Is there another team in the NBA that could have come this far without its dominant big man?

"I think if anything we proved to me that we can win a championship playing this way," Nash said. "We were right there and we had a lot of injuries."

Said team chairman Jerry Colangelo: "This team maxed out."

There won't be any such ceiling next year. If Stoudemire is healthy - and there's no reason to believe he won't be - a title will be within the Suns' reach.

"I think we've got something pretty damn good going here," D'Antoni said.

There's no doubt about that.

The disappointment may be great today, but so is the hope for tomorrow. October can't get here soon enough.

gimme a feckin' break

Want a Waterfront Cabin in B.C.? It'll Cost $1 Million

Not only that, but you'll be lucky if you can find one for sale -- supply is scarce

Vancouver Sun

Thursday, June 1, 2006

By Derrick Penner

British Columbians dreaming of owning a waterfront cabin should prepare to go rustic, or be willing to pay $1 million.

Royal LePage's 2006 recreational property report says the average lakefront property in B.C. is touching $996,000, the highest in Canada. The next highest is in Alberta, where lakefront property will set buyers back an average of $900,000. The national average is $380,507.

British Columbians without $1 million to drop on lakefront near big population centres can still have their retreats -- they just have to travel farther north and settle for something more basic.

Rudy Nielsen, a Vancouver-based recreational property developer, said one of his firms sold one-acre lots on Nicola Lake near Merritt for $400,000 to $500,000. On Clucus Lake near Prince George, he sold one-acre lakefront lots for $45,000.

"Put your cabin on, and you can get a prefab one for $140,000, and you've got a cabin on a lake for less than $200,000," Nielsen said.

The Royal LePage report said demand for recreational property is high, fuelled by young professional buyers and baby boomers, and prices in most markets are still rising because supply remains scarce.

In B.C., the Royal LePage report focuses on Interior locations, where prices ranged from a low of $285,000 near 100 Mile House to a high of $999,000 to $4 million near Vernon.

The report defines a standard cottage as being three bedrooms and 1,000 square feet on a 100-foot lot.

Even those willing to bid as high as $996,000 could still be out of luck. The Royal LePage report is based on a national poll, which found that only 15 per cent of cottage owners were likely to sell their properties within three years.

B.C. skiers looking for a vacation retreat might have better luck. Royal LePage found the average price for a B.C. ski chalet is $370,313 compared with $512,500 in Alberta and a national average of $413,694.

However, when it comes to southern Interior lakefront, Riley Twyford, owner-broker of Royal LePage Downtown Realty in Vernon, noted that in his region, lakefront properties are no longer what most people would consider to be a cottage.

"There are people from Alberta who come out and buy them. . . and they'll spend three weeks in the summer [there] and may well call it recreational property," Twyford said. "But it's not your little cabin on the lake type scenario."

Paul Fabri, a market analyst for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. in B.C.'s Interior, said the market for lakefront recreational property has exploded in the last five years, but there is only limited lakefront in the communities where most people want to be.

"But there has definitely been huge demand, and of course finite supply, and that's pushing up prices," Fabri said.

For that reason, Fabri added, the development is more "high-end detached homes, or higher-end multi-family homes on the lake."

"You're not going to see someone put a weekend cottage [on Okanagan Lake], because the land is so valuable."

Twyford said many of his lakefront buyers are coming in from Alberta. "I guess it's oil-and-gas money," he said.

"We've had young families come out and spend in the high [hundreds of thousands of dollars] for property, and they're not living in it, so that's disposable income."

Royal LePage said its report was drawn from the national poll, conducted by Maritz Research, and market analysis of prices, activity and trends in selected leisure markets across Canada.

Generally, the poll found that nine per cent of Canadians own recreational property with four per cent planning purchases, and another five per cent considering purchases within three years.

Of those considering purchases, 19 per cent plan on paying cash for their getaways.

For B.C., the focus is on 100 Mile House, Cranbrook, Kelowna and Vernon.

Vancouver developer Nielsen, who also owns the research firm Landcor Data Corp., said high prices are driven by proximity to the major buying markets: Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton, the regions he refers to as the "golden circles."

