OT: The Bobby Orr You May Not Know

[SighReally]

That ESPN excerpt about Gillis was a really good read. Good insight to how he deals with business in the NHL.

 

[Betamax*]

So, the two greatest players in hockey history are coming out with an authorized biography this Fall ... Orr's and Gretzky's (written by Al Strachan and officially "assisted" by The Great One and not an autobiography per se ...)

So for those who missed it ... Strachan was on TEAM Radio's morning show yesterday and re-iterated the "almost" signing of the Great One to Vancouver.

As some of you were aware, the Canucks had a verbal agreement with Gretzky but they were worried that he may have had a last minute change of heart and apparently they phoned him up at his hotel room 2am in the morning and insisted they get the deal consummated at that time and not wait until the morning and let him sleep on it.

Strachan stated it was Quinn who made the call ... after Strachan's appearance, former Canucks' owner, Arthur Griffiths phoned in and wanted to point out that he did so only under the directive of Stan McCammon (right hand man to Mr. McCaw).

Gallagher this morning chimed in and implied Quinn should have stood up to McCammon and said to him to the effect if you want it done, do it yourself [i.e. make the phone call].

I could see Gallagher's point on this.

But anyway, with Gretzky ticked off of the Canucks not believing he was a man of his word i.e. potentially shopping the contract offer around ... apparently, he decided to go to NYC the next day ... and the rest is history as we all know.

As a "consolation", the Canucks (I suspect to save face) got three years of Messier instead ... which uh, turned out to be a disaster in one sense but good in a way that they performed so poorly in the standings that they were positioned to make the Sedin deal to draft both of them. So that's about the only good that I can think of that came from that mess of an era.

 

[ddawg1950]

Nothing like an Orr thread to bring out all the old guys.

Why hasn't ddawg chimed in yet? I thought he used to babysit Bobby back in the day.



My very first hockey T-shirt had Orr and the number 4 on the back..... and the Hawks logo on the front.

Har de har har..

And 23 ski-do.

And El Kabong, as well.

But there is a bit of apples and oranges here.

Orr was the indeed the greatest D and certainly did revolutionized that position.

But Gretzky was the best forward, an absolute magician when he was at his peak, and he also changed the way the game was played.

And yeah I saw Howe score his 400th goal...on a B & W, oval TV.

As for EPC's fashion sense...well, it just sounds pretty darned special!