{"id":97,"date":"2009-06-02T17:32:00","date_gmt":"2009-06-02T17:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vashl.com\/web\/2009\/06\/we-get-kevin-smiths-affection-for-wally\/"},"modified":"2018-04-20T09:56:23","modified_gmt":"2018-04-20T14:56:23","slug":"we-get-kevin-smiths-affection-for-wally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/vashl.com\/web\/2009\/06\/we-get-kevin-smiths-affection-for-wally\/","title":{"rendered":"We Get Kevin Smith’s Affection for Wally"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Brantford Expositor
\nOpinion Editorial<\/h3>\n

There might not be many people out there who appreciate\u00a0director Kevin Smith’s affection for Walter Gretzky, but we here in\u00a0Brantford understand.<\/p>\n

What others may not get is how or why the\u00a0New Jersey native, who directed Clerks, Mallrats and Jersey Girl, grew to\u00a0appreciate Wayne Gretzky’s dad so much.<\/p>\n

They might also have\u00a0trouble comprehending why a Hollywood director would come to compete in\u00a0an annual street hockey tournament in Brantford.<\/p>\n

We think it’s the type of attention Wally has long deserved and is finally getting.<\/p>\n

Sure,\u00a0attracting a celebrity like Smith doesn’t compare to getting the Order\u00a0of Canada, which Gretzky received last year, but Gretzky is all about\u00a0lending his name and presence to good causes for the city and his annual\u00a0street hockey tournament is no exception.<\/p>\n

The tournament, which runs from Friday to Sunday, helps fund parks and recreation projects in the city.<\/p>\n

Smith’s\u00a0presence, along with a few other actors he’s bringing with him, will\u00a0help draw more attention and stir up more excitement for the tournament\u00a0at Lions Park.<\/p>\n

The American has been promoting the tournament in\u00a0media such as the New York Times and Time magazine. He’ll also be\u00a0performing his live show, Stocky Night in Canada, at the Sanderson\u00a0Centre. Eight hundred tickets have been sold for the Saturday show.<\/p>\n

It’s\u00a0always gratifying for us as Canadians when we hear of an American who\u00a0embraces our culture (i. e. hockey) and our national icons (Wayne and\u00a0Walter Gretzky).<\/p>\n

We all understand hero worship for athletes since\u00a0it’s so prevalant in society, but an appreciation for an ex-athlete’s\u00a0father? From another country? That’s far more rare and gives enhanced\u00a0meaning to Smith’s reasons for taking part, even if we can’t quite\u00a0fathom the connection.<\/p>\n

Never mind that Kevin Smith is not exactly a household name.<\/p>\n

Pat\u00a0Shewchuk, co-ordinator of the Tournament Capital of Ontario, admitted\u00a0to The Expositor that she did not realize the extent of Smith’s\u00a0celebrity when he first contacted her about participating.<\/p>\n

Gretzky himself was even more succinct when first told of Smith’s interest: “Do I know a Kevin Smith? What’s he do?”<\/p>\n

However, there will soon be no excuse for not knowing Smith.<\/p>\n

Actually, this is not Smith’s only connection to the Brantford area.<\/p>\n

Smith is a big fan of the original Degrassi series and has appeared on Degrassi: The Next Generation.<\/p>\n

Degrassi, of course, was created by Linda Schuyler, who grew up in Paris.<\/p>\n

So\u00a0Smith’s participation in a Brantford signature event seems like a\u00a0natural progression. The director had just finished reading Walter’s\u00a0autobiography before he contacted Shewchuk about participating in the\u00a0tournament.<\/p>\n

One mystery about Smith’s participation remains: Why\u00a0would anyone volunteer to play goalie in street hockey, as Smith has\u00a0pledged to do in the tournament?<\/p>\n

Street hockey goalie is a position you usually talk or threaten your little brother or sister into playing.<\/p>\n

Perhaps Smith learned a lesson or two from Walter Gretzky about being there when someone else needs your help.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

via www.brantfordexpositor.ca<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Opinion Editorial: There might not be many people out there who appreciate director Kevin Smith’s affection for Walter Gretzky, but we here in Brantford understand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,236],"tags":[128,152,29,153,65,27,13,104],"class_list":["post-97","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogs","category-in-the-news","tag-128","tag-ball-hockey","tag-brantford","tag-editorial","tag-kevin-smith","tag-street-hockey","tag-vashl","tag-walter-gretzky","item-wrap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/vashl.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/vashl.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/vashl.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vashl.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vashl.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/vashl.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1810,"href":"http:\/\/vashl.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions\/1810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/vashl.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vashl.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vashl.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}