Joe Pelletier (of Hockey Book Reviews.com) has just posted a fascinating interview with Stephen Brunt, author of Searching for Bobby Orr and (most recently) Gretzky’s Tears.
The interview focuses on Gretzky’s Tears, since it’s just been released. I’ve not read either book, but this interview has convinced me that I should. Brunt appears to write as a hockey fan, but a hockey fan with discernment. He sees the game for what it is: a fun game, but full of business, celebrity, and greed.
One tidbit, on Gretzky and his “brand”:
[Q:] You scrape away at Gretzky’s Teflon just a little bit in the book, showing him mature from the kid from Brantford to someone interested in big pay days and the Hollywood lifestyle. Yet he was so fiercely protective of his squeaky clean image. How close is the real Wayne Gretzky to his carefully kept image?
[A:] Well, we all have feet of clay. I think it’s important to understand that a big part of Gretzky’s image isn’t just his construction – in many ways, it has to do with what we wanted him to be. He was elevated by the fans, and by the press, into something far more than just a great hockey player. He was a great hockey player – perhaps the greatest who ever lived – and I think from everything I know he’s a decent guy. But a whole lot of extrapolation was done beyond that, to suggest that he was smarter, wiser, humbler, more patriotic, than the average Canadian and therefore worthy of our adoration. In all aspects of sports heroism, I think it’s safer to leave it on the field or on the ice, and not imbue athletes with other qualities simply because of how well they play their games.
The whole interview is well worth a read for anyone who enjoys sports (and not just hockey).
Tags: Gretzky's Tears, Hockey Book Reviews.com, Joe Pelletier, Stephen Brunt, Wayne Gretzky
