2022 World Cup, Wayne Gretzky is 50 today...

Here are two sports stories I believe you shoudl be aware of...

Gretzky remains celebrated figure as he turns 50
Wednesday, 01.26.2011 / 12:00 AM / History
By John Kreiser - NHL.com Columnist
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Wayne Gretzky may be gone from the NHL, but as he turns 50, he's certainly not forgotten.

The greatest player hockey has ever seen hasn't skated on an NHL rink since April 18, 1999, when he scored his 2,857th and final point during the last game of his career, the New York Rangers' 2-1 overtime loss to Pittsburgh. He hasn't had any affiliation with the League since stepping down as coach of the Phoenix Coyotes prior to last season.

But make no mistake: As he reaches the half-century mark Wednesday, Gretzky is every bit the hockey icon today that he was when he was terrorizing goaltenders and setting scoring records.

"I think so, and I don't think that's ever going to change," Charlie Huddy, Gretzky's teammate in Edmonton and Los Angeles, told NHL.com when asked if Gretzky remains the biggest name in hockey. "I don't think it's fair to compare anybody to Wayne. There's only one of him and we all know what he's done for the game of hockey.

"As soon as you say his name, even though he's been out of it a while, people know instantly who you're talking about and all his accomplishments. For me, I don't see anybody else coming along who is going to be any better than that."

No player in the NHL -- and probably none in any team sport -- is as identified with a number as Gretzky is with No. 99. Gordie Howe may be Mr. Hockey, but his No. 9 was worn by other immortals like Maurice Richard and Bobby Hull. Bobby Orr revolutionized the game while wearing No. 4, but other greats like Jean Beliveau also wore it.


Young players still know No. 99

Players and fans coming of age today know Wayne Gretzky only by the legacy he left before he retired in 1999 -- the videos they see on NHL.com or the NHL Network, the books and stories they read about him.

That doesn't mean today's young guns don't know about Gretzky -- or want to know more -- as the Great One reaches his 50th birthday Jan. 26.

"You get lots of the young guys asking about what it was like playing with Gretz, what kind of guy he was and things like that," Dallas Stars assistant Charlie Huddy told NHL.com's Robin Brownlee when asked about Gretzky, a teammate in Edmonton and Los Angeles. "They're always going to be asking about him. Did he really score all those goals? Did he really get all those points?"

Not surprisingly, the interest especially is big among the youngsters trying to make their own history in Edmonton -- the city Gretzky helped put on the hockey map by leading the Oilers to four Stanley Cups in a five-year period (1984-88).

"I get asked something about him literally on a daily basis," former teammate Steve Smith, now an Oilers assistant coach, told Brownlee. "His name comes up all the time with our young players.

"It's funny because, sometimes as coaches, we find ourselves bringing up names of players from the past. The kids don't know a lot of them. You bring up the names of some players who were real stars in this League and it's like, 'Who is he talking about?' With Gretz, everybody knows and everybody will continue to know. His is a name that will stand the test of time. It'll never change."

Though it's been a dozen years since Gretzky's last NHL game, Huddy feels Gretzky's fame will live on.

"It'll never end, and rightfully so," he said. "The player he was, he deserves that recognition for the next, well, forever."

-- John Kreiser
No. 99, however, is Gretzky's, and Gretzky's alone. And perhaps no nickname ever has described a player better than "The Great One."

Part of the reason was Gretzky's on-ice brilliance. He saw the game the way no player before him had. Tactics we take for granted today -- curling after entering the offensive zone, setting up behind the net (his "office") and using it as a pick to keep defenders at bay, even bouncing the puck off the posts or the back of the net to fool defenders -- were unheard of before Gretzky came along.

So were the kind of offensive totals Gretzky put up. Certainly, he was helped by playing in an era that emphasized offense, but No. 99 made scoring look easier than any player before or since. He wasn't big, he wasn't particularly fast and he used to joke about the lack of oomph on his slap shot. But he played like he had eyes in the back of his head, an uncanny sense of where everyone else on the ice was (and where they were going), and the unerring knack for making the right play.

Gretzky's record-setting 92-goal season in 1981-82 came after two seasons in which he established himself as the game's premier setup man. When defenses started playing off him, he changed his tactics.

"I don't think anyone had to tell him to shoot more," Kevin Lowe, Gretzky's teammate with Edmonton during the glory years and now the Oilers' president, remembered years later. "I think that teams may have started to pay more attention to covering his wings and left him alone. And one thing about Wayne: He always made the right play."

Given the emphasis placed on defense during the last 15-plus years, Gretzky's offensive totals -- 894 goals, 2,857 points -- look like they'll stand for a long time. He has more assists (1,963) than former teammate Mark Messier, second on the all-time scoring list, has points. And then there's his single-season records for most goals, assists (163 in 1985-86) and points (215 in 1985-86).

