Detroit Free Press column
July 5, 2006
by Michael Rosenberg
Ty Cobb was once voted the best baseball player of the first half of the 20th century — ahead of Babe Ruth.
Gordie Howe is often called, matter-of-factly, the best all-around hockey player.
Barry Sanders was arguably the best player ever at arguably the most important position in football.
Isiah Thomas is considered the best little man in NBA history.
Steve Yzerman only made the All-NHL first team once.
And yet, when we speak of Detroit sports icons, Yzerman is right near the top of the list.
ESPN.com column
July 5, 2006
by Scott Burnside
Before the Detroit Red Wings won their first of three Stanley Cups in six seasons back in the spring of 1997, captain Steve Yzerman was in Las Vegas during the offseason playing craps.
Two elderly gentlemen from Detroit’s Canadian neighbor, Windsor, Ontario, sauntered by and noticed Yzerman.
“Let’s go play somewhere else. There’s no luck at this table,” the one said to the other.
Yzerman told that story after the Wings’ Cup victory in 1997, the first in 42 years, not with smugness or a sense of self-righteousness, but rather to illustrate the sometimes imperceptible line that separates stardom from being a champion.
