The Great One. Or #2.
March 22, 2025 10:36 AM Subscribe
Excrement Smeared on Edmonton Statue of Wayne Gretzky
Thurston, who hails from B.C., also said he was disheartened by the desecration.
"I thought people had more class."
So did we all. But then he put on a MAGA hat.
In a related story, someone’s been having fun with the description tags of his wine at the LCBO.
The LCBO denies they are legit.
Thurston, who hails from B.C., also said he was disheartened by the desecration.
"I thought people had more class."
So did we all. But then he put on a MAGA hat.
In a related story, someone’s been having fun with the description tags of his wine at the LCBO.
The LCBO denies they are legit.
Skating to where the fuck is going to be.
posted by snofoam at 10:50 AM on March 22 [17 favorites]
posted by snofoam at 10:50 AM on March 22 [17 favorites]
if it's bronze, tomato would have more lasting effect
posted by Clowder of bats at 10:57 AM on March 22 [2 favorites]
posted by Clowder of bats at 10:57 AM on March 22 [2 favorites]
Gretzsky is a sports hero to many, but his relevance ended for me when he retired from hockey. He lives in the states with his American wife, his upbringing and ethos always skewed small-c conservative, and probably because of the celebrity circuit, he seems to have met and chummed around with an overweight NYC real-estate mogul. Also, the golf connection to Trump via his son-in-law. Meh.
I'm disappointed that he publicly backed Trump, at least before the tariff blowup. I wonder if he still actually backs Trump now. I, like others, was unhappy that he wasn't more assertively "Canadian" as Canada's honorary team captain in the 4-Nations tournament. But I'm also disappointed by this feces stunt. It's mindless and base, it's not a good look for Canadians, and is just one more thing going into the "Canada - NASTY!" media clip bin for later use.
I did laugh at the doctored LCBO shelf label images; I can get behind satire like that that shows a little thought. His winery is still a Canadian enterprise, located in Canada, and using Canadian grapes.
posted by Artful Codger at 12:13 PM on March 22 [4 favorites]
I'm disappointed that he publicly backed Trump, at least before the tariff blowup. I wonder if he still actually backs Trump now. I, like others, was unhappy that he wasn't more assertively "Canadian" as Canada's honorary team captain in the 4-Nations tournament. But I'm also disappointed by this feces stunt. It's mindless and base, it's not a good look for Canadians, and is just one more thing going into the "Canada - NASTY!" media clip bin for later use.
I did laugh at the doctored LCBO shelf label images; I can get behind satire like that that shows a little thought. His winery is still a Canadian enterprise, located in Canada, and using Canadian grapes.
posted by Artful Codger at 12:13 PM on March 22 [4 favorites]
Anyone with any power in this world who winds up supporting trump should face nearly every type of negative consequence, aside from extreme physical violence (face punching is ok)
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 12:15 PM on March 22 [13 favorites]
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 12:15 PM on March 22 [13 favorites]
You miss all the shits you don’t take
posted by Rumple at 12:35 PM on March 22 [17 favorites]
posted by Rumple at 12:35 PM on March 22 [17 favorites]
"You miss 100% of the shits you don't take"
posted by milnak at 12:44 PM on March 22 [5 favorites]
posted by milnak at 12:44 PM on March 22 [5 favorites]
I don’t agree with it either but there it is anyway, so be it. People expect their heroes to always be heroic for them so it’s also not much of a surprise.
posted by ashbury at 1:19 PM on March 22 [1 favorite]
posted by ashbury at 1:19 PM on March 22 [1 favorite]
While I wouldn’t personally smear poo on anything, I did find it pretty funny. I saw the article on Mastodon and most of the reaction I’ve seen has been various versions of “finally, some good news!” Seems to be a bit of a thing lately, poo I mean. An unpleasant internet search yields recent feces protest incidents with a certain shitty car company. Indeed, shit-smearing as a form of protest has a history.
posted by chococat at 1:21 PM on March 22 [3 favorites]
posted by chococat at 1:21 PM on March 22 [3 favorites]
"The Great Once" is what's going round Reddit (aka "the other place"?)
He was an embarrassment at the Four Nations
posted by runincircles at 3:58 PM on March 22 [5 favorites]
He was an embarrassment at the Four Nations
posted by runincircles at 3:58 PM on March 22 [5 favorites]
a sports hero to many
Gretzky was a sports hero of mine growing up. I wasn't a sports fan, but I was given a biography as a kid. He was held up to me as a moral exemplar. You don't need to be tall to be brave. Talent is nothing without hard work. Despite his skill as an individual he always scored a lot more assists than goals. Putting the team ahead of yourself - I was taught this was important, with him as an example.
