Piling On Wayne Gretzky

Rick Tocchet is the only hockey guy who's been charged with anything in the NHL gambling scandal. But Wayne Gretzky is the one getting worked over in the media, thanks mostly to that ever-popular staple of journalism: "sources."

It's become fashionable to suggest that Gretzky stay home from the Turin Olympics, that his presence around the Canadian men's team would be a "distraction." Here's a fairly typical example of that argument.

The man himself is having none of it. And so far it appears the players want him there, as do Canada's sporting bureaucrats.

Meanwhile, at least one columnist believes his colleagues in the sporting media should take a deep breath, and try to focus on such lost arts as fact-checking and attribution:

"...if it should turn out Gretzky is actually guilty of something serious - you know, criminal or unbelievably immoral - well, let's cross that bridge when we actually get to it. If we ever get to it, because thus far there's been nothing extraordinary."