Remembering Ruslan Salei

Wednesday September 7th, 2011 most likely isn't a day too many people will remember, but for me it is one I will never forget.  For me it started off like any other.  I got up around  11, and started my day by checking some things out online.  Being the hockey junkie that I am, I checked my favorite websites and saw one of the most disturbing headlines I have seen in a while.  The KHL hockey team, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl had been involved in a plane crash, and all of the team members, except for one had died.  After reading a little more, I found out that guys I considered household names were on that plane.  Pavol Demitra, Karlis Skrastins, Josef Vasicek.  But one name stood out, and it was one that really hurt.  Ruslan Salei. 

There are probably very few people outside of the clique that is diehard hockey fans that know who Ruslan Salei is, but to me he will always be someone special.  Last Wednesday this world lost that someone special.  Ruslan Salei was a second or third pairing defenseman who was known for his stay at home play and strong defensive game, and pretty much nothing star worthy.  He played for the Anaheim Mighty Ducks from 1996 through 2006, and became the man known simply as "Rusty."  Rusty was the guy who heckled teammates and reporters alike.  Rusty was the guy who came into work every day, put in 100%, didn't take shit from anyone and was respected by everyone.

As a Ducks fan I will always Ruslan Salei for the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals.  As a 12 year old hockey fan, who watched his team get demolished in the first two games, I needed something special.  7 minutes into the first overtime, Ruslan Salei fired a wrister into the back of the net that sent the Arrowhead Pond and the Dooley household alike into a frenzy.  I turned into a little girl screaming at a Taylor Swift concert and it was all because of Ruslan Salei.  Although the Ducks would lose that series, that is one goal I will never forget as long as I live.  The feeling of seeing my team win a game on hockey's biggest stage for the first time was something special, and it was all thanks to Ruslan Salei.

Ruslan's memory will live on for a long time with Ducks and NHL fans and players alike.  Pavel Datsyuk payed his respects by wearing Salei's number 24 during this years preseason, and the Ducks had a special tribute video for Salei prior to their first preseason game.  You will never be forgotten Ruslan.

Mr. 600

A couple of years ago, the last game I would see at the Old Yankee Stadium,was a 2-1 snoozefest between the Yanks and Blue Jays, where the players could probably hear the yawning of a child in the nosebleeds.  All of a sudden it changed.  As soon as that first note of Enter Sandman blared from the Yankee Stadium speakers, the crowd erupted, because there was not a single person that didn't know who was entering the game.  Seeing him for the first time in person gave me chills, because this man was a legend.  There was one person in the world who could have brought that crowd to life.  That man is Mariano Rivera. 

Mariano Rivera could tell you when he is going to throw his cutter, where in the zone it will end up, and how fast it will come in, and the best a hitter will be able to do is hit a broken bat pop-up.  Mariano has one pitch, which, over time, has become the second largest killer of trees behind the paper industry.  He lives and dies by his cutter, and despite the fact that hitters know exactly what's coming, they are utterly helpless when it comes to hitting it.  Just under an hour ago, Mariano Rivera became the second man in history to reach 600 saves, a mark only achieved previously by Trevor Hoffman.  In only a matter of days, Rivera will pass Hoffman for the all time record of career saves, and the greatest closer of all time will statistically become just that.  Going along with his record of 42 playoff saves, a mere 24 ahead of his nearest competitor, Rivera has established a legacy as one of the most dominant pitchers to ever play the game. 

As great of a player as Rivera has been over the years, it's hard to believe that he could be an even better person, but he truly is the role model that parents should tell their kids to follow.  He married his elementary school sweetheart.  He has never once been involved in an off-field controversy in a sport that has had everything from steroids to perjury to wife-beating.  Rivera is an enormous philanthropist who contributes large sums of money in both the United States and his native Panama.  After the Yankees lost the 2001 World Series in Game 7, a game in which Rivera blew a save in the 9th inning, teammate Enrique Wilson narrowly avoided flying home on a a plane that went down, killing all of its passengers.  Rivera never dwelled on the loss, simply saying,   "I am glad we lost the World Series, because it means that I still have a friend."  That's just the kind of guy Mariano is, and is just one of the many reasons that the 600 save mark couldn't happen to a better person. 

As far as I'm concerned, Mariano Rivera can pitch for as long as he wants.  Honestly, a 60 year old Rivera will still be better than Scott Proctor, who is for some reason a Yankee again.  Simply put, Rivera will call it quits whenever he wants to.  But until he does, hitters will quiver as The Sandman takes the mound, and Yankee fans will smile, knowing that they're on route to a victory