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Sports writers hate cliches.
Loathe them, in fact.
You know the ones I’m talking about: We have to play a full 60 minutes; the bounces just didn’t go our way; we have to give it 110% (which never made sense to me because if you’re going to do the impossible and provide more than 100%, why not say something sexier like 6,000%).
However, when it comes to Jim Veltman perhaps nothing rings truer than the mother of all sports cliches: He does all the little things right.
He does everything right, for that matter.

With Veltman suiting up for his final NLL game this weekend, I felt compelled to pen my own column in honour of his storied pro career.
However, I will do so without any mention of his games played, points acrued or loose balls gobbled up.
His stats, while impressive on their own, simply don’t do him justice as a player and leader.
Certain athletes are blessed with size, speed and strength which — along with their god-given skills and intuition for their sport — makes them among the best.
Guys like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, John Elway and Gary Gait.
When you speak of No. 32’s fitness and build, the jokes and quips are many. Quite simply, he’s not built like an athlete.
Perhaps most famous of all the one-liners lobbed Veltman’s way was former Toronto teammate Pat Coyle, who when asked about Veltman’s slight stature by Joe Bowen in the War on the Floor video, replied that when you see Veltman with his shirt off, you’d think he was the towel boy.
So, then, it is truely amzing that the ‘towel boy’ is considered by many as the greatest overall lacrosse player in the history of the sport. His ability to play all facets of the game and suck up loose balls like a kid at a candy store puts him in a class all his own.
Awhile back, I was asked by Inside Lacrosse to write a story asking prominent folks in the NLL (coaches, GMs and players) to tell me who they thought would be the next Gary Gait, the next John Tavares, the next Jim Veltman.
There were plenty of answers for the first two guys, not many for Veltman.
A few of those quizzed offered up Brodie Merrill’s name as the most likely candidate to one day fill Veltman’s shoes. The majority, however, simple said there will never be another Veltman.
In my view, the three most rounded players in the game today are Merrill, Mark Steenhuis and Geoff Snider. They can play both ends of the floor and in Snider’s case, dominate faceoffs and fights, to boot.
However, none of that trio is in the same stratosphere as Veltman when it comes to the lacrosse floor. They are mere mortals with their feet still on the ground while Veltman’s talents have him high above the crowd.
Veltman is one of those rare athletes that a coach can put on the floor in any situation and know he won’t make a mistake. He simply doesn’t mess up, especially late in a game with the pressure on.
It’s easy to look at Veltman’s stats or highlight his skills but it is impossible to quantify what makes him so good.
Just like it was impossible to explain why Wayne Gretzky, Joe Montana, Mario Andretti or even Jordan, for that matter, were so special.
Athletes of that calibre have something that puts them at a another level. Their intuition and understanding of the sports they excel at is second nature. It’s done without thinking.
So, with Veltman leaving the game as a player we are all a little poorer. However, not very often in sport can you say you saw someone who was truely one of a kind.

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