SmartLess - "Wayne Gretzky"

Episode Date: November 7, 2022

You’re gonna give a puck about this week’s guest, Mr. Wayne Gretzky. We sit down with The Great One to talk figure skating, golf tips, and Chex Mix. Pass the biscuit because this one's a barnburner; it's an all new SmartLess.Please support us by supporting our sponsors!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

oh hey there sorry just putting on the last layer that's a little bit of a moisturizer that is the key to looking great this old it's just moisturizer by the way if you're a moisturizer company feel free to reach out anyway welcome to smartliz take some agents in your life 2007 was done with that they let you use it for a while let me just say that it was a good time welcome to smartliz by the way that's the second time in three days I've heard you use the term agency it is a great term I'm glad that somebody smarter in your life has used it clearly

around you and you're like huh sounds intelligent I'll co-op that no I'm not like you I don't need to grab words I've been familiar with this word for a long time I've never heard you use it before I use it all the time here's the other one you weren't there last night oh you are I wasn't there you weren't there either and I use why weren't you there Sean I had a previous business dinner scheduled Sean business dinner a previous dinner business dinner as opposed to this business dinner it wasn't business last night it was personal okay I know what did it hey but what did I do what did I do did you get a little

something you sent cookies or cookies in my absence can I just say this and I want to see him unappreciative don't say it say it three two one go tasteless the cookies yeah wait but I feel like we interrupted you're about say something hurtful to me about your new found try and taste this I used to have I used to have words years ago I used to say to Jason we had phone conversations and I would sit him you can't use these words and then I would send give him I'd write them down on a piece of paper do you remember that back in the old days I sure fucking don't what just in life you can't use words are you searching for

the words or listener he's looking at no I was I was just I do not disturb because I noticed that my yeah I'm gonna do that too so so anyway was it an email from the site word of the day no again that's not my issue so so yesterday so but this is this is on topic so we were having and we were talking about something and Jimmy our friend our good friend Jimmy Burroughs was my right yeah last night Jimmy and Deb came and Jason Jason's wife Amanda was there at his daughter and so anyway so I was able to fill the role of you know Amanda's husband very easily very easily yeah she said she said she said

she said you're going over the boundaries you're doing too much already she said oh but I use the expression I said you know and somebody would they go there and I guess back in the day you know it was du regur to and they were ill what's there what's that yeah what's there like to do a girl like it's the established like to do you know it's the expected you said that last night yeah it's not an unusual term yes it is coming out of your mouth I've never heard of it talking about your girl never heard you say it before you don't you don't really speak like an intelligent guy and I mean that with it with all the respected sounds

like listen listen I don't need to cut and paste words okay because I I've read more this week than you have in your life give me a goddamn it's true you do read a lot and that is why it's surprising that you time no no he's he's sneaky smart people are always surprised anyway that but it was surprising to me that that word generated a lot of sideways glances also wait by the way my niece is in town Tracy's daughter Mackenzie yes right now she's staying here okay I sorry so like last night it makes a lot of sense so why you'd follow up with that yeah no but I wanted to get that out because we

were like where were you last night I had the business dinner and also my niece is here okay but I know what you mean Jason it did look like he was looking up on his computer like here what were the things I was gonna talk oh yeah yes no so Sean's new talking points that we both like oh my niece is so so you had a business dinner on a Sunday night was it fruitful it was great I love those guys Travis and Oli oh by the way by the way it might have been fruitful but I can guarantee you one thing it was not full of fruit what did you wait a minute what would you do with your niece while

you were at this business dinner this this I want to say this one thing well you love this one of my friends is Oli Mickelson who just got inducted into the UCLA Hall of Fame for soccer wow that's pretty cool yeah it's amazing that's very cool and so I had dinner with him and another friend travel I know he did have Derek you know what I did do this is true Sean back me up within the last three days I FaceTime with Sean and he was at Koi I was with David Spade with David Spade well he was there but he was there yeah did you're did the soccer guy smell like icy cold like liniment a lot of soccer players smell like muscle

relaxing cream they do smell just fine what was your what was your niece doing during your big deals she was here for a wedding and then she tried to I told her how the back door worked and we got a real respect to guest I'll bet she's just a kid yeah no but then she you know cuz she didn't know how the lock works so I gotta call it again in the morning oh hey wait I'm sorry Jason what awesome what did you say what are you talking with his mouthful remember he used to give me shit look at it right now well I wasn't telling it was in the middle of a story taking a bite this is so good height of hypocrisy you know what

I'm eating right now right no guess what I'm eating a think bar you know what I'm enjoying right now if you could breathe through your nose what I'm enjoying right now is the chocolate and cream cupcake flavor 18 grams a protein two grams of sugar oh man you've saved yourself another 150 bucks when they send you a couple boxes on where to go where the nicest in the world wait is set the think bar high you fucking dummy all right so I was almost late today driving to the house in my new no I just want to mention a car brand real quick you knew Hyundai yeah any any other pre-guest chatter you guys know oh

I well I go on and on you he could go on and on but you know what our guest doesn't deserve to have to sit here listen to our priest because we got a good show in fact this is gonna be a great one our we will see I'm crossing my fingers and you'll notice the expression that you know there are a few people who excel at what they do you know whatever discipline there are always people who do a lot of you know who do it well but it's rare that you have people who dominate in a way that is like unlike anybody else's dominated in whatever their discipline is in the arts just sometimes want to get a

business or whatever I do but this one deserves a little bit of a preamble because this to me this person had has for consistently for decades went far and above and far and beyond what anybody had ever done before them and since I'm I'm a little bit nervous right now my palms are a little even though I know this guy that wins the hot dog eating contest every year this is it's the equivalent of that but times a hundred and and he did it every it's like he did it every year for for 25 years if you told 8 9 10 to 25 to 40 year-old me that we'd be sitting here today having this person on our show I'd call you a

