Battalion
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Page 13 • Tuesday, April 27, 1999
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Great
Wayne Gretzky redefined hockey,
nought sport into mainstream
D
as 29i
orest 311
n April 16, the sporting
world lost a player who did
more for his game than
lyone else in history.
32', That day, Wayne Gretzky skat-
36-:: | off the ice in Madison Square
3: arden for the last time. He left
2a;; 118-year career behind him that
342 Si be defined in one word —
ireal.
Many people talk about how
Mark
PASSWATERS
t. 32-1
ame 32-1
ichfeel Jordan made the NBA what it now is with his
nitless talent. This may be true, but Jordan was able
follow the road that had been paved by people with
e names of Bird and Johnson but Dr. J. Wayne Gret-
;y not only brought hockey to prominence but was
lite possibly the sole reason the sport continues to-
iy-
Gfetzky’s numbers surpass everyone’s who has
iate Bf'tf played hockey to the point that it is amusing.
letzk\ has more assists than the second closest scor-
7 has points. Nobody, save Gretzky, has ever scored
ore than 200 points in a single season. The “Great
:ords tr neidid it four times.
js rankini This would be comparable to Barry Sanders rush-
ortswrte g for 2,000 yards four times or Mark McGwire hit-
directors: ig 70 home runs four times. Gretzky’s highest point
Readaljtor a season was 218, which equates to 2.66
31-2 lints per game.
an 37-8 ff someone were to drive in that many runs in a
434 tajor-league season, they would drive in 430 runs.
3g.g he major-league record, 190, was set by Hack Wilson
k decades ago and has never been seriously chal-
M 39-18 ,n S e< *- The NHL should have just given Gretzky the
. o a q -eds to all the teams in the league because he owned
a,:e ' em
3910 P-
In 1988, Gretzky went from being the dominant
ayer in the league to the man that made hockey in
)lina 37-SI
be >' merica. The Edmonton Oilers traded him to the Los
ntic 44-z ngeles Kings, and the Kings went from averaging
i 34-12 000 fans per game to selling out for the entire sea-
est 31-13 f
35-10 The Kings also went to the top of NHL in terms of
28- 20 ierchandise sold (second only to the Chicago Bulls
ate 33-H 'tall sports). People across the nation could be found
s 2917 earing Los Angeles Kings jerseys — with the num-
C h 3911 479 °n the back,
ite 32-7
32-17
34-10
29- 17
1 27-17
a 3M
ite 32-11
Gretzky was able to generate interest in hockey in
places where the sport had been unable to gain a fol
lowing. In a good portion of the United States, people
immediately thought of Rodney Dangerfield’s famous
line, “I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out”
when the NHL was mentioned.
Gretzky, being a magician on skates, was able to
show that was not always true. People who were for
tunate enough to see Gretzky operate saw a picture of
true grace. People were captivated.
When Gretzky was traded to the Kings, there were
four NHL teams below the Mason-Dixon line. By next
year, there will be a dozen, all of which will have
strong fan bases.
The NHL’s television contract is 200 percent more
lucrative now than it was before Gretzky’s arrival in
Los Angeles. This is not a coincidence.
The interest in hockey generated by Gretzky’s dom
inance of the NHL not only saved a struggling league
but allowed it to flourish in places it was never consid
ered possible. Hockey in Phoenix? Old timers like
Maurice Richard and Gordie Howe must be astound
ed.
At the twilight of his career, Gretzky was still able
to make an impact. Reunited with his old friend from
Edmonton, Mark Messier, Gretzky was able to make
the New York Rangers a power once again.
For a couple of years, old East Coast rivalries were
rekindled. Gretzky and Messier made the Rangers
strong, while Eric Lindros (the supposed “Next One”)
and his “Legion of Doom” brought the Philadelphia
Flyers back to the forefront.
With Mario Lemeiux and Jaromir Jagr making the
Pittsburgh Penguins an exciting bunch and Peter Bon-
dra taking the Washington Capitals to the Stanley Cup
finals last year, hockey fever gripped the Eastern
Seaboard.
But all of that is done now. The NHL has decided
nobody will ever wear the number 99 again, and Gret
zky’s nickname — “The Great One” — will always be
known. Considering his domination of the game and
his impact on its fiscal well being, he should be
known as “The Greatest One.”
