Irredeemably Depraved

 Sometimes words fail me.

A Roundup Of Canadians' Views On The Lost One

For my final post (at least for the time being) on The Lost One, I thought it would be interesting to cull some letters-to-the-editor from various newspapers. Given that Gretzky is likely not a man either capable of, or given to, deep reflection, I'm sure Canadians' disappointment and fury are lost on him.

From The Globe and Mail:

Not so great

Re “How Canada’s nearly 50-year romance with Wayne Gretzky came to an end” (Feb. 24): While I admire Wayne Gretzky’s hockey ability, my love of our Canadian boy ended when he wore a “Make America Great Again” hat.

However, his father Walter Gretzky loved Canada and Brantford, and Brantford loved Walter. At the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre this week, there was lots of talk about renaming it the “Walter Gretzky arena.”

Sydnie Crockett Woodstock, Ont.

From The Toronto Star:

Vitriol directed at Gretzky is deserved

I strongly disagree Wayne Gretzky should not be chastised for his support of Trump.

When popular sports figures choose to publicly endorse political figures they can affect the outcome of elections. They are implicitly endorsing the platforms, beliefs and behaviours of those politicians. When those platforms, beliefs and behaviours are self-serving, corrupt and immoral, those popular sports figures should face the unrestrained ire of responsible voters.

Given the recent irrational assault by Trump on Canada, Canadian hockey players in the NHL should keep their opinions to themselves. Play the game, earn your millions of American dollars .

G. Evans, Burlington

From The Winnipeg Free Press:

How sad to see the uninspired choice of Wayne Gretzky for honorary captain of Team Canada. Was this a deliberate choice for the U.S. to thumb their nose at Canada?

Gretzky? A guy who openly supports Trump, whose wife has posted her support of Canada becoming the 51st state, who has been tagged by Trump with no argument as the guy to be the next “governor” of Canada?

Not to be outdone, Gretzky chooses to enter the ice through the U.S. bench, giving them thumbs up along the way, does not wear the Canada jersey, but instead sports a suit in the U.S. jersey colours, does not approach the Canadian bench to encourage them, does not visit them in the dressing room after the Canada win, but gifts them with red ball caps ambiguously labelled “Be Great.” Which is a reference to what? The MAGA slogan or his own greatness? Either way, kind of pathetic. I lost a lot of respect for Gretzky when he started shilling for sports betting companies on Hockey Night in Canada, but this kind of closes the door on him for me.

A much better choice for honorary captain would have been Hayley Wickenheiser, a star player who is unambiguously Canadian.

Rob McConnell

Winnipeg

From The Edmonton Journal:

Wayne Gretzky’s name and statue stand as symbols of Edmonton’s hockey greatness, but recent actions have shown he no longer deserves this honour. It is time to remove his statue and rename Wayne Gretzky Drive.

We have long celebrated Gretzky as “The Great One,” yet he has turned his back on the country that made him a legend. Rather than upholding the values and pride of Canada, he has aligned himself with the ignorance and misguided ideologies that are increasingly coming from the United States. His presence on such prominent Edmonton landmarks is now an insult to those who truly cherish our nation.

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Edmonton has no shortage of heroes who have remained steadfast in their loyalty. Let’s honour someone who truly represents our spirit, rather than a figure who has abandoned it in favour of the nonsense south of the border. It’s time for city officials to do the right thing: Remove Gretzky’s statue and rename Wayne Gretzky Drive.

 Ron Boehm, Edmonton

Finally, lest you think The Sad One has no support, there is this 'thoughtful' missive from The Calgary Sun:

Both of Canada’s living hockey legends, Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr, are friends with the 45th and 47th president of the United States of America. Is the level of hatred propagated by those afflicted with Trump Derangement Syndrome so maniacal that we have lost all sense of reason? I dare the media to try to cancel either one or both of these Canadian icons!

