Americans Can Handle The Real Truth
There was a popular song during the first World War. Its title was “Over There.” It encouraged young men to “get your gun” and “make your mother proud of you.” It told the world “the Yanks are coming . . . and we won’t come back till it’s over over there.”
Today, for most of us, war is indeed, “over there.” It arrives only in green-screen TV reports and controlled press briefings and presidential photo ops that say “Mission Accomplished.” Some of us would like to keep it that way.
So last week, when images of flag-draped coffins appeared on the Internet, many complained.
Ville The Villain
Millions of years from now, when all that is left of mankind are some dusty ruins and a tape of the Red Wings’ 2004 playoffs, aliens will assume that the closing ritual of every NHL game was to have an opposing player skate toward the goalie, and casually — some might even say matter-of-factly — ram an elbow into his head.
Which pretty much sums up Ville Nieminen’s last few seconds Thursday night.
NOTHING BUT NETS
In the NBA, there are players who rise, and players who rise to the occasion, and here was Ben Wallace rising so high to block a Michael Redd jump shot you could drive a tour bus underneath him. Extending his huge frame as straight as celery, he caught Redd’s...
Red Wings Fans Have Good Reason To Worry
The Red Wings fan bites his fingernails. The Red Wings fan taps his feet. The Red Wings fan approaches a stranger in a Tampa Bay Lightning cap.
“How scared should we be?” he says.
“Well, if you’re asking me,” the Tampa Bay fan says, leaning back on his rocking chair, sliding a weed between his teeth, “pretty darn scared.”
HOCKEY JUST ISN’T HOCKEY WITHOUT A ROOMMATE
Brett Hull is talking on a cell phone as he drives to the airport with his carpool buddy, Chris Chelios. I am asking about the things he has enjoyed most in his long life in hockey — which may, if a lockout comes, be drawing to a close — and he is telling...
What Draft Teaches Defies Understanding
Things we learned from the NFL draft:1) Sunshine is overrated.2) Joey Harrington can now look to his right and his left.3) It’s OK to draft 20-year-olds, but not the ones who go to the Supreme Court.
Let’s begin with the sunshine.
Silly me.
Here I thought all anyone could want in life was beach, breeze and beautiful blondes.
Obviously, a subway that smells like urine is more attractive.
THE PROFESSOR STOOD FOR MORE THAN HOCKEY
The Professor said good-bye last week, retiring from the game with little fanfare and only a few paragraphs in the local papers. Just as well. If you really tried to sum up Igor Larionov’s life, you would need a special edition.This was a boy whose grandfather...
HOLD ON, BECAUSE HERE WE GO AGAIN
As the last notes of the “Star-Spangled Banner” hung in the air Thursday night, an octopus came flying out of the stands and went splat. Calgary’s Stephane Yelle skated over in curiosity. He stood there, leaning on his stick, peering at the slimy...
Slipshod Following Letdown, Team Must Get A Grip
MILWAUKEE 92, DEROIT 88
The whistle blew — offensive foul! — and Richard Hamilton, in disgust, tore away his plastic mask. This is not why they call him “Rip.” He threw the mask across the floor. Shreek! Another whistle. Technical foul to go with his sixth foul. And then, for good measure, the refs threw him out altogether. He left muttering angry warnings to the Bucks on the floor, who nodded as if to say,
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. You’re gone. We’re still here. And we’re gonna win the game.”
Adding insult to larceny.
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