I managed to stay pretty much injury-free at basketball the past two weeks, but this week I wasn’t so lucky. I sprained my thumb, strained my back a bit and hurt my foot getting tangled up with another guy on the run. I didn’t think it was that bad until I got the ball in the post the next time down the floor, turned to shoot over him and got blocked. I got zero lift on my jump; my foot just kinda refused.
.:.
It’s too bad to see Mario Lemieux retire (again), but it was bound to happen sooner rather than later given all his health problems. I think I fall into the “would have been one of the greatest ever if he’s been able to stay healthy” camp; he had all the talent in the world, but like Bobby Orr he just couldn’t match the longevity of players like Gretzky or Howe. Still…it would’ve been fun to watch him play a full year alongside Sidney Crosby.
Skirl | Dan Dickinson 
As you well know I am not the hockey intellectual that you are but my 2 cents here is that you are possibly undervaluing Mario’s contribution. I believe his more lasting impact is that he proved to be a huge role model for a lot of young kids and inspired them to get involved in hockey when he was young and at his peak. Afterwards he was another inspiration battling back after his health problem. Was he as prolific as Howe or Gretzky? No, of course not, but in the end some of his best work was done off the ice.
After re-reading my own post, I think I downplayed my esteem for Mario. I said that he wasn’t as good as Gretzky, Orr or Howe; what I forgot to say was that he was better than everybody else, with the possible exception of Maurice Richard or Patrick Roy*. Orr changed the game; Lemieux, Howe and Richard took the existing game to spectacular levels. Gretzky did both.
*I’ve thought a lot about this in the last couple of years. If playing the game so well that the league is forced to change in order to keep pace with you, then Roy might be in this top flight. The guy won four Stanley Cups with two different teams over 15 years, holds the record for goaltender wins, won too many individual awards to count, practically won the 1993 Cup by himself, all but introduced the butterfly style and inspired an entire generation of Quebec goaltenders. I think you have to at least consider him.