STEVIE Y DOES THE TOUGHEST THING

Greater minds have penned their tributes to Stevie Y, so there's probably not much more that can said on the occasion of Steve Yzerman's retirement from the National Hockey League.

Let it be said that you know Yzerman was special because you took him for granted for so long. The Peerless Leader spent 22 seasons with one team in one city, in one uniform, the last 19 of those as captain.

We'll probably never see that again, although it's not out of the realm of possibility for Sidney Crosby, one supposes.

So to sum up, Stevie Y: Old-time hockey player with sweet skills, who scored 60 goals a couple times in the razzle-dazzle run-and-gun '80s and then changed his game. Was never in the news for anything except his playing and his leadership.

Lastly, to rip off the classic final line John Updike used in his piece on Ted Williams' final game, "... he even knew how to do the hardest thing: Quit." It's not for nothing that he announced his retirement on what was essentially a holiday on both sides of the border, so not to draw an excessive amount of attention.

OTHER BUSINESS

• Underrated free entertainment: Going into a Best Buy or HMV for 10-15 minutes and not actually buying any of the DVDs, but just picking them off up the shelf, remembering the parts you laughed at and putting them back on the shelf. Doesn't cost you a dime and you don't have the guilt of paying $29.95 for a DVD set of Cheers episodes you've probably seen a million times in syndication.
• Jays drop one down in Texas. The Jays have never played well in Arlington. At least Ted Lilly didn't pitch half-badly. Chad Mottola started in left field (he's up from the minors since Alex Rios is hurt), giving him 50 career games in the majors. It only took him just a shade more than a decade.
• Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star tells it like it is about the Blue Jays broadcasts. Sportsnet's Jamie Campbell is getting better -- and compared to some of put-a-stone-to-sleep guys seen when Rogers offers the opposing team's home broadcast, but he's a B-minus announcer at best. You can't tell me there isn't someone with a good voice, the instincts to do play-by-play, and the love and knowledge of the game who could be a great Jays announcer (hell, sign me up!), but there's practically nowhere for a guy to get baseball play-by-play experience in Canada. The only Triple-A team still operating (and it's on its last legs), the Ottawa Lynx, doesn't have a local radio broadcast (it does have local cable and a webcast), and the only minor-league club I know of that has local radio is the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the independent Northern League.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.