liar because I would be too in awe and too nervous to even talk about it Wayne Gretzky my great love of my life is hockey oh my god did more I just call it what I just call it it's the great one it's Wayne Gretzky I know who you are when I've never called it I totally know who you are sorry about the hot dog eating guy I was getting disappointed in myself we had will on TNT a long time ago and I said okay I really want to do your show I really want to be on it love all through you guys and I'm glad I'm here exploded wills mine totally my mind well even more so Wayne they put me in net they let me hold the

goalie stick and a glove in a blocker and Wayne took a couple shots on me which was to get one through you got a couple through don't worry when was I'm a little rusty little 61 I don't quite have the hands that I used to have when I was young did okay do you think that do you think there's any chance as I know we share a passion for golf any chance you think you could ever get let's say half way as good as you were in hockey in golf not a chance no two reasons because you were so good at hockey that's no no no but you have to practice right and every day when I go to the course Dustin will say to me let's go to the

ranger and I'm always like Dustin I am what I am yeah I'm not gonna get any better I hope I don't get worse but if you become an elite athlete or whatever sport you're in the hours of hard work and practice that goes into that yeah yeah exactly what you guys do too it you don't just do it overnight it takes a lot of commitment and I don't have that commitment for golf but I have the love for it because it's enjoyable yeah yeah and Sean you know he's talking about Wayne's talking about his son-in-law Dustin Johnson who's one of the top ranked golfers in the world in and out of being number one at various points you

know and he's just a phenomenal major winner etc etc who we actually Wayne one of the times Jason I ran into you and Janet playing golf I guess about six months ago but one other time we saw Dustin he was practicing where we were playing and I hit my shot off the fairway into the practice area and I came through the trees and I see him there and I said hey DJ just hit my shot nobody can see you from here just put it on the green part five you would have been there until I just wanted to hear Jason from the fairway going what a shot I was I guess thrilled that you guys had enough guts to get in front of

him because I still get nervous playing with him and I'm like wow these guys all right good for them and the way you guys went he's a big deal he's just intimidating but he's so nice you know he's one of those guys he just has a love for the game and if he plays with a beginner or a tan handicap or with his boys he has the patience of a saint he just truly loves the game and that's something really special you either have that or you don't and he has that he gets frustrated I think playing with me because I'm very good but I remember we played at Pebble one year and he told me on the second hole he said hit your

three with sir and I go no let me hit nine iron nine iron that long par five yeah number two and there's all these people around the green because we're playing with Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson and I was playing with Jake Oh and the four of us and I'm like Dustin the worst thing I can do is be 80 yards out I can't be 80 yards out and sure enough I was 79 yards out and I scald a sandwich and I hit this poor lady right here no I couldn't I couldn't play for I couldn't play for two holes and I was like okay this is my last year I'm gonna play in this event it's too hard playing in front of people did you give her the

ball yeah I give her the ball I signed a glove I got her I got her a drink she wanted and thankfully she had glasses on it kind of stopped at her really would have left a mark and kind of hit her glasses and kind of hit her the right spot so it wasn't as bad as it could have been yeah but let me tell you something it's so hard playing in front of people I wills about to experience that we're both we're gonna I've done it before but Willie hasn't we're doing the pebble in February let me tell you something you're your knees will be shaken especially when the cameraman runs up and gets behind you in the middle

of the fairway with his with his shoulder camera but Jason we did it last year when we played the when we played what was that Genesis yeah we played the Genesis out here that was not bad because there's not as many people that's right you're gonna play pebble there's gonna be 25,000 people there and let me tell you if you hit a bad shot they let you know about it you hit a good shot they let you know about it did I hear you say that Dustin calls you sir yeah he's a very respectful young man does that does that I want Jason to call me sir that would be great well I'm not sleeping with your daughter you

know now what kind of son-in-law is he he's the best is he there's there's a old saying in golf when you hit a bad shot you call it a son-in-law and people say what does that mean you say it's not quite what I had in mind I'm the opposite my son-in-law is the best he's great to his kids he's a good father that's cool he's just he's a wonderful guy and you know we moved down here a couple years ago to Florida so we could be by the two grand boys and my other son he has a little daughter who's one-year-old little girl so we're all within seven minutes driving together it's worked out really nicely when he

travels there in Asia right now I think they're in Bangkok so the kids the two boys are able to stay with Janet and I so at least somebody's here oh that's great yeah so it's worked out really nicely yeah he's a wonderful guy has he given you any tips that you can use in your golf game oh yeah you know yeah he's incredible because if he played with you you'd be amazed at how much he's a golf savant I tell people this all the time he's truly a savant he knows what kind of grass it is how thick it is how much soil is underneath the grass which way the greens are breaking I always say don't why don't you have somebody help

you read greens he goes why I'm number one in the world if I can't read him who can and I said well good point yeah but you know he helps me all the time I don't go up to the range though I don't practice but when we're on the course he'll give me little pointers little tidbits but he does to everybody's playing with he loves it Jason so Jane Wayne Jason so jealous he's just he won't stop at we could fill the whole hour with golf questions yeah but sadly we've got Wayne Gretzky here who you know hockey we want to talk first of all Wayne as I probably told you but like as you know and as a boy from Toronto you know

hockey is just the love of my life like it is for you in it in a much my relationship with as much different I'm an observer yeah but you know for me I can remember I mean Sean you even said I love the way you said like I know who you are like Sean is not a huge sports fan but he's just like oh my god Wayne Gretzky yeah this is blowing my mind I can as a kid I can remember my first my first earliest memories of hockey and if you're a Canadian kid it's so rich a like that relationship between you and hockey what it means to you is is more than just the game it's about your family and all that kind of stuff so I