Mark Passwaters is a
senior electrical engineering major
Bad taste in local commercials
offers comic relief between shows
jday/fl
i/ca MlLt
Aaron
MEIER
n a recent
interview,
[jSA WBme direc-
i| Coaches )r of the film
ies of Apr- orces of Na-
parenttie-frel Bronwen
Recotfiigpes,
43-8 liked about
31-9 ow she got
I 3940 ;.er start in
37-8 ie film in-
(1) 38-9 justry directing car commer-
2942 ials. While comparisons can be
ite 39-9 iade about the performances of
3949 Honda Accord and Ben Af-
35-1- eck, both being too well pol-
l6 34-8 shed for their own good, at
tic 44-2 >ast Hughes didn’t have to di-
,te 33-h set one of the hordes of locally
344" reduced commercials.
: |i 36-H Everyone with a eight-inch
37-9 creen and a tin-foil-wrapped
344- ntenna can see these things.
324' (’hey are nke automobile acci-
e 32-< tents, no matter how gruesome
t bone-chilling, you still have
;St32'j: p watch them.
0 354 jf They range from borderline
29';' tomography to the downright
t. 3-;. :orny. From statements such as,
t';: You know you want it” to the
3°' miles so forced they make the
junior pre-teen, post-diaper
|zos County winner look nat-
hile College Station televi-
ion may not be the spawning
. found for the next Steven Spiel-
|<9erg, it looks as though a few fu
ture porn directors may claim
te B-CS metroplex as their
?me before too long. Here’s a
through of the best of the
■rst.
• If they gave a Cleo for worst
'Se of sexually suggestive mater
ial, the tanning commercials
would win by a landslide. It
opens with a bunch of bikini-
clad, “Baywatch” rejects looking
suggestively at the camera coo
ing, “You know you want it ...
You know you want the perfect
tan.”
Then giggles erupt from the
camera and a swirl of lotions, ul
traviolet bulbs and people who
will spend the rest of their lives
in a dermatologist’s chair having
melanomas removed and trying
to figure out why their faces
bear a strong resemblance to
Iggy Pop’s leather pants appear.
The idea was apparently so
bad, they decided to use it twice.
One spot using the bikini
brigade and another one with a
group of guys oiled up worse
than Wayne Newton’s hair.
(Grade: D, at least it’s in focus
— most of the time)
• From sexually suggestive to
the sexually deviant, the ideas
for a local nutrition supplement
company and the tanning salons
are as different as day and later
that day. The commercial gives
honest, hard-working Peeping
Toms a bad name.
It stars a boy so skinny. Ally
McBeal would be jealous work
ing out with a contraption that
looks like it was intended to
shoot arrows at Gulliver.
This Larry Flynt wannabe has
a unhealthy obsession with his
voluptuous neighbor, who ap
parently changes into spandex at
the exact same time everyday.
So he watches as the object of
his ill-directed lust descends the
stairs with a guy that would
make Fabio look like a candidate
for the Charles Atlas program.
(Grade: F, always give credit
where credit is due)
• I always thought child labor
had been outlawed, but appar
ently a local mattress company
has found some loophole and
the owner has turned to his son,
or nephew, or some familial re
lation and exploited the kid.
Let’s hope his name isn’t
Marshall Dylan or else the kids
at school will be making fun of
him for years to come.
It’s almost as bad as those
kids for the Tomball dealership
who beg viewers to “come see
Paw Paw. ” (Grade: D + , if the
kid was forced to do it; F, if he
wasn’t)
• Finally, Lucas and his coven
of special-effects wizards at ILM
don’t need to worry about the
competition from the commer
cials being made by a local
beeper store.
Using the same technology
that made Superman fly and lets
Bob French know where the rain
in Waco is, a man is blue
screened onto a photo of the
beeper store.
As if recording the commer
cial at the store itself wasn’t sim
ple enough, adding the technol
ogy makes it seem that much
more pathetic. (Grade: C + , at
least they don’t try and throw
perverts into the commercial, al
though that guy does seem a lit
tle too excited about his vibrat
ing pager.)
Aaron Meier is a senior
political science major.
