Letter to McCarty, from the fans

Wednesday, August 3, 2005
     Last week the Red Wings bought out three players. All age 33, Derian Hatcher, Ray Whitney, and Darren McCarty were bought out. With that they said goodbye to lifelong, of eleven years, Red Wing (and fan for that matter), Darren McCarty. He has always given his all to the Red Wings. McCarty is a genuine guy. He may have had his problems, but he admitted them, got help, and the team has stood behind him the whole time. In return he stood behind the team. Darren was always the last players off the ice after the pre-game warm-ups. He tossed puck after puck to the fans in the stands. Taking the time to do a little bit of math, I figured that in eleven years Mac has tossed somewhere around 4,620 pucks to the fans. (Figure, 42 regular season home games times eleven years times ten pucks per game and you have at least 4,620). Even though this number might be a little off due to the fact that he may not have played every game and probably threw out more than ten pucks per game. But to give you an idea of his devotion to the fans. In honor of us fans losing “our guy” I decided to write a letter to Darren to say goodbye and express our feelings of loss and our thankfulness. Hopefully I can express all of our feelings.
Mr. Darren McCarty, our beloved #25,
     We, the fans of Hockeytown are feeling deeply hurt upon the announcement of you being bought out. You have made these last eleven seasons memorable for us. Thank you. None of us will ever forget the cup clinching goal in ’97, or the March 26th fight that same year. No one will forget the beautiful shot on April 10, 2002, while in pursuit of your 100th career goal, and how when the shot just narrowly missed, you sat back and just looked up to the rafters as if to say “when am I going to catch a break?”. We won’t forget how later that night you were still stuck at number 99 and as you were circling in the zone you were the only person to see the puck laying off to the side and you came sliding down the ice on your stomach and speared the puck into the net. No one will forget the fight at the beginning of your Red Wing career where your jersey came off and you sat in the penalty box with just a t-shirt on.  And no one will forget the New Years Eve fight vs. St. Louis near the end of your Red Wing career, where once again your jersey came off, but this time you sat in the box shirtless. We’ll never forget your hat trick against Patrick Roy, nor will we forget the game winning goal in overtime against Patrick Roy on March 26th. We will always remember your toothless grin and fun loving personality. We’ll remember the happy times and the sad times. We’ll remember everything we’ve been through together. We’ll remember things like your battles with alcohol, to the loss of your father, to of course the limo accident, to the death of your band mate James B. Anders, to the numerous freak injuries. But we’ll also remember the good times including the birth of your children, the milestones, beating Claude Lemieux senseless, and of course the three Stanley Cups. Radio and television interviews will play over and over in our minds. Especially those with Art Regner and Steve Courtney (interviews don’t get much better). From the times at A Toast of Hockeytown, to co hosting the Big Show, to the Monday Sports Albom with Steve Courtney. We’ll always remember the special moments like you beating up Steve Courtney at home plate during the softball game, riding your motor cycle with the cup strapped to the back, and of course the great features on Sports Television Detroit (we really miss that show) like bowling and boxing with you. And then of course we met the rock star hidden inside of you with the birth of Grinder in 1997. Even though you admitted you may not have the best voice, but you sing and perform for the love of it and to benefit others. And believe me, “Gotta Keep Moving” is in heavy rotation in many of our CD players. Your commitment to the McCarty Cancer Foundation, the fans, and the city of Detroit shows us how much this city means to you. Thank you for all you’ve done, we will always love you, and like you said will always be a Red Wing deep down inside. And I think I can speak for most of us when I say, we will always be rooting for you, just not when you are playing our beloved Winged Wheelers. Especially not when you are going in all alone on Manny or Ozzie or whoever our goalie may be. July 25, 2005 will always be a sad day in the hearts of many Detroit fans, but just know Hockey Night in Canada will get much higher ratings for their games when covering Calgary because we will all be watching and rooting for you. Thank you for being our guy and representing the fans and giving it your all.

Sincerely your beloved fans.