I have those memories playing the first outdoor rink at the end of my street whatever going to games being nervous with the first time hearing the roar of the crowd and you talked about what you talked about like getting the gear on and how long it takes to get the gear I get to get all of that stuff that the pageantry of right of the ritual of putting all that stuff on talks me a little bit Wayne about your first memory of your relationship with hockey my relationship goes way back I started skating when I was two years old why how come I don't know an uncle passed me down a pair of skates they were both

this big I still have them they're my parents house really first pair and I started skating on the backyard of my my grandparents lived on a farm and they had a it's called the Knith River which runs into the Grand River behind her yard and we freeze in the wintertime that's where I started skating and you know I'd be out there for hours and hours two three four five years old come in and you know this will it's the worst feeling but the best feeling in the world when you take your skates off and you put them over a heater because they're so frozen and when they start down thaw they hurt even more but you

get past that stage where it stops tingling and you just think okay I can't wait for tomorrow so I was like every other kid and I was saying this one of my fondest memories I remember driving to my very first game with my dad I can remember it for whatever reason like it was yesterday I was six years old I tried out for this team and in those days they had a 10 year old team that's if you made that team that's where you played if you didn't make it you didn't play and I made the team as a five year old wow and the coach said to me can we have your birth certificate my dad gave it to me said well he can't

play he's not he's not of age so I remember driving home crying so the next year they said okay well let him play and I played on that team for five years but the point of my story was my very last game I was so lucky and I always say this to athletes if you can ever play in New York there's nothing greater nothing nicer nothing better than playing for the Rangers or the Yankees or the Knicks there's something so special about the fans in Manhattan and I got to play my last game at Madison Square Garden and it was a three o'clock game and I always went to the arena like six hours before the game six hours oh yeah

because I could get in the locker room at two o'clock for a 730 game nobody could call me nobody could talk to me I'd have a coffee I'd sit in the Jason's dream yeah and I just relaxed you know we didn't have cell phones in those days so people couldn't get a hold of me so my very last game I said you know what this is what I'm gonna do and I drove my dad I said you know what you drove me to my first game I'm gonna drive with you to my last game so I drove with my dad through Manhattan we were living on the Upper East Side got down the Madison Square Garden after the game Janet my wife says to me how was the

ride with your dad I said Janet it was great but it was the worst 10 minutes of my life going to a hockey game and she said why is that and I said the whole way there all he kept doing was taffing me on the knee saying you know you can play one more year I said I'm done I said you know what dad I really appreciate it and so the Rangers were so nice they they bought myself and Janet a new car and they had my dad drive out on the car from the corner and as he drives in on the car to center ice I opened the car door to get him out and he's got his seatbelt on and I said to my dad what are you doing with the seatbelt on he

goes you just never know he doesn't look good the car and he says he says to me isn't this a beautiful car they're giving me and I said I hate to tell you but I got the thousand goals not you broke my heart to tell him it's my car not his so it all goes back to being a kid right there's nothing like it that's so cool and we will be right back smart list is supported by helix what do you get for your kids mattresses what do you do where do you start you can't ask your kid hey what sleep number are you hey what do you do all that kind of stuff out the window with kids cuz

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your folks handle the the the fame obviously of you that would probably gave them a great sort of pride but I bet for them to back home it was it was it was nice but I bet there were moments where it was really disruptive it was it was a huge change in your life but an enormous change in their life as well was that something that they that they were comfortable with consistently or did they have trouble with that yeah my dad was always very comfortable with it he loved hockey and he loved talking hockey love being around people kids he had him kids hockey tournament for boys and girls till the day he passed and

they still have it going on to this day over Christmas time that's great it's one of the great tournaments in all of Canada it was difficult you know at 14 years old I moved away from home and people always said oh you moved away from home to go play hockey and I really didn't I lived in this small town and there's so much media attention there was so much hype we just kind of got together one day and said you know what maybe go live in a bigger city I moved in with a family had never met before I drove down there the day before school started I was starting grade nine and I met the people and it became like

second parents to me I lived with them for two years was that in Toronto Wayne yeah I went I moved to Tobaco I went to West Humber Collegiate which is by the airport in Toronto if you're familiar with Toronto and it was interesting because I went to high school none of my friends in high school knew I played hockey I kept it quiet the whole year nobody none of the kids at school I I didn't talk about it nobody really knew who I was to this day one of the kids in that school him and I are still best friends and every time I go to Canada go to Toronto him and I have dinner together and he never played a game of

hockey in his life and I always said to him I said I can't be the only Canadian I've ever met this never played hockey and we're best friends so I lived there for two years and you lived there because it was a better program for you to be involved in as a hunter player just kind of no I kind of went there to be get out of the limelight to be a normal everyday kid to go to school like everyone else and not be doing interviews and not being centered out you know it was interesting because with all the good that came with all that attention there were some jealousies and some negative that was unfair to a 13-14 year old

which my parents thought yeah and that's consequently why I moved to Toronto well Wayne won't tell you is because because he's humble is is that you know he's from a town called Brantford Ontario which I'm familiar with because my cousins grew up there and I told Wayne once that my my uncle used to have a bookstore in in Brantford so I used to go there all the time and when I was a little kid it used to say home of Alexander Graham Bell right at Brantford Ontario now it's of course it's the Wayne Gretzky they're like screw the guy who invented the telephone and you know my acting career was very minimal

and and Lorne Michaels had asked me to host Saturday Night Live and I said no way I said I don't want to act I can't act I'm flying to Kentucky Derby and I'm reading the paper and it says Wayne Gretzky's gonna host Saturday Night Live and I remember I just pulled the paper down I looked at my wife and I go really and she goes one day you're gonna thank me for this so here I am in New York but the point and and I was so lucky because Mike Myers and Dana Carvey was so good they just carried me and John Lovitz but the point of my story was one of the most famous people ever to come from Brantford was Phil Hartman and I got to