"Those numbers are pretty scary," said Huddy, now an assistant coach with the Dallas Stars but a teammate when Gretzky and the Oilers won four Stanley Cups in five years from 1984-88. "I mean, we've seen the best of some guys with [Sidney] Crosby and [Alex] Ovechkin and Mario [Lemieux] and guys like that -- and who is close?

"Those were special years where he put up those kinds of numbers. I just can't see it. I guess you never say never, but I don't think it's going to happen."

As great as Gretzky was on the ice, he was perhaps more important to hockey off it.

It doesn't show in his list of records, but it's a safe bet that Gretzky did more of those between-period TV interviews than anyone in NHL history. He was (and is) beloved in Canada and remains the face of hockey in the United States.

"The way he endorsed the game, the way he was such an ambassador for the game -- he embraced people and people embraced the game because of him," former teammate Steve Smith, now an Oilers assistant coach, told NHL.com.


HISTORY

Greatness by the numbers
John Kreiser - NHL.com Columnist
Who's the best player to wear No. 1? 4? 9? NHL.com takes a look at hockey's greatest players by the numbers they wore.
PART I (00-33) | PART II (34-66) | PART III (67-99)
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The NHL had always had great players, but Gretzky became hockey's first cross-over star -- a player whose celebrity extended well beyond what he did on the ice.

Gretzky's marriage to Janet Jones in the summer of 1988 was the wedding of the century in Canada. The Oilers' decision to trade him to Los Angeles in August 1988 nearly was a national day of mourning in Canada, but turned out to be one of the most important events in NHL history. Not only did Gretzky turn the Kings into the hottest ticket in L.A. (and get them to their first and only Stanley Cup Final, in 1993), he triggered a hockey boom in California and other non-traditional markets that is yielding a growing crop of young talent -- not to mention the existence of franchises in cities that likely never would have had them if not for No. 99.

Two players from California were taken in the first round of the 2010 Entry Draft last June -- a draft held in Los Angeles -- part of a wave of young talent coming from areas that were hockey deserts until Gretzky came along.

"This is kind of the result of that Wayne Gretzky to L.A. trade and we're reaping the rewards from that now," Detroit Red Wings Assistant General Manager Jim Nill told NHL.com during the 2010 Research, Development and Orientation Camp Fueled by G Series. "It just shows that if you have a good product in an area, even though it might not be a solid hockey market, you can groom hockey players. We're starting to see that in California and Texas."

For now, Gretzky is enjoying the role of proud father -- he and Janet have five children -- while living in Los Angeles. But regardless of whether he has an official role with the NHL or a team, he'll always be the face of hockey to millions. And he'll always be "The Great One."

"As dominant as he was on the ice, Wayne was an even-better ambassador for our game and our League wherever he went," Commissioner Gary Bettman said. "He amazed the fans on the ice and connected with them off it, an ultimate combination of elegance, skill and class. On the occasion of his 50th birthday, the National Hockey League sends him its congratulations, its appreciation and its thanks."

As for the Great One himself, he says the years have flown by.

"It feels like yesterday that I was tying up my skates sitting in a locker room at an All-Star Game next to Gordie Howe," Gretzky told NHL Live! on Tuesday, one day before turning 50. "I was 17 and Gordie Howe was 50 at that time. I remember looking at him and thinking, 'Oh my goodness, 50 years old?' and here it is years later. My grandmother used to always say, 'Time flies when you're having fun and life is good.' I feel fortunate that life has been pretty good to me and I had the privilege of playing in the NHL and the game seems to be getting better every year."

NHL.com correspondent Robin Brownlee contributed to this story






Blatter: 2022 could be held at end of year
Reuters - Yesterday, 15:34


LAUSANNE - The 2022 World Cup in Qatar could be held at the beginning of the year or the end of it, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Tuesday.
"For FIFA, if there's the will to change something for the international calendar for one year, it's possible to do, because if there's a will, there's also a solution," the head of world football's governing body told reporters.

"But for now, there are the pros and cons but it is premature to make any decisions on what may happen but all I am saying is that winter is not only January and February, winter is also the end of the year."

Since Qatar in December won the right to host the finals with a plan to stage them in June/July, Blatter has said that the 2022 tournament could be held in the winter time to avoid the summer heat in the desert state.

This idea has triggered a wave of criticism with many league officials around the world complaining that the whole club competition calendar would have to be adjusted to accommodate a winter World Cup.

Blatter was speaking on Tuesday at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) headquarters during a visit by the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The IOC is especially sensitive to a winter World Cup because it could hamper that year's winter Olympics. It has called on FIFA to discuss the matter with Olympic officials once it has decided on the dates of the tournament.

"It would be sensible once a decision is envisaged by FIFA to sit around the table to see it is not harmful for either of the two parties," IOC president Jacques Rogge said earlier this month.

Winter Olympics are traditionally held over 16 days between the last week of January and the end of February. The 2022 Games will be awarded in 2015.