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| Montreal's loss is Dallas' Gainey |
Before every home game, the Texas Rangers have played a montage of classic moments from years past, many of which deal with Nolan Ryan and the rest includes moments from the last two playoff runs.
As revelations have come out and the sport has taken steroids way more seriously, the Rangers have backed away from their 1990s teams that featured Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro, Juan Gonzalez, Jose Canseco and others that are implicated one way or another with steroid use.
This season -- the team's 40th anniversary -- they've included more and more highlights from those 1990s teams that included three division titles.
I'm no more proud of those 1990s teams and what they represented (and how hollow they seem now) than the upper management of the club, but I think it's a good thing to connect with the past -- good or bad.
The Dallas Cowboys are the only real team to have a very public connection, which is helped by all the success and the longer history of the franchise. Regularly, they stroll out Roger Staubach, Bob Lilly, Drew Pearson, Tony Dorsett, Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, Cliff Harris and others. Arguably, no one team is more public in the national spotlight than Aikman and Daryl Johnston due to their announcing gigs.
The Dallas Mavericks is a baby compared to the Rangers and Cowboys. Still, you see Sam Perkins, Rolando Blackman, Brad Davis and Derek Harper out and about in different duties.
The Dallas Stars, the youngest franchise in connection with the area, have tried hard to keep guys around giving jobs to Andy Moog, Craig Ludwig and Brett Hull (I'm sure there's others).
None of this is enough, however. All four teams have a decided identity and enough names and legends to create a sense of legacy around their brands.
I think it really started with Nolan Ryan. He's not the first, but he rivals only Staubach in terms of how people feel about him despite being a short-timer. We thought he was hired as a face and name. Instead, he revitalized the franchise, gave GM Jon Daniels some muscle, became a teacher to the pitching staff and, for lack of a better idiom, is sort of a bouncer. He says something and people generally back away. He sets things straight in the media, stares them down with this hand on his holster.
The Dallas Stars announced yesterday that they have hired Bob Gainey (again) as a consultant for GM Joe Nieuwendyk. Do not underestimate the power that this move holds.
For one, you can never have too many smart people in the front office. The Rangers stockpile guys from Ryan and Daniels to Greg Maddux and all those scouts. Gainey will not only prove valuable for Nieuwendyk in free agency, the draft and other areas, but he's a call back to the brilliant Stars squads from the late-1990s and early-2000s. You know, when they made the playoffs and were contenders.
Two, I would not be surprised if this is some sort of "foot-in-the-door" move in order to make Gainey a permanent part of the franchise's upper management. I think his days as "general manager" and coach are over, but who's to say that he's not in line for a position like Ryan with the Rangers?
A proven winner, a tip of the cap to the halycon days and a great hockey mind for the war room.
Every team needs this input. The Cowboys need it more than just a cosmetic. The Rangers should extend invitations to all their former greats to games and Spring Training.
And it wouldn't kill me to have more Doug Smith and Donald Hodge in my life. Hint, hint.
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