TIGER, FEDERER...MARTIN?:

Brodeur Outduels DiPietro, Notching His 10th Shutout (Associated Press, February 9, 2007)

Martin Brodeur posted his NHL-best 10th shutout of the season on last night, stopping 25 shots to lead the Devils to a 2-0 victory over the Islanders. [...]

Brodeur, who benefited from a shot off the post by Jason Blake in the second period, had to work hard late to preserve his 90th career regular-season shutout. He made a great glove save on Brendan Witt's slap shot with about six minutes to play, before stopping Tom Poti, Blake, and Mike Sillinger during the power play on which Pandolfo scored.

The loss overshadowed an outstanding 35-save performance by Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro, who posted his 11th NHL shutout Wednesday. It also marked the first time in nine games that New York failed to earn a point (5-1-3).

Brodeur has 90 career shutouts, four behind George Hainesworth for second in NHL history. Terry Sawchuk has the record with 103.

It's too bad no one cares enough about hockey to run some sabremetric-type numbers and place him in a historical context.

MORE:
Speaking of sports that -- sadly -- no one cares about anymore, The Void (THOMAS HAUSER, February 9, 2007, NY Sun)

"The sweet science," A.J. Liebling observed, "is joined onto the past like a man's arm to his shoulder."

When Liebling penned those words, he was referring to the lineage of boxing's heavyweight champions. It was a glorious line of succession revered by fight fans with the same emotion that British royalists embrace the monarchy.

John L. Sullivan ... James J. Corbett ... Bob Fitzsimmons ... James Jeffries ... Marvin Hart ... Tommy Burns ... Jack Johnson ... Jess Willard ... Jack Dempsey ... Gene Tunney ... Max Schmeling ... Jack Sharkey ... Primo Carnera ... Max Baer ... James Braddock ... Joe Louis ... Ezzard Charles ... Jersey Joe Walcott ... Rocky Marciano ... Floyd Patterson ... Ingemar Johansson ... Patterson again ... Sonny Liston ... Muhammad Ali . ..

These men were gods with a common bond. "Fitzsimmons had been hit by Corbett," Liebling wrote. "Corbett by John L. Sullivan; he by Paddy Ryan with the bare knuckles; and Ryan by Joe Goss, his predecessor, who as a young man had felt the fist of the great Jem Mace. It is a great thrill to feel that all that separates you from the early Victorians is a series of punches on the nose."

Even when the heavyweight champion was a fighter of limited ability, he was still the heavyweight champion of the world.

Then world-sanctioning bodies began to proliferate and things got murky. But there was still a chain of command.

Joe Frazier ... George Foreman ... the return of Ali ... Leon Spinks ... Larry Holmes ... Michael Spinks ... Mike Tyson ... James "Buster" Douglas ... Evander Holyfield ... Riddick Bowe ... Holyfield again ... Michael Moorer ... George Foreman ... followed by an interregnum with Lennox Lewis emerging as the true heavyweight champion of the world.

Sadly, that lineage no longer exists. There are now four heavyweight champions. In other words, the throne is vacant at present and will be for the foreseeable future. Greed and corruption have fragmented the crown.

The single most important thing that sports fans want is competition building to a meaningful championship.

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 9, 2007 8:54 AM