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Drew Sharp Responds
by IwoCPO on 06/10/08 at 07:10 PM ET
Comments (53)
Two posts today blasting Drew Sharp for his dimwitted idea that the Wings should retire Dominik Hasek’s number. I emailed him, offered him the chance to respond to the questions posted here, and he has. As I told him I would, I’m posting his response in its entirety.
Your comments, as always, are more than welcome.
——————
Bill—With all due discretion, I really don’t care what fans or bloggers think. Fans have an emotional connection to a team. I don’t. That’s why I can look at a situation more objectively.
If you disagree with an argument raised, that’s great. I don’t want fans agreeing with everything I write because that doesn’t mean that my argument was right. It only means that the argument raised was popular and, quite honestly, that’s a cop out for a columnist entrusted with stirring debate and discussion. If the objective is just being liked then you shouldn’t be a columnist.
Hell, the easiest thing in the world is telling people strictly what they want to hear.
There’s no trick to that.
But the central problem in this country right now is that the art of argumentative thrust and parry is lost because too many automatically designate a point of view as “stupid,” “dumb” or “offensive” without further discussion. Nobody can just respectfully disagree anymore. It has to be insulting and demeaning.
Again, that’s why I don’t care about what fans think.
As far as retiring numbers are concerned, you can’t base a standard today on what was the case 30 years ago. Star players staying an entire 15-year career in one city is the ultimate rarity. Using your standard for retiring numbers, Lidstrom will the be the last number retired because he’ll be the last 15-year guy playing a great career with one team that we’ll see in this city because of free agency.
That’s cheapening greatness because it isn’t consistent with an ideal that was true in the 50’s and 60’s.
The Rangers retired Messier’s No. 11 after he already had a Hall of Fame career in Edmonton, solely based on the 1994 championship because that run revolved around him same as the Wings 2002 run revolved primarily around Hasek.
If you disagree with it, cool. Give me a counter argument instead of merely saying that I shouldn’t write about hockey because I don’t know what I’m talking about.
That’s just your opinion.
And since you’re a fan, it doesn’t really bother me.
Drew Sharp
——-
My response was brief.
Drew—thanks for the replies. I’ll post them, as I said I would, in their entirety. Your first sentence, if it matters, confirms everything I wrote earlier today.
Bill
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The Drew nonsense aside, here’s how I feel about Hasek’s number being retired:
The NHL has been around for 90 years, and it’s going to be around for another 90 years, and more. It may change, but it’ll still be there. If we keep retiring numbers for everyone who did well on the team, we’re going to run out of numbers. It’ll cheapen the honor of having your number retired. That’s why we should be very selective about whose numbers we retire.
Lidstrom, without a doubt. That’s who’s getting his number retired.
Posted by Jonas on 06/14/08 at 08:53 AM ET
Jonas, in those 90 years, the tradition rich Wings have seven numbers retired, plus 99 and 16.
I’ve advocated here for the Wings retiring the numbers of their HoF all-time greats, several of them integral to the 50s dynasty with their names on multiple Cups, all of whose “greatness” was achieved primarily as Red Wings (as opposed to Hasek, who should have his number retired by the Sabres), most of whom Hockey News saw fit to place on their 100 greatest list several years ago. It doesn’t cheapen the honor to salute the guys that made our history.
So, Red Kelly, Black Jack Stewart, Marcel Pronovost, and Norm Ullman, plus in the future Lidstrom, probably Shanahan and Federov, and probably Zetterberg and Datsyuk.
That leaves 82 double-digit numbers and very little danger of running out for at least several more centuries.
Posted by BobS. on 06/14/08 at 09:14 AM ET
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When did sports writers like Drew Sharp get the idea that they have a duty to some higher cause than the fans? Where did this come from? Drew - you don’t have a job without the fans. That’s where the buck stops. Hockey exists because fans pay for it. Anyone who makes a living writing about hockey is having his or her salary ultimately paid for by the fans - the fans whose opinions you don’t care about. This isn’t politics. This is just a game that holds only as much value as the fans put into it. If you don’t care what the fans think, then get out of the business. Give your job to someone who cares.
Retiring a number is the highest honor a team’s fans can bestow on a player. You may have forgotten this, Drew, but that’s what it is - the fans. It’s a sign of respect and love from the fans, who’ve paid these players’ salaries for years. To even suggest that the fans’ opinion has nothing to do with whether a number should be retired is completely asinine. The fans’ opinion is the ONLY thing that matters in the conversation.
Screw the fans, right? They’re only peons toiling in the fields while sports writers and other noblemen go about their business. After all, you were born a sports writer, and they were born fans. It’s your divine right to carry out your duty as a sports writer.
Posted by Jonas on 06/14/08 at 08:47 AM ET