Note: I had a post about Super Bowl XL all ready - a story about hotel room gambling, heavy snowstorms knocking out all outside communications and the headless-chicken-dance that Matt Hasselbeck pulled at the end of the game, when everyone that ever played any sort of football knew that you had to kick a quick FG and go for an onside kick, but then "Operation Slap Shot" came across like a bolt of lighting... Thusly, the Super Bowl Article will be delayed, as we all try and make sense of this saga...
Every sport has its heroes - baseball, basketball, soccer, hockey, football, cricket - whatever. They all have people that anyone and everyone looks down at as a true master of the game; Nolan Ryan, Wilt Chamberlain, Pele, Joe Montana, Wayne Gretzky. Almost anyone who knows anything about any of these men knows that they all excelled in their own sport - arguably moreso then anyone else.
And every sport has it's scandals. Basketball has had point-shaving allegations as far back as the 1950's. Baseball had the 1919 World Series thrown by the 'Black Sox'. And now hockey has it's own: Operation Slap Shot.
Wayne Gretzky has stated, for the record, that he "had no knowledge of the gambling ring". Yet his wife has been named as a major player, as was one of his personal friends - and fellow coach - Rick Tocchet. And now it's being reported that there are wiretaps that prove that "Wayne Gretzky knew about a gambling ring involving his wife and assistant coach Rick Tocchet". (Link)
This is Canada's Pete Rose story - and true to Canadian fashion, it's neither as big nor as scandalous as it's American counterpart.
Where Pete Rose bet on his team - always to win, as he has stated many times - Wayne Gretzky either just knew about the betting and never reported it or had his wife bet on sports (football and basketball, mostly) on his behalf.
In an age where the NHL is just starting to make headway in the United States, this is one of the worst blows it could have gotten - save Gretzky actually throwing games. Baseball took years to recover from the scars of the 1994 lockout, but it already had a large base of loyal fans in the US. Hockey has no such thing in the United States - it was dropped by ESPN and ABC and remains ranked fourth, arguably even fifth, in the professional sports leagues (Behind the NFL, MLB, NBA and Nascar). And with the allegations that it's been corrupted by gamblers, the NHL could have a hard time recovering from this blow.
And so will Gretzky's team: the Phoenix Coyotes. Since moving to Arizona in 1996, the average attendance has dropped almost every season until 2002-03 - except for a minor gain in the 1999-2000 season. The team has never been past the first round of the playoffs (although the Jets only did that once, in 1985 in a best of five series against the Flames) and has finished out of the playoffs 3 times in the last four seasons. This is a team in a non-established area with dwindling attendance that now has potential corruption charges against them (Perhaps this is why Brett Hull retired?). This could be the last blow that sinks the ship.
When this all clears up - which it won't do any time soon - the NHL should survive, as will Gretzky's reputation. But the Coyotes might not. And the game could take damage that will take years to undo...
to be continued...
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