know him that week during Saturday Night Live he was a genius he was a nice man and he always said to me you know I'm from Brantford too I go I know Phil I love it hey when you hey Wayne when you were a kid when you were living with that family that you didn't know I want to know about all the awkwardness I did this Kenny Rogers Christmas tour thank you many many years ago nobody wanted that's a tanking feeling I will put it later people and and on the tour a couple places we had to stay I like when they broke us up we had to stay with families it was so awkward it was like yeah hello you're sleeping in other people's

bed you're eating there you don't know them I mean isn't that weird it was very weird at the beginning the first month I cried myself to sleep every night and of course my parents could hardly afford to call me so my dad worked for Bell Telephone and I knew every day at 430 one of his friends at Bell Telephone would get him a free line he could call me to see how I was doing and I'd always work my nerve up at 430 and say I'm doing great I love it it's no problem I'm getting accustomed to this I was 14 yeah and so here's the interesting part we became very close to the day they both passed they were like

second parents to me I would always bring them out to games where they're played in LA or New York they'd always come in and treated me like their own son I true love with them and for them and they did for me and I said at the time and as I went through my career I said I'm never gonna do this to one of my kids so what happens I named my son Ty because I love baseball after Ty cop yeah and the age of 10 he looked at me he said you know dad I hate baseball okay so he wanted to be this hockey player so at 15 years old I said to him I said now listen I'm gonna tell you something that your grandfather would

tell you if you want to pursue this you got to leave the West Coast you got to go to Minnesota Boston I said you can go live with grandma and grandpa in my hometown and then we decided okay maybe you can go live with my mom and dad and then my mom unfortunately came down with cancer and I thought okay I don't want my 15 year old son to have to deal with this and go through it so he moved to Minnesota he went to a prep school in Minnesota he loved it at the end of the year he said you know what I want to come back home I just want to play hockey for fun I want to continue my education go to college and I said that's great you

know when you're 30 years old you look back and say you know how I gave it an honest effort I don't I don't regret anything I did he loved the school loved everything about it he moved home and I said to him one day I said what was one of the things that really bothered you about moving there and playing there other than missing your mother he said you know I got tired of every guy that I played against saying you're not as good as your dad so I said to him I said so what would you say to them and he said it was pretty easy I just say I got news for you you're not as good as he is either you know when you know the one

of the things that I just sort of know I have noticed before but it just kind of came into focus you know listen you tell the story is is that you know obviously one of the things being this being who you are and having this illustrious career and all the things you did it's brought you all the way around the world you've met all sorts of people and all sorts of walks of life and you're talking about going and living with a family when you're 14 whatever you've been around people your whole life and you you have a gift for talking to people and really listening to people and really engaging with them

and I and you are such a and more than just an ambassador for hockey you're such a just listen you talk and the way that you talk to your kids I I don't know there's something I really admire about the way that you relate to human beings and the way you connect with other human beings I think it's awesome and is that something that you was your relationship like that with your were your parents like that did they bestow that upon you I know your dad was a really gregarious guys the most famous Leaf fan of all time next to me yeah that's true yeah well where did that sort of is that where that came from do you think no I'll tell

you what I was the shyest kid you could ever meet I was quiet you know my dad used to say to me the good Lord gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason listen twice as much as you talk and I lived by that I was this kid who was in school that if you had to get up and give a speech I'd be sweating bullets and like every other 14 15 year old when I moved to Toronto and this is the rest of my story they had one son and he was a character and he was two years older than I was and he was this outgoing full-of-life energy young man and we're still close today and he really helped me sort of mature and come out of my shell

as far as talking to people and talking with people listening to people and I just think it was a progression and I just learned you know I always say to people when you meet your idol and listen there's been a lot of times where you meet somebody and you go wow that guy was having a bad day he wasn't as nice as I thought he was gonna be or that person wasn't as great as I had him built up in in my mind and my childhood idol was Gordie Howe from the time I was I could think of Gordie Howe three years old I used to even go to the barber shop and say can I get a Gordie Howe haircut that's how much I love Gordie Howe

and through hockey him I became a planet of the apes haircuts and through hockey Gordie and I became best friends we were very close he was like a second dad to me what about like interviews though like to will's question yeah yeah I got I got comfortable interviews at 14 15 16 yeah before that you were like petrified yeah I was scared to death you know head would be down kind of shy stutter a lot all that kind of stuff and you know you know who I met at a young age in my career that was incredibly helpful with me off the ice was a great Canadian Alan Thick he was he was energetic he was smart you know and he

would help me do things and he would help me and you always say to me Wayne you know instead of giving a standard interview an athlete gives here's things that I think can help you and here's kind of things you can chat about and talk about so Alan was a huge influence in my life wonderful man as a matter of fact I was staying at Alan's house the day I got traded the LA Kings in August of 1988 I was down there for a week all the day and I got a phone call you've been traded to LA and I said Alan you don't mind if I kick you out of your house and move in that way you guys are like special guy

Sean I know you knew Alan to our friend Jimmy Brose he what a sweet he's the greatest super funny and I've played golf twice in my life and one of them was with Jimmy and Alan yeah okay and wait Sean can I also tell you this Wayne I'll tell you this yeah and when in 1988 when you got traded I was doing a summer theater theater you were you're playing special hockey at the highest level in October and I was that I was at a theater program in London England so anyway but when I found out the news and there was no internet it would just came across on the news and it was such big news it was in the UK it was like in

the evening paper whatever and my buddy and I found this Canadian pub down in Covent Garden and we went to the Canadian and we just had about 30 beers because we were like Wayne's going to America I had I had a wonderful London story I was there is it Hyde Park right yeah they have Canada Day there which is this huge day that it's all these Canadians come down they set up these ball hockey rinks there's about six of them teams sign up so all these Canadians flock down there they have Canadian French fries and fish and chips they have Canadian bands that come out tragically hip and they play during the day so I'm