Nielsen said the overall recreational market in B.C. is hot and prices are being fuelled by a limited inventory. He said only five per cent of B.C.'s land base is privately owned, and estimated that only about 10 per cent of individually titled properties in the province are recreational.

"We have an inventory shortage and we're running out fast," Nielsen said. "Everybody, including myself, is subdividing hard and fast [to create more]."

CABIN FEVER

Nine per cent of Canadians own a cabin/recreational property, while four per cent are planning to purchase and five per cent are considering purchasing within the next three years. The competition will be fierce, according to the 2006 Royal LePage Recreational Property Report. Current owners plan to stay put and young professionals are entering the market in droves. So what do Canadians want in a recreational property?

Most important recreational property features (reported by Canadians who currently own, are planning to purchase or would consider purchasing a recreational property):

1. Waterfront

2. Mature trees offering privacy

3. A large dock

4. Full bathrooms

5. Modern amenities (eg., large kitchen) / Nice layout of the property (tie)

7. Structure newer than 15 years / Open concept (tie)

9. Solar power capabilities

10. Having Internet capabilities / Having a guest house (tie)

Average price for a standard waterfront, land access cabin in Canada:

B.C.: $996,900

Alberta: $900,000

Saskatchewan: $157,500

Manitoba: $358,333

Ontario $454,960

Quebec $483,333

New Brunswick $91,875

Nova Scotia $162,167

Prince Edward Island $115,000

Newfoundland $85,000

National average $380,507

Source: Maritz Research for Royal LePage

best buds bittersweet

Success is bittersweet for best buds Nash and Nowitzki

By Marc Stein, ESPN.com

Thursday, June 1, 2006

DALLAS -- They are two wins away from the NBA Finals. Both of them.

They also know that this difficult assignment -- beating your best friend in basketball to get there -- is not over in two or three more games.

It might be years before it's over, actually.

The team Steve Nash left? Dirk Nowitzki has it closer to a championship than it's ever been.

The team Nash rejoined? He has it threatening to make a fairy-tale trip to the Finals without the injured Amare Stoudemire ... and with Amare coming back next season.

In other words …

Chances are good that Dallas vs. Phoenix, which tends to be distilled to Nowitzki vs. Nash, is bound to become an every-spring thing for the next few springs at least. In one round of the playoffs or another.

Who knows how many times they'll have to go through this?

"I think we realize that things aren't going to change anytime soon," Nowitzki said.

To get you as ready as they are for the final swings of their second successive playoff showdown, the following FAQ analyzes and updates how their games and friendship have developed while they duel to settle who's best in the new West:

How much are they interacting during the series?

Not a ton face-to-face, but that's not because their coaches and teammates protest. There might be a private grumble here and there that they shouldn't be fraternizing, but the bigger limitation is that there isn't much time in a playoff series anyway with all the travel. It's been similar to their reunion in the second round of the playoffs last spring, when they were able to grab a couple meals on off nights.

On the eve of this series, they met Nowitzki's longtime coach and advisor Holger Geschwindner and close mutual friend Nick Creme for dinner, where Nowitzki was greeted with a rousing ovation from restaurant patrons after he led Dallas past San Antonio in a seven-game epic.

The ex-teammates also hung out at Nash's Phoenix-area house on the eve of Tuesday's Game 4, giving Nowitzki some bonding time with Nash's 19-month-old twin girls, Lola and Bella. To keep the 7-footer from Dallas on the kids' radar, Nash's wife Alejandra will point him out whenever Nowitzki flashes across the TV screen.

Tio Loco, she calls him to the children. Crazy Uncle.

Nash and Nowitzki say there are generally more jokes than hoop talk at these gatherings or when they text message, although Nash couldn't resist pointing something out to his pal when they sat down to dine before Game 1.

"One of us," Nash said, "is going to the fucking NBA Finals.

"Amazing."

If it's hard for either one to believe, there's a good reason. They both became Mavericks on draft day in 1998, and this will be the first June since then that the Western Conference is not represented in the Finals by either San Antonio or the Lakers.