I saw him play once, in a nothingburger game at the tail end of his career. He wasn't big, or fast, or strong, but seemingly supernaturally aware. I remember seeing him fire off a long pass to empty space. A teammate inexplicably appeared a moment later, puck landing on his stick. It felt as though Gretzky could see a few seconds into the future.
Alert and astute. Putting others ahead of himself. That's how he used to be remembered. Look at him now. What a disgrace. Either his biography was a fraud or he outlived his values.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 4:21 PM on March 22 [6 favorites]
Gretzky was a sports hero of mine growing up. I wasn't a sports fan, but I was given a biography as a kid. He was held up to me as a moral exemplar. You don't need to be tall to be brave. Talent is nothing without hard work. Despite his skill as an individual he always scored a lot more assists than goals. Putting the team ahead of yourself - I was taught this was important, with him as an example.
I saw him play once, in a nothingburger game at the tail end of his career. He wasn't big, or fast, or strong, but seemingly supernaturally aware. I remember seeing him fire off a long pass to empty space. A teammate inexplicably appeared a moment later, puck landing on his stick. It felt as though Gretzky could see a few seconds into the future.
Alert and astute. Putting others ahead of himself. That's how he used to be remembered. Look at him now. What a disgrace. Either his biography was a fraud or he outlived his values.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 4:21 PM on March 22 [6 favorites]
On the one hand, you find out your heroes are crooks, liars, or rapists
On the other hand, your heroes consort with a lying, thieving rapist. They have decided to roll in shit with the other pigs racing to impose a vision of fascism, this is a fitting demonstration. Now get rid of the statue and get that man's name off the sign, #MakeItCapilanoDriveAgain
posted by ginger.beef at 4:36 PM on March 22 [4 favorites]
On the other hand, your heroes consort with a lying, thieving rapist. They have decided to roll in shit with the other pigs racing to impose a vision of fascism, this is a fitting demonstration. Now get rid of the statue and get that man's name off the sign, #MakeItCapilanoDriveAgain
posted by ginger.beef at 4:36 PM on March 22 [4 favorites]
I guess if people call you "The Great One" for too many years, then after they stop doing that so much, you might be susceptible to some kind of Make Something Great Again bullshit.
posted by ssg at 4:54 PM on March 22 [2 favorites]
posted by ssg at 4:54 PM on March 22 [2 favorites]
Never forget his SNL contributions.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 5:00 PM on March 22 [2 favorites]
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 5:00 PM on March 22 [2 favorites]
Well, this is all simply terrible.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to take a huge number 99.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 5:44 PM on March 22 [7 favorites]
Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to take a huge number 99.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 5:44 PM on March 22 [7 favorites]
Probably not the first time he was shit faced in Edmonton.
posted by mazola at 5:45 PM on March 22 [4 favorites]
posted by mazola at 5:45 PM on March 22 [4 favorites]
For the record I will also say this was a wrong thing to do.
And I didn't do it.
posted by mazola at 5:52 PM on March 22 [1 favorite]
And I didn't do it.
posted by mazola at 5:52 PM on March 22 [1 favorite]
MetaFilter: best served with broasted raccoon.
posted by wenestvedt at 7:31 PM on March 22 [1 favorite]
posted by wenestvedt at 7:31 PM on March 22 [1 favorite]
This is deplorable and so not classy and also the media has not mentioned the corn content. A lot of corn, like a whole lot, it's weird this is not making it into the coverage
posted by ginger.beef at 7:31 PM on March 22 [1 favorite]
posted by ginger.beef at 7:31 PM on March 22 [1 favorite]
Good! Let them see how angry we are.
posted by subdee at 8:06 PM on March 22 [2 favorites]
posted by subdee at 8:06 PM on March 22 [2 favorites]
Alert and astute. Putting others ahead of himself. That's how he used to be remembered. Look at him now. What a disgrace. Either his biography was a fraud or he outlived his values.
Gretzky's just another one of those many examples demonstrating why one shouldn't make any assumptions as to the character of people one doesn't know. Gretzky was a fine hockey player by any objective standard, and he managed to conduct himself reasonably well in public for decades. But that's all we really knew about him.
Admire the art or the athleticism or the work or the physical beauty of celebrities all you like, but don't idealize them as people. People gonna people, and they are bound to disappoint you in some way eventually.
posted by orange swan at 9:03 PM on March 22 [7 favorites]
Gretzky's just another one of those many examples demonstrating why one shouldn't make any assumptions as to the character of people one doesn't know. Gretzky was a fine hockey player by any objective standard, and he managed to conduct himself reasonably well in public for decades. But that's all we really knew about him.
