4 Number Ninety-Nine

Chapter 4 Number Ninety-Nine Junior A hockey is rough. Players want to make the pros. They skate fast and check hard. Young and small, Wayne knew this was a true test. Would players laugh at his size? Well, so what if they did? They might as well laugh at his uniform number, too, he figured. Wayne had always wanted to wear number nine. That was hockey great Gordie Howe's number, and Gordie was Wayne's idol. But here—at "the Soo," as Sault Ste. Marie was called—nine was already taken. Wayne's coach suggested he wear "double nines." Ninety-nine. It was unusual then. Players' numbers didn't often go above thirty-one. But if anyone laughed at

第四章第九十九少年曲棍球比赛很艰苦。 球员想要成为职业球员。 他们滑得快，检查得狠。 年幼娇小的韦恩知道这是一次真正的考验。 球员会嘲笑他的身材吗？ 好吧，那又怎样？ 他想，他们可能也会嘲笑他的制服号码。 韦恩一直想穿9号球衣。 那是冰球巨星戈迪·豪的号码，而戈迪是韦恩的偶像。 但在这里，在“苏”，作为苏圣。 玛丽被叫了，九号已经有人了。 韦恩的教练建议他穿“双九”。 九十九年。这在当时是不寻常的。 玩家的数字通常不会超过31。 但如果有人嘲笑

Wayne's number, they stopped when they saw him play. Wayne had a crazy schedule. The team flew to away games in small run-down planes. Once in the fog, their plane brushed the treetops. No wonder Wayne wound up with a fear of flying! Wayne was staying with another family. And sometimes, he wouldn't arrive home until 3:00 a.m. He slept for a few hours. Then he went to class at the local high school. For all that, he was paid only twenty-five dollars a week. Wayne

韦恩的号码，他们看到他打球就停下来了。 韦恩的日程排得很满。 球队乘坐破旧的小飞机去客场比赛。 一旦在雾中，他们的飞机掠过树梢。 难怪韦恩最后会害怕飞行！韦恩住在另一个家庭。 有时，他凌晨三点才回家。 他睡了几个小时。然后他去了当地一所高中上课。 尽管如此，他每周只得到25美元的报酬。 韦恩

didn't care about the money. For him, it was all about the game. Yes, he studied at school. "Great in math, terrible in English," he revealed in his autobiography. And he went for pie and ice cream every day after school. But other than that, he practiced, practiced, practiced. He never had a girlfriend. He didn't go to the prom. Was it worth it? At the end of the season, he was the top junior player in Canada. He won the Rookie of

我不在乎钱。 对他来说，一切都与比赛有关。 是的，他在学校学习。 “数学很好，英语很差，”他在自传中透露。 他每天放学后都去吃馅饼和冰淇淋。 但除此之外，他练习，练习，再练习。 他从未交过女朋友。 他没有去参加舞会。值得吗？ 在那个赛季结束时，他是加拿大最好的青少年球员。 他赢得了新人奖

the Year and Most Sportsmanlike awards. He broke the single-season scoring record. He was featured in Sports Illustrated and the New York Times. Fans marveled at his skill. He seemed to know where the puck was going. He could pass without even looking. It was like he had hockey ESP. Wayne knew better. Sure, he had natural talent. But mostly it was all those drills in his backyard. Plain hard work. Again, some people wrote off Wayne's season as luck. He was so scrawny! So small! He couldn't even skate that fast. He'd never make it on a professional team, critics said. All that made Wayne even more determined. He wanted to go pro. The NHL wouldn't consider him. They had rules; players had to be twenty years old. Wayne was only seventeen. But in 1978 there was another league: the World Hockey Association. Started in 1971, the league had older pros like Gordie Howe and fresh new players. Wayne signed with the Indianapolis Racers,

年度和最具体育精神奖。 他打破了单赛季得分纪录。 他曾登上《体育画报》和《纽约时报》。 粉丝们惊叹于他的技术。 他似乎知道冰球往哪里去了。 他看都不看就过去了。 就好像他有冰球的超能力。 韦恩知道得更清楚。当然，他有天赋。 但最主要的原因是他后院的那些演习。 很辛苦的工作。再一次，有些人把韦恩这个赛季的表现归结为运气。 他骨瘦如柴！这么小!他甚至不能滑那么快。 批评人士说，他永远不会在职业球队取得成功。 这一切让韦恩更加坚定了决心。 他想成为职业选手。NHL不会考虑他。 他们有规则；选手必须年满20岁。 韦恩只有17岁。但在1978年，出现了另一个联盟：世界冰球协会。 从1971年开始，联盟有像戈迪·豪这样的老职业球员和新球员。 韦恩与印第安纳波利斯赛车队签约，

which was part of the WHA. He'd be living in the United States now. He was set to earn more than three quarters of a million dollars. And he was still in high school! Over the years, Wayne would try to buy his parents cars and homes, expensive things they couldn't afford. But they never let him. They wouldn't move out of Wayne's childhood home. They still drove their old station wagon. And his dad kept working for the phone company. Wayne thought he'd settle in Indiana for a good long time. But he only played eight games. And then he was traded to another team in the

这是世界卫生大会的一部分。 他现在应该住在美国。 他的收入预计将超过75万美元。 而且他还在上高中！多年来，韦恩试图给他的父母买汽车和房子，这些昂贵的东西他们买不起。 但他们从不让他这么做。他们不肯搬出韦恩儿时的家。 他们仍然开着他们的旧旅行车。 他爸爸继续在电话公司工作。 韦恩认为他会在印第安纳州定居很长一段时间。 但他只打了8场比赛。 然后他被交易到另一支球队