by Mitch Albom | Feb 12, 2006 | Parade Magazine
To understand the anguish of the man, see him as a boy. See his drunken father beat him. See his father tell him he’s useless, no good. See his father terrorize the boy’s mother nightly, whacking her so hard he bloodies her forehead. See the boy unable to sleep, hiding under a blanket, crying, worrying.
Now put that boy in grade school in Montreal in the 1950s. He can’t learn. He is too anxious. Too exhausted. He gets his sister or friends to do his homework. He reaches the eighth grade-barely-then drops out.
He can’t read. He can’t write.
by Mitch Albom | Feb 12, 2006 | Detroit Free Press
It begins the moment I enter the doctor’s office. How long? Although I’ve asked for the first appointment of the day – it is 7:30 a.m. – there already are two patients sitting in the room when I arrive. How long?I sign the sheet. I see the...
by Mitch Albom | Feb 8, 2006 | Detroit Free Press
One man wrote he was going to bet $25 on the Steelers, but he figured the homeless could use the money more. One woman wrote: “My husband is laid off, but we have food to eat and a warm house to sleep in.” So she sent a check. Letter by letter, heart by...
by Mitch Albom | Feb 6, 2006 | Detroit Free Press
The fifth of February was covered with snow, and the winter air in downtown Detroit wafted with fried foods and cigar smoke and the smell of a job well done. Crowds of visitors teemed through the streets, Woodward, Brush, Gratiot, Madison, en route to their mecca, the...
by Mitch Albom | Feb 5, 2006 | Detroit Free Press
In the life of an addict, there is what you take and what you lose. Roy Simmons took more than most. His laundry list of drugs and sex is too long to chronicle; he blew through money, fame and football with so much partying, you’re surprised he even remembers...
by Mitch Albom | Feb 4, 2006 | Detroit Free Press
Today, a tradition dies.
Since I have been with this newspaper, Super Bowl weekend meant the annual debate between Curt Sylvester, our esteemed, long-time football writer, and me, our esteemed, long-time person he sat next to.
Oh, the fun we had! Me telling Curt his pick was as thin as his hair. Curt calling me “Shorty.” Me telling Curt I saw him in the hotel fish tank. Curt calling me “Shorty.”
by Mitch Albom | Feb 3, 2006 | Detroit Free Press
I am riding with the king. I am riding with the boss. I am riding with the man in charge of the entire Super Bowl.He’s checking on a fence.”Will that be finished by today?” Roger Penske asks through the window of his car.”Yes it will,” a...
by Mitch Albom | Feb 2, 2006 | Comment, Detroit Free Press
A homeless man spots me across the shelter table. “You the fellow from the news, right?” I nod. “See, I told you guys.” Two other men shrug. “So,” the first man says, “you staying here now?” I am not staying here. I am...
by Mitch Albom | Feb 1, 2006 | Detroit Free Press
He was a small man, by football standards, but he cast a huge shadow. And in a week when the world is rushing to Detroit, he remains the most famous man to ever walk away.Barry Sanders is still not playing. Still not coming back. And still hearing about it. “You...
by Mitch Albom | Jan 31, 2006 | Detroit Free Press
There was a night game in Arizona when they got stranded, no cabs, and they had to walk until they found civilization. There was a game in Denver when angry fans threw peanuts at their heads. There was a game in Tampa when they were invited into a suite, but the...
