Tank's take week of 11/9/03

[NJTank]

Hockey's Messiah

As time goes on more and more people will look back and discover that the 1980's Edmonton Oilers are the best team in the history of the NHL. The star of those teams was Wayne Gretzky who was shattering all goal scoring records and winning the Hart Trophy for an incredible 8 straight seasons. Gretzky was not the only Hall of Fame on those teams he was joined by Jari Kurri, and Grant Fuhr who are already enshrined and Glenn Anderson and Paul Coffey who will some day be enshrined.

However the most important player on those teams may have been Mark Messier who at the age of 42 has look revitalized this season with the New York Rangers, while cementing his legend in the pantheon of sports greats by passing Gordie Howe for second place on the all-time scoring list with 1,851.

Mark Messier would first gain center stage recognition after the Great One was trade to the Los Angeles Kings in 1988. When the Oilers dynasty was supposed to be dried up Messier led the Oilers to a 5th Stanley Cup in 1990, winning his first Hart Trophy as the Oilers stunned the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup Finals. By then Kurri and Gretzky were gone, and Grant Fuhr had lost his starting job between the pipes. However, they still had the will of a champion thanks to the will of Mark Messier.

Messier himself would depart Edmonton prior to the start of the 1991 season, as he was traded to the New York Rangers. It would be in New York that he would go from NHL great to all-time legend, and sports messiah.

Mark Messier would have immediate success in New York winning the Hart Trophy for the second time in 3 years as the Rangers won the President's Trophy for the first time in franchise history. At that time the Rangers were in a great drought, as they had not won the Stanley Cup in over 50 years, as talk of a curse was as constant companion for the Rangers who always failed in the playoffs.

Unfortunately for the Rangers Mark Messier's first season would end in disappointment as they collapsed in the 2nd round against the Pittsburgh Penguins as a late season strike had take the steam out of the team. The following season would bring more disappointment as the Rangers failed to even reach the playoffs.

However in the 1993/94 season Mark Messier would final achieve biblical status as he delivered the Rangers who had been wandering the desert for 54 years to the Promised Land. The regular season would be a repeat of Messier's first year in the Big Apple minus the Hart Trophy as the Rangers once again won the President's Trophy.

However, it would be clear early that the Rangers had a different sense of purpose in the playoffs as the Rangers who now had 4 members of the 1990 Oilers surrounding him including Glenn Anderson. In 1992 the Rangers had to sweat out a 7-game series against the New Jersey Devils, but this time around facing their other suburban rivals the New York Islanders it would be no contest as the Rangers won in 4 straight by a total score of 22-6. The second round would be almost as easy as the Rangers needed just 5 games to dispatch the Washington Capitals and advance to the Conference Finals for the first time in 8 years.

Facing the New Jersey Devils in the Conference Finals the Rangers would be put to the test as they lost Game 1 at home in double overtime. The Rangers would bounce back to win the next 2 including Game 3 in Double Overtime at the Meadowlands. However, the Rangers would come up flat in Game 4 and 5, and doom surrounded the Rangers once again.

In previous years the Rangers would have been expected to fold. In fact it was almost a foregone conclusion that the infamous curse would live on. However, instead of talking about curses the talk surrounded around Mark Messier who guaranteed the Rangers would win Game 6 in New Jersey. Not since Joe Namath in Super Bowl III, had someone in New York made such a bold projection. Messier's prediction at first looked hallow as the Devils jumped out to a 2-0 lead. However, Messier would back up his prediction on the ice scoring the final 3 goals as the Rangers rallied to win 4-2.

The Rangers would go on to take the series with a double overtime win in Game 7. In subsequent years the true greatness of that series will take on a larger meaning as the Devils would become the beast of the east with 4 Stanley Cup Finals and 3 Stanley Cup Championships in the decade since that heart stopping series.

