No. 173: TERRY RYAN & ANDY SULLIVAN / One went back home after it came undone & later found stardom of a different sort. The other couldn't bear to leave, but still had his chance to hear the cheers.

A show-biz spectacle brings to mind an under-the-radar miracle that I witnessed.

I HAVE SEEN more than a few strange things in all manner of sports venues and watched and wrote about stuff that would be hard to swallow if scripted. A recent event in the news evoked the most improbable and heart-warming of them all.

Not much major sports news comes out of St John’s, Newfoundland, but a story played out last weekend that generated not just attention on Canadian sportscasts but also coverage internationally.

Terry Ryan, a former first-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens, was thrust into action with the Newfoundland Growlers, the Toronto Map…