Admire the art or the athleticism or the work or the physical beauty of celebrities all you like, but don't idealize them as people. People gonna people, and they are bound to disappoint you in some way eventually.
posted by orange swan at 9:03 PM on March 22 [7 favorites]
On the other hand, “A spokesperson for the Edmonton Police Service said it hadn't been made aware of any vandalism,” so maybe they consider this appropriate.
posted by nickmark at 7:50 AM on March 23
posted by nickmark at 7:50 AM on March 23
I don't like desecration of public art. It seems juvenile and ineffective, possibly making the people targeted more steadfast in their opinions.
But yesterday I watched the wonderful video by Jenny Draper on the British suffragettes. She raises the issue of militancy and its effectiveness and says (at least I think this is her point) that these kinds of militant actions are not expected to create change, but create awareness of the need for change. I was reminded of the same point raised by feminist Robin Morgan in her book Going Too Far, which I read the early 80s.
The need for change requires people to go too far.
I was emailing with a friend about the Gretzky betrayal (and many people in Canada see it as exactly that). My friend plays and follows hockey, and is of Ukrainian descent. I looked up the Ukrainian diaspora on Wikipedia and was not surprised to find out that Canada is the largest population of people of Ukrainian descent outside Russia/post-Soviet republics. On the Canadian prairies, where I live, people of Ukrainian heritage make up 8%-15% of the population, depending on where you live.
It makes Wayne Gretzky's actions particularly galling here. Wayne Gretzky's father, Walter, is widely credited with nurturing his son's talent. Walter's father (Wayne's grandfather) was a Belarussian immigrant to Canada and his mother (Wayne's grandmother) emigrated from Ukraine. Ukrainian was the language used at home and Walter was fluent.
About 10% of Edmontonians are of Ukrainian descent.
Someone, or a handful of someones, in Edmonton has had enough of Wayne's shitty behaviour toward the country that nurtured his admittedly great and rare talent. That Wayne would pal around with someone with such contempt for Ukraine is no doubt even more galling.
I wouldn't poop on anything outside a toilet if I could possibly help it. But I think Wayne has worn out his welcome in Edmonton, and perhaps the rest of the country. Canada may place hockey above God and certainly the king, but Mark Critch said it best.
posted by angiep at 12:08 PM on March 23 [4 favorites]
But yesterday I watched the wonderful video by Jenny Draper on the British suffragettes. She raises the issue of militancy and its effectiveness and says (at least I think this is her point) that these kinds of militant actions are not expected to create change, but create awareness of the need for change. I was reminded of the same point raised by feminist Robin Morgan in her book Going Too Far, which I read the early 80s.
The need for change requires people to go too far.
I was emailing with a friend about the Gretzky betrayal (and many people in Canada see it as exactly that). My friend plays and follows hockey, and is of Ukrainian descent. I looked up the Ukrainian diaspora on Wikipedia and was not surprised to find out that Canada is the largest population of people of Ukrainian descent outside Russia/post-Soviet republics. On the Canadian prairies, where I live, people of Ukrainian heritage make up 8%-15% of the population, depending on where you live.
It makes Wayne Gretzky's actions particularly galling here. Wayne Gretzky's father, Walter, is widely credited with nurturing his son's talent. Walter's father (Wayne's grandfather) was a Belarussian immigrant to Canada and his mother (Wayne's grandmother) emigrated from Ukraine. Ukrainian was the language used at home and Walter was fluent.
About 10% of Edmontonians are of Ukrainian descent.
Someone, or a handful of someones, in Edmonton has had enough of Wayne's shitty behaviour toward the country that nurtured his admittedly great and rare talent. That Wayne would pal around with someone with such contempt for Ukraine is no doubt even more galling.
I wouldn't poop on anything outside a toilet if I could possibly help it. But I think Wayne has worn out his welcome in Edmonton, and perhaps the rest of the country. Canada may place hockey above God and certainly the king, but Mark Critch said it best.
posted by angiep at 12:08 PM on March 23 [4 favorites]
People gonna people, and they are bound to disappoint you in some way eventually.
Idols always disappoint, but in my experience some people exceed expectations.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 8:29 PM on March 23
Idols always disappoint, but in my experience some people exceed expectations.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 8:29 PM on March 23
I don't like desecration of public art. It seems juvenile and ineffective, possibly making the people targeted more steadfast in their opinions.
This presumes that commemorative statues are "public art"; my counterargument would be to ask whether you also feel the same about the many statues we have (albeit less now) of Confederate army soldiers.
My point being that commemorative statues straddle a line between being public art and public mythologizing - and sometimes the myth isn't accepted anymore.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:31 PM on March 23 [2 favorites]
This presumes that commemorative statues are "public art"; my counterargument would be to ask whether you also feel the same about the many statues we have (albeit less now) of Confederate army soldiers.
My point being that commemorative statues straddle a line between being public art and public mythologizing - and sometimes the myth isn't accepted anymore.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:31 PM on March 23 [2 favorites]
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posted by chavenet at 10:38 AM on March 22 [3 favorites]