Why does it seem like they guard each other for a few possessions every game?

Both teams are frequently switching pick-and-rolls, which occasionally leaves Nowitzki out by the 3-point line trying to keep Nash from blowing by him ... or leaves Nash trying to keep Nowitzki from backing him down to the free-throw line (or closer) and sinking a gimme jumper.

It's really nothing new, though. As teammates, they played several one-on-one games every week as part of their shared routine to go back to the gym for extra shooting at night after morning practices.

"We shot a lot more than we played one-on-one, but we had all sorts of [games]," Nowitzki said. "One-on-one on the perimeter, one-on-one down low, Running H-O-R-S-E."

And when they end up matched against each other now?

"I think back to the Landry Center," Nowitzki said, recalling the practice facility Dallas used before American Airlines Center opened with its own practice court in 2001. "We shot for hours and hours back in the day. So it is a little weird to be doing it in the Western Conference finals."

As for who has the advantage when one ends up guarding the other in real life...

"I think we both know each other's moves really well, but so does the rest of the league," Nowitzki said. "I know exactly what he wants to do out there and he knows exactly what I want to do. Either way you want to look at it, it's a mismatch."

In what areas has the split been beneficial?

Nash conceded last week that his departure took Nowitzki "out of a comfort zone" and helped force him to diversify his offense. No longer could Nowitzki rely on the trusty pick-and-pop to get free for open jumpers.

Dallas still doesn't have a guard who consistently can create shot opportunities for him. Countless times in the Mavericks' second-round series with San Antonio, Nowitzki would be shadowed by a smaller defender at his high-post perch … but the ball wouldn't come even when he offered a high target. Devin Harris and Jason Terry can do a lot of the tough stuff -- like getting to the rim routinely against the mighty Spurs or sinking the clutchest of jumpers -- but both struggle with simple passes. Neither one is a convincing playmaker.

But now Nowitzki fills that void. He has become Dallas' foremost playmaker. He sports a much more well-rounded game in Year 2 of the separation, having returned from a long summer of introspection back home in Germany following the six-game playoff loss to Phoenix with a more refined low-post game and more dependable ballhandling.

Smaller, quicker defenders admittedly flummoxed Nowitzki in his first playoffs without Nash. Now he backs them in for high-quality looks or punishes the extra defensive attention he attracts by passing crisply out of double-teams.

Yet that's not all. With Avery Johnson demanding far more than Don Nelson did, Nowitzki is a bigger rebounding presence, spends more time in the paint at both ends and no longer ranks as a defensive liability, all while relying less and less on the 3-point rainbows that made him the sweetest-shooting 7-footer this sport has ever seen.

Nash, meanwhile, certainly wouldn't have won back-to-back MVP awards had he stayed in Dallas as Nowitzki's setup man (or probably even one). Leaving Dallas, then, pitched him to a new level of fame. After all, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan are the only other guards in history to win two successive MVPs.

Yet more valuable to Nash than those trophies that sit side-by-side on a simple cabinet near his kitchen is the spark he got from the messy Mavs divorce.

Mark Cuban's reluctance to offer more than $36 million guaranteed over four seasons, when Phoenix was offering $60 million guaranteed over six, took Nash back to his youth. No longer was he a two-time All-Star who thought he had finally made it. Cuban's oft-stated concerns about Nash's body holding up as he advanced into his 30s made him feel like he did when folks back in his native British Columbia scoffed at his NBA dreams.

"In Steve's mind," said Nash's brother Martin, a soccer pro and longtime member of Canada's national team, "he was an underdog again."

That prompted Nash, after all the workouts with Nowitzki in Dallas, to train harder than ever. He worked out five hours a day, five days a week, in the summer of 2004 with Vancouver physiotherapist Rick Celebrini, one of Martin's former soccer teammates.

Celebrini's program redefined Nash's core better than any Bowflex could, giving him what Suns patriarch Jerry Colangelo describes as "a totally different body" than Nash had when Phoenix drafted him in 1996.