Though the Rangers past the Devils the Rangers would need further heroics from their captain in 1994 as they found themselves in a 7th game in the Stanley Cup Finals after letting a 3-1 series lead against the Vancouver Canucks evaporate. Instead of panicking Messier had an inspiring speech in the locker then went on to score the cup-clinching goal as the Rangers ended 54 years of frustration with a 3-2 win.

As the years have gone by and Mark Messier has departed and comeback to the Rangers, his legendary status has only grown despite not making he nor the Rangers not making the playoffs for 6 straight seasons, which started when Mark Messier stunned the team by signing a free agent deal with the Vancouver Canucks in 1997.

Messier would eventually return in 2000, where he has taken on the role of elder statesmen as his skills have clearly diminished. With 6 goals and a record this season Mark Messier appears to be on the way to one of his strongest seasons in several years. Perhaps it would be a nice ending of his career if he can deliver the Rangers back into the playoffs and ride of in the sunset after a strong season.

Either way Mark Messier should make sure this is his final season, before he begins embarrassing himself on the ice much like Willie Mays did at the end of his baseball career. However even if he doesn't retire or doesn't deliver the Rangers back to the playoffs his legend is secure.

In a city where its sports legends are larger then life Mark Messier is to the New York Rangers, what Tom Seaver is to the Mets, what Joe Namath is to the Jets, what Babe Ruth is to the Yankees, and what Willis Reed is to the Knicks rolled up in one. No matter what he did in Edmonton it's his years in New York that he went from a great NHL player know only by hockey fans, to a legend who's name in New York will always bring up memories in 1994 when the Messiah led the Rangers out of the darkness, and ended a curse which was equally as burdensome as the infamous curses that effect the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs in baseball.

It was a big week for another sports legend in New York as Don Mattingly was named hitting coach by the Yankees. For Yankee fans Mattingly was the lone shinning light as the Yankees endured their longest World Series drought since the acquisition of Babe Ruth. From 1984-1987 Mattingly was the best player in baseball winning a batting title, RBI title and an MVP, while setting the record for Grand Slams in a season, and trying the record for consecutive games with a HR at 8. However, despite his greatness on the field the Yankees served as second banana in the big apple to the New York Mets who were the premier team in baseball at the time.

However while the Mets were winning 90 plus games every year Mattingly was the lone bright spot for Yankees fans in the 80's as the Yankees always fell short on the field as they made several questionable moves including trading prospects Willie McGee, Fred McGriff, and Doug Drabek who went on to become perennial all-stars.

The Yankees of today seem to have a Midas touch with fee agent acquisitions fitting right in and leading the team to the playoffs every year since 1995, and into the World Series 6 out of the last 8 years. However, in the 80s the Yankees could not seem to do anything right as deals to bring in pitching failed every season.

The Yankees would finally recover and appeared to be on the way to greatness in 1994, but the strike ended the season, canceling the entire postseason with the Yankees holding the best record in the American League on August 12th.

Mattingly would get a taste of the postseason one-year later as the Yankees grabbed the Wild Card. However, the Yankees would lose to the Seattle Mariners in a heartbreaking 5 game series. The Yankees would not resign Don Mattingly whose career had been hampered in his final 6 seasons by constant back pain.

The following season the Yankees would return to glory winning their first World Series in 18 years. However, Donnie Baseball as the fans had called him retired, just missing the start of the Yankees dynasty.

However, now that he has returned as a hitting coach Don Mattingly could finally get his taste of glory. When the season starts next year Don Mattingly will get the largest cheers of any player or coach, and if the Yankees are to win the World Series he will be a center of attention in the playoffs. Perhaps it's only in New York where a coach can get this much attention, which is why it will always be the sports capital of the world.

The sports capital had 2 marathons last Sunday as the match up between the Giants and Jets ended up being one of the best regular season games in several years as it went almost the full 15 minutes of overtime before the Giants won 31-28 in the Meadowlands, on the same day the annual NY Marathon was winding its way through the 5 boroughs.

