No involvement
It seems the reports that the Great One knew about the gambling ring are incorrect. The wiretapped conversation that has him discussing the ring are only after he was informed of his wife’s involvement on Monday. So I guess while his remark when asked about his wife’s involvement by reporters on Tuesday (“Oh, really? I don’t know, you’d have to ask her that.”) was less than guileless, we can’t really blame Gretz for the implied denial of knowledge. After Clinton’s “I did not have sexual relations with that woman”, we have much lower standards on the truth.
Gretzky and his wife are headed to Turino on Tuesday where the international press will have their chance to run roughshod with this story should any new developments occur. Anything short of a gold medal in Turino for the Canadian hockey team will be viewed as a major disappointment but the head of the Canadian Olympic Committee has said that Gretzky won’t be a distraction and that what the Canadian team does will override the scandal. In Gretzky’s favor, if you need any more proof that he does belong at the Olympics, you have to look no further than Stephen A Smith, who opines that “Gretzky needs to skip the Olympics”.
Meanwhile, there’s no news on Tocchet but Guy Junker in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review points out: “When the rumblings started about Pete Rose and his gambling problems, the first thing we heard was that he didn’t bet on baseball. Then we were told he didn’t bet on Cincinnati Reds games. Then we were told he didn’t bet against the Reds.” Interesting point. He’s probably the first journalist not to lemmingly repeat the “no evidence of hockey bets” statement issued by the NHL.
Finally, here is a columnist who feels the whole thing has been blown out of proportion.
