Columnist Dean Juipe: One leaves to applause, one to jeers

Dean Juipe

Friday, July 30, 1999 | 10:40 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

There's a right way and a wrong way to do most everything, and when it comes to superstar athletes announcing their retirements both extremes were on display this week.

On consecutive days, Barry Sanders showed how to go about it all wrong and took every misstep possible, while one day later, Thursday, Dominik Hasek was the picture of perfect decorum during his emotional hour on stage.

Hasek, of the Buffalo Sabres, is the only goalie in the history of the National Hockey League to twice be named the league's Most Valuable Player. At a ceremony in his native Prague, Hasek made it clear that he will play one more season with the Sabres and then retire.

Like Michael Jordan's situation before departing the Chicago Bulls last year, Hasek had the politeness and good sense to give his team fair warning. The Sabres now have 15 months to find a replacement for their great goalie.

In contrast to that thoughtful approach is the way Sanders bolted on the Detroit Lions as training camp for the National Football League team opened. With no advance notice whatsoever, the future Hall of Fame running back not only walked away from the sport but fled the country rather than try to explain himself.

Sanders left a poor taste in the mouths of almost everyone associated with the Lions and their fans. While the team isn't that good to begin with, he left it high and dry and without anything resembling a competent running back at a time when every decent free agent has already secured a contract for the coming season and trade options are limited. It's as if Sanders was vindictive and waited until he could hurt the Lions the most, as if the millions and millions of dollars they've lavished on him didn't merit professional conduct on his end.

He even refused to clarify himself and respond to what coach Bobby Ross said were a half dozen personally written letters asking for his input on the 1999 season. Sanders ignored Ross' letters and waited for the most inopportune moment to walk away from a team that had not only employed him for 10 years but had made him a very wealthy man.

There's an outside chance he may yet reconsider, but, at face value, Sanders is done.

That being the case, this looks like a good time for a little additional Barry Bashing, so here it is: While his athleticism was at times astounding, Sanders was overrated in some respects and it's entirely possible the Lions will be better in the long run without him.

Some people may take this as heresy, but Sanders' predecessor with the Lions -- Billy Sims -- may have had an equally stellar NFL career had he not been an overly aggressive runner who was prone to injury. Sims, who played in Detroit from 1980 through 1984, was bigger physically than Sanders and a much tougher runner. He would catapult himself into a line Sanders would try to adroitly sidestep.

Eventually that caught up with Sims, who never played a complete season and participated in only 16 games during his final three seasons with the Lions. But he was fearless and, in his own way, memorable.

He retired from a bed in a hospital room.

Sanders, conversely, jumped on a plane to London as his father and agent were left to answer for him. He disgraced himself at a time he should have been fielding nothing but accolades.