Gordie on Gordie

Gentle Reader Daphne accused Gentle Reader Andy, another hockey fan, and me of being “… a little boring when you go into all obsessed sports mode.” (I’m kinda-sorta assuming the last, about Andy) in comments to the post immediately preceding this one.

And yeah, Daphne’s right… so I’ll take a mea culpa on that one. I realize only about three out of the six of you who regularly visit these parts of the inter-tubes give two hoots in Hell about hockey. But, that said, it’s only once a year when I go “all obsessed,” and only during the playoffs. I love the game, I love those Red Wings, and I love everything about them... past and present.

About which… Sports Illustrated recently did an interview with Mr. Hockey… the most famous Red Wing, ever. Even folks who don’t know much about hockey know who Gordie is, largely because of this:

SI.com: I was watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off the other day and your jersey was on the screen the whole time since Ferris' friend Cameron is wearing it. I was wondering if you knew that your jersey would be a part of the movie.

Howe: Oh yeah, I sent them the jersey. They asked me for the jersey and I sent it out. It was nice seeing the No. 9 on the big screen. I had a lot of proud moments in that jersey.

Only the terminally-incurious could have watched that movie without asking the question “Who is Howe?”, assuming they didn’t know. And I would assume many, many folks in the audience (outside of Detroit, that is) had no idea. I’m also assuming those same folks got educated. Or at least one would hope. But we digress. Here are the closing grafs in that interview, and a pic from same:

SI.com: Finally, I recently saw a picture of you when you when you played that one shift with the Detroit Vipers in 1997 when you were almost 70 to become the only person to play professional hockey in a sixth decade. Did you have any second thoughts while you were getting ready to go out there?

Gordie: No, it was fun. They weren't big enough to hurt me anyways. Half the guys I was playing against, I knew and played against, so it wasn't like I was with strangers. I worked out with a lot of the kids on both teams and we were there to raise money. I remember one guy got out of line and I nailed the [guy]. I went over the bench and I said, "Get out line and we'll play accordingly, so I suggest you keep your damn mouth shut."

SI.com: I would imagine that was the last time you had to deal with that guy.

Howe: Yes, it was. He got the message.

Heh. Mr. Hockey, nearly 70 years old at the time and still an intimidating presence. Read the whole thing… you’ll be glad you did. And you'll learn what a "Gordie Howe Hat Trick" is, if'n ya don't already know.

(h/t: George James Malik, writing at mlive.com)