The Dallas Stars announced Tuesday they are done with the face of their franchise Mike Modano and it irked me. Modano has played for the Stars since they were in Minnesota and means more to the franchise than anyone could ever put into words. Their decision to let him go may very well be the best move for their roster, but it’s not the best move for their team. All too often teams let iconic players walk away and play out their last season on some other squad (the fact Dwight Evans ever played for the Baltimore Orioles will bother me until my maker calls me home) and it’s a mistake. Whether or not they’ve lost a step (or 10) I believe a franchise owes a guy like Modano the chance to finish his career wearing the same jersey he has always worn. Anything you might lose on the playing field you will gain in public relations and in ticket sales and since professional sports are about making money, then why not go ahead and make that money?

Modano’s departure from Dallas got me thinking of other things/people who were either coming or going, so we’ll go ahead and take that angle the rest of the way.

Going – My interest in watching soccer on television. And no, it has nothing to do with the U.S. team being eliminated from the World Cup. Of the three World Cup matches I’ve tried to watch I have yet to get through an entire one without falling asleep. I’m not sure what’s going on. I’m a guy who used to get up early to watch back-to-back English Premier League matches on the Fox Soccer Channel every Saturday. Now it works on me like Sominex. Is it my advanced age? My kid wearing me out? Maybe my furniture is too comfortable? I have no idea. All I know is that watching it on TV just holds little interest for me these days.

Coming – Yao Ming back to your Houston Rockets. After missing all of last season with an injury the big man plans on exercising a player option in his contract and returning to the Rockets next season. This one’s really a no-brainer, isn’t it? I give him a month until he’s injured again.

Going – Lebron James from Cleveland. Of course I don’t have any real information here. It’s just a hunch. How can the guy who fancies himself the biggest basketball star on the planet stay in such a small market? He can’t. Right?

Coming – Instant replay to soccer? I don’t know if it would make me want to watch the World Cup any more but I certainly would applaud FIFA if they chose to use any of the vast amount of technology at their fingertips to stop missing goals that should have been. It’s time soccer pulled itself from the dark ages and joined the rest of us in the 21st century.

Going – Baseball’s superstars at an alarming rate. Dustin Pedroia, Victor Martinez and Jason Heyward were just a few of the marquee names who got injured or ended up on the disabled list over the weekend. Not sure why the injury bug has decided to get so nasty with the MLBers, but if I were a player who is healthy I just might look into the possibility getting an immunization as soon as I could.