RIP Golden Jet

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  • oze

    Mow Ho
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    Feb 26, 2018
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    I'll never forget waiting in line as a 10 year-old kid at a furniture store in Highland to get an autograph from The Jet. Session was to end promptly at 9 pm, but like Ralphie and Randy in A Christmas Story, 9:00 came and went, and there were still plenty of people in front of me. But he kept signing, smiling and talking. I was sure that every autograph was going to be the last, and I was almost in tears.

    But you know how this ends. My turn came, he smiled, put one of his giant mitts on my scrawny shoulder and said what a strapping young man I was, I must be a defenseman. I'll always remember my reply with pride. "Umm. Uh huh". He spent a few seconds like that with every single person in that line, never rushing them along.

    And that, more than for any other reason, is why I got misty-eyed when I heard the news.
     

    oze

    Mow Ho
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    Feb 26, 2018
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    Great player indeed but treated very differently.

    It's a fact that Bobby Hull was not a good man in many ways. But I was lucky enough to grow up in an era where a little kid was shielded from the really bad behavior of his sports heroes. I was in my jaded teens before I heard the spousal abuse stories.

    The only non-repugnant explanations that I can think of as to why Kobe Bryant was treated with kid gloves after his death are, one, he died young, and tragically. Bobby Hull just rusted away, like most of us commoners will. Second, Bryant was a household name around the world, even to non-basketball fans. Hell, even I heard of him. No real national sports media to speak of in the 60s.
     
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    oze

    Mow Ho
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    Feb 26, 2018
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    Upon further review and reading the entire story that @JCSR linked, I am now convinced the the reason for the way Hull was treated (and *allowed* to be treated) on the day he died differed so much from the Bryant story and outright censorship of it on the day he died was in fact due to the repugnant reason. Ugh.
     
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