Short of nothing amazing, i am writing to you amidst the furious anger that is beginning to seep through over the huge scandal that Wayne Gretzky's Best friend is in. Rick Tocchet before this little tiff with the Federal Authorities was a well liked player and had the stamp of approval of the GREATEST hockey player EVER! Thats like Michael Jordan telling everyone hey this is Swithin, he's my friend at a restaurant. Trust me folks, i wont get ANY problems anywhere from now on.
Regardless of that, the huge fuss came when it was discovered that Wayne's wife had made $500,000 in bets and was in on this. Wayne in his ever continuing struggle to be the nice guy wanted NOT to have his wife implicated while his friend was indeed going to be thrown under the bus.
Unfortunately, a wiretap has been found where Wayne is having that very alleged conversation. This implicates that Mr. Gretzky has KNOWN all along about this ring which has ties to crime families in New Jersey.
What does a family man do in such instances but appear as stoic as the Great One seemed to be while handling this mess. For now, Wayne Gretzky's legacy is secure as STILL the greatest hockey player to ever play. He surely remains the single biggest influence to any and every hockey player that laces up a pair of skates. For millions of hockey lovers he is simply the GREATest One (Excuse the simple play on words).
But what if, this scandal will somehow net Wayne some jail time. What then? What will we think of our great hero then? Is he going to be forgotten and legacy ruined? My answer? NO
Why so confident? Well that is simple. For every other iconic athlete that defined a sport, no matter the struggle they went through, they always seemed to be so great that whatever happened or whatever they did, we as the public seemed to pat them on the back and say they will be ok.
Case in point: Michael Jordan. Many dont know about the struggle Michael had in trying to defeat a crippling habit he had, which was GAMBLING. My, what a parallel to Mr. Gretzky. Yet, no matter the millions he seemed to throw away at the crap tables, Michael's greatness on the court and his ability to sell sneakers seemed to cast away any cloud over his legacy.
Want another example? Take Lawrence Taylor. He lived life on the faster lane than the fast lane. He was a confessed cocaine user, and had other vices that would almost cripple any other player from performing at the top of their game. Somehow, LT (yes, the ONLY LT in my opinion), was just so good at getting at the quarterback we forgot about all that and made him a first ballot Hall of Famer.
The best case in point is Barry Bonds. A few homers shy of breaking Babe Ruth and perhaps eventually even Henry Aaron's iconic homerun record, allegations abound about whether he used steroids just like every other major home run hitter in the 90's. Reporters in all major newspapers write daily on this issue as if they saw Barry use the needle on himself. Most look to his ties to Balco founder Victor Conte and his personal trainer's problems in the steroid issue to this allegation.
But despite all these problems, if you were to ask any one of these reporters if Barry Bonds is a hall of famer he is undoubtedly a first ballot hall of famer.
How are any of these things making sense? Well there is a higher premium for not only the league but for the general public to protect their iconic figures in our society. Why would anyone want to tell on Michael and get him checked into a rehab clinic for a very deadly vice like gambling as long as he produces a victory for his team. Why would you want to stop LT from taking drugs as long as he sacks the quarterback a few times and gets the Giants a victory?
But the major difference comes when you observe when this takes place. All those allegations of Michael and LT happened while he was playing and maintaing a face in the public eye as a player cementing his legacy. There was a more invested stake in Michael before. THis has happened to Gretzky at a very crucial time, when his legacy is cemented and can only GO DOWN!
This could be deadly for hockey's most important figure. Coming off of a strike year, the NHL can not be happy about their most beloved player being dragged through the mud for something his wife allegedly did. Nonetheless, its love you today hate you tomorrow kind of attitude can really, whats the word i'm looking for, SUCK!
If you dont believe me about the legacy while playing, consider this. Would you have loved Mark McGwire any less if he had kept his mouth shut while playing? It was when we knew that he had nothing to lose yet STILL plead the fifth on the subject of steroid use that made us really not like him. One swing of Mark McGwire's bat and our thought process would've probably went something like this: "man that guy is a cheater but he SURE can hit that ball far..WOW!". Its when they dont have a bat or a stick in hand that you can completely lose it all. Of course it is to note that if Mark McGwire went through what Rafael Palmiero went through i'm sure it wouldnt have mattered how far he hit the ball his name would be tarnished.
What's amazing about Wayne is that he is fighting allegations about his wife. I mean if you have a wife, i'm sure you would know when $500,000 left your bank account. Although it doesnt help that it went to your best freind.
Now we can all be two sides about this argument like I clearly am, but it raises several issues that must be discussed: Do we give Wayne the benefit of the doubt because his wife did it? Or do we say Wayne you SHOULD have known and DID know that your wife was gambling half a million dollars and using your best friend as a bookie.
Folks, Rick Tocchet is going to jail, Mrs. Gretzky's only charge right now is that she gambled an exorbitant amount. RIght now her only involvement is that she bet on games. The more we learn about these issues, the most we learn about Wayne's involvement, the easier it will be to indict and prosecute whoever's legacy. But until then, can we know enough to ruin the Great One's legacy? Just because he isnt playing anymore can we automatically assume that he is guilty because his old videos and footage just doesnt do it for us as it used to when it was live? Its so hard to tell, but regardless its something that we must be aware enough to know, is what Wayne Gretzky claims that he didnt know enough for us to believe him? Or will he end up like hockey's version of *gulp* Pete Rose?