In 1988, when Wayne Gretzky was traded from the Edmonton Oilers, he was asked to reflect back on his most memorable moment with the team and, specifically, which of the four Stanley Cups he had won was most important to him.
He hesitated for a second with a cliché of “they all mean so much” (or something to that effect) before giving his honest answer.
“The first one,” he said. “You never forget the first one.”
As I was walking out of BMO Field last week after the Columbus Crew game, I was caught with a certain melancholy.