Like the time he once landed a drive on a bridge to reach the green instead of laying up to avoid a creek. Or how when a caddie once told him he could reach the green with a good drive and a 9-iron, Norman then teed off with a 9-iron and found the green with his driver off the deck.
Moe Norman, a bio-pic on the former Canadian professional golfer, will be co-produced by hockey legend Wayne Gretzky and his wife, actress Janet Gretzky, and will begin shooting in the summer of 2022.
“We first became aware of Moe through my father (Walter) who was his great friend and constantly shared incredible stories of this bigger-than-life character,” said the Gretzky’s via a press release. “Moe’s true brilliance and simple life philosophies were often overlooked by his colorful, sometimes ragged clothes, worn shoes and visors, his repetitive speech and eccentric behavior. His story exemplifies one of life’s great lessons: be true to yourself.”
Wayne and Janet’s daughter, Paulina, is engaged to 24-time PGA Tour winner and two-time major champion Dustin Johnson.
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A self-taught player who never took a lesson, Norman had the respect of everyone from Sam Snead to Tiger Woods, who once told longtime golf journalist Jaime Diaz that, “only two players have ever truly owned their swings: Moe Norman and Ben Hogan.”
Norman won consecutive Canadian Amateur Championships in 1955 and 1956, had 55 professional wins and was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.
David Steinberg and Robyn Todd will executive produce the joint U.S.-Canadian production, with casting by Valorie Massalas.
“In these times, it is so important to share stories about acceptance of others and triumph over adversity,” said Steinberg and Todd. “This is a beautiful, touching film with heart, about a Canadian underdog, and it needs to be told.”
I am honestly starting to run out of words to describe Alex Ovechkin. At 36-years-old, Ovechkin continues to defy the typical NHL aging curve as he chases down Wayne Gretzky’s elusive goals record at a breakneck pace.
On Monday, Ovechkin added yet another goal to his total with No. 741 in his career, tying Brett Hull for fourth place all time in NHL history in goals scored. Against the Buffalo Sabres, Ovechkin added to the Washington Capitals’ lead with a deflection shot that was originally credited to Dmitry Orlov, but was given to the team captain after the fact.
While it may not be the typical goal you see from Ovechkin — his famous one-timer from his office in the circle — this greasy hockey tally helped to put him back on top of the NHL goals leaderboard for the season.
With that goal, Ovechkin now has 11 on the year in 12 games and has overtaken 26-year-old Leon Draisaitl for top scorer in the NHL as well. This is, without a doubt, one of the best starts to a season Ovechkin has ever had in his career. While Ovechkin’s shooting percentage of 18 percent will likely regress back down just a bit, he is on a 75-goal pace this season, something not many thought possible at his age.
Year after year, Ovechkin continues to find another gear to push himself further. Now just 153 goals away from tying Gretzky, history continues to be made in front of our very eyes.
It’s hard not to think of what could have been for Ovechkin over his career had two lockouts and two COVID-shortened seasons not taken away at least 100 games from him. Not only that, Ovechkin has hardly ever missed time in his career due to injury, making his run as the best goal scorer in modern NHL history even more impressive.
In short order, Ovechkin will pass Hull to take over sole possession of fourth place all-time in the NHL record books. At 766 goals, the great Jaromir Jagr awaits his turn for Ovechkin to pass him, a mark that very likely will be hit this season. Ovechkin still has so much more hockey to be played ahead of him and I, for one, cannot wait to see where it takes him.
Dustin Johnson, Wayne Gretzky and Steve Nash join Brooklyn Nets owner as investors in a new Las Vegas franchise.
A trio of world-renowned athletes and a billionaire sports owner have taken up the torch for lacrosse.
Dustin Johnson, Wayne Gretzky and Steve Nash join Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai as investors in the National Lacrosse League’s new Las Vegas franchise.
Gretzky, considered to be the greatest player in ice hockey history, was a 15-time NHL All-Star who won four Stanley Cups during his Hall-of-Fame career. Nash, a Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer, was a two-time NBA MVP who just concluded his first season as coach of the Brooklyn Nets. Johnson won the 2020 Masters and 2016 U.S. Open and is currently the No. 2-ranked golfer in the world. He has been engaged to Gretzky’s daughter, Paulina Gretzky, since 2013, and the couple has two sons. Johnson is third on the PGA Tour’s all-time money list.