standing there with my two boys and I said let's go watch this hockey game so him my two boys and I we get behind the net now these guys are intense they're older men probably drinking beer running around their shoes whacking and hacking each other and it's really intense and there's this guy standing beside me with a team Canada Gretzky jersey on and I turned to the guy and I'm trying to make conversation I was gonna sign his autograph or get a picture with him and I said hey this game is pretty intense and he just keeps staring straight out he goes yeah this is crazy and I said are you having fun today and he goes yeah

this is unbelievable and I said to my two boys I said let's go and they go aren't you gonna sign that form I said I give him two chances to turn to me I'm not giving him a third we're out of here and that was my London story yeah give you a break I'm trying to watch the game now the court now I'm just back to the like the actual sport of hockey and me like like you know what Wayne if me and you just me and you had dinner I would have a bunch of different questions than Jason will probably so these are one of my dumb questions a lot of musical theater stuff I don't know if it's you probably more of a snack than a meal

no like just the art of hockey playing okay so the coordination to me not knowing anything about it looks impossible it's like playing the drums you need your feet and your arms and your brains and everything and so you're gonna laugh at this question is there any because of the athleticism are there any guys who go from hockey to figure skating or figure skating to hockey because they're both like you know you watch these hockey guys you know you watch the hockey guys like when you could do other things that walk because you have the skill of skating you know what I mean actually it's a it's a really good

question because one of the things that my wife who was a dancer always says that she would always say to me you should do ballet because ballet is gonna help your hockey and I go I don't know when I take my skates off the rhythm just leaves my body ballet wouldn't be good for me yeah but there are guys that start off in figure skating that at 9 10 11 switch over it's probably easier to go that way than to play ice hockey and then go into figure skating I'll tell you why in ice hockey you're skating more like downhill skiing so you're kind of sitting on your squads yeah you're squatting and the blades are

actually flat so you're kind of moving like that whereas figure skating because of the toe picks you're more straight up and you're more I guess right and so it's two different sort of skating formulas so it's tough to go from one to the other but okay it's a real good question actually wait Wayne I want to ask you one question not to get too deep in the weeds on hockey so because these guys won't get it but I have to clear this up once and for all back in the day Wayne was one of the first guys in hockey to wear a Jofa helmet how did that happen I've always wanted to know about the Jofa so I don't know if these

guys know but when I turned pro when I was 17 and my dad said because he had to sign the contract to validate it because I wasn't 18 and he said two things I'll sign this but you're gonna finish 12th grade I don't care what you do you're gonna go to school to your 18 years old so I said okay I'll do that so my first practice and in those days the players would come to the younger guys or the new guys and say hey take your helmet off you shouldn't play with a helmet because that's kind of what guys did back then so here I am I took my helmet off and my dad's at my first exhibition game we're playing in Indianapolis, Indiana

and I'm out there skating around and all of a sudden my dad comes running down the stairs at the arena and yelling at me get your goddamn helmet back on so I'm turning to one of the guys and I said my dad said I have to put my helmet on so we go to the locker room and I get this helmet and one of the guys said Wayne wear this Jove helmet it's like not wearing a helmet and I was like okay so I get the helmet on and I wore it my whole career I was comfortable with it I got traded or sold to Edmonton I got traded or sold a couple times in my career played a lot of years I got sold a lot so I get sold to Edmonton and I'm

going to high school in Edmonton and the principal doesn't know I am now Edmonton travels more than other teams and so I've gone on the road for five days or seven days you were going to high school in Edmonton when you were playing there yeah and the WHA and the principal calls me in like early January said young man you're gonna be a nothing you're gonna mount to nobody you're schooling this and that I should kick you out and I said to him look give me till January 26th and he goes what's that I go I turn 18 January 26th if I'm still messing up you can call me in and kick me out of the school so the guy

goes okay I'll do that for you so January 26th and I used to pick up one of my teammates daughter was in my classes we're the same age so driving to school and I'm kind of singing to the music in the car and she goes well you're pretty happy that I said yeah I'm quitting school I'm going in and telling that principal I'm done I walked in the principal's office I said you know what I just want to thank you for not kicking me out of school I quit and I lived up to what my dad wanted so listener there you know there's a physical element to hockey you know it's a contact sport and sometimes things can get rough and tumble

and there can be fights and stuff like that Wayne was famously you know kind of above that fray never really got into a whole lot of fights but a lot of the the heavies on the other side would love to try to get him into that because they want him off the ice but you always managed to avoid it was there ever a time in your career when everybody was kind of the same size before they got huge huge where you kind of tried to incorporate that into part of your game and and went wow that hurt that my face is real sore and you just was like you know what I'm just gonna be the finesse guy that I was born and and what is the

worst injury I don't know about you guys but if I get punched in the nose I start crying I'm always amazed at these guys they go back and forth back and forth and they just drop their gloves they go to the penalty box they sit there for five minutes and they come back out and they go wow and you know I think I had one fight in my career and this is a really funny story I won Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year which to me was one of my favorite awards that I ever won so so the publisher of Sports Illustrated flies to Edmonton to present this award and he's at center ice and he's talking

about my sportsmanship and what he brings to the game and he's going on and on I'm in the second shift of that game and I got into a fight the only fight I've ever had I come back to the bench and not one guy said good fight or good job they all said what were you thinking the guy the guy who was from Minnesota Neil Brotten and him and I still laugh about today because it was so silly and my my buddy who was a tough guy at the time one of the tougher guys ever to play who's that Dave Semenko and he turns me he says Wayne you got five minutes for cat fighting that was my last fight was it a pretty funny

fight it was our clear winner nothing it was kind of like one of these right yeah one one night we were playing in Chicago and this guy and I had enough of them and I kind of grabbed him and he threw me down on the ground and he's standing over top of me like this and I'm looking at our bench and there's five players with legs over top like they're riding a horse right yeah ready to jump on the ice and he's standing over top like this and he goes don't move I'm not gonna hit you and I said don't worry I'm not moving I come back to the bench and I said all right he could have beat the crap out of me nobody's allowed to touch that guy so

