The Great One

Wayne Gretzky is now 55, same age as me, and it just doesn't seem possible. When he first appeared in the NHL, as something unlike which we'd ever seen, I never thought of him as being the same age. He was young, unbelievably young; a superstar while still a teenager. And yet the age similarity didn't compute; John Updike once wrote famously of Ted Williams that Gods do not answer letters, and I suppose there's something of that in this: mortals do not compare their ages to Gods. I never got to see him play in person, but even though our television coverage of hockey was woefully inadequate for much of his time in the game*, everyone knew about him - even non-hockey fans.

*Not that there aren't plenty of highlight reels of him; it was only living in the Twin Cities that our television coverage suffered, thanks to our lack of cable for so long. On the other hand, it also means that whenever you search him on YouTube, he'll take your breath away.

Joe Posnanski wrote about Gretzky as the greatest, in a way that's undefinable in terms of statistics or records or grace - it's worth sharing because, ultimately, there is no other way to describe him, not even as Paulina's father.

He was a child prodigy who, like Mozart, defied the rules of gravity in his craft. He imagined a new way to play. Sure defenses are tougher now, and goaltenders are better now, and he might get roughed up a bit more. But so what? Gretzky always found a way. Geniuses are like that.

We'll just leave it at that, I think.

My favorite team does it again!

You'd only expect a BBQ War for a Hockey Championship in the South

There was the case of a bet between mayors in the NHL's Western Conference when the mayor of Calgary sang the megahit from Frozen, "Let It Go," in the city chambers as part of a lost bet with Anaheim's mayor, complete with a classic Ducks jersey.


There's also the bet where Deval Patrick had to send Martin O'Malley lobster after a Ravens defeat of the Patriots, and also when Prime Minister Harper won President Obama's Yuengling.

But now this.  The Ultimate Southern War has come to hockey.  The mayor of North Charleston (South Carolina Stingrays) is placing a bet wit the mayor of Allen (Americans) in the ECHL Kelly Cup Final.  The prize is nothing short of what Myron Mixon, Tuffy Stone, and Moe Cason could appreciate.  A fourth Stingrays Kelly Cup would mean a cow, while a third consecutive Americans title (two CHL Ray Miron President's Cup and now ECHL Kelly Cup after the merger) would mean five hogs.  Each represents their own style of barbecue -- whole hog (such as Sweatman's in Holly Hill) and brisket (a popular barbecue form in Texas).

So it isn't just hockey.  It's a battle for barbecue bragging rights.  And you would only expect that in the South.  Go figure.

On the 8-Olympiad Anniversary of a famous moment . . .

This should be a Classic Sports column, but considering the importance of the former video and the importance of the latter, they are coinciding with each other.

February 22, 1980, at Olympic Center, now known as Herb Brooks Arena. We've heard the famous finish, but have rarely hard the crucial moment of Al Michaels' famous call, which was edited for broadcast.



In 2006, Disney (by then the parent company of American Broadcasting) traded Mr. Michaels to Universal (owned by General Electric and Vivendi; in 2011, it is now in control of Comcast and General Electric) for Walt Disney's first character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, which was owned by Universal. ◙