Yesterday marked the 60th birthday of the greatest hockey player ever, Bobby Orr. If by some chance you think Wayne Gretzky was the best hockey player ever, then you were born too late. If by some chance you’re unfamiliar with Bobby Orr, he’s the guy wearing #4 in the YouTube above skating around the opposition like they’re a bunch of mannequins. The best way to put Bobby Orr’s dominance in perspective is to think of him as that kid in youth sports who is too good to play with the kids his own age and has to be called up to play with the older kids. Another way would be to think of Orr as Michael Jordan on skates. And on stilts. While Jordan was more talented than all of his contemporaries by a significant margin, the difference between Orr and his peers was far more dramatic. For evidence, I refer you to the above video. Orr was the best at everything – he was the best skater, the best passer, the best shooter, he had the best vision. He was even the best fighter because he was so strong on his skates. As elegant as Orr was, his competitive fire was also legendary. If you drive around greater Boston today, you’ll see a hockey rink every couple of miles or so. Virtually all those rinks date from the early 1970’s when Bobby Orr and his Boston Bruins absolutely owned the city. Hockey is now dead in most of the country, but not in Boston. Kids still use those rinks, and more than 30 years after Bobby Orr last skated for the Bruins, Boston remains a hockey town. If you watch the video above, you’ll understand why.