I said he would have hit me he would have had a couple more fights before the night was over oh yeah and it's the punching of the helmets too that I I mean they'd never seem to really hurt their hands and they're just slugging oh they do yeah now they have visors on too they have visors and then and then if you fight if you start a fight there's like the whole code that if you keep your visor on that you're a you know you're you're a jerk because you're not you're gonna let the other guy hurt himself wait I remember I remember this yeah good no I'm just gonna say we'll know this there's a few guys there were

Hall of Fame type players that also could fight the question you were asking me one of his buddies Brendan Shanahan and Mark Messier those guys were not only Hall of Famers at what they did but they were also as tough as anybody ever played the game yeah yeah you know Wayne Shanahan once called me about a month after he retired and he was like it was like a Wednesday afternoon he was kind of blue and I said what's going on you all right and he goes I just realized I'm never gonna fight again I said buddy you're 40 you're 40 you're 42 you shouldn't be fighting anymore anyway what are you talking about and he's

genuinely disappointed yeah he was he was like he was just kind of bummed out you know so Wayne so you go your life changes you're you're you move out of the house when you're 14 you go play in Toronto you play how many years of junior to play just just one right or not even you played for the Sioux yeah I played one year in Sioux Saint-Marie is a 16 year old as a 16 year old I mean which is you guys have to understand it's so crazy what Wayne did he was just ahead like he played on teams that were he was young as he told you yet the youngest by about four years and the parents of the other teams were still

mad at him because he was scoring so many goals I played in Sioux Saint-Marie and if you've never been to Sioux Saint-Marie it's just above Sioux Michigan so it's about eight hours north by car from Toronto and the snow is about six feet deep early December till late March and we flew around on a DC three now no way flying is one thing but try getting in a DC three and the pilot comes back and says we need two of the heavier guides go to the front to the lighter guys go to the back yeah I ride to pretty much every game like this yeah and it can only fly at 9,000 feet right and you're right in the middle of those

snow clouds going into Sioux Saint-Marie every trip I was the singer Ricky Valens that's all I kept thinking was this is not good this DC three is not fun but I ended up having a fun time there no we'll be right back smartness is sponsored by better help everything you get in life comes with a manual get a new car comes to the manual you get a microwave it comes with a manual you buy a television it comes with the manual everything in life comes with a manual except life anytime you come up against anything wouldn't it be nice to have a manual that you could refer to you could something comes up and

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that stuff Wayne and then you you know you and then you go into the NHL well first you go to the WHA with with before that Indianapolis then Edmonton the WHA I've always wanted to this two questions I guess yeah playing in the WHA was because they was it was a rival league they tried to start up it was a startup league Sean that to try to rival the NHL and then they ended up merging a few teams was that like the Blitz it was kind of like the ABA in the basketball was it an advantage to you a little bit playing a little bit in the WHA before the NHL yeah yeah no question you know the WHA wasn't as good

as the NHL and they were stealing all the young players so there was like 12 of us are under the age of 20 that signed at the end of that year the NHL said okay we we got to come together so four teams dismantled and four teams went into the NHL and emerged it was a good league it was it as good as the NHL absolutely not but it was a good stepping stone for me to get one year under my belt living with men playing with men traveling like the men do boy in Edmonton there's a lot of travel trust me we were a long way from I think our closest trip was two and a half hours to Winnipeg yeah but but it was a good it was a good stepping

stone for me so you go you do that but my point is this from a young age and then you go in and you're thrust into this and you're just you explode on this I mean I know I know a lot of your stats just I'm not reading anywhere off the top of my head I remember the season when you scored 215 points I remember you know I mean all of it to me was just incredible but for you with that came a lot of responsibility and a lot of money and all of a sudden you're thrust into the business of hockey were you prepared for that aspect of superstardom some ways I was in other ways I wasn't my priority and my focus was just to play hockey I

let everything around me just kind of be itself and I never really concerned myself with things like that I really got more heavily involved when I went to LA when I got traded to LA I remember we were driving by the tennis courts on Van Nuys Boulevard and I remember as we're driving by I said to my wife I said you know if this was Canada there'd be 15 kids out there playing ball hockey right now that's just the way it is and two years later I went by that same tennis courts and there was a big sign that said no roller hockey allowed and I said you know what hockey's coming a long way more kids are playing it

it's growing it's advancing and so I learned more about the the marketing and the business side of the game when I went to LA and then Michael Eisner used to come to all the games and he loved hockey and Michael decided okay I'm gonna do this movie the mighty ducks he did the movie nobody thought they would ever have an NHL team called the Anaheim mighty ducks and so he was a huge part of the success of a national hockey league going to another level and then it just kind of snowballed from there San Jose and then of course Denver and Dallas and Phoenix you know when when you when you do something as great as

you do and and as far as long as you do it becomes an addiction I'm sure yeah like you can't wait to get on the ice that like you were describing right yeah listen people ask me all the time do you miss hockey yeah I'm sick that I can't play but I'm 61 and I'm slow and I'm not good but every day I get up and say gosh I wish I could play yeah but I mean do you so when you pass an ice rink or a or it's winter time do you do you still go on the ice and not play but just experience that I you know my son does some hockey schools and I'll get on the ice periodically and I don't really skate I just kind of get out there yeah

but I used to play in a lot of I guess charity events charity games people would say hey Wayne we jump in I go yeah I'll play a couple shifts and I came home one time was about seven years ago I was about 54 years old and I put my bag down and I turned to Janet and I said you know it's the last time I'm ever gonna skate and she goes what are you talking about and I said it was the first time in my life that I was scared on the ice that if I fell I could seriously get hurt and I said you know you can't play hockey like that you can't play any sport like that right and I just said you know what I don't want to

push it I've had a good run I love the game everything I have in my life is because of hockey I don't need to be breaking my leg because I think I can still play what was your what was your secret to what seems to my eyes you seem like such a happy peaceful content guy what was your secret to the successful transition from being exposed to an opportunity day in and day out for so many years to excel and dominate when it when it stopped I'm sure you knew there was no way to be able to replace that what did you did you just lay some groundwork so that that was a smooth transition into what is seems to me a

