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The idea that Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr should light the torch in tandem at the opening ceremony of the Vancouver Olympics has sparked reaction, debate, and some outrage from Canadians.
This conversation will continue right up to the February night that kicks off the 2010 Olympic Games. The very kind of conversation VANOC CEO John Furlong has been looking for to engage Canadians in a meaningful way.
You only have a chance to do this once: And one chance to get it right.
And there are all kinds of opinion across the country about who should do it, how to do it, and what the makeup of the final torch bearer should be.
Who would you pick?
If given the chance, who do you think should be honoured to represent our nation to the world?
My view was clear in Sunday’s column: If I was picking, Gretzky and Orr, the two greatest if not most influential hockey players in Canadian history, would light the torch together. To me, Gretzky and Orr fill all the requirements that this honour encompasses.
International appeal
You can’t question the elite level at which they played. You can’t question their committment, historically, to Canadian sport. Unlike almost anyone else who might be considered for the honour, their faces and their reputations extend far beyond our borders. And that has to be understood and taken into account. The opening ceremony of the Olympics will be watched all over the world. This isn’t a Vancouver event or even an event for Canadians only.
I have been to too many opening ceremonies where you needed an explanation regarding who lit the flame and why. There was no need for explanation when Muhammad Ali did it in Atlanta in 1996.
There shouldn’t be a need for explanation here.
This is a world event — and to the world, and more importantly to ourselves, we are a hockey nation and they are the formemost faces of the Canadian game.
That’s my take. But it wasn’t necessarily the opinion of many who responded to the column Sunday.
Some objected to Gretzky and Orr because neither happen to live in Canada. Which is fair enough, to a point: Mike Weir doesn’t live in Canada; Steve Nash doesn’t live in Canada; Justin Morneau doesn’t live in Canada; When Donovan Bailey won gold, he lived in Texas.
Some objected to Orr because he never was an Olympian: Truth is, he never had a chance to be an Olympian. The hockey system was different when he came up. Orr would have played for Canada in the famed ‘72 series had he been healthy enough but he did play an MVP role on the best Canadian hockey team ever put together, the 1976 Canada Cup gold medal team.
And some objected to Gretzky because he never won a gold medal (although he did manage a gold medal team). The only Olympics Gretzky participated in was one in which Canada was blanked and he was left watching at shootout time. And some objected to Gretzky, strangely, because of the lingering stench of the Phoenix Coyotes.
So who else has been suggested?
There has been a groundswell of support for Betty Fox, Terry Fox’s mom, to light the flame. Were Terry Fox alive today, there would be no argument of any kind. He would be it. That’s easy. But his mom? Some might like that, but I wouldn’t want Walter Gretzky lighting the flame or the late Doug Orr.
They didn’t change our worlds or our lives — their children did.
There was also a suggestion — interesting in tone — that instead of Gretzky and Orr, why not Gordie Howe or Jean Beliveau?
They are of similar level, and of different eras and that would take care of the politically correct, forever looking for a French Canadian element to everything that is Canadian.
Other names to emerge: Nancy Greene, who is more local than national, more national than international; Rick Hansen, the man in motion, who is such a large figure in British Columbia.
Procession
What would be terrific is a procession of some kind leading up to Orr and Gretzky that include all the aforementioned and a terrific hockey tie-in with Howe and Beliveau, passing off to Gretzky and Orr.
Twice, we’ve hosted the Olympics as a nation and twice we did the boring Canadian thing.
In Montreal, young English and French Canadian girls were chosen to symbolize Canadian unity.
In Calgary, a young figure skater was picked to represent youth and the future.
Neither, except to family members, were very memorable or imaginative.
The opportunity now is to make a splash, leave an impression.
Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr on the same team. How do you argue against that?