Wayne Gretzky Essay, Research Paper

COMPARE TWO BIOGRAPHIES OF WAYNE GRETZKY

In this essay, I need to compare two biographies of a famous

person. I will plot out the difference and compare the two books

considering point of view, bias, aim, omission, interest and

interpretation. This person is my hero and idol. He is one of the great

player in the history of hockey. He set the all-time NHL scoring record

in 26 seasons and got four Stanley cup in a row from 1984-1988. He is

Wayne Gretzky, the most brilliant and talent hockey player in this

century. Ichose the “Gretzky and Taylor” and “Gretzky with Rick Reilly.

The book “Gretzky with Rick Reilly was an autobiography. It showed

how Wayne Gretzky from his AHL to a famous NHL player. In this book,

there were a lot of Gretzky’s childhood. We knew that Wayne Gretzky could

skate at two years old. He was well known by people at six. When he was

ten, he was signing autographs and had a national magazine article

written about him. A thirty- minutes national television show done on him

at fifteen. It also talk about Gretzky’s hero when he was a kid. He was a

funny guy. He was Gretzky’s hockey instructor. He was also his lacrosse,

baseball basketball and cross country coach. He was not only coach, but

also trainer and chauffeur. Gretzky called him dad, his name was Walter.

However, in the book “Gretzky and Taylor”, it did not show anything in

Gretzky’s childhood. It was started when Gretzky became the NHL player, a

member of Edmonton Oiler’s rookie. How he became the hall of the frame.

The description of this book was very interesting. The writer show the

thing through the game. For example the first chapter was talking about

the 1984 Stanley Cup final between the Edmonton Oilers and New York

Islander.

“Wayne,” he said, “don’t worry about not scoring so far. Just make

sure that when you do get a goal for us is a big one. ” (Page 15 Gretzky

and Taylor ) From this conversation, we could know what had happen at

that time. So, there was different between the point of view of those two

books.

Although this two books had the different point of view, they both

had the same aim. They also showed to young people that worked hard was

the only source of success. In the book “Gretzky with Rick Reilly”,

Gretzky showed his talent when he was young. He was national knew at six.

There was even a wild rumors that the New York Rangers were going to buy

the entry Brantford Pee Wee franchise, so that they had the right to take

him when he turn the greater. But behind the success, did you know how

much Gretzky put on the hockey. In the winter, Gretzky would get in the

mourning, skated from seven o’ clock to eight- thirty, went to school,

came back home at three thirty, stayed on the ice until his mother ready

the dinner, ate in his skater, then went back out until nine o’ clock. On

Saturday and Sundays, he would have games played with his neighborhood.

So looked how much times that Gretzky put on the practice and that time

he was six. Also in the book “Gretzky and Taylor”, because of Brantford,

the home of Wayne Gretzky. He left home at fourteen. He moved to Toronto,

playing with the Toronto Young Nationals, Junior B. The years in Toronto

were no way for a kid. He was lonely, living without family. But why

Gretzky chose to do this? It was because he could go to school and nobody

knew who he was and he would play better hockey. So now we can see how

Gretzky was so successful.

We could clearly see the omission between these tow book. It was

because the “Gretzky and Taylor” was published in 1984, there was a great

omission in Gretzky’s life. This thing happened in 1988, the Edmonton

Oilers wanted to tread Gretzky to L.A. Kings. That was the most important

trade in the NHL. The book “Gretzky with Rick Reilly” was published in

1900. So it had some more detail in this event. After the Oilers had won

the fourth Stanley Cup in last five years. The owner of the Oilers Nelson

Skalbania wanted Oilers to go public, so he could raise money easily. In

order to go public, he had to get Gretzky out of the personal service

contract and make Gretzky property of the team. Because Skalbania knew

what he needed wasn’t more Stanley Cups. He didn’t need to sell more

ticket. His arena was already sold out. He need cash. So, now Gretzky

became a LA. Kings after this huge deal in the NHL history. Talking

about the bias, I didn’t think there had a lot of bias in this two books.

I could only find a little bias in the book “Gretzky with Rick Reilly” it

was because this book was a autobiography, it may had a little bit

subjective. The part that a felt subjective was the huge deal. In the

book, it only had people who supported Gretzky to give their comments, no

one was on the side owner .May be the thing was what the people had said,

but you should also had the comment of other side. So that people can

compare by themselves.

Both two books were very interesting, not only the words but a lot

of pictures. These pictures could make the books more interested but also

gave readers the image how Gretzky played hockey. And the interpretation,

both two books had some statistic in the back. It showed how many goals,

assists, points and many other statistic of Wayne Gretzky. (see note 1)

Compare of these two books, I could find both very interested and

excllent. However, I thought the “Gretzky with Rick Reilly” was a liitle

bit better than the other because of the more specify details.