| Dave Kelly is an inspiration. The veteran A Channel Big Breakfast host is proof positive that perseverance and some attention to grooming can pay off. Hopefully the Calgary Flames can learn from his never-say-die example. For you see, Kelly knows and has risen above his own version of denied-the-Stanley-Cup-type disappointment.
The storm Kelly has had to weather is having come in as a runner-up twice in the "sexiest man" category of Fast Forward’s annual Best of Calgary survey. But those silver medal days are over, baby. This year, Kelly has broken through the door of adversity to stand with confidence, brow provocatively furrowed, teeth glistening, as the 2004 readers’ choice for Calgary’s primo hunk.
Dave edged out the Flames’ charismatic captain Jarome Iginla and third-place finisher Darr Maqbool, A Channel’s ever-popular weatherman, who landed the title last year. Will his besting of friend and co-worker Maqbool potentially create a rift at work?
"We probably won’t speak for a couple of weeks," says Kelly, "but eventually I am sure he’ll warm up."
A former junior high school teacher in Edmonton and actor in Toronto, the 41-year-old Kelly has an up-at-4:30-a.m. TV gig that puts an unusual spin on his dating life.
"With the job I have, the sexiest man in Calgary tends to be asleep by nine o‘clock at night. That’s the torrid pace I keep with my escapades," he says. "I am everybody’s first shift in the dating scene. If I go out with somebody, I drop them off and we are done by seven o’clock. Then they go out for part two."
He provides a sports comparison. "I am kind of like the guy in the Tour de France who sets the pace out of the gate and then someone else comes in for the actual big gains," he says, pausing for effect. "Darr Maqbool, perhaps."
Asked to draw up his own Best of Calgary list, Kelly mentions the popular Stephen Avenue eatery Juan’s Mexican Restaurante and, as the ideal spot for chilling with pals, the rooftop at The Whiskey Nightclub. But he sees nothing finer about this city than its civic pride, so aptly demonstrated during the Calgary Flames playoff run.
"That was the most fun two months of television I have ever done," he says. "It was so easy, because normally you wake up and think, ‘So what are we going to talk about on the show today?’ But with the playoff run, you just talked about it, and you knew that was what everyone was wanting and expecting. We had Don Cherry on the show, we had Ron MacLean, all the Flames alumni – we had everybody who was anybody in hockey on the show."
Although he has mixed feelings about the breast-flashing trend that emerged at the height of playoff madness, Kelly points proudly to the Red Mile phenomenon on 17th Avenue S.W. as proof that Calgary knows how to party hard without going too far.
"Everybody, shirts on or shirts off, was there for a good time. It was such a great party," he says. "I mean, imagine if they tried to do that in New York or Toronto. There’d be people smashing and looting and doing all kinds of stupid shit. Yet we managed to have thousands and thousands of people all out on the street partying, and nothing major happened."
As Kelly enters his reign as the city’s sexiest man, he feels compelled to mention the woman he contends paved the way to his win. "I have been training beside a professional (sexiest person) for the last few months and that’s what I think has gotten me over the hump," he says.
His Big Breakfast co-host Tara McCool is once again your choice for "sexiest woman" – a category she has dominated since the awards were launched in 1998. "She’s not only the sexiest person in Calgary, she’s also the kindest and sweetest," raves Kelly. "I just have to sit here and smile and everything else works out because of her."
When taking on the role of a "Be Sexy" Jedi Master passing out advice to others, Kelly again calls upon the experience of working alongside McCool. "I know from hanging out with someone like Tara, just being generous and respectful gets you way further with people than deliberately trying to be sexy."
As the funny and ever-so-personable Kelly sits on top of his male-babe mountain, he suggests he’s just hitting his prime and looks ahead to the prospect of future "sexiest man" titles.
"Just watch me go!" he says. "A 41-year-old in bed every night at nine o’clock – they don’t get any sexier than that!" |
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