Thursday, December 16, 1999

Sudbury man crowned as Canada’s Joe Average

By Rob O’Flanagan/THE SUDBURY STAR

   Mike Zegil’s life became a lot less average on Wednesday.
   Zegil, a Laurentian University student, has been named the World’s Most Average Canadian and crowned Joe Average by the CBC national radio program Definitely Not the Opera.
   But there was nothing average about Joe Average’s day Wednesday.
   “When I got home from work, I had 14 messages on my answering machine,” said Zegil after a hectic day. “I’ve never had more than two in my whole life. I’m stuck somewhere between extreme excitement and extreme fear. No, right now, it’s full fear.”
   Definitely Not the Opera, a Saturday afternoon magazine-style program which explores popular culture, wants to make Zegil famous.
   The program has enlisted the services of a public relations firm -- Hey! Communications -- from Winnipeg. It will spend the next several weeks pitching Zegil as a pitchman for charitable organizations.
   "They're going to be pitching me to groups which are willing to take a chance on a basic nobody," said Zegil, who says he has never looked in a mirror and said, 'Hey there handsome.'
   His girlfriend, however, believes Zegil is above average.
   "I live a quiet life. I go to school, go to work, hang with my friends," he says. "There's a lot of comfort in being a nobody; in people not knowing who you are. Now, a lot more people are going to know my name.
   "I hope somebody from, like, the fourth grade doesn't go public and say that I'm a terrible person."
   Zegil now has a website - www.geocities.com/mikezegil - devoted to him. On it, you can learn more about Canada's most average citizen - where he came from, why he is so darned average and what he studies at university.
   Zegil says he is an average student, with grades between 70 and 80.
   Should the "social experiement" work and make Zegil famous, will fame corrupt him? And will it make him magnetic to the opposite sex?
   "I sure hope not," he answered to both questions. "I'm really, really happy with my girlfriend.  She's definitely not ordinary.
   "She's spectacular; the most fantastic person I ever met."
   The secret to being an ordinary Canadian is in the attitude, said Zegil. Being proud to be a Canadian, being nice, quiet and tolerant are the main ingredients. However, when he stops to think about Canada, and the people who live in this country, "no one is really average."
   Zegil's goal in life is also average.
   "I want to be happy with my life. For me, that's the most important thing."

Link to The Sudbury Star

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