Wayne's world
The Great One has found himself in a spot of bother. But can't he speak for himself?
Let me just say right up front: Some of the reaction to Wayne Gretzky’s behaviour at the 4 Nations Face-Off has been overwrought.
Social-media detectives were furiously posting after Gretzky was the honorary captain of Team Canada last week, imaging all sorts of betrayals of the country of his birth: he wore a dark suit of neutral colours, he didn’t have so much as a maple leaf pin on his lapel and, worst of all, he gave a smile and a thumbs-up to the Team USA bench as he walked out on the carpet for the pre-game ceremony.
GASP. YANKEE LOVER.
When Mario Lemieux appeared at the 4 Nations opener a week earlier in Montreal, he wore a dark blue suit and no Canada paraphernalia of any sort. Everyone was thrilled to see him and he received long and loud cheers. (He didn’t acknowledge the Team USA bench in any way, because there was no Team USA bench. They weren’t playing.)
So, yes, people freaked out about Gretzky on social media for no good reason and rushed to conclusions for which they didn’t have any evidence. Shocking, I know.
But.
Wayne Gretzky is also a grown-ass man. While it’s silly to expect him to do anything but what he did at the 4 Nations — was he supposed to punch a Tkachuk in the face? cut a wrestling-style promo that crapped on Donald Trump? — it is hardly unreasonable to wonder if, at any time in the past month or two, he could have spoken up to say that the country of his birth is a proud nation that doesn’t deserve to be insulted by his friend, the President of the United States.
Would that be so hard? Is it asking too much?
I cannot for the life of me understand how anyone would want to be publicly identified as a Trump supporter, but Gretzky is hardly alone among athletes and former athletes who like to pal around with the guy. I’m guessing it’s because they are rich and Trump is very pro-rich with his tax-cut plans and they choose to ignore the rest of it — the racism, the sexism, the cruelty toward anyone who is not a favoured group, the shameless and relentless grifting — because Trump is flattering to them in private. Once a jock-sniffer, always a jock-sniffer.
But Gretzky, in this particular moment, is also very much not like Tiger Woods or Tom Brady or Michael Jordan. His country, the one that has celebrated him like a favoured son during and since his NHL playing days — remember the delirium of the torch-lighting ceremony at Vancouver 2010? — is under direct threat from Trump. The U.S. President keeps repeating the idea of Canada as a 51st state as though he’s trying to decide what wine to have with dinner, and he keeps saying that Canadians think it’s a great idea, despite strong, clear evidence to the contrary.
How many Canadians are truly liked and respected by Trump? How many are in a position to say, actually, sir, Canadians like their country very much and have no interest in being absorbed by yours — and have him maybe listen for a minute?
I can think of at least one. A hockey player of some renown.
Instead, Gretzky has remained utterly silent. Instead, we have Bobby Orr (noted Trump fan) writing op-eds to say that Wayne is a great guy, and Janet Gretzky posting online that Wayne’s “heart is broken” because of the criticism he has been taking, and, especially weirdly, we have Trump’s, um, exoneration(?) of Gretzky.
Honestly, I have no idea what any of this is supposed to mean:
So … Gretzky has Trump’s blessing to continue to not want Canada to become the 51st state, but we will just have to take his word for it? One way to interpret this word salad from the Poster-in-Chief is that Gretzky asked him if it was OK if he said something in support of his country and Trump said no, he’d do it for him. Like a gracious king, he has granted Gretzky the right to not agree with him, on this one thing. Just in case anyone was unclear on the power dynamic here.
Come on, Wayne. Use your words.
The sad thing about all this is that it’s just another example of Trump giving zero shits about anyone other than himself. To be in that guy’s orbit for any length of time is to, eventually, have regrets.
Again, I think a lot of the Gretzky bashing has been overwrought. He’s not a traitor, he’s given a lot back to the country through his work with Hockey Canada, and I don’t doubt that he’s fond of the place.
But he had a chance — still has a chance, really — to defend Canada from the ravings of the guy in the White House who claims to be his great friend.
I’m not mad. Just disappointed.
In other hockey news
My column for theScore from this week is on the Toronto Maple Leafs, who find themselves hitting a part of the regular season that has always been about biding time until the playoffs. But this year, it …. might actually matter?