PAT BIONDI 

 

 

 

Still Dead To Me - Part 2

 

Following up on my previous post about the erstwhile 'Great' One, Number 99 himself, it is clear that the odium he sparked by his appearance in Boston as the ceremonial captain of Team Canada is not subsiding. His alignment with the American cause, his affinity for the man threatening our sovereignty, his obvious disdain for his country of birth, have all become part of the backlash directed against him.

Is traitor too strong a word? The Globe's Cathal Kelly has some thoughts:

It started on social media with news that Mr. Gretzky had been booed in some Canadian bars showing the game. That spread to fringe outlets using words like traitor. Which allowed mainstream outlets to use the word in quotes.

By Saturday, the contagion was airborne. Everybody wanted to talk about it, even people who don’t care about hockey. Being less inclined to cultism, they’d had their suspicions for a while.

Kelly suggests the former hockey player could have avoided all of this by doing a few things differently.

He could’ve traded out the suit jacket for a sweater. Sidney Crosby’s No. 87 would have been a nice touch. Showed he isn’t a me-me-me guy.

 Emphatic gestures to the Canadian team? Sure. At the very least,  don’t be seen encouraging the enemy camp [a reference to the thumbs-up he gave the American team as he walked onto the ice].

Slapped a great, big smile on his face? It gets a bad rap these days, but you can get away with just about anything with a genuine smile. It would have been better than the expression of concentrated neutrality Mr. Gretzky settled on. 

His shoddy performance allowed people to see him as he really is.

He’s an other-direction carpet bagger, a golf world hanger-on and a Mar-a-Lago regular. When you see Mr. Gretzky up close now, the first word that leaps to mind is “louche.”

 Thursday’s appearance sealed an impression of Mr. Gretzky most have had for years, but did not publicly express. That he’s the sort of guy who got out of here as fast as he could, and never comes back unless it’s to make a few bucks or get his tires pumped.

He’ll show up for any gala dinner, but when his best buddy the President is threatening to annex the country? Oh, you wouldn’t believe how busy he is then.

By his actions and inactions, he has destroyed the mythology that he is a good Canadian living in a foreign land.  He has been unconvincing for years, but recent events have sealed his ostracism in the minds of many.

Things were probably irreparable after the first time he was pictured in a MAGA hat, gone full sycophant. But when he would not wear our uniform after wearing theirs, that was truly it.

If you will excuse an uncharacteristic crudeness on my part, Number 99 did a Number 2 on our country. The stench of that act will linger well into the future.

 

 

Still Dead To Me

Almost three years ago, I wrote the following about The 'Great' One.:

Gretzky has been dead to me since his shameful, full-throated endorsement of Stephen Harper in 2015, despite the fact that the retired hockey player does not live in Canada and is not eligible to vote here. Indeed, it left many wondering about the number of concussions he had sustained during his career.

Now, there is new reason to scorn The Addled One: his shameful performance as the honorary captain of  Team Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off final in Boston the other night.

The Star's Damien Cox offers some observations on The Lost One:

The evidence suggests No. 99 and his family are strong MAGA supporters, and Gretzky certainly hasn’t come out to protest the U.S. president’s suggestion that Canada should become the “51st state” with the pride of Brantford as its “governor.”

Gretzky ... is being characterized as a traitor in some quarters. 

Cox thinks this is unfair in some ways:

... if you’re looking for hockey people to be progressive or loudly anti-Trump when it comes to their views on Canada as a sovereign nation, you might be looking in the wrong place. Gretzky’s apparent right-wing leanings are more consistent with mainstream thinking in the bro culture that dominates the male hockey world than you might want to acknowledge.

Most NHL players are white, aren’t university educated and are more likely to follow social media than read a book. Their business prizes group think rather than individuality. These days, most are also affluent. All of that makes them easy pickings for the tribal MAGA world.

Cox points out that Gretzky is not alone in his disappointing behaviour.

