D-Mac

Some of you Gentle Readers might be familiar with Mitch Albom, and most may know him only for his best-selling books. But Albom began his writing career as a sports columnist for the Deetroit Free Press, otherwise known in these parts (and all of Deetroit) as “The Freep.” He continues on in that capacity at The Freep, and is still (arguably) one of the best sports writers in the biz. One of the things that separates Albom from run-of-the-mill sports writers is his occasional human interest story, sometimes sports related, and sometimes not. Albom’s column in today’s Freep focuses on one of my all-time favorite Red Wings… Darren McCarty. Excerpt:

But the highlight was McCarty, who scored the first -- and in so doing, choked up half of Joe Louis Arena in Saturday's 4-2 victory over the Nashville Predators. At 36, McCarty may be the youngest of that group, but he has lived the hardest. He has put on the most miles. Many of us never expected to see him back on the ice again -- let alone in his old Detroit uniform. The script on McCarty was to be a sad but familiar one: good guy, bruising hockey player, falls in with the party life, blows his money, loses his family, gets lost in alcohol, dope and gambling debts, disappears off the face of the earth.

McCarty did all except the last part. And he escaped that only because he was thrown a rope by some special people. But there he was in Game 2, on the scoreboard, and the fans thundered the rafters as his goal was announced: "First of the playoffs, No. 25, Darren McCarty ..."

It’s a short column, and it’s one of those “feel good” pieces. But Hey! It’s OK to feel good about D-Mac, and I certainly do. SN1 and I were on the phone together yesterday about ten seconds after D-Mac’s goal and we were ecstatic, both of us. First and foremost, McCarty’s goal drew first-blood and put the Wings in the lead early in the game. Following close on the heels of our celebration of that goal was an extended discussion about how good it was to see McCarty back… in every sense of the word. And yeah, that goal from the ‘97 play-offs came up (see yesterday’s post), and that particular goal will probably remain the highlight of D-Mac’s career…forever. But maybe not. There’s a lot of hockey left this year.

Here’s McCarty scoring yesterday’s goal, and a good one it was, too. Be warned: Ya gotta look close; things happen VERY quickly in hockey.

Dang. I love the way NHL.com has ALL the goals from every play-off game on their web site this year. It’s a blessing of magnificent proportions for us fans, and the videos just might help create a few new fans, as well.

One can only hope.