ROBERT HYNECEK/The Battalion
Letter about Corps
contradicts itself
In response to Eric Ferguson’s
April 26 mail call:
Eric Ferguson’s letter is a mas
terpiece in literary contradiction. As
a former member, I am saddened
by his misunderstanding of the
Corps. I am confused by his lack of
organization and obvious double
standards.
Ferguson states, “while you
were in detention in high school
and chasing girls through the halls,
I was serving this country, uphold
ing the freedom that has allowed ig
norant, narrow-minded individuals
such as yourself to even have the
right to call yourself an Aggie.”
in the next breath he says, “and
now I am proud .to say that I am a
member of this institution that al
lows me the same right as anyone
else. And that is to call myself an
Aggie.”
What are you saying, Eric? Am I
an Aggie because you allow me the
freedom to be one, or am I an Ag
gie because I also am a member of
this institution? Would I be an Ag
gie if you hadn’t served in the mili
tary?
Ferguson later states, “join the
military, grow up and come back
and look at this University through
the eyes of a mature adult like I
have.” Oh, I see, look not at the
world through your “ignorant, nar
row mind,’’ look at it through mine!
Is this your response for all dif
ferences of opinion? It’s funny that
Ferguson begins his article with a
futile attempt to somehow tie us to
gether by a “common freedom” but
ends up with a slap in freedom’s
face by offering a guarantee that
we will “not see things the same”
when seen through his eyes.
Steve Walkup
Class of ‘98
MAIL CALL
Blame gunmen for
Colorado shootings
In response to Caleb McDaniel’s
April 22 opinion column:
Two young men killed several
classmates and one heroic
teacher last week in Littleton, Colo.
Realize that these gunmen shot
those weapons because the guns
definitely didn’t aim themselves at
the victims. Gun control is an ex
tremely important issue, which I do
believe is beneficial to society, but
only to an extent.
Gun control could not have
saved the lives of those children;
the Tec-9 semiautomatic handgun
used in the killings was illegally ac
quired. Littleton has a restrictive lo
cal statute that makes it illegal to
sell or furnish any firearm to a mi
nor. Some of the bombs that day
were made from household items,
and this could not have been pre
vented by gun control.
Also, you cannot simply place
blame of this incident on “poor
parenting.” Nearly a year ago,
Randy Brown, father of one of the
killers, reported the content of his
son’s Web page, which included
detailed bomb descriptions, to the
sheriff’s department.
I doubt the parents influenced
their children to kill; those
teenagers fundamentally had the
choice not to commit this atrocity. I
guarantee that the gunmen knew
that what they were doing was terri
bly wrong, even evil. They had the
right to dress, believe and idolize
whom they choose. A good parent
will first control then, with an older
child, attempt to influence such as
pects positively, but ultimately the
choice is one of free will.
The gunmen who did this are to
be held to blame. They alone are
to be held accountable for their
evil.
The passage I had in mind
when I wrote this was Deuterono
my 24:16.
Erica Milburn
Class of ‘OO
Former student
thanks Aggies
I want to thank all of the Universi
ty staff, volunteers, and students for
organizing the wonderful 50th An
niversary 1949 Class Reunion this
week. The Muster ceremony was
very moving and perfect in every re
spect and the recognition given my
class was appreciated by all of us. It
is very gratifying to see the high cal
iber of students at A&M and the
outstanding leadership demonstrat
ed by your student leaders.
The honesty and character of
your student body was demonstrat
ed to me when I returned home
from Muster. A credit card service
called to tell me that a student at
A&M called them to say they had
found one of my credit cards on the
campus -1 had not even missed
the card. The student did not give a
name so I want to express my
thanks through your newspaper.
I am very proud of being an Ag
gie and even more so after my ex
perienced the last few days.
Phillip McDaniel
Class of ‘49
The Battalion encourages letters to the ed
itor. Letters must be 300 words or less and in
clude the author's name, class and phone
number.
The opinion editor reserves the right to edit
letters for length, style, and accuracy. Letters
may be submitted in person at 013 Reed Mc
Donald with a valid student ID. Letters may also
be mailed to:
The Battalion - Mail Call
013 Reed McDonald
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX
77843-1111
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Fax: (409) 845-2647
E-mail: batt@tamvml.tamu.edu