Celebrate Yzerman

Even if you’re not a hockey fan, it’s hard not to celebrate Steve Yzerman’s induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday night.

The Captain, as Yzerman is better known, is just a wonderful sports idol from Motown. The Red Wings were lucky to have him and so were we.

Best of all, success didn’t come easy the whole way through. There were many fruitless second seasons before Yzerman finally won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 1997. He went on to win two more, 1998 and 2002.

Yzerman also helped his home country, Canada, end its 50-year gold-medal drought, winning in the 2002 Winter Olympics. That was a great moment, too.

Yes, there were also 692 reguar-season goals and 1,755 points in 22 NHL seasons.

Still, it was about what he meant to the fans of Detroit and how proud he made so many feel. There are few people that come along that mean so much to so many. But Yzerman was one of them.

Wings GM Ken Holland said it best about Yzerman. “You want to talk about passion for the game? Geez,” Holland told the media. “He’s a special human being. And for everything he’s accomplished, he’s incredibly humble.”

On his special night, we’re all humbled.

Sherm Lewis’ Wasted Talent

The shame doesn’t go to Sherm Lewis, but the NFL.

Most will rip on Lewis, the former Michigan State great, for not being able to turn the sad-sack Redskins around overnight. Lewis, who had been out of football for five years, is now calling plays in DC after head coach Jim Zorn was stripped of that duty. The Redskins lost to the Eagles, 27-17, on Monday Night Football in Lewis’ first game in charge of the offense.

Lewis won’t be able to get things turned around because there are a lot more problems with that team than whether to run the ball or pass the ball on a particular down. It’s deeper than that. It’s the wrong mix of people, a bad quarterback and a terrible owner.

Still, it’s a shame that Lewis never got an opportunity to be a head coach in the NFL when he was in his prime. Yet, a guy such as Zorn was given that chance. Now, many doubt Zorn ever should have gotten the job. Sadly, the Redskins now look to Lewis to save Zorn’s ill-fated coaching experience.

For sure, this is a case of what could have been had Lewis been the main many 10 or 15 years ago.

Here We Go Again

Everything is new with the Lions — the head coach, the quarterback and the team logo.

Ooops! Except the defense.

The Saints scored on their first two possessions and had a 14-0 lead before you could get comfortable on your couch.

The Lions will never win — win big, a Super Bowl – until they get this defense fixed. It’s that simple.

Expect Drew Brees to score at least 40 points today.

Stay tuned.

Washburn and Huff Are Busts

The Tigers tried, but have failed.

When the Tigers picked up pitcher Jarrod Washburn and outfielder Aubrey Huff in trades to help the playoff push, many thought they were great additions.

Sadly, if you’re a Tigers’ fan, neither has panned out. In fact, both have been major busts.

Washburn, who came to the Tigers from Seattle with a 2.64 ERA, has a 1-2 record with a bloated 6.81 ERA in six starts with Detroit. Worse, he has also given up 11 homers in that span.

Huff, who came from Baltimore, has been a disaster as well. He is 3-for-34 with just one RBI for the Tigers.

No one could have imagined that these two would be so terrible. They haven’t helped a bit.

Remember Saturday’s Loss

If the Tigers don’t get there, somehow, give up first place in the final month of the season, remember their 3-1 loss to the Rays at Comerica Park on Saturday afternoon.

It was a game they were supposed to win.

First, they were at home where they play well. Secondly, the Rays are a terrible road team, almost as bad as the Tigers away from home.

Then, David Price was on the mound for Tampa Bay. The rookie lefty has been horrible on the road. Coming into the game, he was 0-4 with an 8.07 ERA on the road. The Tigers allow him to get his first road win, going 7 1/3 innings. He allowed just one run on five hits. The Tigers should have had better swings vs. Price.

The Tigers also got a decent start from Nate Robertson. It was special, but he kept them in the game, going four innings and allowing two runs, only one earned.

On paper, it was a day the Tigers should have owned. Instead, they gave another one away. Not good, epescially since the Twins and White Sox both loss.

Over-The-Top Justice

Shame on NYC.

The NYC gun law was put on the books for criminals. Surely, it wasn’t written to put in jail an NFL star who accidentally shot himself.

If only the police and court system worked that hard on really getting the bad guys off the street, New York would be a safer place.

