Friday, January 13, 2006

In Brief...

A few things on my mind this morning…

1. As I am sure I’ve made clear several times, I do not like hockey or consider myself even a casual fan of the sport. There are several reasons for this but none are really worth getting into right now. Despite my profound dislike for hockey, I would be remiss if I didn’t capture my feelings on paper this morning after having watched, nay, having watched and TiVo’d Mark Messier’s #11 being retired last night at Madison Square Garden. I am man enough to admit that watching it on TV made me a bit misty or, as Bill Simmons would say, “…there was a lot of dust in the room…” This might surprise some but, not only did I consider myself an avid Mark Messier fan, I considered myself an avid Rangers fan from 1988-1995. What can one say about one of the greatest players to ever play the game? He was just something special to watch live every night and not just for his talent but for his incredible leadership and tenacity.

Too many people throw around the term “leader” in sports and even more people talk about “team chemistry” without truly understanding what those terms mean. Mark Messier is, in my opinion, the single-greatest leader among athletes – even better than Michael Jordan. I’m a huge MJ fan but whereas MJ goaded and tormented his less-talented teammates to get with the program, Messier had a more compassionate approach that made him a more popular and less polarizing figure within the clubhouse. He embodied both leadership and team chemistry. And, if I may be self-indulgent for a moment and describe what Messier meant to me, Mess represented a specific moment in time that I remember very fondly. The summer after my freshman year of college (1994), a particularly difficult year of growth and change, coming home and spending it with my friends from high school, watching the Knicks and Rangers both make the finals that summer…seeing Messier last night is like hearing a great song that just brings you back. That’s why I love sports so much – there’s always a great personal memory attached to each sports moment. Ok, I’ll stop being a sissy now…

2. Mike Mularkey resigned as the head coach of the Buffalo Bills. What a loser! There are only 32 of these jobs and despite doing a poor job this season, Mularkey was still employed. So what does he do? He quits. You’ve got to hang onto these jobs, fighting tooth and nail to stay, because you never know when your next opportunity will come. Anyway, what do the Bills announce after Mularkey quits? That Jim Haslett is the leading candidate. Way to go, Buffalo. Way to make an inspired and progressive choice. I guess I understand why, though. Grandpa Marv Levy is the only NFL GM who was actually alive during the time of Jim Crow. He’s going with his comfort zone and that comfort zone is white and untalented.

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