Sure, his silence on Trump’s anti-Canadian comments is disappointing. Just as disappointing as it was when Bobby Orr and Jack Nicklaus came out as pro-Trump. The fact that these revered sportsmen can simply look the other way as forces of hate spread stolen election lies and blame Ukraine for getting invaded is upsetting. 

The shame of Gretzky’s pro-MAGA leanings is that he is apparently unaware of the fear and unease Trump is generating in Canada. He would probably be at a loss to explain why Canadian fans booed “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the 4 Nations tournament.

Like the rest of us, athletes are not paragons of virtue. Nonetheless, when you occupy an exalted position due to past physical prowess, you do have a responsibility, whether your heart is in it or not, to comport yourself with dignity, self-respect, and national pride. By all of these metrics, Wayne Gretzky has failed horribly.

 

Will Life Imitate Art?

Sometimes, when I look at the rapid devolution of democracy in the United States, I wonder if perhaps I am lying in a coma somewhere, and this is just some elaborate fever dream. A related thought is that if all of this were a movie treatment, it would likely never be produced, given the absurdity of the plot.

In the land of so-called make-believe, both novels and cinema have warned us of dystopian futures, sparked by the rise of a 'man of the people.'  There was a 1957 film called A Face in The Crowd, about the meteoric rise of Larry Rhodes, featuring the against-type casting of Andy Griffiths as a demagogue. His character is ultimately brought back down to earth by a "hot-mic." 

In a similar vein, but even more menacing, was Stephen King's The Dead Zone, later made into a movie starring Christopher Walken and Martin Sheen.

One cannot watch either of these films without thinking of Donald Trump.

My friend Gary sent me this last evening. 

Both of these movies have what might be described as happy endings. While the signs are not good, it remains to be seen whether life will ultimately imitate art in contemporary Amerika.

A Calm Voice Of Reason

If you don't know of him, allow me a moment to introduce you to Flavio Volpe. President of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, he was appointed in 2023 as a Member of The Order of Canada. 

Volpe received the honour for advancing Canada’s automotive and technology industries on an international scale as a leading policy expert in national trade and industry competition. Created in 1967, the Order of Canada is one of the country’s highest civilian honours, recognizing people across all sectors who have made extraordinary and sustained contributions to Canada.

Even more importantly, Volpe has emerged as a calm, incisive and wise voice for all Canadians as he offers his views and advice on how to deal with the U.S., a country apparently intent on waging a massive trade war against our country. 

Here is a short clip from a CBC interview which will offer you a measure of the man:

At a time when shrill voices seem to dominate the media, sane perspectives offered by people like Volpe and his analyses of the threats posed to our country by Trump and his henchpeople are much-needed. 

One hopes that the federal government recognizes what he brings to both the negotiating and the policy-formulation table.

Thin Skin

For people who think critically rather than merely listen to the echo chamber of their choice, it should be obvious that having a thin skin is not an attribute. While this affliction can be found in both political polarities, it seems especially endemic in the far right. Those of that ilk, as discussed in a previous post,  tend to be perpetually aggrieved. Consider, for example, the vehemence with which they cite 'restrictions' on freedom of speech, the great cross they must bear throughout their tortured lives. Names like Jordan Peterson, Don Trump, and Pierre Poilievre come readily to mind. (The latter, in an article by David Moscrop, is described as Trump-adjacent, a lovely description, in my view.)

The problem with such people is their arrant hypocrisy. These particular free-speech warriors seem interested only in liberty for their own points of view. Indeed, those of the so-called woke, progressive and pro-Palestinian factions, in fact anyone with contrary perspectives are, to the unbalanced reactionaries, threats to the very fabric of society. 

I don't like perpetual whiners. They lack the fiber to deal with real life, and are manifestly unfit for public office. In the following, former Global News reporter Rachel Gilmore takes them to task for their feckless character. Young PP comes in for particular scrutiny:

A federal election is not far off. Going into it, I can only conclude that angry 'man' Pierre Poilievre is not up to the high office he so hungrily and shrilly aspires to, the reports of faux news sites notwithstanding.