I have the greatest gretzky picture ever from the winter classic, is is from the old timers game and gretz is on the jumbo tron and you see the back of his jersey and he is looking over his right shoulder, what makes this picture the best is below gretz on the jumbotron is the rink itself and right below the rink is the streaker getting surrounded by the cops freezing his wee wee off, i laughed so friggin hard and i have it all in one picture. maybe i'll upload it when i get home.
First NHL game I ever attended was December 29, 1984. Steve Yzerman was a rookie and Wayne Gretzky owned hockey. Final score: Edmonton 6 Detroit 3. Gretzky had 3 goals and 3 assists.
Yzerman and Sakic were being beat down by their fans who called them busts and wanted to trade them because they wwould never amount to anything. Same thing happened to Vinnie. Guess things never change
I am Gretzky, so Im not sure how to answer this.............can you actually see yourself play?
That explains it Liquor. Maybe I really am Jake Daniels. I just can't see it.
As for Wayne Gretzky, I was at his first home game as a WHA Oiler vs the Winnipeg Jets. In the program for that game (which I still have) the Oilers line-up has him listed as #20. He wore #99 in case you're wondering.
I'm just a little too young to have seen him as an Oiler which is a shame and i also missed the glory days completely including post-Gretzky.
I started watching hockey in the mid 90s (actually the Rangers '94 Cup run turned me on to hockey) so the first Oiler teams that i watched were the Ron Lowe Oiler teams that had to trade away every good young player and were rumored to be on their way out of town almost constantly, nothing like the glory days.
I envy you old farts.
Many times, and got to see Gretz's last game as an Oiler, with the tradition starting team photo on the ice after winning the cup. Might have been his idea too.
Sociologically this is a somewhat interesting thread. Anytime theres a demographic type thread here with posters making introductions the median age here seems to be around 23.
But ask a question like this and nearly 75% of posters responding in poll are presumably age 26and older(who would remember even seeing Gretzy unless they were at least 2-3yrs old at the time)
This reminds me of the Woodstock phenomenon where 400K people actually attended Woodstock whereas polls of respondents would suggest that several million people attended. That its an icon and cultural lightning rod that everybody wants to say they attended or saw.
I'm wondering here if this specifically is the Oilers fan Mt. Everest. i.e. did you see Gretzky play? With some did or did not validity apparently woven in the answer.
To coin Jimi Hendrix:
So are you experienced? Have you ever been experienced? Well I have.
Gretz would appear to be that holy grail amongst Oiler fans. Not surprising at all but interesting how the phenomenon takes hold.
Respect btw to the 20somethings that actually replied no.
I'm curious if the OP was also interested in looking sociologically at how people would respond.
Last edited by Replacement: 01-27-2011 at 10:32 AM.
I'm 27, and unfortunately, the only time I saw Gretz in Oilers silks was at the Heritage Classic in 2003.
When I look back and remember 99, he is a King in all my memories. My friends and I were just a little too young to remember the glory days, and as Oilers fans, we all had soft spots for the Kings.
Sociologically this is a somewhat interesting thread. Anytime theres a demographic type thread here with posters making introductions the median age here seems to be around 23.
But ask a question like this and nearly 75% of posters responding in poll are presumably age 26and older(who would remember even seeing Gretzy unless they were at least 2-3yrs old at the time)
This reminds me of the Woodstock phenomenon where 400K people actually attended Woodstock whereas polls of respondents would suggest that several million people attended. That its an icon and cultural lightning rod that everybody wants to say they attended or saw.
I'm wondering here if this specifically is the Oilers fan Mt. Everest. i.e. did you see Gretzky play? With some did or did not validity apparently woven in the answer.
To coin Jimi Hendrix:
So are you experienced? Have you ever been experienced? Well I have.
Gretz would appear to be that holy grail amongst Oiler fans. Not surprising at all but interesting how the phenomenon takes hold.
Respect btw to the 20somethings that actually replied no.
I'm curious if the OP was also interested in looking sociologically at how people would respond.
My guess is that the people who were lucky enough to see him play are just more likely or enthusiastic to respond. I don't remember Woodstock and if someone started a poll on it I could see myself skipping a reply altogether just as easily as I could see myself bothering to chime in.
I remember Gretz from Day 1 of his NHL career (the WHA, not so much though), something I feel quite privileged to say.
I'm 27, and unfortunately, the only time I saw Gretz in Oilers silks was at the Heritage Classic in 2003.
When I look back and remember 99, he is a King in all my memories. My friends and I were just a little too young to remember the glory days, and as Oilers fans, we all had soft spots for the Kings.
I'm 34 and Gretz was my hero growing up. I remember seeing an interview with John Garret (I believe)- he was talking about Gretzky coming in on a breakaway on him and not even look at the net- he was looking at the glass behind Garret to see where the other players were in relation to him. Gretz understood the nuances of the game like no other. I hate getting into the discussions with people who say he wouldn't have been the best player in the game if he played today- to that I say he would of been just as smart, innovative and competitive. You can't change that no matter what generation.
