The Last Word on Evan

From today's Naperville Sun:

The first time I laid eyes on Evan Lysacek was on November 27^th, 2007. He was taking part in the Hometown Holidays Parade in downtown Naperville and I had absolutely no idea who he was. I realize the mere fact I know the date makes me sound like a stalker, and in a way you’d be right. By the time he won his Gold medal in the Vancouver Olympics I was going around saying “that’s the guy who I saw in the parade.” Since March 25^th, the day I found out I was on the media coach covering Evan Lysacek Day, I’ve been completely obsessed.

What stands out most about that day was what a true gentleman he was. He was in town for less than 24 hours, yet was consistently charming to everyone he met including the 30 journalists who interviewed him during the day. His parents, Don and Tanya, were with him every step of the way, as they have been since he started skating as an eight year old (and no doubt for a few years before that too).

We already knew then he was taking on two more consecutive gargantuan challenges – a national skating tour with Smucker’s Stars on Ice and ABC’s Dancing With the Stars – the country’s top rated TV show.

I watched him perform live at the All State Arena, and helped arrange viewing local DWTS viewing parties. Before long I found I was part of the stories that I had followed from the outside. The Lysacek effect is certainly contagious and the whole city was swept along as we rooted for our home town Golden boy who ended up having to be content with silver this time round.

Mayor Pradel has frequently told me what a great role model Lysacek is for Naperville – both in showing local kids just what you can do with the right determination and in promoting Naperville as his home town to the rest of the world.

What the rest of the world may not know that Lysacek is Naperville personified. Attractive, charismatic, almost pretty darn perfect. If Naperville was a novel, Lysacek would be its romantic lead.

My English teachers taught me there is always a better adjective to use than ‘nice’, but that’s only because they’d never lived here. I’m usually sceptical about people I meet for the first time, but when you dig below the surface here, I’m afraid nice is usually what you get.

So I plead guilty to often referring to Naperville as a little bubble of perfection, which would definitely perpetuate the myth if it was one.