Danny Briere a good fit in Philly

THERE IS a familiar narrative going around that Tebowmania is an offshoot of our civic identity, that Philadelphia will always embrace an underdog, especially one who plays hard and never quits and who defies all doubters with an unwavering self-confidence.

The truth is that we are not that different than other municipalities in that regard, which is why there was once Tebowmania in Denver and a touch of it in New York and even a moment of poke-around intrigue in New England as well. It evaporated quickly not because Tebow stopped playing hard or quit or even wavered in his confidence. It evaporated because Tebow threw the ball to the other team too much, into the ground too much, and didn't score too much.

Which leads into the narrative of Danny Briere, and why he will officially announce his retirement today in Philadelphia and not in Buffalo, Phoenix or in his native Montreal, where he penned a column yesterday explaining his reasons for hanging up the skates, and for settling here and not there.

"I am terminating my playing career to get more involved in the lives of my three boys," he wrote, the translation from French to English provided by LaPresse. "They arrive at a crucial age when they need a father at home . . .

"I want to be more present to help them in their studies. I want to show them the right path. Sometimes when parental supervision is not optimal, human nature pushes young people to seek easier paths. To cheat. It is important that I come home to this."

So Danny Briere returns to teach lessons in a place where he learned a few. Technically, he was not an underdog as a Flyer, coming here as a coveted free agent, after struggling as a young player in Phoenix and emerging as a superstar in Buffalo. He came with expectations attached. He came, even then, with doubts surrounding his longevity and his toughness, hockey mavens in and out of town advising the Flyers that their money would be better spent with better players and/or better free-agent leaders available in that free-agent class, players such as Scott Gomez or Chris Drury.

He played six seasons here, for two coaches and on teams that surprised and disappointed. He was listed at 5-9, a measurement that must have been taken with his skates on, and his listed weight of 174 must have been measured on a day he left the ice with two bags of pucks in his hands.

He played amid some big mess in his personal life as well, a divorce from a wife he had known since his teens, those three boys in the wake.

We got to know those boys a little. He brought a couple to watch a media game at the Winter Classic once, shaking his head not once at the bad hockey being committed in front of him.

We got to know him a lot. He is one of the most accessible athletes I have covered in 34 years on this job, and one of the most real people I have ever been around. He is also - with that smooth, bilingual therapist-sounding voice of his - one of the toughest.

He played 17 seasons for five teams, amassed 696 points, 307 of them goals. He was clutch when it counted, racking up 116 points in 124 career postseason games, the apex that 2010 run to the Stanley Cup Final when he set the franchise playoff record with 30 points in 23 games, including four game-winners. And yet, as former Flyers coach Peter Laviolette noted on a few occasions, Briere's self-expectation level was so high that it got in his way at times, creating huge dips in confidence.

He was beloved here. He was booed here. He was uncomfortably appreciative of the first, and totally understanding of the second. "I'd boo me too," he said more than once, usually smiling, and he meant it too.

He got us. From the moment he got here.

The list of those guys is an extremely small one.

And he's staying. He wants to work here, for the Flyers. He wants to raise those boys here. There are a lot of athletes who come through here the way salesmen roam through their territories, connected through their jobs, nothing more, living in a place they deem better. A kinship with the Flyers has built over the five decades they have been in existence because of guys like Briere, guys who stayed, who embraced us, who absorbed us.

And we them.

So welcome home Danny.

Truth is, we've been expecting you.

philly.com/SamDonnellon