post 14

• 20 hours after signing his latest contract with Peter Pocklington - the one the media reported could be worth as much as $20 million - and 16 hours after scoring a hat trick to make it 60 in 49 games, Wayne is standing alone on a stage in the CBC TV studio in Vancouver, staring up at cue cards and trying to sing a parody of the The Devil Came Down to Georgia. It was not going well.
• From the time Wyne really became a celebrity, people have worried about him, worried that he might burn out, that he puts too much on himself, that he feels obligated to accept too many commitments.
• There came a moment in the summer of 1981 when Wayne realized that there was something more important and far more precious, something called free time.
• A guy phones from Vancouver and says he'll give me $10,000 and 2 first class tickets from Brantford to speak at a Saturday night banquet.