I heard a story long ago that might be true or might not be true. I prefer to think that it is.

The greatest hockey player of all time was Wayne Gretsky, known simply as "The Great One." He came from the western provinces of Canada where they get up before dawn to play hockey on frozen ponds. He was famous at a very early age and went on to lead the Edmonton Oilers to several Stanley Cup championships.

But he was not very knowledgeable about pop culture because he was totally focused on becoming an even better hockey player. So one day, the Oilers were playing in New York City and had an open day before they moved on to the next city. One of the players in the dressing room said that he had managed to get some tickets for a Bruce Springsteen concert the next night and there was much raucous envy among his teammates.

Gretsky was puzzled because he had never heard of Bruce Springsteen. He took a teammate aside and asked who Springsteen was and what he did.

The teammate tried to explain American rock music to Wayne but kept falling sort of a true definition. Finally he put his hand on Gretsky's shoulder and said, "He's the you of rock 'n roll."

Gretsky hesitated for an instant and then nodded his head.

To say that hockey is Canada's national obsession is still an understatement. It is everything that baseball is in the United States, soccer in Brazil, sumo in Japan, rugby in Australia or every other sport that gathers a country's passions and unites all political diversity.

The Olympic gold medal goes to Canada and it was won right where it is most revered, on home ice with the entire country locked into the game from ocean to ocean.

Whoever scored the winning goal for Canada was going to immediately be placed in the pantheon of iconic immortality. There would be essays and songs and the name would forever be in the country's most storied lore.

Well, it turned out to be Sid Crosby who led the Pittsburgh Penquins to the Stanley Cup and is already the boy wonder of hockey in Canada.

So "Sid the Kid" made it to the top of the mountain with a flick of his wrist from just in front of the crease. You have to be happy for Canada and for Sid Crosby who brought glory home where it belonged.

You can bet that he knows who Springsteen is . . .