“It is an honor and privilege to work together to bring the game of box lacrosse to the Las Vegas community,” the new owners said in a joint statement. “On the business side and across our franchise generally, we will also be forward-thinking and innovative – and all while staying true to the fast-paced and exciting nature of both box lacrosse and the city of Las Vegas. We can’t wait to get started.”
The team does not yet have a name but is slated to start play in 2022. Las Vegas is part of a two-team expansion that includes the Panther City Lacrosse Club in Fort Worth, Texas, which will debut in 2021-22. The Vegas team will play at MGM’s Michelob Ultra Arena, located inside Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.
Gretzky started playing lacrosse when he was six years old after his father thought it would help his hockey game. According to the Steve Nash Foundation website, Nash played lacrosse growing up before turning to the sport that would become his career. Tsai also has a connection to the game. He played collegiate lacrosse at Yale and now invests in the Premier Lacrosse League and owns another NLL team, the San Diego Seals.
“We are very proud to welcome Las Vegas NLL as our 15th franchise, led by an elite group of businesspeople and accomplished current and former athletes – most importantly great people in Joe, Wayne, Dustin and Steve on the ownership level,” NLL Commissioner Nick Sakiewicz said. “When our industry looks back years from now on the growth of box lacrosse as a sport and Las Vegas as a home of a first-class franchise, we believe this will be one of the seminal days in NLL history. The people in this community are going to be in for a treat both on the floor and in the community.”
According to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, lacrosse is considered one of the fastest-growing sports in the United States, with participation up 16 percent from 2015 to 2019. In both 2019 and 2020, 30 colleges added men’s and/or women’s lacrosse as varsity options, and most recently, Clemson and Pittsburgh announced the addition of Division I women’s lacrosse programs to their athletics departments.
The professional game is growing as well. The NLL had nine teams in 2017-18 and has nearly doubled that number in three years, according to Sportico.
Seriously. Jump on the Oilers bandwagon for the playoffs.
When I was 10 years old, a cartoon called “Pro Stars” appeared one Saturday morning. In it, Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson and Wayne Gretzky traveled around doing hero things, being pals. It felt like a pivotal moment for hockey: the game’s biggest star, having been traded from Edmonton to Los Angeles a few years prior, had become “cool.”
Well, all these many years later, there’s another hockey player doing things that should vault him into the conversation around who our very best athletes are. But he hasn’t left Edmonton yet, the world has changed in so many ways and this much is true: We’re not making a big enough deal about how good Connor McDavid is at playing hockey.
Ok. Well. Perhaps this mostly puts into perspective how special Gretzky was and there’s no arguing that. McDavid, though, had a more difficult task: The game isn’t nearly as open as it was when Gretzky was in his prime, though it may be easier on offensive players, due to how penalties are called, than it was in 1996. Still, today’s goaltenders are much better (and larger) now than they were in the 1980s and even 90s.
Mostly McDavid’s task was more difficult for all the reasons most sports have become more difficult: athletes are much better conditioned and trained, starting at a younger age, which closes the gap between the stars and the rest of the league.
Yet McDavid always stands out. Gretzky’s brilliance sometimes seemed like a magic trick. Never the biggest or fastest, he simply appeared in the right spots and made the right play.
There’s no such subtlety to McDavid’s game. The way he skates makes pretty much every other NHL player look like they’re kids on a pond, still mastering their craft.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbrSxIEdKIg
It’s just silly.
Ok, a caveat: Due to Covid adjustments, McDavid has been playing against only the other Canadian teams, and some might say those teams are playing defense as if they relocated to the QMJHL (this is a very specific hockey joke, it’s like saying an NFL team played defense as ruggedly as a Big 12 team).
You could also point out that McDavid plays on the same team as the league’s No. 2 scorer, Leon Draisaitl (who has 79 points) and therefore may benefit from easier matchups at times.
And you’ll find people willing to argue that McDavid isn’t even the league’s MVP this season, because other star players did more for their team:
Penguins won deepest division, had 4th-most man-games lost, played 12 defenseman in first month, GM quit, Evgeni Malkin missed 20-plus games. If Mike Sullivan doesn’t win Adams & Crosby the Hart, it’s flatly anti-Penguins bias. They would with any other franchise. Good night!
