If the football world doesn't quite come to a standstill, there is a period of mourning and reflection.
Superstars transcend club loyalties.
They are the game's treasures. Fate, though, doesn't do any favors for the rank and file, either. St Kilda's Jason Cripps isn't James Hird, but he is a league footballer with the same boundless passion for the game, the same uncompromising commitment to preparation . . . While Hird's latest foot surgery on Thursday night was an item of national interest, Cripps was on his back at home in Burwood. He has spent three weeks on his back, his right leg in a brace set at 45 degrees.