Did former New York Giants and MSU receiver Plaxico Burress break the law when he took an unlicensed gun into a Manhattan nightclub? Yes.  But there was no intentional criminal act. That’s the key. If he used this gun to hold up a person or a business, then it’s a good law. But in this case, no way.

Burress, who will go to jail for two years after copping a plea Thursday, faced 3 1/2 years minimum sentence if he was convicted at trial.

Others who have done far worse to society and haven’t gotten that kind of jail time or any at all. If this was Joe Regular, he probably wouldn’t have been arrested and there wouldn’t have been a case.

This country has to stop making examples of people. It’s not fair. It’s sad. To ruin a man’s life over a mistake without criminal intent is just plain wrong.

Root Against Favre!

This won’t be tough.

I honestly haven’t rooted for a team in a long time. Once you become a sports writer, it’s just natural not to do it. But the thing I have done is hope that good people do well in their careers.

Here’s the one time in 25 years that I hope someone doesn’t do well.

Enter Brett Favre.

What a mockery, a sham.

The Vikings can have the broken-down, 40-year-old waffle QB. Here’s hpoing that the Vikings and Favre lose all their games. Sure, there’s no chance of that. But you get my drift. Hopefully, the same thing will happen to Favre as did with the Jets last season. He let them down at the end of the season and they didn’t even make the playoffs.

Favre doesn’t deserve support. He dissed the Green Bay fans by going to play for a division rival. He’s done nothing but lie to the public about going to Minny. He was going there all along and just wanted to get out of training camp. Nice teammate. Will he have his own lockerroom like he had with the Jets?

If other players — namely, T.O. or Chad Johnson — did what Favre has done the last three years, they were be deemed bad teammates and not be in the NFL. Favre? He gets rewarded with a $12 million deal.

No matter how many games Favre wins this season, he’ll still be a loser in my mind.

White Sox Land Rios

Say what you want about the second-place White Sox, but they are serious about winning the AL Central.

On Monday night, they landed outfielder Alex Rios from the Blue Jays off waivers.The 28-year-old isn’t having a great season, but when right is a dangerous hitter at the plate.

In doing so, Chicago assumed Rios’ remaining $61.6 million left on his contract. When you think about the Jake Peavy deal (they assumed at least $48 million), the White Sox are trying to reload for this season and the next few years as well.

The Tigers made their move, getting Jarrod Washburn, but didn’t get the hitter they needed. The White Sox went for it all.

Next season, the White Sox can get rid of three free agents — Jim Thome, Jermaine Dye and Jose Contreras. That’s $40 million in salary.

It’s a very smart move and probably gave the White Sox the Central. WOW! You can bet the White Sox fans are happy. This team won the World Series in 2005 and are trying to win again.

Leyland On Target

Tigers manager Jim Leyland is right.

The fans don’t care as much about steroids as the media.

It’s not that people don’t care whether or not players or on steroids. It’s just that it seems almost silly to point fingers at players who used them before they were banned or tested for.

That’s why baseball hasn’t been hurt one bit. Fans haven’t stopped coming. There aren’t protesters outside every ballpark in America.

There’s testing and a penalty in place now. Most seem to be happy that baseball has cleaned up the game. But this idea of wiping out the last decade is dumb.

You can’t change anything. What’s done is done. There have been many ills in baseball over its 100-plus year history. Still, the game is bigger and stronger than any scandal. It will survive.

We have to let this steroid thing go. It happened. It was bad. It’s been cleaned up. Yet, it’s the same song over and over. It’s old and tiresome.

“The people who care about it probably don’t like baseball,” Leyland said.

Indeed.

No Shocker About Ortiz

It was no shocker that Red Sox’s DH David Ortiz tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

On Thursday, The New York Times reporter that Ortiz and Manny Ramirez both tested positive in 2003 and are on the list of the 104 players caught using banned substances.

The worst part of this is that Ortiz was so vocal about users. He told reporters that if a player is caught they should be suspended for a year. Ortiz, beloved by many in Boston, also said he didn’t do it and that he was clean.

Often, people who are guilty make so much noise to make people believe they have nothing to do with the controversy. That’s what Big Papi did in telling his big lie.

That’s why people have to be careful about throwing stones at people. For a long time, this was just about Bonds, Sosa and McGwire. NOT!

In the long run, most won’t care about Ortiz. The Red Sox fans cheered him after he hit a three-run go-ahead homer to help the Sox beat the A’s on Thursday afternoon.

Still, what a hypocrite.

Ortiz would have been better saying nothing.