John Davidson has difficulty remembering the last time Wayne Gretzky visited his childhood home across the street in this small city (Brantford, ON) a couple hours’ drive southwest of Toronto.
Now 85, Davidson still chases away the occasional curiosity seeker, a far cry from the days when busloads of children would pull up, or the time Wayne and his wife Janet showed up with an entourage, three limousines strong. The retired steelworker then lowered his hand to his knee to indicate how long he’s known Gretzky, before saying: “Wayne’s changed a lot since he went down to the States.”
“I always thought the hell out of him,” Davidson said of Gretzky. ”Hate is a terrible word. Dislike is a better word.
“It disappoints the hell out of me. And I don’t think his father would appreciate it either,” he added. “A lot of people are pissed off with him right now because he went and kissed the ring.”
I still don’t get the Wayne hate. I cannot see anything other than guilt by association. Did he create a hockey bitcoin? Has he hate talked Canada? Is there any meat on these bones of hate?
Fair question.
He’s a ‘close personal friend’ of Trump. He showed up at the inauguration, and has repeatedly stated his support for Trump, wearing MAGA hats.
When asked to be the Canadian team’s honourary captain at the 4 nations cup, he came onto the ice from the US bench, threw a bunch of thumbs up to team USA, and then did a simple skate past our bench. He wore a suit and tie, with no hint of red and white.
He hasn’t picked up his order of Canada award yet.
Basically, he is avoiding every opportunity to show he has some love left for Canada, and to denounce extremism.
Thanks for the information. I don’t hate Gretzky, yet, but I am not too impressed with his behaviour in any case.