Ray Bourque's Cup

By Stephen Baker CPKSports Senior Writer

There have been a lot of words written about why hockey fans should root for the Avalanche so Ray Bourque can finally lift the Stanley Cup. Why should I care?

Honestly, it's not like he needs a Stanley Cup to validate his career. Anyone who doesn't think Bourque isn't one of the greatest defensemen in the history of the game simply doesn't follow hockey very closely. A case can be made, which I'm not going to make right now, that he is an even better player than the great Bobby Orr.

I'm not a fan of the Bruins. I've only been to Boston a few times. It's a nice city, good college town, great bar scene. I don't have an axe to grind against the good people of Beantown. Ray Bourque is a local hero in Boston, among the great pantheon of Bird, Russell, Yaz, and Orr. I can understand why every Bruins fan would be sitting in front of the tube, rooting for Bourque to put the finishing touch on a great career.

But that's not my question. Why should I care? Plenty of great players in sports didn't win a title. Heck, I mentioned one in a previous paragraph. Ted Williams didn't win a title. Dominique Wilkins never won a title. Jim Brown never won a title, either. Tony Gwynn is about to retire without a title. Dan Marino just retired titleless. One of the greatest pitchers of our time will probably retire without one: Randy Johnson.

Does this in any way, shape, or form reduce the achievements of these athletes? Of course not. This doesn't make Claude Lemieux a better player than Mario Lemieux, just because he has more rings. It's why the "who has more rings" argument isn't a fair one. Every time Michael Jordan won a title, he brought along with him lesser players like BJ Armstrong or Steve Kerr.

In fact, a diehard hockey fan left without a team to root for should probably pull for New Jersey just because they might be the best team in a decade. They outscored opponents by 100 goals this year, an absolutely obscene amount, one only matched consistently by the 1980s Edmonton Oilers. A third Cup would legitimize the Devils as the first dynasty of the new century.

They don't do it the way Edmonton did; the Oilers scored a ridiculous amount of goals and simply bludgeoned their opponents into submission. The Devils play a defensive system and rely on hard hits and stellar goaltending, making big leads even more difficult. It's a more defensive era, and the Devils aren't devoid of skill players. No team with Arnott-Sykora-Elias line will advocate clutch and grab slow down hockey all of the time.

If Bourque wins the Stanley Cup, that's great. It's great for him, Colorado, and all of those long-suffering fans of Boston sports. I just won't stay up at night if he doesn't because it does not diminish his career at all. Nothing could tarnish his career. Even someone who never cheered for him knows that.

Article courtesy of CPKSports.com