For all the wrong reasons though. I never paid a minute about hockey this season but now I want to know more about “Operation Slapshot” everyday. I’m sure I’m not the only one.
If the NHL wanted exposure and have it front page news after enduring such a long lockout, they got their wish. They should have probably been a bit more specific when they prayed to the sports gods. This could be the biggest sports story of the year depending on all the facts that are revealed.
What makes the story bigger than big is that golden boy Wayne Gretzky is involved. So far we have Wayne denying any knowledge about the gambling ring. Then on Thursday reports have him on wiretaps speaking with Rick Tocchet. Uh oh Wayne. Now we want to know if Wayne did place any bets. More importantly did he bet on hockey. It’s hard to fathom the greatest hockey player ever would be mentioned in the same breath as Pete Rose.
High roller Janet Jones finally made a statement as released by the Coyotes on Thursday to try and clear her husband’s name.
“At no time did I ever place a wager on my husband’s behalf, period. Other than the occasional horse race, my husband does not bet on any sports.”
It helps but it’s not enough. His name is even harder to clear because he lied about knowing of the ring to start. He did come out yesterday and made his boldest statement yet.
“No way. If I had ever bet so much as a penny on sports I would call Bob Nicholson (president of Hockey Canada) and resign.”
“If I bet on sports – I would never embarrass Team Canada or the country or hockey – I would phone (NHL commissioner) Gary Bettman and Bob Nicholson right now and say you know what, I resign, it’s over, even if I made a $1 bet,”.
“I wouldn’t even go into a sports book in Vegas. Even though it’s legal, I would never do that. That’s how serious I am.”
“Thanks to the Steelers for paying off my Ferrari”
Okay the last one I made up.
The strange just gets stranger. It’s reported Coyotes general manager Mike Barnett, Gretzky’s former agent, also placed a bet through Tocchet. So the GM knew about it. Great job boss. He bet a few hundred dollars on the Super Bowl. Barnett is not a focus of the investigation however. When the story broke Tuesday, Barnett called commissioner Gary Bettman to let him know he made a small wager but it was a one time thing. His reason for betting was to spice up the Super Bowl. It’s understandable because the Super Bowl is the most bet on sporting event of the year. Even I knew people who didn’t know a field goal from a punt put money on the game.
If Wayne is innocent he needs to explain why his wife was betting $500,000 in a 39 day period. I know he’s rich but $500,000 is still a lot of money to a lot of rich people. If they felt $500,000 was burning a hole in their pockets they should have donated it to charity, put it in a college fund, or renovated the house. We just want the whole story. So people need to start talking.
{ 5 comments }
this story is almost too good to be true. it’s sure getting me interested in hockey.
You guys suck. If this is what it takes for you to get interested in hockey, you’re not a true sports fan. Stick to writing about football, dude.
Thanks for the kind words. Okay I’ll stick to writing football.
There’s people all over the country who don’t watch hockey or follow it on a regular basis.
Just cause we never followed hockey doesn’t mean we’re not true sports fans. Get real.
What defines a true sports fan? Follow every single sport alive? Curling? Horse racing? Bull riding? Do you watch all those?
I’ll stick to writing what interests me.
You don’t need to follow every single sport in order ot be a true sports fan, as long as you don’t only write about a sport when a pseudo-scandal occurs. Why does American media / bloggers / citizens only care about scandals / gossip? I don’t get it. Wayne Gretzky is one of the best athletes of all time, yet the one time you write about him or the sport of hockey is when his wife was allegedly involved in some betting ring. All of a sudden, Americans are outraged about gambling??
Why can’t I write about someone when a psuedo scandal occurs? Deadspin.com, the biggest sports blog out there, is having a field day with Dick Cheney and hunting. I’m sure they never mentioned him in their blogs. It’s news now.
I think that’s just human nature. When there’s a wreck on the side of the road, we shouldn’t slow down to look but we do.
People like scandals and gossip usually because of the nature of the story. The events are usually hard to believe and unthinkable.
If Gretzky’s name wasn’t invovled, this NHL gambling story would be dead by now. But to think that Gretzky is invovled somehow makes the story more intriguing.
The golden boy of the NHL “possibly” involved with a gambling ring with ties to the mob. He possibly KNEW about the illegal ring and as boss of Rick Tochett he didn’t do anything to stop it. That’s why we’re talking about Gretzky.
Then he claims to have known nothing about his wife’s betting when he was asked. How does he not know his wife is betting $500,000? Then when he was caught in a lie, it made him look bad.
Wayne and his wife are big gamblers in Las Vegas, but that was never news to anyone. All that info just came out but they’ve been gambling there for awhile. It’s legal to gambling in Vegas. But now placing bets and the mob is involved? Wow. Plus the timing of it with the Olympics and the worldwide media attention maginifies it.
America is not outraged about gambling. Just gambling illegally. If his wife made all her bets in Vegas, it would no a no story. They’re outraged that Gretzky maybe knew about this gambling ring, and kept it covered up.
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