This is an NFL column, I know, but watching the fabulous ceremony honoring retired Detroit Red Wing Steve Yzerman earlier this week, I had the urge to contact FSN Detroit to ask a favor:

Please send a tape of the event to Terrell Owens and ask him to watch carefully. Then ask him to pass the tape on to other NFL players who just don’t understand what being a team player means.
Because if there ever was a prototype for a true leader, a complete team guy, it was Stevie Y, “The Captain.”

As this week’s ceremony poignantly showed, Yzerman was beloved by teammates, coaches and — most especially — fans for his humility, his hard work and his class.

“Responsible” was a word frequently mentioned in relation to Yzerman and to some prima donna NFL players, that word may as well be in a foreign language.

Could you imagine some of today’s egocentric NFL players being able to say this to the fans, as Yzerman did?

‘‘My jersey is going to go up there and I hope as you watch it go up, and when you come back and see it, you give yourself a pat on the back because you’re a big reason why that jersey is up there. It doesn’t represent what I did, but what we did as an organization.’’

After 20 years as Detroit’s captain, Yzerman remained humble, even when all of Hockeytown gathered to honor him.

‘‘I feel like my image as a great leader is greatly overblown because I played with some of the greatest hockey players. I stand here humbly saying ‘thank you.’ Any personal success I had was because of the great players I played with.’’

Success came Yzerman’s way, with trophies for individual achievement part of his future NHL Hall of Fame career. But more important to “The Captain” was that the Red Wings made the playoffs in 20 of the 22 seasons Yzerman played with the team. They won three Stanley Cups.

As Yzerman choked up during his speech, it made me think of how much I wish others would follow his example, in the NFL and in all of sports. Stevie Y. played with heart and courage. Wish there were more like him around.