From Arturo Gatti to Jacques Lemaire to chuckwagon racing Mark Spector gives his take on some issues from the wide world of sports.

What is it with boxing, that such a high percentage of those who earn our respect and admiration in the ring can hold on to neither in retirement? Or, in Arturo Gatti's case, the ultimate retirement, dead in a foreign hotel room allegedly at the hand of his own wife.

Gatti was the ultimate dragon slayer. He had less skill and God-given talent than so many of his adversaries, but beat them on sheer heart and try. Yet, there were few better role models to make a case for how far a superior effort can get you in life.

But at age 37, there was Gatti: Another dead boxer, strangled by a blood-soaked purse strap, a hundred questions still unanswered. The Hiltons, Mike Tyson, numerous smaller-time boxers I have known - all have struggled in retirement.

When the television cameras showed the great Muhammad Ali at the Stanley Cup final in Detroit, it put a lump in my throat. Boxing has left this icon with a distant, vacant look in eyes that used to dance like a butterfly. Parkinson's Disease and the thousands of head blows are a chicken and egg that has rendered the strongest man of my youth weak and frail today.

And Gatti? Among the boxing set, it is hard even to be surprised anymore when one goes this way.

Do you think we will say the same thing about UFC fighters one day? When you throw steroid use into the mix, it's hard to believe there will be a significant difference.

While we're on the topic, am I missing something on Steve McNair?

The headlines read: "McNair mourned as hero, legend," after the husband and father of four sons was shot and killed by his girlfriend on the apartment they shared. Girlfriend No. 1 was apparently distraught because she had learned about girlfriend No. 2.

Now, we're not judging McNair here.

You want to be that guy that has four kids, a wife and two girlfriends? Then be that guy.

What I can't figure out are all of the people who are willing to overlook the real man, when they're tossing the word "great" to describe the quarterback they knew.

Substance, anyone?

There is a reason why the New Jersey Devils have not been able to keep up with the Detroit Red Wings as an organization, and that's not about to change any time soon as the Devils reached back into the Paleozoic Era to hire Jacques Lemaire as their head coach.

From 2000-2003, the Devils were in three of four Stanley Cup finals. From 1995-98, Detroit did the same thing, beginning with their loss to the Devils in the '95 final.

The two teams are undoubtedly the best drafting organizations in the NHL, and both wisely season their prospects on the farm for ample time before bringing them into the NHL spotlight.

But the game changed in 2005. Since then, the Red Wings have been in two Cup finals, winning nine playoff series since the lockout, while the Devils have won just two first-round series since '05.

The Jersey game doesn't win anymore, yet the Devils bring back a coach in Lemaire who tried and failed with that same style in the West, winning a playoff round in just one of eight bleary seasons in Minny. Jacques is a great guy but he's so yesterday.

And so will the Devils be - no matter how well they draft - if they don't figure out where the game has gone.

Lemaire coaching the Devils? Who would have thought they could find a way to make a trip to Newark LESS appealing?

Two sides who will never, ever find common ground: Rodeo people and animal activists.

It's becoming as predictable as the seasons: Animals die at the Calgary Stampede, activists call for an end to the rodeo and the rodeo folk tell them to go sit on their 10-gallon hat.

Les McIntyre, who took over recently as the new voice of the chuckwagon races says the road kill he sees on the chuckwagon circuit is more tragic than the deaths at this year's Stampede.

"You wanna know what's tragic?" McIntyre told the Canadian Press. "When I'm driving down the road and seeing cats and dogs getting run over and the deer that's getting hit everywhere.

"That to me is more tragic than the less than the (extremely small percentage) of horses that we've lost in the wagon racing."

Three horses died during the chucks meet, and a cow died in the steer wrestling event. That's about 10 minutes work on the killing floor at any processing plant.

One horse died of an apparent heart attack while cooling down after carrying an outrider around the track.

So we are to believe he died a cruel death? A horse, who died from running?