Bobby Orr

Number Four - Bobby Orr! He led the Bruins to two Stanley Cup Championships... all-around good guy and arguably the BEST PLAYER TO EVER PLAY THE GAME... However, there is a dark side to Bobby - not only was he born in Ontario (Canada) but he sort of failed to win at least the two cups that he did CONSECUTIVELY (when even super chump Mario the moronic Lemieux -ou Lepire- managed to steal the lone two he will ever get IN A ROW INDEED...). Bobby himself admits it: "we should have won more", he once said... His team was ripe with talent (unlike those pathetic Penguins that won two in a row exactly 20 years later). Bobby's Bruins were a dynasty that was only partially one due to a number of factors... but truly now, THERE'S NO EXCUSE! The Bruins should have won the Cup every year between 1969-70 and 1975-76! Sort of like the Boston Celtics (of the 60s) on Ice! Bob Cousy could do it for the Celts... but Bobby Orr could not quite do as well for the B's! (Small consolation for Orr: Bobby Doerr simply could not do it for the Red Sox!)

Bobby played rough - he would brawl, when necessary - he was no sissy like Gretzky! No moron like Mario! And no lucky S.O.B. like many a Montreal Canadien...
But I am digressing here... So, yes, Orr would drop the gloves - WHEN NECESSARY ONLY. He was a great all-around player; not just a one-note wonder like some are...
Still, such "necessary roughness" does take away from the "gentleman image" overall - don't you think? Was he a great Bruin or a gore-lovin' brute? And why didn't he win more indeed...? He had the talent AND the back-up...!

Thus, in the light of all of these facts -
Bobby Orr... is he a saint... or a sinner just like any other*...?
(* = who's ever laced up a pair of skates - granted!)

Babe George Herman Ruth

Babe with the Red Sox - Rookie portrait, 1915 - Copyright Baseball Antiquities
Was is he a sinner - cursing people left and right like that - or a saint... being effectively sold (like a... slave?) from one team to another...?
The true problem with his "sale" is that, once in New York, he became an alcoholic - and developed liver cancer (and he would die from it). Had he remained in Boston, the popular opinion is that he would have never become a drunkard... Such is the real strength upon which rests the whole theory of the erstwhile "curse of the Bambino"...
But, apparently, his ghost had to forgive Boston -and lift his own curse- in order to truly rest in peace... move on... get to the next level...?
And so did the Red Sox too, "get to the next level" - after an 80+ years championship drought - they finally won the World Series again, in 2004!
And the Bambino is now closer to God...?
Did he forgive the Sox, from Beyond...?
Is he closer to Heaven, rather than Winter Haven?
Tough call to make, eh?