Sleeping With the Enemy

The Sabres lost?  Eh, okay.  Have the playoffs started yet?  No?

All right, I'll get to the Sabres.  For now, in tribute to my Dallas buddies, check out this video of the ovation Mike Modano got near the end of what could be his last game in Dallas.  I know a lot of Buffalo fans have mixed feelings about the Stars and probably Modano, but for an athlete to spend as much time with one franchise as he did is pretty darn special these days.  Professional sports are a different world than they were fifty years ago, and players come and go.  As much as Buffalo was crazy for Chris Drury and Daniel Briere a few short years ago, doesn't it sometimes seem like they've already been gone forever?  In the end, Buffalo will be a blip on their career screens, and it'll be that way for many, many pros in every sport.  Modano spent twenty years with the North Stars/Stars.  Twenty years.  For an athlete and a city to be bonded as deeply as Dallas and Modano are well, heck, isn't that part of what sports are about?  Don't we all want that guy who's as committed to us as we are to him?  Here's hoping in 15 years we're all giving an ovation like this to Ryan Miller.  Grab a couple tissues and watch.




(I'm not exaggerating when I say there are very few things in pro sports that make me cry faster than a bunch of hockey players tapping their sticks for another player. It's such a simple gesture, but its simplicity is so lovely. It's one of the most perfect little things about hockey.)