WHY CAN’T IT ALWAYS BE THIS EASY? LIONS , CARDINALS
For one day, anyhow, this was how it was supposed to work. Young quarterback finding young receiver, building a rhythm, stacking up touchdowns.Roy Williams was many things to Joey Harrington in Sunday’s victory – he had seven catches and three scores...
US VS. THEM BAD FOR CITY’S FUTURE
Quickly, now. Who’s your mayor?If you thought “Kwame Kilpatrick,” answer a second question. Do you live in Detroit?Chances are, you may not. Chances are, you live in the suburbs. Chances are, you can’t name the mayor of your actual town. But...
SPORTS TO OVAL OFFICE: IT’S NOT ABOUT COLOR
Being a sportswriter may not get you much – besides a decent seat and mustard on your tie – but it does prepare you for race relations.
Maybe that’s why, from the start of the presidential campaign, I’ve been less concerned with Barack Obama than some of my countrymen. There were many white voters who were hesitant about a black president. Some were painfully blunt. They spoke, insultingly, about watermelon patches on the White House lawn and rappers like Ludacris as official guests.
LIONS? A LOST CAUSE MINNESOTA DETROIT
MINNEAPOLIS – Don’t blow a fuse. Don’t raise your blood pressure. It’s not worth it. This team is not worth it. The season is perfunctory. It’s a different organ grinder, but the same old monkey.
SAVOR THE BIG FIVE WHILE THERE’S TIME
Rip wore the mask, Rasheed argued with the refs, Tayshaun made several gravity-defying moves, Chauncey had the sweat pouring down the back of his neck and Ben – well, Ben was Ben, except when he uncharacteristically took the microphone before the game and welcomed the fans back “on behalf of my teammates.” And he seemed to want to continue talking, but then he stopped and abruptly punched the air instead. The crowd cheered. A fist is worth a thousand words.
THE FLIP SIDE
The New Guy grabs a sub sandwich and takes a seat on the team bus. He talks while he eats, and a morsel of cheese lodges above his lip. He is wearing a plain black sweatshirt and plain black pants, an outfit that prompted him to ask a staff member: “Am I dressed OK?” But if it’s not OK, it is still who he is, nothing fancy, no complicated patterns, as basic as a sandwich and a bus ride downtown.
SOMETIMES THERE’S NO RABBIT IN THE MAGIC HAT
He’s gonna make plays. That’s what Steve Mariucci said when he went with Jeff Garcia at quarterback. He’s gonna make plays. And sometimes, he’s gonna make ’em for the other side.
So it was that Garcia, trying to conjure his magic, threw an ill-advised pass in overtime Sunday, across his body, on the run, in the middle of the field, near his goal line – about a thousand no-no’s wrapped in one ball – and it was picked off by the Bears’ Charles Tillman, who raced all the way back to Chicago with the touchdown, the victory and first place in the NFC North.
HE GOES TO WAR; SHE FIGHTS HER OWN
This is a story about a job and a soldier and how one Michigan woman had to say good-bye to both.
Suzette and Jerry Boler have been married 22 years. They have children and grandchildren. As a member of the National Guard, Jerry, a mechanic, recently was called up to serve in Iraq. Suzette wanted to be with him before he left.
So she notified her employer, Benefit Management Administrators, in Caledonia. Boler, 40, worked part-time as a receptionist, answering phones and opening mail. She was paid, she says, $9 an hour, to work Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
LEGACE: AS GOOD AS IT GETS – FOR ONE NIGHT
Manny Legace never held an NHL record. Not unless they keep records for sitting, or biting your lip, or rooting for the guy who took your job.
Legace could lead the league in those categories. When it comes to accepting being benched, Manny Legace makes Joey Harrington look rude.
But when it comes to career numbers as a starter, Legace is still considered “budding” at 32 years old, which is as weird in hockey as it is in a forest.
And until Thursday night, the closest he came to the NHL record book was sitting next to Dominik Hasek.
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