The result? Nash is somehow more athletic as a sleeker 32-year-old than he was in his 20s. Combine that with veteran wisdom, new rules limiting defensive contact on the perimeter and total freedom granted by a coach whose system was tailor-made for Nash and you have a player reborn. (It also doesn't hurt that, when Stoudemire's healthy, Nash has a more devastating finisher in pick-and-rolls than any point guard ever has had before.)

"I just think he's getting better as he's getting older," D'Antoni said.

Yet both are clearly better leaders, too, as you'd expect with age.

"They're just two great players," D'Antoni said. "The only thing I can see is they might have taken on more responsibility when they separated and that could have helped each one, especially Dirk.

"But you know what? They'd be great in any system. They're just [two] of the top five players in the league, probably."

In what areas has the split hurt them?

As long as one team doesn't dominate the rivalry -- as long as both wind up with at least one championship ring in their careers -- there probably won't be many regrets.

However …

What if only one of them wins a ring? What if neither does?

As good as they've proven to be, both somehow raising the ceilings on their potential after splitting up, they are bound to wonder what would have happened had they stayed together.

"We're both making the best out of the situation," Nowitzki said. "But we both thought we'd finish our careers together in Dallas, that's for sure."

Said Nash: "I'll always believe that Dirk and I had a chance to win a championship. That's why I was so disappointed to leave. It's a little bit sad that we couldn't become teammates as we were reaching our peak."

But what about the widespread theory that the Mavs wouldn't be as good as they are now had they kept Nash?

Absolute nonsense.

This is an increasingly popular theory in Dallas because Nash, over the years, became the primary scapegoat for the team's defensive woes of yore. What this theory conveniently overlooks is the list of long and rangy athletes Dallas has added since Nash's departure.

He never got to play alongside Devin Harris or DeSagana Diop. He played with Nowitzki in his Irk days -- no D -- and with a center (Shawn Bradley) who was not trusted or respected by his teammates. As the Suns found out for half the regular season, until Kurt Thomas got hurt, Nash is a passable team defender if you have good defenders and athletes around him like Shawn Marion, Raja Bell, Boris Diaw and Thomas.

The theory that Nash was somehow stunting his buddy's growth is hilarious when you say it out loud. Nowitzki would have expanded his game with or without Nash because (a) he's that good, and (b) Johnson demanded it.

Nash's departure, furthermore, didn't make this Dirk's team. That happened through Michael Finley's departure in the summer of 2005. Even though Finley willingly scaled back his game over the years as Nowitzki and Nash progressed, those two never treated the Mavs as anything other than Finley's team out of respect for the third shooter and elder statesman of a close-knit Big Three.

Another myth: Harris wouldn't have the role he has now if Nash had stayed. Wrong. Harris, remember, was drafted a few weeks before Nash left. He could be understudying Nash now or playing alongside him, a la Nash and Leandro Barbosa in Phoenix.

Think it might have made a difference in the last of those Sacramento series if a player like Harris had been guarding Mike Bibby instead of Nash, who also had to deal with a vintage Doug Christie at the other end? Think Nash could have drastically cut his regular-season minutes load if he had had a teammate like Harris?

Don't forget, furthermore, that the guy who wound up getting the cash that didn't go to Nash -- Erick Dampier -- was giving Dallas absolutely nothing this season until Johnson benched him halfway through. It'll be handy to have Dampier in the Finals if the Mavs can get there, whether they get Miami or Detroit, but it's getting tougher to keep bulky centers with limited skills on the floor in today's up-tempo world.

Johnson played with Dampier in Golden State and pushed for the sign-and-trade that brought him to Dallas, so that's his move as much as anyone's. It's thus unreasonable to expect him to question publicly the wisdom of letting Nash go, especially in the midst of a Dallas-Phoenix series.

Yet you suspect that Johnson, a point guard at heart who's still searching for a coach on the floor, wouldn't protest if he could get Nash back. He was willing, at the very least, to shoot down the notion before Game 1 that Nash and Nowitzki couldn't have flourished for him as they did for Nelson.

"Sure they could have co-existed," Johnson said.

Absolutely.

Does Nowitzki ever get mad at Nash for leaving?