Yeah, no. Recognizing a special season from McDavid — clearly the most dominant individual talent in the sport right now — would not be anti-Penguins bias. It’d just be noticing a really superb player! (Also, Rod Brind’Amour should win the Adams award for coach of the year, but I digress.)
Either way, we’re lucky enough to be watching a transcendent talent in his prime. So use this chance! The Oilers will be on television during the playoffs. Find a game. Watch in awe.
McDavid may not have the sweet, blonde flow that made Gretzky a great TV character ….
But he’s entering that upper echelon of must-see athletes:
As someone old enough to have seen Gretzky and Lemieux at their peak, appreciate being a fan in the McDavid era. It won’t last forever, but you’ll be telling stories about this guy for decades.
In terms of how much better he is than his competition, think you could make a pretty reasonable case Connor McDavid is the best male athlete in the world right now.
Dustin Johnson has grown accustomed to having fans gaze in awe. On Thursday, those eyes happened to belong to a couple Kansas City Chiefs.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Dustin Johnson has grown accustomed to having fans gaze in awe.
On Thursday, those eyes happened to belong to Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, among others.
After playing a round of golf at nearby Augusta Country Club on Wednesday, the Kansas City Chiefs stars were in attendance for Thursday’s opening round.
Mahomes, wearing a backward Augusta Country Club hat and yellow Adidas kicks, watched intently as Johnson teed off with Lee Westwood and amateur Tyler Strafaci.
“Let’s follow DJ,” Mahomes said as the defending Masters champion—and fellow Adidas client—walked down the first fairway. “I want to watch him.”
Mahomes had originally planned to attend the 2020 Masters last April before the pandemic postponed the event to November, which coincided with the NFL schedule.
Wayne Gretzky and his wife, Janet, were also in the gallery following Johnson.
Gretzky’s daughter, Paulina, is Johnson’s fiance. The couple have two sons together.
Two days before his wedding, Trevor Lawrence and fiancé Marissa Mowry spent Thursday afternoon at the Masters.
The former Clemson star and projected top pick in the upcoming NFL Draft called the his time at Augusta National, “A great way to begin the wedding festivities.”
Larry Fitzgerald, an 11-time NFL Pro Bowler and current free agent, was also at Augusta National on Thursday.
Slipping on the green jacket was a career high for Dustin Johnson but seeing his kids blanketed in that jacket took it to a new level.
(Editor’s note: This is Part IV in a seven-part series on the life and career of reigning Masters champion Dustin Johnson. Check back to Golfweek.com each day for the next part of the story.)
Dustin Johnson reached golf’s nirvana when Tiger Woods helped him slip on a size-42 long green jacket last November.
It was a fitting scene for Johnson’s record-smashing victory in the 2020 Masters.
A few hours later, his day got even better.
In the massive rental home a short distance from Augusta National Golf Club, family and friends, including fiancée Paulina Gretzky as well as Wayne and Janet Gretzky, began celebrating the triumph. Shortly into the merriment, the two shortest residents stole the show as Johnson’s sons, Tatum, 6, and River, 3, each put on golf’s most coveted garment.
“That was so great, the best. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier (than to) see their reaction to the green jacket,” Johnson said. “They love the green jacket. They were really excited and they were super proud.
“They tell everybody that daddy won the green jacket.”
Johnson met The Great One’s daughter in 2013 and he proposed six months later. A few months after that, Johnson took a six-month sabbatical from professional golf to deal with “personal challenges.”
Helping him on his new path in life were the births of Tatum in January 2015 and River in June 2017. The instant Tatum came into the world, Johnson changed. An overwhelming sense of transformation, love, responsibility and purpose took hold.
“Oh, wow, the kids mean everything in the world to me,” said Johnson, who, as a teen, endured his parents’ bitter divorce. “It’s been absolutely amazing being a father. You have no idea how great it is. You think you know before you have kids, but you have no idea until you become a father. It’s just amazing.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVVXnV3BrIL/
Since he returned from his leave of absence, Johnson became No. 1 in the world and won 17 tournaments worldwide, including a major for each of his sons.
“Dustin never came across to me that he would be super excited about anything, but when Tatum came into the world, it completely matured Dustin in a second,” said Johnson’s trainer, Joey Diovisalvi. “People say you’ll never know the feeling of becoming a father until it happens to you, and that happened to him in a very powerful way.
