[I’m re-posting this because it got eaten during the WordPress outage on Tuesday, and I think it’s important.]

Canada lost a sporting legend this week.

Joey Moss died on Monday, age 57, as a result of conditions brought on by early onset dementia & lingering effects from breaking his hip back in July.

He was the 12th of thirteen children born to Lloyd & Sophie Moss. They were a travelling band of musicians, who travelled the Canadian West playing concerts.

According to Canadian hockey lore, he became part of the Oilers equipment personnel in 1984 because Wayne Gretzky was dating Joey’s sister, Vikki. Gretzky had an aunt with Down Syndrome, so he had an immediate rapport with Joey. The kid had a job working at a bottle depot at the time, and Gretzky would often see him outside waiting for a bus to take him to work, even when it was 40 below. Gretzky figured a kid with that kind of drive shouldn’t be just sorting deposit refundables for his whole life, so he convinced Glen Sather to give the kid a chance.

According to Wikipedia & CBC Edmonton, after the season ended, Gretzky got Moss a job with the Edmonton Eskimos/Football Team so he could build on the progress he’d made & not lose anything over the summer. He even offered to pay Moss’ salary.

Gretzky eventually broke up with Vikki, but Joey Moss stayed with the Oilers for a total of 35 years. He worked almost every game in the locker room, and even sang the anthem a couple of times each year. He would divide his time between the Football Team – starting the season with them – and the Oilers – moving over once pre-season started – for most of his adult life.

He knew, I knew, everyone knew about the Down Syndrome. The thing was, the longer the kid was in the job, the less it came up. When he did something wrong, he got yelled at; when he couldn’t do something, he asked for help. The job he did was one that required him to be a hard worker, not be some hire they made to appease their star’s girlfriend. If that was the deal, he’d have been gone the minute Gretzky broke up with Vikki or Wayne fucked off to LA.

https://twitter.com/GretzkyEstates/status/1320881877205606406

His impact & influence led to him receiving an NHL “Seventh Man” All-Star Award in 2003, a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Award in 2012, and was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.

He was an institution, not a charity case. He did work with a charity, the Winnifred Stewart Association, which is an Edmonton-based group working with the developmentally disabled, and named after a pioneer in education and schooling for the “mentally handicapped”.

Just one of the guys.

Joey Moss had a profound effect on the players and anyone lucky enough to know him. pic.twitter.com/5kDBVCULUK

— NHLPA (@NHLPA) October 27, 2020

You can find an extensive collection of tweets about him here. His was a big enough presence that even ESPN and NBCSports covered his passing. The Oilers have a complete history of Joey Moss’ life on their website, including the stories about Gretzky hiring Joey’s mom to handle his fan mail when the Moss family was destitute after the father died. His friendship with Wayne Gretzky is a hallmark of both their lives, and a testament to both of them that they kept it going long after one of them left town.

To close, I dare you to watch this story about him and deny someone’s cutting onions.

RIP, Sunshine.

Sunday broadcast maps (courtesy 506sports.com)

CBS SINGLE

█ Pittsburgh @ Baltimore – Jim Nantz, Tony Romo

█ New England @ Buffalo – Ian Eagle, Charles Davis

█ NY Jets @ Kansas City – Kevin Harlan, Trent Green

█ Indianapolis @ Detroit – Andrew Catalon, James Lofton

█ Tennessee @ Cincinnati – Spero Dedes, Adam Archuleta

█ LA Chargers @ Denver (LATE) – Greg Gumbel, Rich Gannon

FOX LATE

█ New Orleans @ Chicago – Joe Buck, Troy Aikman

█ San Francisco @ Seattle – Adam Amin, Mark Schlereth

Tonight’s sports:

• NCAA: selected matchups
  • Mississippi State at Alabama – 7:00PM | ESPN / TSN2
  • San Jose State at New Mexico – 7:00PM | FS1
  • Ohio State at Penn State – 7:30PM | ABC / TSN
  • Oklahoma at Texas Tech – 8:00PM | FOX
  • Western Kentucky at BYU – 10:15PM | ESPN
  • Nevada at UNLV – 10:30PM | FS1
• Fútbol:
  • Liga MX:
    • UNAM vs. Guadalajara – 8:55PM | UNI
• Fisticuffs:
  • UFC Fight Night: Hall vs. Silva
    • Prelims – 5:00PM | TSN4 / ESPN+
    • Main card – 7:00PM | TSN4 / ESPN+
  • Top Rank Boxing:
    • Inoue vs. Moloney – 10:00PM | TSN5 / ESPN+

Plus, SNL has John Mulaney & The Strokes – 11:30PM/8:30PM – NBC / Global.

Enjoy your night. Me? I’m outside throwing candy at kids dressed like Frozen or Minions while WineWife drinks Pinot on the couch. THE PERFECT EVENING!