Ode to the Great One

This being post # 99, how could I not mention my favourite hockey player of all time, Wayne Gretzky? Simple: I can't not (?).

I only got to see Gretz live and in person once, Dec 31st, 1996, in Tampa, Florida. He was playing for the Rangers then, and I was seeing them live for the third time. For those who haven't heard this sad story before, I'll be brief: I've seen the Rangers live three times in my life. Not only did they not win any of those games, they never even held a lead! In any of the three games. Not once. And I really thought the third time would be the charm, since they were a much better team than the Lightning that year, but no. Tampa got out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first and it was pretty much over.

But, having said all that, I got to see the Great One without the benefit of TV cameras. Which is to say, I got to just watch him, shift after shift, regardless of where the puck happened to be. This is a guy only 3 years away from retirement, and I still couldn't believe how well he anticipated everything that went on around him on the ice! You could almost watch a game by just watching him, because the puck inevitably found its way to him, no matter where it started off. I'd obviously known that he was great before that night; all you had to do was look at his stats, or his records, to know that. But actually seeing him blew me away! If he isn't the greatest player of all time, I really wish I could've watched whoever is, because they probably would've made my hair stand on end.

My only regret regarding Wayne was that my Rangers did so poorly by him during his stay in New York. Of the three (?) seasons he played on that team, they only made the playoffs the first year (1996/97). They did well that year, losing to the Flyers in the Conference Finals, but never made it back for him. Seeing him retire in a Rangers jersey meant a lot to this longtime fan of both. I just wish they could've made it possible for him to have played in one last Cup Final.

Next blog entry is # 100, so I'm going to post the favourite of all the short stories I've ever written. It's called The Dice Men and has the distinction of being the only story I wrote during a decade or so of extensive writing on my part that came out exactly the way I wanted, in every detail. It was such a unique experience for me at the time that I would periodically go back and re-read it, sure that eventually I'd get that typical sinking feeling of, "Uh, I really wish I hadn't put that part in" or "If only I'd been able to get across what I was really thinking here." But every time I'd come away feeling great about how it had worked out. Last reading was several years ago, though, so I'm about to find out if it still holds up (for me). History has shown that not everyone who reads it enjoys it like I do (it's never been one of my more popular stories) but that's hardly the point. I also have an old theory about why it often gets the reaction it does, but I'll save that until after the story, since it's a bit of a spoiler.

Oh, and in case anyone's keeping score: this means my first 100 blog entries came out in my first 39 days of blogging. Human Calculator Jim Hinckley would instantly proclaim that I've achieved better than a 2.5 blogs/day rate over that period. My friend Tim would more succinctly offer: Holy Shit you write a lot. And they'd both be right.