“Watching him raise two boys who are very much like him, and seeing him beyond being overjoyed, is special. He’s beyond committed. He explores things with those boys and they are not sheltered. The beauty about Dustin is everything in his life is about simplicity. He’s not on a clock. Whatever they want to do, he goes and hangs out with the boys.”
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By every measure, Paulina is Johnson’s equal as a parent, her impact on both her fiancé and sons immeasurable.
“Paulina grew up very much in the microscope of the first child of The Great One,” said David Winkle, Johnson’s agent. “She’s very accustomed to being in the family of a professional athlete and being in the spotlight and that helps because she understands what Dustin goes through.
“She loves the boys. She’s a great mother. There is nothing Dustin would rather do than hang with Paulina and those little boys.”
In turn, the boys make Johnson a better golfer. Wayne Gretzky said Johnson’s duty to his sons altered his everyday schedule for the better.
“Fatherhood changes all of us. What it does is it takes away that sort of free time you have, whatever age you are, because you have that commitment when you wake up in the morning,” the hockey icon said. “In Dustin’s case, he knows he has to practice, work out, put in his time for golf, and then he has family time and he loves family time. From what I’ve seen, the birth of his children got him really centered on a schedule that he was not only committed to his golf but he was committed to getting his kids ready for school, taking them to school, being a father and all that entails.
“One of the greatest thrills in his life is taking his boys fishing. He grew up fishing with his father, grandfather, brother, and I think he is truly at peace in those moments he has with his boys.”
Or as Johnson will tell you, he loves nothing more than gathering up the rods and reels and the two boys.
“They love going on the boat so we fish a lot. The first time they caught a fish, to see their excitement on their faces, that was so great,” Johnson said. “And when I saw how much they love to fish, well, I can pretty much fish whenever I want to now. I just say, ‘I’m taking the boys fishing.’
“And they love going to the golf course and hitting golf balls. Or whether we’re just playing around the house, it’s great being with them. They definitely keep you busy. But it’s fun and I wouldn’t change anything for the world.”
A common misconception is that Wayne Gretzky is a golf and life guru for Dustin Johnson. What the two actually have is a long friendship.
(Editor’s note: This is Part III in a seven-part series on the life and career of reigning Masters champion Dustin Johnson. Check back to Golfweek.com each day for the next part of the story.)
Quicker than the puck hit the net off a slapshot during his iconic NHL career, Wayne Gretzky immediately wanted to make something clear.
“I am not the DJ Whisperer. I’m not some guru or anything like that for Dustin,” the Great One said. “People think I give him advice all the time. I don’t. I’m more like a grandfather, a father-in-law, a big brother. We just talk about the family, the kids, scheduling, TV shows, sports, just things most people talk about.
“We’re friends.”
So, no, Gretzky does not take on the role of Albert Einstein lecturing an entry-level class attended by Johnson. Instead, Gretzky from time to time lays out crumbs that have helped Johnson find higher ground that included becoming No. 1 in the world and his smashing victory in the 2020 Masters.
“I’ve encouraged him to raise the bar, sure, to set higher goals, and I’ve talked to him about the commitment to pay the price to be the best,” Gretzky said. “He’s in his own world in golf and I’m not a golfer by any means, and he was top 10 before we ever met. I’ve never given him a lesson plan.”
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Gretzky, who can hold his own on the golf course as a 10 handicapper, met Johnson in 2012 at a golf skills event for charity. They became much closer when Johnson began dating and then became engaged to Gretzky’s daughter, Paulina. And they’ve been frequent partners in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and playing companions at Sherwood Country Club in California.
“From the beginning I always thought he was a wonderful young man,” Gretzky said. “What fans don’t get is an opportunity to get to really know some of the guys in pro sports and there is a different perception of what people see on TV and what people really are and what they are truly about.
“In Dustin’s case, his demeanor away from the golf course is pretty much identical of what it is on the golf course. He never gets flustered, very easy going, extremely polite and very considerate. He was a joy to be around right from Day 1.”
Johnson said as much about Gretzky. The two hit it off immediately, in large part because they roll at a similar pace, share common interests, are extremely humble and their demeanors are very much alike.
