Alex Ovechkin, newly minted Stanley Cup champion, shows of his copy of 'The Russian Five' and 'Rule No. 1: Don't Be No. 2' by @HockeyAgent1. Thank you, Dan Milstein. #Believe #RedWings #allcaps #RussianFive #NHL #LGRW

It doesn’t matter how famous you are, how much money you make or what you do for a living. You can be one of the most recognizable people in the world. You can have all the success, awards and accomplishments anyone could dream of. But at the end of the day, there’s someone who doesn’t care about any of that. Someone who looks at you like you’re their whole world. Who thinks you walk on water. Who just wants your time, your hugs and to know you’re there. They don’t call you famous. They don’t call you successful. They just call you Dad. ❤️ And that’s the most important title any man will ever have.

USA Hockey Olympic gold medalist Abbey Murphy used a hockey stick for her ceremonial first pitch for the White Sox–Rockies game.

just a washed old dad here coming to say this is the best thing I have ever seen in a baseball game there’s another angle where you can see JV start sobbing the second he sees her hit the dugout steps — only dads know how that feels. 🧡💙

When you're a kid, your parents can do no wrong. When you're a teen, they can do no right. When you're an adult and they're both gone, you realize they did nearly everything for you. And seeing moments like this, it all comes flooding back to you like a ton of bricks.

And Eduardo Valencia gave us a couple of amazing moments. In fact, the kids made this season rather fascinating. Reminiscent of the all the youth in the early 80s.

Before the Maple Leafs practised today at Arizona State, they visited with the Mayich family. Here are the hats and t-shirts they are wearing at the rink. Really well-done

Oct. 15, 2011, in the visiting clubhouse in the bowels of Rangers Ballpark at Arlington, after a 15-5 Tigers loss in G6 of ALCS, JV called the bunch of Detroit media who'd traveled over to his locker, and essentially thanked us/apologized for giving us more work in his Cy Young/MVP season. Two nights earlier, he'd thrown 133 pitches in 7.1 IP in a G5 win to get the Tigers to G6. VMart's knee was a problem, Avila was on fumes. Ordonez got hurt, and left for home immediately after. Didn't have to say it, but he did. Always stuck in my head. Same thing we all said then, though: Our pleasure.

Usually, I'd say, "Wow, it got dusty in here all of a sudden." Forget that, it's like I'm standing under Niagara Falls.

Wanna hear from North American hockey fans who feel so sorry for Ovechkin because he is receiving mild criticism for his unabashed and full-throated support of fascism and war crimes. Any sympathy toward this hockey player? Or is his puck-whacking skill not enough to merit it?

If you can watch Verlander’s daughter run out to hug her father to take him out of his last game and not pull a tear, check your heart. It might have stopped. A moment I just shared with my 11-year old son, that I bet we always remember. That’s baseball at its best.

What an beautiful, unbelievable moment. Something still caught in my eye. . .

Apparently, baseball is about fathers and daughters, too.

Justin Verlander did not have to do this. He is 43 years old. He has three Cy Young Awards, an MVP, two World Series rings, three no-hitters, 266 wins and more than 3,500 strikeouts. He holds the all time record for postseason strikeouts. Cooperstown is not a question, it is a waiting period. He came back to the Detroit Tigers this year on a one year deal, to finish where he started, and then his hip went out on him in April. Sixty day injured list. Season basically over. He turned 43 while he was on it. Most guys in that spot shake hands and go home. Verlander skipped about a month of the rehab everybody else takes. No minor league rehab assignment. Just bullpen sessions and a single one inning simulated game in Chicago. He cut the recovery short and pushed his body back onto a mound for one reason. He wanted one more start in Detroit, in front of the people who watched him grow up. That start is tomorrow, against the Pittsburgh Pirates. It will be the 557th of his career and the last one. Today the Tigers honored him before the game. His family sat behind home plate. His old pitching coach Jeff Jones came out. So did Brandon Inge, who played behind him for years. Then they announced the ceremonial first pitch, and his daughter Genevieve walked out toward the mound. Justin Verlander crouched down and caught it. A man who has spent 20 years being the one who throws put a glove on, got down in a crouch, and let his kid throw a strike to her dad in front of a full ballpark. She threw it right down the middle. He was drafted second overall by Detroit in 2004. He was Rookie of the Year in 2006. He won the Cy Young and the MVP in the same season in 2011, which almost nobody does. He left for the Houston Astros and won two titles. He pitched for the San Francisco Giants. And at 42 he came back to the only place that ever felt like his. "Your love and support has meant the world to me. I am, and always will be, a Detroit Tiger." He admitted he is nervous about tomorrow. "I'm pretty anxious about tomorrow. It's weird, because it's almost like playoff anxiousness." And he has no idea how it goes, which he also said out loud. "There's no script. I want to go as long as I can." That is a 43 year old man with nothing left to prove telling you he does not know what is going to happen and he is going to find out anyway. He rushed his own rehab for this. Tomorrow afternoon in Detroit, for the last time, Justin Verlander gets the ball.

Retired numbers belong to players only.

Update: Now the cutouts of Steve Yzerman, Nick Lidstrom, and Henrik Zetterberg are all removed. The Russian Five Display will replace them soon. #LGRW #RedWings

The man who brought NHL players kicking and screaming into the 21st century. A really good man -- and tennis partner.

Katie Strang, the absolute best at what she does in sports journalism and a great human as well.

I'll go to my grave believing George Fucking Brett over the dweebs teaching hitting today. #KCRoyals

Happy book birthday to The Five People You Meet in Heaven. My second book and first novel. #booktwt

#Leslie #Michigan