I Want A Refund For Wasted Time
The year is almost up. I want a refund.
I don’t want money. I want time. I want back every minute wasted on subjects that were trivial, gossipy or just plain idiotic.
Subjects on which I can’t believe we wasted any breath at all. Things that dominated our newspapers and our TVs and, therefore, our conversations, like whether the Spice Girls have any talent.
The answer is no. There. That took half-a-second. I want back anything over that.
WHY DID KENNY HAVE TO DIE?
First in a series on heartbreaks and hopes of unsung Detroit area athletes.His 17th birthday was held in a cemetery. His family, friends and teammates gathered on a cold October afternoon with gifts, balloons, even a cake. The ground was wet, so they spread out...
POISE AND PRAYERA MODEST HERO IN A BRUTAL GAME
They gathered around him as he gave a postgame interview, big beefy men with one thing in mind. Closer now. He was almost finished talking. Finally, when they heard him say “thank you,” the big men moved in, the center, the guards, the tackles. They went...
Strangers Save A Mother And Son
The last time I saw the mother she was hiding on a couch, her head wrapped in a bandana, her eyes as narrow as coin slots. She was coming off a crack cocaine high, in a burned-out house in Detroit’s northwest side, with a hole in the roof, no heat, one working light bulb, floors covered in dirt. This was home to Dorothy Chatman and her teenage son, Deshawn.
“Have you ever seen your son play basketball?” I asked her that day.
“Basketball is what he’s into now,” she sniffed. “Next year …it’ll be something else.”
Ncaa: Good News And Bad For U-M
Everyone checks their mail this time of year. But the folks at Michigan weren’t looking for Christmas cards. They were waiting for a letter to render judgment on their basketball program. And this week, just before the holidays, the NCAA dropped some news in the mailbox.
Now, in the spirit of the holidays, I will not reprint the actual NCAA language here, since reprinting anything the NCAA says could result in instant sleep, and who needs that with all the Christmas shopping left to do?
Something Fishy? Or Catch And Release?
I find him in the basement of a Miami baseball stadium. He is sitting at a desk, in a cloud of cigar smoke, talking on the phone.
“So you’ll take him?” The Dump Man says into the receiver. “Great. I’ll send over the paperwork …uh-huh …ciao.”
He hangs up the phone.
“We just dumped Kevin Brown,” he says, crossing a name off a list.
“Kevin Brown?” I say. “The ace of the Marlins?”
“You got it.”
“The guy who helped win the World Series?”
“The one and only.”
“But why would you dump Kevin Brown? He’s a local hero. He’s a champion.”
When The Lions Needed It Most, Moore Was All Heart
There were no warm-ups for Herman Moore. He began the week on crutches, and now, on Sunday morning, he took the first bus over to the stadium — “The one with the players who like to get here and sleep,” he would say later — but he did not sleep. Nor did he stretch or even jog. He went straight to the trainer, Kent Falb, who hooked Herman’s left foot to an electric stimulator: two pads, some conducting jelly and a flipped switch on a little black box.
The Ideal Athlete Is Just A Call Away
Rrrring.
“Hello, and thanks for calling The Sports World. For owners, press 1. For athletes, press 2-“
Beep.
“Welcome to the Sports World Athletes Center. To speak to an athlete, press 1.”
Beep.
“Please select the type of athlete to whom you’d like to speak. For athletes convicted of sexual assault, press 1. For others, press 2.”
Beep.
“For athletes convicted of weapons possession, press 1. For others, press 2.”
Beep.
“For athletes convicted of rape, arson or other crimes, press 1. For athletes with no convictions, press 2.”
COUNTING PLAYERS BY THEIR SKIN COLOR PERPETUATES RACISM
Kordell Stewart took the snap, lunged forward and found open ground. Five yards later he was in the end zone. It was delightful, a quarterback sneak that turned into a running touchdown.Even more delightful was that Stewart was celebrated for this and other miraculous...Stay Connected
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