1/20/2024 0 Comments Fantasy landscape iceNowitzki was enthusiastically, and very publicly, promised a statue by Mavericks owner Mark Cuban after his final home game at the AAC, even before Nowitzki put a bow on his NBA career. There’s a quote attributed to Theodore Roosevelt: “Comparison is the thief of joy.” It’s a saying that comes to mind now, especially given where Modano’s statue is going to stand, right next to the bronze masterpiece immortalizing Nowitzki and his iconic one-legged fadeaway. He was the guy that the Stars could market and make the face of their franchise. He was the player who had the runway from the Minnesota years and the talent to build around in Dallas. Obviously, the Stars’ success in the ’90s had a lot of huge names but Modano was the stabilizing force, on and off the ice. If the Stars had a rocky transition to Dallas and it lingered for too long, that team and that sport could have easily fallen into the depths of irrelevancy. The Dallas Mavericks were a few years away from rising from the graveyard by ushering in the Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash era. The Texas Rangers were a few years away from cracking the playoffs for the first time, doing so in three out of four years. The Cowboys were in the middle of their dynasty. The Stars had to get off to a good start in Dallas to keep up with their market peers. When the North Stars relocated to Dallas in 1993, there was a lot of unknown about how a southern market would receive an NHL franchise. Without Modano, there’s no telling if hockey would have survived in Dallas, let alone thrive. Saying that Modano was foundational “to the Stars’ championship in 1999” underestimates his impact. I’ve written my piece on the football side earlier this week and this space is for hockey, so let’s focus on that. Modano getting a statue outside the AAC is well-deserved and long overdue. Mike Modano was foundational to the Stars’ championship in 1999 but his complicated relationship with the organization in his latter playing years and into his retirement delayed the inevitable. After the Stars made the big announcement in the arena, the team called an impromptu news conference in the basement of the arena. The next day, I was in Dallas, sitting in the press box at the American Airlines Center during the second period of the Dallas Stars hosting the New York Rangers.
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