At this moment, Joe is contemplating whether he should play or retire.
In fact, on Sunday, he probably was contemplating a 10-foot putt. Joe brandishes a putter as he does a hockey stick. He’s got the weirdest wrister in golf. Joe putts . . . He scooooores! . . . a birdie.
But when he’s not playing golf or hanging out with wife, Debbie, and the kids, Mitchell and twins Chase and Kamryn, or raising money for the Food Bank of the Rockies (the Sakics have been responsible for seven millions meals served) or visiting relatives in suburban Vancouver, he is contemplating his immediate future in hockey.
Joe is the Avalanche.
Just as John was the Broncos.
There are other similarities.
Joe was the first to bring a championship to Denver, John the second. Each has won two. Both have been regular-season and postseason MVPs. John is in the Hall of Fame. Joe will be in the Hall of Fame. Both have been incredible passers, unique scorers.
Joe and John were born nine years apart, but only a ferry ride away from each other — John in Port Angeles, Wash., Joe in Burnaby, British Columbia. John was born on June 28, 1960, and Joe on July 7, 1969.
John spent 16 years in the NFL, all with the Broncos in Denver. Joe has spent 19 years in the NHL, all with the same organization, first in Quebec, then for the past 12 seasons with the Avalanche in Denver. He is the only player who has remained since the Avs’ first season.
And the two are among the all-time best in their sports — John in football, Joe in hockey.
The month before John turned 39, he retired.
The month before Joe turns 39, he is contemplating retirement.
In late April of 1999, I talked to Joe Sakic after he assisted on the Avs’ winning goal in overtime at San Jose, and the next day I drove to the Cypress Point to talk to John as he came off the 18th green after playing in a golf tournament.
John was limping. He said he didn’t want to go through another rehabilitation. He had won the Super Bowl again. He knew it was time. He acknowledged he was retiring. He made it official a few days later.
I couldn’t have talked John out of retirement, and wouldn’t have tried. I wanted him to play on, because he was such a pleasure to behold. But it was his decision, not ours, to make. And John did the right thing.
Nine years later, Joe is contemplating retirement.
Some guy recently wrote that Joe should retire. It’s Joe’s decision, not some guy’s, or this guy’s, and I’d never try to talk him out of, or into, retirement. He will know when it’s time — this month, after next season or after the 2010 Olympics in his hometown.
He has been such a pleasure to behold.
Joe deserves, as John did, to go out when and how he chooses.
We in Denver have been fortunate to observe, over a long time, two of the greatest — who led the way to all the city’s major sports titles.
In sports now, you see an athlete for a year or a few, and then he is gone as quickly as he came, to play and retire and complain elsewhere.
Then’s there are two men with common names, John and Joe, and uncommon accomplishments.
You cannot cry, “Say it ain’t so, Joe.”
Joe still can perform at an extremely high level. Despite missing 38 games the past season because of a hernia, he had 40 points in 44 games — and likely would have been at 80 over a full regular season. He topped the Avs in playoff points with 10. He scored his (record) eighth overtime game-winning goal. And he was classy and classic until (and after) the Avalanche’s rude ending.
Joe is the perfect athletic role model for youngsters. He doesn’t brag, guarantee, attack opponents — averaging less than a full game in penalty minutes per season — or step out of bounds off the ice. There is never a discouraging word about Sakic from those he plays with and against in the NHL.
Joe is the consummate pro.
Marijan and Slavica Sakic (the family name actually is pronounced “Sac-keech”), who escaped Croatia to make a life in North America, raised him well. And he has done them proud.
When Joe arrived in Colorado with the franchise in 1995, Michel Goulet, then the Avs’ director of player personnel and now the assistant general manager, told Joe over breakfast that he could be the next Mario Lemieux. Joe thought Goulet was crazy.
Lemieux ranks 10th in league history with 1,033 assists and seventh in points with 1,723.
Joe is 11th in assists, 1,006, and eighth in points, 1,629.
Lemieux and Joe won Hart, Ross and Smythe Trophies and two Stanley Cups apiece. They won Olympic gold medals (and Joe was the MVP in 2002). Lemieux appeared in 10 All-Star Games; Joe has been selected to 12.
Joe became the next Mario Lemieux.
Let Joe contemplate. He will do the right thing — no matter whether he plays or retires.
Woody Paige: 303-954-1095 or wpaige@denverpost.com
