Query about US belief

[Sara Stefani]

I would agree with this assessment completely, but I would add one 
caveat: while
it's true that most people in the US who don't follow hockey can only name one
professional player, my bet is that the one player they can name is Wayne
Gretzky. I don't follow hockey at all, and yet I have not only heard of 
Gretzky
for years, but have heard about him as a major sports legend. And I have also
heard about the gambling incident and have seen it written about in the papers
and on-line. Probably the incident is receiving less press than in Canada (I
guess/assume?), but he is still a well-known sports icon here.

Regards,
ss

Quoting "Paul B. Gallagher" <paulbg at PBG-TRANSLATIONS.COM>:

> Natalie Kononenko wrote:
>
>> This is not exactly a SEELANGS question, but I thought I would ask.
>>
>> I am teaching a course on Ukrainian folk belief and one of the topics
>> we cover is folk healers (babky) and witches (vid'my).  We talk about
>> the process by which folk healers can so easily be accussed of
>> witchcraft.  To give them a contemporary example, I used Wayne
>> Gretzky who is an icon of goodness and virtue (as well as athletic
>> prowess) here in Edmonton, Canada, and the accusations of his
>> involvement in the sports gambling scandal.  The students asked me to
>> what extent people were interested in Gretzky in the States.  I said
>> I would ask.
>
> To my deep chagrin, hockey is a minor sport down here, and most 
> people who don't follow it can only name one player. In hockey towns 
> like Philadelphia or Detroit, and in the northern parts of the 
> country generally, you'll get more understanding and name 
> recognition, but most of the population would be hard-pressed to 
> distinguish the red line from the blue line, much less name the 
> players.
>
> -- 
> War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
> --
> Paul B. Gallagher
> pbg translations, inc.
> "Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
> http://pbg-translations.com
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------