8802230942
DETROIT FREE PRESS
881209
Friday, December 09, 1988
METRO FINAL CHASER
1D
Chart DICK MAYER;Photo Color MARY SCHROEDER
MITCH ALBOM
Copyright (c) 1988, Detroit Free Press
STEVIE WONDERFUL
YZERMAN WON'T LET ACCLAIM GO TO HIS HEAD
You want to know my biggest fear about Steve Yzerman? That success will
one day grab him by the neck and say, "Look, kid, wake up. You're a star. Stop
treating people so nicely!"
It could happen. Plenty of athletes begin humble and wind up haughty.
It's easy when the whole city is fawning over you.
And yet it is tough to fawn over Yzerman. He likes to hide in the woods of
normality. Last week I called him up. I said, "What are you doing?" He said,
"Nothing. My fiancee is at a Tupperware party."
A Tupperware party?
He made a commercial for Ford recently. Didn't use an agent. Just went in,
heard the offer, and accepted it. ("Well, it's not like I'd won any Oscars,"
Yzerman says. "I couldn't really demand anything."
On Monday he eclipsed a Detroit hockey record held by the great Gordie
Howe -- most consecutive games with at least one goal. Yzerman is at nine
and counting.
I ask whether he has ever met Howe.
"A couple of times," he says. "He'll come over and say hi."
"Couldn't you just say hello first?"
His eyes bulge.
"No way! I would never just go up to Gordie Howe out of the blue."
"Why not?"
"Because he's Gordie Howe. What am I gonna say, 'Hey, Gordie. How's it
goin'?' "
"Well, don't you think you've reached that point?"
He shakes his head.
"I'll never reach that point."
Now. Whoa. This is not Butch Deadmarsh talking. This is a guy who many
believe is the third-best player in the NHL, behind only Wayne Gretzky and
Mario Lemieux. This is the captain of the Red Wings, an All-Star, a skating
wizard who is hockey's answer to the deer: graceful, elusive and smart. He
has 28 goals in the first 27 games this season, mountains of assists, his
passing is deft, his aim is true, he is arguably the most popular athlete in
Detroit -- Yzerman, Isiah, or Trammell, toss it up -- and is certainly the
most unanimously well-liked. The other night he went to a Stevie Wonder
concert. They could have called it: "Stevie Wonder meets Stevie Wonderful."
And he's embarrassed to say hello to Gordie Howe?
Oh, Yzerman.
You'll never last.
And yet . . . well, who knows? Maybe we tapped into the real thing here
-- humility and talent in one handsome package. For years, Yzerman has been
referred to as "Detroit's rising star." But he is the hottest scorer in hockey
right now. He was NHL player of the month in November. He breaks a Gordie
Howe record. Perhaps we should take a hint.
Perhaps he has arrived for good. Top of the heap -- Gretzky, Lemieux,
Yzerman.
Just don't tell him that.
"There's no comparison between Wayne Gretzky and me," Yzerman says,
sitting in his West Bloomfield apartment Wednesday afternoon, his voice, as
always, soft and unassuming. "He's done it all. Won Stanley Cups, won scoring
championships. . . . These people who compare us, or say he and Mario and I
are 1-2-3, it's so unfair to guys like Mark Messier, Dale Hawerchuk, Ray
Bourque. You can't compare. . .
"And Gordie Howe? No way. I was looking at some of his records the other
day. He's got marks that will last forever. He played with a dynasty. If we
ever become a dynasty, a lot of other guys will be breaking records, too."
He crosses his legs and folds his hands -- and he looks as if he's 15
years old. Amazing. Most people see Yzerman only on the ice, when he's sweaty
and his hair is wet and his sparse whiskers suggest at least a little
ruggedness.
See him at home sometime.
I bet he gets carded at PG movies.
All of which makes his maturity a surprise. And know this: He is as mature
as they come. Not just hockey-wise. Business- wise. Life-wise. And he's only
23. You look at him and you say, "Geez, the guy belongs in high school." You
listen to him, and you say, "Geez, the guy belongs in office."
Did you know that Steve Yzerman is studying to be a financial analyst?
Yep. He's taking a course with Shearson Lehman Brothers. "I don't want to be
the typical dumb athlete," he says. "I mean, I'd like to have something to
talk about other than hockey."
He also plans to be married, next year, to his longtime girlfriend, Lisa
Brennan. They have a date all set. Now. I don't want to say he's passing up
opportunities here. But if you put Steve Yzerman in a nightclub and told
Detroit women he was there, we might never see him again.
"I know what I want from life," he says, shrugging, when asked about his
adoring female fans. "Lisa was with me long before things got going good. And
she'll be with me long after.
"Usually when we go out, I try to let it be known that I'm with her.
Sometimes people will come over anyhow."
He laughs. "If I forget to introduce her, she kicks me in the shins."
