Alright team, just over a month has passed since I set my laptop on top of an upside-down garbage can at Joe Louis Arena and yelled over gail-force winds and the endlessly looping Detroit People Mover and promised to keep you, the reader, abreast of my journey on getting approval from Steve Yzerman himself on selling t-shirts with his likeness on them. If you need a reminder or have no clue what in the fuck I’m talking about, here is the video again.

And if you need more, here is the link to the entire article: Brace Yourselves, An Announcement Is Coming. 

But since then not much has happened. I had a few acquaintances who reached out to me directly and said they may have an inside tract to getting in touch with the big guy, but all those efforts have more or less failed. But today I want to ensure you all that I am taking a full on push for this to happen before the puck drops in October. I have a cover letter, personal release agreement, and photos of the intended shirt that I am going to send to every outlet I can find that’s associated with The Captain.

With that being said I would love to share with you all the letter I am sending off to Stevie.

Here is the full text if that’s now showing properly for you:

Dear Mr. Steve Yzerman, 

My name is Frank Sorise and I write you today seeking your help, but before I do so I would love to tell you a little bit about myself and how I have come to this point of writing you a letter asking for your assistance. First and foremost, I have and always will be a diehard Red Wings fan, and much of that love was spawned from you. I was fortunate enough to attend countless Wings games at the Joe growing up, but no game brings me more fond memories than Game 7 of the Western Conference Quarter Final vs the St. Louis Blues where your absolute missile of a slap shot beat Jon Casey and vaulted Detroit into the WCF versus Colorado. After that game, my Dad bought me my first hockey jersey- a red Yzerman. From there the rest is history. I was signed up to play house hockey the next year and still play hockey to this day. And throughout my hockey journey playing house, travel, high school, and beer leagues I’ve proudly sported #19 during it all. 

Fast forward to today and I am currently a writer who manages a Detroit sports humor/pop culture website with a small following- ChampagneAthletics.com, and I wanted to come up with a way I could give back to the hockey community in Detroit, while also providing something to my following they would enjoy and proudly represent, and that’s when I found the spectacular photo of you ominously gazing out out into the distance and thought it was perfect. But in order to print the shirt and sell it, I obviously need your permission. Along with this letter is a Limited Personal Release Agreement. I have left the percentage amount to be given to charity blank for you to decide how much of the proceeds should go to the East Side Youth Sports Foundation, and also feel free to make any changes, additions, or stipulations to the agreement especially when it comes to your pay. I have zero problem giving 100% to charity, I only want to complete this journey and support a cause I’m passionate about, which is supporting the greatest game in the world in the city I hold closest to my heart. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. The video I made in support of this can be found on the website, ChampagneAthletics.com. 

Sincerely, 

Frank Sorise

Now to be honest, I think that letter is tame AF given all the things I could say to Stevie including but not limited to: how he is my favorite athlete of all time, how I’ve watched the 97-98 and 02 championship videos more than I’ve seen any movie/piece of media in my entire life, how I can rank my favorite top ten goals of his of all time off the top of my head, how I have 19 tattooed on my left leg…wait what?, how my love for the number 19 surpasses the love I have for some of my own family members, or how I think of him in the first round of ’02 cup run every time I am faced with adversity on any magnitude knowing that he basically was doing everything on one knee but somehow still managed to be team’s leading point getter vs Vancouver and rallied the squad back to a 4-2 series win en route to his third Stanley Cup Championship.

…but with that being said I didn’t want to scare the poor guy/waste his time. So I tried to get the point with a little bit of fan girl sprinkled in there.

This is being sent off today in addition to another contact I have attempting to reach out. So, we shall see what happens but I have faith that one way or another- this will get done.

Stevie never gave up on the ice and always laid it all out there for his teammates and I plan to do the same for every Champagne follower out there. #lgrw 🍾

– Frank