-We’ll talk a lot more hockey as the season progresses, but after reading this article and watching just how dominant he has been for much of this season (and most of his career), I’m thankful to be able to watch Sidney Crosby ply his craft in Pittsburgh. As the article suggests, Crosby is NOT the most naturally talented hockey player in the league; in fact, I’d argue that he doesn’t even hold that honor on his own team (Malkin is just so effortless when he’s “on”). However, no superstar works harder than Sid does, and that’s why there are so few ups-and-downs to his game – even if he’s in a rare goal-scoring slump, he’s contributing via faceoff wins, grinding in the corners, and being responsible defensively. He also is not afraid to go to the front of the net and take the hits to get goals. With so many cases throughout sports of failed potential, seemingly uncaring stars, and ‘contract year’ players, it’s so refreshing to see a world-class athlete play so hard every time.
-Along a similar vein, I’m thankful that the world still has people like Stan Musial to cheer for. Stan the Man turned 90 over the weekend, and for those of you who are not students of baseball history…take a look at these stats. Today Musial is extremely underrated by many, especially those who are not Cardinal fans, but in his day there were none better. Musial DOMINATED the National League for two decades, and there are plenty of superlatives to throw around, but this column by Bernie Miklasz celebrating him tells it better than I ever could. I’d like to point out two items from the list: as a player, in almost 13,000 plate appearances he struck out only 696 times, and never more than 46 times in any season!
The second means even more to me, it’s a quote by legendary announcer Jack Buck, who covered Musial daily: “When you first hear about this guy, you say, ‘it can’t be true.’ When you first meet him you say, ‘It must be an act.’ But as you watch him and watch him and see how he performs and how he comports himself you say, ‘He’s truly one of a kind.’ There will never be another like him.” Read the entire list, it’s worth your time. If the world were full of people like Stan, we’d all be much better for it, and I’m thankful that we at least got one of him.
-I’m thankful that the NFL has seen fit to try to curb helmet-to-helmet hits on all plays, not just QB hits. I know there are many Steeler fans who disagree with me, but my stance is this: you can heal a broken hand, broken arm, torn ligaments – even if those items cause arthritis later in life, you can still live well as you age. If your brain is repeatedly damaged, your life will be forever altered. I’ve talked about concussions and helmets and player safety before, and many of you might tire of the subject, but to me we have a high degree of responsibility to make sure the game our kids want to play so much is as safe as possible. Will there always be some risk? Of course – life is about risk, but it’s also about MANAGING risk. There’s a reason that players today have facemasks, pads, and other protections that players 60 years ago didn’t have – those things add to safety. We have to continue to work towards making helmets less of a weapon and more of a pure protection device, and we need to get past the ‘macho’ culture that had players getting back into games after concussions. I think there’s been a lot of progress on those fronts, and for that I’m very thankful.
-Now, I have to turn to some non-sports thanks. Call this a bit of a ‘shout-out’ if you will, but as I mentioned this year has been pretty tough on some levels for a lot of people I know, so please keep these people in your thoughts – and be thankful that they are all still here for us to enjoy: Mary Wallace, Julie Evans, Dee Graham, Frank Germino, Dean Altemus, Earl Nearhood, and Tish Ogden…plus anyone YOU know that has had a tough year physically. Finally, I’d like to thank GANT for continuing to let me share my crazy sports passion with all of you, my family for their support, but most of all my wife, who has always supported me throughout our five (already?) years together.
This column will be on hiatus next week, but will return the week of December 6th. I hope you all have a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving. Go Lions and Saints Thursday! J
Dave Glass can be reached at buggyracer@verizon.net.