alright, i can admit it is a bit weird that i'm making noise about someone's birthday who probably doesn't care about me...but oh well. this is my childhood idol. i lived in edmonton during the "dynasty years", when the oilers laid waste to the entire league and won cup after cup and fielded one of the best teams night after night. coffey, kurri, messier, fuhr, lowe....and that's just to name a few. i'll add gregg, semenko, moog, anderson, tikkanen, lumley and fogolin to the list just to pay them their due. and as a child, these were my heroes...the athletes i looked up to and knew every statistic about the them and the team inside and out. i remember my dad taking me downtown on jasper ave to celebrate the '85 cup parade because back then, that stuff mattered to me.
and the whole thing was led by the man who probably could have ran for prime minister and won during the 80's. the Great One - so aptly named because he was simply that. after this many years, i can say with absolute certainty that wayne gretzky is the single reason why i enjoy sports to this day and the reason why i am still passionate about a struggling (yet hopeful) oilers franchise.
imagine my excitement then, when i went to santa monica this past december to watch the chevron world challenge hosted by tiger woods. now i'm not so much of an idol worshipper anymore, but i knew that seeing tiger woods and getting to see my favorite golfer (graeme mcdowell) play in the same tournament would be a worthwhile bucket list item. BUT...there was an absolute surprise for me when i found out that wayne gretzky was playing the wednesday pro-am. WHAT?!?!? i literally found this out while i was on the course and met up with a group of canadians who mentioned that the best hockey player to ever live was swinging the sticks on the course and signing autographs.
i ran to the next hole where he was supposed to be and BAM! there he was in all his awesome swagger. it was surreal, but it was almost too perfect. here was my idol, playing golf and i get to take photos. i cannot think of a more perfect combination of my interests all in one moment (well, unless kate beckinsale, acryclic paints, a blank canvas and a 6 pack of orange fanta were in one room all at once).
so happy 50th birthday wayne. thanks for being a positive role model and for being just plain awesome. seeing tiger was cool....but talking to wayne gretzky and getting an autograph is something i will never forget.
please take a minute and enjoy my facebook album of photos from
santa monica, which includes some additional images of the great one...and some boring sunset whatever photos....ww.
de jesus. out.