very content life that you're living now or was there was there an adjustment that was uncomfortable no there's an adjustment I think that any athlete who said there was no adjustment is lying because you know you have this passion and love and it's like going to school you know I I can remember we used to start school the day after Labor Day and we knew we're in school all year till early June and that's when we got out hockey was the same thing I knew I was going to training camp the day after Labor Day yeah and I was at their mercy every single day of practice or travel or games and I did that all year

and then you get your six or eight weeks off in the summer time to be with friends and family and I would say this all the time to people if you're gonna be a good athlete in any sport you have to be extremely selfish and I mean that in the most positive way selfish I mean the night before a game deep properly to get your proper rest the day of a game to focus and get ready and the people around you your family your wife your kids your friends your parents they all have to be on that same page and I was lucky they were all on that page they understood when I was playing that was my life yeah they set you up for success

yeah and then and then when I was done you know I was lucky I had a great family my kids are wonderful there's new challenges right there's new things on the horizon but I say this all the time nothing's gonna ever replace that high that I got being a hockey player and that's why you still see guys who are 45 or 55 they play pick-up hockey on Sundays they still think back to their childhood right yeah this was so much fun I don't want to give it up I want to still keep playing even though they can't play even though they're not very good anymore but they're still out there because the game itself is like it's like

a drug it just pulls you in if you have that passion for it there's nothing like it I had that thing Wayne you know for your I haven't been back to Toronto at Christmas in a few years now but I would go back and play shinny with the guys I grew up with and I could go down to the rink like Ramston Park in Toronto right right across from Roseville subway station right off Young Street and I could go and see the same guys who play shinny there like on a Sunday or in the afternoons that I've played my whole life with and I can tell you something and as a guy who did not play at a high level at all the feeling I'd get from

walking from my car to that little dressing room that's run by the you know parks department of Toronto to put my skates on I couldn't do it fast enough I can't get out there fast enough because I love the game so much that that I I can access that memory now which is but I wanted to get into this thing which is and tell Sean and Jason one of my favorite stories I mean I have so many favorite stories about you that I've heard that are part of the legend but one is there's a there's a record in hockey guys that was that rocket Richard first broke which was 50 goals in 50 games which it was almost unheard

of so he did that he sets the mark Wayne had of and correct me if I'm wrong way but you had 45 goals in 38 games leading up to a game right so he had 45 so he had to get five more goals but he only played in 38 games and your roommate at the time was Kevin Lowe the great Kevin Lowe he was your teammate and Wayne says to him on this day he says to he goes and Kevin Lowe tells the story I'm gonna get five goals tonight and he called the shot and he went out and Wayne scored five goals to score 50 goals in 39 yeah it wasn't from bragging it was more a sense of if I get this close and don't do it I'm gonna

be known as a slug so I felt more pressure to get to that 50 as fast as I could and it just happened that night I got five so I was pretty excited it just happened how did that feel though what was that feeling knowing that you did that poor goal tender you know it I don't know it was special you unique I felt honored all that goes with that right I look back at it now I was a kid just having fun right I didn't know any better I was 22 years old just doing what I love doing and you just go play right what do you what do you think Wayne is like the the physics behind something you understand and you get

you understand more than other players like for example that that example I went into this game I scored 50 games in our 50 points and how many games what is it you do you don't have to brag or it's not egotistical but just technically speaking what is it you do that what is it you have that you don't think other people do you know that Wayne before you answer that to set you up a little bit more Sean to kind of like in addition to that I remember asking a few people what it was like playing against Wayne and they would say you had a sense for the game we always talked about Wayne you you had a sense for it because I want to

know about this because they'd say all of a sudden the play would be over here and Wayne would be over there and all of a sudden the play would end up over there so you did you feel like you always had a sense for how the plays were gonna unfold I don't know you know yeah like what is that sixth sense like how it's like it's almost like a quarterback in football like how do they have that you know the great ones how do they have that ability he is the great ones yeah you know I think a couple things first of all I had a tremendous amount of respect for my opponents I always played each and every guy like they were

better than I was and that I had to be at my best to be able to play well the game itself I when I started talking to you guys earlier when I made that team at six years old with 10 year olds then at 14 I played with 20 year olds and at 17 I played with men yeah and the one thing I didn't ever have to do I was never big I was always the smallest guy I was always on the smaller side I wasn't physically strong I wasn't the fastest so my dad always taught me at a young age you better be smart out there you better play chess you better be one step ahead because that's how you're gonna angle to be as good or better than

they are and so I never had to change my game from the time I was six years old so when I retired at 39 I still mentally focused and tried to play the same way so I would say it was my hockey sense my sixth sense on the ice that was the difference in my skill level compared to maybe some other guys it's just interesting how some people are some athletes like yourself are just honed in than others you know Sean has that in the kitchen he'll be he'll be like he'll be like I know that there's some checks mix in that cupboard and he opens it and then there it is filled with checks it's kind of amazing yeah he makes with

bugles and he's got a sense so now you know first of all you know Wayne of course you Wayne is known as the great one in which I can't imagine there ever being a better nickname to be given to a guy ever of all time but now you have this this new company this clothing company greatness wins and I see you have a t-shirt on yeah I was wondering what that was talks me a little bit about about how this partnership came about and what it's all about well I think we got lucky in a sense that Derek Jeter who was running the Florida Marlins decided to take a step back and say you know what I was helpful in building this

