UFC Boss Dana White sure stirred up a hornets nest with his comment that Georges St. Pierre is Canada's most "well known" athlete worldwide, even more so than Wayne Gretzky. The controversial comment seems to have sparked a little patriotism inside many Canadians, some die hard Gretzky fans even feeling the need to stand-up and defend the nations greatest athlete.
One has to keep in mind that White has always spoken his mind and in his business controversy can equal $$$. Like him or not his attitude can be refreshing compared to the political speak we're used to when it comes to the heads of sports.
The issue at hand is how popular is GSP? St. Pierre has been mobbed by thousands in places like Thailand and is probably more well known outside of Canada than he is right here at home. But that's changing fast evidenced by the Bell Centre selling out in only minutes for this weeks UFC event. If you were watching MNF this week you might have seen a promo for an ESPN story on GSP.
MMA is a worldwide sport and is second to only soccer in places like Brazil. The UFC also has athletes from Japan to Russia to Korea to Mexico and all parts of Europe. Even Winnipeg's Kryzstoff Soszisnky was born in Poland.
As for Gretzky he became a household name in the States with countless SI covers, the cover of Time magazine and who could forget his appearance on SNL. Waikiki Hockey is one of the skits I'll never forget. But Gretzky is now 10 years removed from his playing career and the reality is in 2010 outside of Canada and the U.S. not many under the age of 15 would have any idea who he is or how he dominated hockey and gave the sport life in California and the rest of the USA.
One also has to keep in mind Canada's national past time is only really played in North America, Russia and parts of Europe. And until the NHL's European invasion of the mid 80's no one outside of North America cared about the Stanley Cup.
Gretzky also rarely played on the world stage only competing in 8 international competitions. Besides 1982 Gretzky couldn't play in World Championships because he was too busy winning Stanley Cups. The 87 Canada Cup is one of my favourite hockey memories but did anyone outside of Canada or Russia even care? The World Jrs were just an afterthought in the 70's and when he finally did get to play in the Olympics in Nagano in 98 he was already past his prime. (But he still should have gone in the shootout).
The biggest factor though is todays media. In the Great One's heyday news took days to cross the globe. But in todays age of satellite TV and internet, people even in a tiny country can follow their favourite team or athlete. If Gretzky was playing in his prime today then #99 wins hands down with a 1st round TKO.
Do I believe more people in the far reaches of the globe know the name GSP than Gretzky? Yes, probably but we'll never know for sure. What I do know is Canadians shouldn't feel offended or insulted. Instead we should be proud our nation has produced two of the greatest athletes their respective sport has ever seen!!!
Russ Hobson
Global Winnipeg Sports
Comments