Thursday, September 6, 2001
Wayne's World
Great One clearly shouldering most of the great expectations
By JIM TAYLOR -- Calgary Sun
He'd come to the media tent to get a sausage. It was noon and even legends get hungry.
So there was Wayne Gretzky, munching away quietly for five minutes or so. Until a reporter he knew came over, just to say "hi."
Another reporter saw them talking and joined in.
A radio person saw the three of them and stuck a mike into the group. Another radio person saw it and rushed over with a mike of his own. A TV reporter nudged her cameraman, who hurried to get the closeup.
Within a minute, there was a rush like cliff-bound lemmings, Gretzky circled and trapped answering the same old questions -- because what else was to be asked -- "How was the sausage?"
The message was clear: On ice, Team Canada's Olympic hopes will rest with Lemieux, Sakic, Yzerman, Lindros and the rest. But the face on the package, the guy who'll take the heat and the second-guessing if the medal hunt yields anything less than gold, will be the legend known as 99.
Which is kind of funny considering he always swore as a player he would never be a coach, never be a general manager, because he could never cut a player or send one to the minors when he knew how hard the guy had worked and how much it meant.
Yet here he is, executive director of the greatest hockey talent Canada can muster, knowing that come Dec. 22 -- Merry Christmas -- he's going to have to tell about a dozen NHL stars they're not going to be on the squad for Salt Lake City.
Watching the scramble for the sausage quotes triggered a flashback. It was the '60s. Space shots were big news and Walter Cronkite was the CBS voice for every launch. One day, NASA aborted a mission. "Walter's called off the launch!" my mother screamed from the living room.
She knew diddly about NASA but she watched Walter every day. He WAS the space program.
And Wayne Gretzky IS Team Canada.
If it settles for silver or bronze or, God forbid, comes away with a reprise of the Nagano nightmare, he will be the one facing the firing squad of second-guessers. The hero or the guy who didn't get it done.
"Fine," he shrugged when the theory was put to him earlier in the day.
"That's what Canada's all about. It wouldn't be fun if it was any other way. Canada's expectations are high: The gold medal. That's the way it should be."
This is a tougher Gretzky model than the playing Gretzky, who so often bit his tongue rather than say something that could be perceived as a knock at his game or the people running it.
He's basically thumbed his nose at the so-called rules of preparation because he knows the Europeans are playing exhibition games. "If they want to get mad," he's said. "Let them be mad at me."
He and his staff are here for one reason only: To do as much as possible to get Canada's team ready for the Olympics. If that generates heat, so be it. As for the cutting down the road:
"Hey, listen: Michael Jordan got cut. That's a fact of life. Every guy here has tried out for teams and I guarantee there was a time when maybe they didn't make it.
"No matter how much money you make, no matter what's involved, the bottom line is that these guys just love to play hockey. Every guy came up yesterday and said thanks for having me here.
"There are no guarantees. In Nagano, we didn't lose from lack of preparation. We got beaten and that happens."
The wheel turns. The five-year-old tottering onto the ice on the Nith River, the NHL record-smasher, the Canadian icon, is now the boss of another group of players pushing onto the world stage.
And at home, Tristin, the youngest of the Gretzky Four at 13 months, is about to grace the cover of Martha Stewart magazine. "Tristin's first tooth," 99 says proudly.
Jeez. His dad didn't make a cover until he was seven. The wheel turns.
2002 Games Men's Hockey Coverage
