FanHouse Bruce McNall

August 9, 1988: A day which will live in infamy in Canadian hockey history. Sing it with me:

Walter Gretzky had a son
He grew up to be the great one
He came from Brantford Ontario
He liked Gordie Howe you know

It was on this Summer day 19 years ago that Peter Pocklington, a man as hated in Edmonton as Walter O'Malley is in Brooklyn, decided to trade the greatest player who ever lived, Wayne Gretzky, to the Los Angeles Kings for the moral equivalent of a bag of pucks. And while that Oilers team eventually recovered from the trade to win another Stanley Cup in 1990, there was little doubt that the team had sold out its heritage.

When I lived in Edmonton
He made us the City of Champions
With Jari and Semenko by his side
He filled our frigid city with pride

Here's Wayne Gretzky and former Kings owner Bruce McNall watching magician David Copperfield tearing their new $500,000 Honus Wagner baseball card to pieces. But, feat not! He's a magician, dummy.

Just watch the clip and be amazed by his skills. I mean, if magicians can do "magic" and all, why don't they just make a million dollars appear in their lap all the time. Or, maybe they should make a bunch of food appear in impoverished countries. But here magicians are, trifling along and tearing apart and repairing baseball cards. What about humanity, people?

Also, the hair on Gretzky and Copperfield is just gorgeous, no?