Nike shoe line when he was building baseball cleats in the mid 90s and he just kind of dove all in and said you know I really excited about this company that you know I want to be part of something that starts from the ground floor and called me and asked me if I wanted to jump on board with him and of course anytime Derek Jeter calls you you take that phone call and say okay I'm definitely in and as I always tell people nobody told me how to play hockey I'm not gonna tell them how to make a peril but I'm really excited about it they're great guys they're wonderful and I'm it's an honor for me to be part of

it and plus I got a free t-shirt today yeah and thank you for sending us all that stuff Jason loves getting free stuff I don't know if you heard him talking about the thing we all we all like free stuff it's free it's for me and I'll take all three can people get can people get it now is it up and running now yeah it's online yeah yeah golf shirts it's just nice apparel so we're really excited let's go Jason golf you know you'd mention Gordy how and I heard the great story recently from a mutual friend of mine and Jason's and I don't know wait if you know us the great skip Bronson hilarious dude and skip

told me a story when he was involved way back in the day with the Hartford Whalers he says to Gordy he says Sean by the way Gordy how is one of the all-time great hockey players it wanes idle and a lot of many many people's idle and he was a tremendous he says he said the skip says to me says Gordy how did you never how are you still playing in your fifth he played into his 50s because he played with his sons right 51 51 he says how did you play so so long he said I never picked anything up and he goes what do you mean he goes I never picked up a package an envelope if anything came in I'd say knowing good because I

always knew that that's how people injured themselves Gordy Gordy was so wonderful I'll give you a great story we went to the White House in 1980 for the NHL All-Star game and Gordy and I were fortunate enough we sat at the same table as President Reagan and I was a kid I was 18 years old I was sweating I had a three-piece suit on it's probably too tight and I was sitting there and I turned to Gordy there was like six forks and seven knives and I go Gordy what what fork do we use he goes I'll tell you what I'll watch him you watch me and so Gordy was President Reagan and then so that night we got home and my dad says to

me how is it having lunch at the White House and I said I'll tell you how great Gordy how is and he said how is that and I said I heard the president of the United States turn to Gordy how and say you know what Gordy I don't trust those F and Russians I said I heard the president swear that's how cool Gordy how is yeah that's how cool Gordy is let's go man Wayne listen you played a lot of games you played who who is the toughest goalie you ever played I've always wanted to know that in your I mean I'm Billy Smith Billy Smith hey yeah he was because they're all so good there's such great

athletes and they're better athletes today than we were 40 years ago but Billy Smith the game on the line pressure and the thing that made him so good is he hated me and I hated him but that was when we played right and now that we're done and over we have a mutual respect for each other and he was no question one of the greatest ever did you ever roll one off his back that was one of my favorite moves that that you did you know listener he'd get behind the net and the goalie would have his back to him and he'd flip it up over the net and roll it off the back of goalie's back in the net no he was too good and

too smart for that people don't do that anymore right if I was back there he'd be swinging his stick at me so he was a great great goalie for the for the New York Islanders and when Wayne played with Edmonton and they had been the dominant dynasty before Wayne and the and the Oilers came in and took over took the fought the mantle off right from those guys what epic hockey Wayne you just I don't know you just you made so many people's day over the years you've been such an incredible ambassador for the sport of hockey and you've done so much and it's such a thrill to have you honestly I just great to meet I could

talk to you all day I love I love every time I really respect all three you guys and you got a great show even there's talking about it on NBC from what I heard earlier let's go play some golf and we'll finish up this conversation all right you guys listen I loved Ed and we'll keep keep promoting our game you do a great job for the game of hockey thanks guys thanks Wayne we'll talk to you soon pleasure thanks buddy bye oh and he slams a laptop it's only the great one knows the great stuff yeah yeah I know I don't know like it was really cool first of all I said I know who he is and of course look at this I

don't know what's that we got chills yeah I got chills wait were you freaking out well because you're that is that like an eye because he closed the laptop or because he told you you're you're doing great for the hockey just anything he says to me and every time he remembers my name I I know I'm like I'm just gonna end it now isn't that crazy you guys like I'm sorry yeah I know the three of us have been in this business a long time we've met a lot of fancy people but it is it will never be lost on me how fortunate we are and it's thanks to you listener that we have this this opportunity this platform to like talk

to these people that are huge heroes to us and we get to just speak like on a peer level and like shoot the shit with them it's just I know I know Jason Jason I really think that people are able to get how much we do respect that position that we have by the fact that every time that your mouth is full of food that really sells that really sells how appreciative you are the finest protein bars made the name is think so wait you know it's so great about Wayne that like he's first of all not only a great hockey player but a great storyteller like like you could say I had a BLT and he'd be like oh my god I have the greatest

story about a BLT and it's and it's enthralling it's like I was listening to every single word like wow yeah yeah he does he has such a knowledge and I meant that he is such a I've seen him in so many different scenarios I've seen him in you know the first time I met him I was on a plane to Toronto and Archie was about I don't know five or six or something and we were flying up there just the two of us and Wayne what gets on last to get on the plane and and he's like two rows in front of us Wayne comes back and he says he comes over to me he's Wayne Gretzky and I'm too nervous to say anything and we're flying up

right I mean he's Canadian royalty and and he says hey will bubble I said hey this is my nice to meet you hey this is my son Archie Archie how you doing blah blah blah and then he's got his boarding pass and he writes his phone number he goes give me a call I'm going to Toronto but give me a call and let's hang out blah blah blah I go no problem and I gotta turn to my turn to my five or six-year-old and be like I just got Wayne Gretzky's phone number yeah that's so cool and I and anyway I've now subsequently met him you know a bunch of times over the years and he's always such a and he never never deviates from

that and he's and he talks to everybody and he's such a sweet kind open generous guy to quote Jason generous with his time and you know there's something about him that is just I don't know I just his ability was always so clear I mean you know you could even if you had the worst seat in the house you could see how good he is you you would not need by smart smart list is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Bennett Barbaco Michael Grant Terry and Rob I'm Jeff smart loss our next episode will be

out in a week wherever you listen to podcasts or you can listen to it right now early on Amazon music or early and add free by subscribing to Wondry Plus in Apple podcasts or the Wondry app