Cannon Firing Line
Six Degrees of Separation
By Ellis G. Cannon
PSR Publisher

I don't know how you tie together Roger Clemens and Dwyane Wade, but we'll take a shot anyway.

Perhaps it comes from one of our recent radio shows when we had a great conversation about veteran and current athletes. It started with something Shaq said during the NBA playoffs, which have been not only a ratings hit this spring but also just plain good, when he described himself as the best 34 year old athlete in all of sports.

That caught our attention, if for no reason than he is in the sport with the world's best athletes and anyone who credibly says they are the best of anything in that context gets at least passing consideration.

It also got us thinking about other players who belong at that table. Guys like Mark Messier and Roger Clemens, both who ironically had direct reasons for being in the discussion.

Here's why. Same day as Shaq's modest self-evaluation hit, we learn Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff spoke privately to one of his stars, Daniel Briere, before game six (the one Briere won in overtime) and told him it was time for "Mark Messier time".

Nothing else, of course, needs to be said if you know anything about what Messier meant to his sport generally, and certainly big games in that sport.

As it turns out, that was also the same day word leaked Clemens was returning as a rental player, for an annual lease of only twenty two million bucks, which pro-rates to a much more affordable monthly figure.

Now Shaq may have been somewhat tongue in cheek, but there's nothing funny about it when Clemens is considered. Assuming his skills came about only via genetics and insane workouts, Clemens is near the top of the list when we speak of the best, most money veteran athletes of all time.

Which gets us back to Wade. It really doesn't, but that's the second half of the equation - the new schoolers. And if there is one player out there who the old types have to dig, while playing the game at the top of his sport, it has to be wade, who, of course, plays with the best 34 year old athlete in sports.

Meaning, just like how six degrees of separation always links folks up, the same is possible between Shaq, Mess, Rocket and Wade.

Ellis Cannon's SportsLine Pittsburgh" airs weeknights, 6-8 p.m., on FM NewsTalk 104.7. Ellis is also a regular contributor on the "#1 Cochran Sports Showdown" aired Sundays at 11:35 on KDKA-TV.