“Wayne’s been great. He obviously has been a big supporter and believer in me,” Johnson said. “Having his support and just being able to spend a lot of time with him has been one of the best things ever. To listen to him, to see how he handles himself and what he did when he was playing and all the things he’s been through and done. That’s some pretty good experience to be around.
“He’s never gone, ‘Hey, Dustin, let’s sit down and talk for a bit.’ We spend a lot of time together talking about a lot of things and we play a lot of golf together. But we don’t talk about me doing this or doing that. There hasn’t been one specific thing he’s told me about something. The time, the quality of time, that we’ve gotten to spend together, means something.”
There was one time, however, when Gretzky made sure to drop some wisdom. One of Johnson’s crushing defeats came at the 2015 U.S. Open when he had a putt to win on the 72nd hole from 12 feet but missed. Then he had a putt from just over 3 feet to force a playoff but missed. He tapped in to complete a demoralizing three-putt and lose by one shot to Jordan Spieth.
“I grabbed him afterward and I told him I knew he wanted to get out of there but he needed to give the media 10 minutes and it would be the greatest 10 minutes he ever did,” Gretzky said. “I told him it’s easy to walk out of here with your tail between your legs, but you’ll be a bigger person and you’ll win over a lot of people by standing there and telling the truth. And tell them how much it hurts.
“And he did it.”
At the rental home that night, Johnson let out his emotions. Even though he did his best to put the defeat behind him as quickly as possible, it stung. Then he and Gretzky and a few others boarded a plane that night and headed to Coeur d’Alene in Idaho.
“A bunch of us were going to tee off at 8 a.m. Monday. He told me to wake him up,” Gretzky said. “I wasn’t going to wake him up, come on. He’d just lost the U.S. Open. Well, he was up the next day.”
And played golf with buddies for 21 consecutive days.
“Either you love this sport and have a passion for it, or you don’t. And Dustin truly loves golf,” Gretzky said. “But I told him if I had lost Game 7 of a Stanley Cup final, I promise you I wouldn’t be playing pickup hockey with my buddies the next three weeks.”
Speaking of the Stanley Cup, Gretzky won four of them with the Edmonton Oilers. But not one of those was won on the road. After celebrating Johnson’s Masters triumph last November, a small group of Johnson’s family, team and friends flew to Florida that night. On the flight, Gretzky pulled Johnson aside.
“I told him that one of the dreams I had as an athlete was to win a Stanley Cup on the road,” Gretzky said. “I never did, though. But that night while he’s wearing the green jacket, I told him I felt like I was part of a championship team.
“It was the trip I never got as an athlete. I retired at 39 and I never thought I’d get the feeling again of being part of a winning group. It was so special.”
Johnson said that exchange between the two might be their best one.
“It was awesome. Pretty cool,” Johnson said. “Emotional, too, something I will never forget because he means so much to me.”
According to a story on TMZ Sports, Wayne Gretzky recorded a hole-in-one at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California, to end his year.
Gretzky reportedly used a 9-iron on the par-3 sixth hole, which was playing 140 yards. TMZ also reported that Masters champ Dustin Johnson, who is engaged to Gretzky’s daughter Paulina, called from vacation in Hawaii to congratulate his future father-in-law.
In October, Gretzky put his mansion in Thousand Oaks back on the market for nearly $10 million more than he bought it for just three years ago. He built the home with his actress/model wife Janet Jones in 2002 and then sold the property to former Major League Baseball star Lenny Dykstra for $18.5 million in 2007. Dykstra later fell into debt and the home was auctioned off, it changed hands twice before Gretzky again purchased the property — this time for $13.5 million. It is still for sale.
DAZN commentators Chris Mannix and Sergio Mora discuss Floyd Mayweather’s decision to become a trainer.
Floyd Mayweather recently announced that he intends to pursue a second career as a trainer.
The future Hall of Famer acknowledged that he’s at the beginning of the learning curve but, never one to set his sights low, he added that, “I will be one of the best trainers in the world.”
Is that realistic?
Few great athletes have become great coaches or managers. For example, Ted Williams was among the greatest hitters of all time but wasn’t a successful manager. Wayne Gretzky, considered the best hockey player ever, was just a so-so coach.
In this episode of “Jabs with Mannix and Mora,” DAZN commentators Chris Mannix and Sergio Mora give their takes on whether Mayweather would be different from Williams and Gretzky.