Like most captains, Yzerman has learned to straddle the team's needs with
the needs of the public. That is not surprising. What is surprising is that he
learned it so fast. What can rattle Steve Yzerman now? When a horrible knee
injury ended his regular season last winter, there were whispers; some said
he would never be the same.
"I'll be back," he promised, and he delivered.
During the recent escapades of Bob Probert and Petr Klima, he was not shy
with criticism of his teammates. Nor did he play St. Steven in the media. "I
think we've all talked enough about it," he said, when it seemed, indeed, we
had.
Most athletes treat responsibility the way a vampire treats a cross. Yet
in the four years I have known him, I have seen Yzerman agree to do one of
those silly playoff "diaries" for our newspaper -- then insist that he write
it himself. I have seen him wandering around the Windsor airport parking lot
in the wee hours of the morning, making sure his teammates all had rides home.
The other night on WLLZ-FM, hockey analyst Don Cherry rated Yzerman up
there with Gretzky and Lemieux in talent. "But you know," he added, "if you
ask players around the league, Yzerman is the one they'd most like to sit and
have beer with. He's the most regular guy of the three."
And then there is this story. I heard it from Mary Schroeder, a
photographer for our newspaper, who sits near the penalty box at Joe Louis
Arena. Whenever Yzerman gets called for a penalty, he enters the box, cursing
like a sailor.
Then he sees her.
"Sorry, Mary," he always says.
And he sits down.
Manners.
Now, OK. Before we put a halo around his head, let us point out that,
yes, Yzerman is sometimes so low-key, he sounds like part of SCTV's "Great
White North" show. ("Have a sandwich, eh? OK, eh? Good, eh?") And he is not
without his moods, his temper, his pet peeves. He is mortal. The knee injury
still bothers him, he can't sprint without pain, and squatting is pretty much
out; it hurts too much.
But we are talking about a guy here who could become legendary. He could
become (gulp) this era's Gordie Howe. He is already the star on a team that is
on the lip of excellence. And he is only 23. Detroit is a hockey town. When
the team goes good, the good are canonized.
And he is on his way. Quietly. Humbly. His contract has become an issue
lately, because he earns only $385,000 annually, while Lemieux and Gretzky
now earn about $2 million. His response? It will be taken care of. Why debate
it in the press? "It seems like so many contracts become controversial. I
don't see why they can't be harmonious, all parties getting along."
What planet did this guy come from?
And are there any more like him? I keep worrying that one day soon I'll
walk into the Wings' locker room and Yzerman will be wearing sunglasses,
flanked by a bodyguard and a personal secretary. "No time to talk today,
babe," he'll say, checking his hair in the mirror. "Maybe next week."
Who knows? It could be that the Bobby Knights and Joaquin Andujars and Jim
McMahons have ruined us. Maybe you get a humble guy who just wants to play and
do well and marry his high school sweetheart, and you immediately grow
suspicious. Write something complimentary about an athlete these days.
Next thing you know, the guy gets arrested.
But I don't think that will happen with Steve Yzerman. Call it a hunch.
Call it blind faith. There is now at least one part of the Red Wings' history
book that reads: 1. Yzerman; 2. Howe. . . . And I suspect it won't be the
last.
Still, I could be wrong. . . .
"Are you comfortable with your image now?" I ask.
"Um. . . . I don't know what it is," he says.
I'm not wrong.
YZERMAN VS. THE NHL ELITE
Steve Yzerman, Wings center
* PERSONAL: Born May 9, 1965, at Cranbrook, British Columbia; lives in West
Bloomfield. Engaged to marry Lisa Brennan next summer.
* CONTRACT: Earning $385,000 in the fourth year of a seven-year contract, but
Wings plan to renegotiate at the end of the season.
Wayne Gretzky, Kings center
* PERSONAL: Jan. 26, 1961, at Brantford, Ontario; lives in Los Angeles.
Married actress Janet Jones on July 16.
* CONTRACT: Signed eight-year, $20 million contract after trade to LA.
Mario Lemieux, Penguins center
* PERSONAL: Born Oct. 5, 1965, at Montreal; lives in Pittsburgh. Single.
* CONTRACT: Renegotiated and signed one-year, $2 million deal.
Yzerman Gretzky Lemieux
Goals 28 22 25
Assists 25 44 44
Percentage of teams' goals 25.5 14.5 19.4
Percentage of team's goals
scored or assisted 48.2 43.4 53.5
CUTLINE:
Steve Yzerman (above right) is a study in concentration as the Islanders' Pat
LaFontaine pursues. Below, he looks much the part of the financial analyst he
is studying to be. "I don't want to be the typical dumb athlete," he says.
HOCKEY;STATISTIC;MAJOR STORY;STEVE YZERMAN;DREDWINGS;HOCKEY;
IMAGE;BIOGRAPHY;AGE;Red Wings