All Sports All The Time

I was surfing online and I came across a couple of news stories that took me by surprise; Steve Yzerman announces retirement and Ben Wallace plans to sign with the Bulls.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Yzerman finally decided to retire after 22 years in the NHL. What is surprising that he spent his entire career with one team; Detroit Red Wings. As a Red Wing fan for most of my life I have been watching Yzerman his whole career and the Red Wings are definitely a better team with him on the ice and he will be missed.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and the Red Wings will have to move on. The loss of Yzerman for next season will equal the loss of long time coach Scotty Bowman a couple of years ago. I fully expect the Red Wings to carry on their winning ways this coming season, but without their long time leader it will be an adjustment.

I wish him well in future endevers and I will miss seeing him on the ice.

Now to Ben Wallace, he has made it known to the Detroit Pistons that he will not be resigning with them for this coming season and as soon as it allowed by rules (July 12th) he will make it official. He will be signing with the Chicago Bulls for a undisclosed amount of money.

The reason he will be leaving the Pistons was he couldn’t come to terms on a new contract. The Pistons offered Ben Wallace a 4 year $50 million dollar contract which would have made him the highest paid player on the team. So I would gather that the Bulls came up with a bigger number and Wallace made a business decision to leave the Pistons.

I wish him well with the Bulls and I am sure Detroit Pistons President Joe Dumars will do his magic and bring in a new center and we will carry on. Since coming to the Pistons, Wallace has made a huge contribution to our recent success. I will also not dishonor his contribution by bad mouthing him for making the decision he has made.

I wish him well with the Bulls.