Dating myself as others are, but ya, I saw him from the time he laced them up in the WHA. My dad had seasons tickets, so I was lucky enough to see most of the big moments, including Cup wins. Funny thing, at the time, watching them, I, like others, had no idea we were really watching something incredibly special, unlikely to ever be duplicated with another team. You'd go to a typical game against the Kings or the Canucks, for example, and the mighty Oil would be leading 4-2. AFTER THE FIRST PERIOD. Gretzky would already have a a goal and 2 assists, a goog nights work nowadays. The final would be around 9-4. You never know what you have until it's over. I wish I could have savoured those moments more.
The guy had something in his DNA that made him rise to the moment, whether it was scoring 5 goals in one night to reach the 50 goal plateau or scoring 3 in Buffalo to break Esposito's record. 50 years old, wow how time flies. How appropriate though, maybe the only time he's gone "50 in 50".
I was fortunate enough to be only a few years younger than Wayne and got to see him play live well over a hundred times. I was also lucky enough to see Wayne, Mess, Furh, Lowe, etc. etc. off the ice fairly frequently as well, due to jobs (D.J. at a famous nightclub back in the day) and the EGCC. Mess would pull up in that black Bentley and just own the place. I was also lucky enough to see Wayne get the all-time points record when he was a King - $600.00 for nosebleeds!!! It was great when he broke the record - not so great when he scored the winner ;>
Those were great days - getting arrested on Jasper after the Cup Wins wasn't so cool but hey, young, dumb and full of....
I was 18 when the Oil started to win cups.I worked in the hospitality trade and did a lot of cooking for players.Mess was fish,Coffey was pasta and Janet was carrots.lol.Drank with Gretzky and many other players.It was THE time of my life! My memories of Gretzky are mostly off ice since I got to see him as himself with his hair down.
ps: I got to drink from the cup in four different years.
I am from B.C. and the first time I saw him play was right after he got traded to L.A.. Shortly after that I moved here to E-town and lamented not moving here earlier ever since. I can't help but think that if I had only made my move earlier he may not have been traded.
I was born in Calgary and have lived in BC for most of my life.....I watched him play as an Oiler, but I never liked him.
It wasnt until he retired that I could forget or forgive how much he reallly destroyed my teams over the years, and how truly special he was.
It came full circle in 2002 at the Olympics, when his enthusiasm shone through and the infamous "***** yeah" being read from his lips.
The "Great One" truly was great and time has healed the wounds that he inflicted first on the Flames that I loved in the 80's and the Canucks of the 90's (although he was King, Ranger etc).
I had season tickets in that last year in the WHA and I remember when Gretz was traded from Indianapolis, along with Eddie Mio and Peter Driscoll, and I was thinking that we really needed a good goalie and a tough winger, but what was so great about this young, skinny centre everyone had been talking about. I found out in no short order and the rest is history. I was so dissapointed when we lost the Avco cup final that year but the 5 Stanley's sure made up for that. I was fortunate enough to have witnessed all of it.
I feel bad for the early 20's crowd who never got to see the glory days for the Oilers. It was magic. Hopefully we are seeing the start of something here again.
Saw the 5 goal game, 50g in 39 games, live at Northlands among others. I also met him once shortly after he was traded/sold to the Oilers from Indianapolis in the WHA.
Sociologically this is a somewhat interesting thread. Anytime theres a demographic type thread here with posters making introductions the median age here seems to be around 23.
I'm curious if the OP was also interested in looking sociologically at how people would respond.
I think you overestimate the amount of thought I put into the poll. Sociological? Thats way too my syllables. I was just curious.
Anyways, in keeping in line with the thread, my first game was game 7 of the 1983 Battle of Alberta, when I was 10. Oilers won 7-4. The crowd sang Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye but I didn’t know the words.
I remember the Oilers losing to the Islanders in the cup finals, and I couldn’t understand how. My team was supposed to win. I remember contract disputes almost every summer with Slats and some players, but I also couldn’t understand why. Who wouldn’t want to be part of that team?
I remember being at a game once and cheering for the Jets, since the Oilers win was basically always guaranteed and I wanted a close game. It didn’t work and the Oilers blew them out. I remember the shock of the trade. My dad told me and the disbelief lasted seemingly forever. It was on the radio that the Prime Minister was going to attempt to block the trade, since he was a national treasure (I’m not sure who came up with that one, but good luck). I was actually holding out hope that this would happen, but obviously it was just someone’s pipe dream.
Lots of other memories, but those ones stick out. Growing up as an Oiler fan in the 80s was such a blessing.
Lived in the boonies, so mostly on TV. A few flashes:
- Listening to the car radio to an early game say 79 or 80. Rod making the call; "Gretzky with a long pass to Semenko.......He has a breakaway.....and shoots it wide from 40' out!!! What a bonehead play!!" My dad nearly hit the ditch he was laughing so hard.
- One of the few games I saw live. March '83 vs the then hapless Pens. Gretz scored a 7 point night including goals 87, 88, 89 & 90 (I think) on his way to his 92 goal season. Pure dominance.
- Those first play-off series vs the Islanders. Very tense and pivotal series in the franchise's history.
- His 50 in 39 game......he was absolutely in a different world than anyone else on the ice anywhere.
- On TV when he got laid out by (MacGill?) of the Leafs........holy smokes we thought he was dead!
- His slapper off the wing in OT against the despised (now it's just hated) Flames.
- Teared up mightily at his Oiler jersey going up to the rafters.
My memories of Gretzky are mostly off ice since I got to see him as himself with his hair down.