The traditional marathon will be run again next year. However the Giants and Jets won't meet again in the regular season until 2007. The NFL has a set scheduling formula in which non-divisional opponents are determined by a rotating formula. However, the NFL should find away to add a rivalry game every season, in which a team plays its natural rival every season. Giants versus Jets is just too good to happen once every 4 years. However, other match ups like Raider vs. 49ers, Dolphins vs Buccaneers could be just as exciting. Eventually the NFL will expand to 18 games, perhaps when the next television contract is negotiated, and when they do one of those 2 games must be a rival game.

Hero of the Week: Mark Messier for passing Gordie Howe for second place on the all-time scoring list. With Wayne Gretzky lapping the field second place might always be first place for the rest of the mortals in the NHL, as Mark Messier looks to pull with 1,000 of the Great One with another 7 points. However, it should not diminish the accomplishment Gretzky's records have to be kept almost separately they are so beyond the reach of anyone. So passing Gordie Howe is almost like setting another record and establishing himself as the standard for all future stars to catch with Gretzky's records likely never to be challenged.

Geek of the Week: Deion Sanders for openly campaigning for the head coaching job with the Atlanta Falcons. Sanders a great studio analyst for CBS does not know the first thing about coaching in the NFL, otherwise he would not be asking for the job of current Head Coach Dan Reeves. The fate of Reeves has yet to truly be determined although every time he walks out on the field Falcons officials yell, "Deadman Walking." None the less all head coaches in ten NFL have to earn their dues. Unlike then NBA, NHL or MLB the NFL never hires anyone to coach a team that has no coaching experience what so ever. If Deion does want to be a head coach then he has to quit working for CBS, and start out as an assistant and work his way up the ladder like anyone else. However, before he goes he has to learn the ethics of coaching, and that is never campaign for anyone's job, because in the coaching business what comes around goes around, and if he needs conformation he just needs to ask Washington Redskins lame duck Coach Steve Spurrier who has been a miserable failure since leaving the college ranks.

http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/tank/tank...take110903.html

[habsfannova]

As time goes on more and more people will look back and discover that the 1980's Edmonton Oilers are the best team in the history of the NHL

Merde du cheval.

Did they win 5 cups in a row? Even 4? Even 3? Did they have any defensive skill whatsoever? No! The Islanders of the late 79s/early80s; Canadiens of the 70's, Canadiens of the 50's, Maple Leafs of the 60's were all superior to the Oilers, mainly because they could play defense! I wonder if there is also a little bias for the Rangers in the article, hmmm..........

Messier was a dominating presence, however, and a lot of fun to watch.  IMO, he's with Dionne, Perreault, Frank Mahovlich, Bernie Geoffrion, and Stan Mikita in the record books, Not quite in the next level.

Also, little tidbit for those who think Gretz is the best ever:

Fascinating insights are wrought from a comparison of Howe's scoring stats in the 1950's and Gretzky's in the 1980's. In straight totals, Howe scored 383 goals over the decade and Gretzky's tallies were 637. Howe's season was 70 games long and Wayne played 80. To account for the additional games we multiply Gordie's totals by 1.15 giving Howe a total of 440. Then accounting for the goal per game average differential we multiply 440 x 1.6. Howe's total jumps to 705 goals scored if he had played in the 1980's - an average of almost 7 goals per year greater than Gretzky; one can only dream.

And, Howe could play defense, check, and fight.

[Saintsfan]

Surely Reeves is a gonna in Atlanta. No disrespect to the guy, who has done a good job (if not a great job) everywhere he ahs coached, but if Atlanta are gonna get the best out of Vick long term IMO they need a fresher more innovative approach. however using celebrity to try and get the job just isn't the way. In the NFL you really need a good coaching pedigree, at least some years as an assistant, so I wouldn't hold your breath Mr sanders!

[jrh31584]

Whoever the Falcons decide to hire may be wise to have Deion on his staff, maybe as special teams or secondary coach.

[NJTank]

Deion may think he want to be coach and he may make a good coach but I think he has too bloated of ego to give up his TV job to be an assistan.