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Posted on Thu, Mar. 27, 2008

Little Balls of Hate: C'mon, Marty, time to live up to your hype

By JENNIFER FLOYD ENGEL

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

We spend a lot of time talking about "the man" in sports.

Who is "the man?" Can an athlete who is not naturally "the man" become "the man" if properly prodded? What qualifies an athlete as "the man" anyway?

In the local jockosphere, this debate usually focuses on Dirk.

The Big German neither looks nor sounds like your prototypical "the-man" NBAer - spewing bravado and ball-hogging and chest-beating - which apparently, to some, is a fatal flaw. What is funny is Stars goalie Marty Turco has a streak of this in him. Not puck-hogging or self-congratulating, but rather a quiet arrogance about his game.

This is funny because his game has not been worthy of his hype. At least not recently.

And so while I love Marty's seemingly fearlessness and his very Romosexual confidence in himself in times of struggle, his game has to match or it is just a bunch of words.

It looked like he had broken through this disconnect of talking like and actually playing like "the man" in the playoffs a year ago. His Superman impersonation was the only reason the Canucks series went seven. And many, myself included, declared the question of Marty answered.

He had proven himself Cup capable.

Only lately, his game has been that of a JAG. Just. A. Guy. A good hunk of this latest Stars skid is directly on him. In just about every loss, Turco has let a goal in that he has to stop.

This is not to say the goals were totally his fault.

We all see Trevor Daley flailing around out there like Dirk on skates and a whole slew of Stars making messes. What you need to see, every once in a while, is Marty clean up the mess.

This is what "the-man" goalies do, what Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur did for so long, what Ed Belfour did for two magical seasons here.

Because if we are being really honest, the Stars are not going anywhere if Marty is not that guy. They might not anyway. But he is their best chance.

What Marty needs is a little Josh Howard moment.

Truth?

If you want to be seen as "the man," then be the man. Don't just stand around talking about how, come playoffs, you will come up with those stops. Start making the stops. Right now. Quit ole-ing in soft goals as your team implodes.

Because contrary to popular opinion by some, just looking or sounding the part is not enough.

To be the man, you have to be the man.

You can not just say you are or promise you will be. When big-time saves/shots/touchdowns need to be made, you have to deliver. Anything less is just talk.

New campaign: Free Kevin Mench.

Just wondering: Who was that Josh Howard? And where has he been lately?

That said: Welcome back, Josh, you certainly were missed.

That's an ender: Anybody who is getting their tighty-whities in a wad about Tiger saying a naughty word, or a whole slew on the golf course, needs to go sell crazy elsewhere. If golf cussing were a sports crime, every guy I know would be doing life.