Nowitzki chuckled softly when I asked him again this week.

"No," he said. "Steve had to make that decision. He had to make the right decision for himself and for the security of his family. The money difference was too much. At some point, everybody's got to be a little bit selfish. More than anything, he felt a little disrespected by [Dallas'] offer."

OK, then.

What about being mad at Cuban for not offering Nash more?

Nowitzki says there's no need there, either, because "we replaced great players [Nash and Finley] with great players."

As valuable as Nash has suddenly become in a league increasingly drive-and-kick friendly, it's hard to argue with that sentiment when Dallas sits two wins shy of the first Finals berth in franchise history. Better yet for Nowitzki and Cuban, this wasn't the Mavericks' best shot to finally get past San Antonio -- referred to by Dirk as the "big brother" that beat them up for years -- and win the West. It was their best shot so far. Best shot implies last shot. This is a team with a healthy future in spite of the Nash departure.

Nowitzki turns 28 in June. The Mavs will have the opportunity at season's end to keep their new core together -- and keep developing it -- or use their surplus of young talent to pursue upgrades via trade.

They have a variety of options because many of the moves made just before and right after Nash's controversial departure were masterstrokes. Drafting Josh Howard when 20-something teams passed him up. Swapping Antawn Jamison for a more aggressive sixth man (Jerry Stackhouse) and the draft rights to Harris. Signing Diop and Adrian Griffin off the scrap heap and turning them into defensive difference-makers. Absorbing Keith Van Horn via trade as a very expensive seventh man … but a nice luxury if you can afford it.

Cuban is fond of pointing out that Dirk is one of his older players, meaning that Dallas is an elite team at the same time that it's retooling around him. It's a rare feat that keeps the Nash debate somewhat muted during the regular season … until the Nowitzki-Nash-Cuban triangle winds up in a playoff series and cranks everything up again.

Is it true that the mere sight of Cuban puts spring in Nash's legs?

You can probably guess the answer here, right?

As Suns assistant coach Alvin Gentry said before Game 1 last week: "In this building, Steve's always going to have fuel."

What we haven't had so far, through four games, is any public interaction between Nash and Cuban. We did see a couple of postgame handshakes in the teams' second-round meeting a year ago … although not after Phoenix won Game 6 in Dallas in overtime.

The animosity, obviously, is pretty real, undoubtedly exacerbated by the huge numbers Nash posted in the teams' first playoff encounter when Dallas swarmed Stoudemire and dared Nash to be a score-first point guard. D'Antoni repeatedly has used the word "vengeance" to describe Nash's motivation during his first season back in Phoenix.

Yet Nash doesn't have much to say about Cuban these days and vice versa. Asked at the start of the series how he would answer questions about this matchup serving as another referendum on letting Nash go, Cuban said he planned to respond by saying: "Come up with new questions. [Nash] has been gone for two years."

Will it get any easier, over time, to keep meeting like this when the stakes are so high?

We're not accustomed to seeing these kinds of friendships in the NBA. We're far more accustomed to dissecting relationships like Shaq and Kobe's.

That's why the Nash-Nowitzki bond will be the focal point of every playoff series they ever share.

I have to say, though, that Nowitzki and Nash seem to diffuse the awkwardness as coolly as possible, probably because they're basically like family after all these years. They officially joined the Mavericks in a joint press conference back in June 1998 and quickly became inseparable.

Nash's first season in town was by far the worst of his career, in part because of a nasty fall in a pickup game during the NBA lockout that led to the back and spine issues he's been playing through ever since. Yet he spent a good bit of that debut season in Dallas nurturing a homesick Nowitzki through a nightmare rookie season that initially had him wondering if he could handle America.

It's an undeniably unusual challenge to scrap with a close friend for such high stakes, and doubly so knowing there's a good chance they'll be in a similar spot next season and the season after that. But they haven't forgotten how laughable it would have been to dream up any of this eight years ago.

"I think it'll get a little easier over time," Nowitzki said. "Seeing him in another uniform, it's not so strange anymore. But I can't say it'll ever be like playing just another opponent. It'll never be that way."

Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com.