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?

Complete chaos is going on in my household as I am still trying to recover from the Kobe 81 point effort. Yes ladies and gentleman, one day i woke up and i heard that Wilt the Stilt's record is close to being broken. Its amazing still that Kobe "let me chuck up every shot because i have no other option on my team" Bryant is the one to do it. Amazing not because Kobe was the one that did it because as much as i hate on Kobe, I dont hate on the man's skill. NO, i was suprised that Mr. Triangle Offense himself would allow this to occur. Last time i checked, there was three angles to the Triangle but hey, I'm not the genius right? But i must say in closing that Kobe is winning fans everywhere. Even i am beginning to like Kobe, but dont hold your breath, I still enjoy a good Philly homecoming boo fest tape when i get the chance.
Today was a sad day as i woke up to the lukewarm news of Mike Piazza signing with the San Diego Padres. For those who arent on this planet, Mike Piazza was for so long the most recognizable face on the New York Mets. They kept him there as long as they could and this year they were putting even more new faces to the roster and that meant letting go of old faces. For many Mike Piazza was the catcher that never threw the bat back to Roger Clemens. But i remember Mike for the game at Shea against the Braves when the Mets came back from 8 runs down in the 8th inning and Mike capped it off with a three run HR. THat fist pump still sends chills down my spine. At his prime he was the greatest hitting catcher of ALL TIME. He was the guy doing power numbers that catchers just werent supposed to do and was doing it for an extended period of time. Anyone that has played the backstop can appreciate that and for that and more memories that i cant possibly fit on a page, i want to thank you Mike, you'll always be a Met in my book.
So back to the basics of sports. I am now beginning to see that Isaiah Thomas is an even bigger idiot than i thought before. I heard the story of his sexual lawsuit then his son comes out to say that he has no relationship with his dad. This of course is the son of Isaiah's from his love baby. Yes ladies and gentleman, Isaiah Thomas has a baby mamma. Also there were different rumors that he was employing his "boys" and "cousins" and landscapers for high ranking positions with the Knicks. It sucks that i have to learn that I could've been a Knicks' front official had i just mowed Isaiah's lawn. Oh well, and as far as the sexual harassment suit, i have to believe the woman here. She was apparently given many awards for her hard work and MSG officials were trying to have us believe that a woman as qualified as her was not doing her job. Hey, when I'M at work i dont do my job. Its like telling Shaun Alexander at the end of the year that "hey we know that you helped us get to the Super Bowl and we climbed on the back of your MVP year , but you dont deserve more than the 2 Million dollar exception." But hey even that can happne folks. CRAZIER THINGS HAVE HAPPENED.
Ok folks time to sign off. A better article to come.