THE BOND BETWEEN PLAYER AND TRAINER
They haven’t spoken in months. Not the way most of us speak, anyhow. John Wharton never really knew what to say when he walked into the hospital room. He would take a deep breath, then grab Vladimir Konstantinov’s hand and muster the meager optimism left...
Penn State’S Paterno Is A Hard Man To Hate
By now, Michigan fans have worked up a healthy lather of hatred for Penn State
— its boxy uniforms, its middle-of-nowhere location, its consistent dominance.
After all, on Saturday Penn State tries to take what Michigan wants — an undefeated season, a Rose Bowl, maybe a national championship. And as a writer in the land of maize and blue, I, too, would like to work up an angry boil for these Nittany Lions. What is a Nittany, anyhow? Is it like a ninny? A nitpicker? A nitwit?
See, I’m trying to get into the hate.
But I can’t. Not fully. For one reason.
With No Policy, Is NBA Going To Pot?
Let me give you the straight dope on the NBA’s marijuana policy: There is no policy.
You heard me. Under NBA rules, if a player wants to puff a joint, then go out and play a game, there is nothing to stop him. Nothing, of course, except that it’s against the law in most places. But if the player can beat that, the league has no punishment. It won’t even test him.
This is astounding. In a sport that pays for and depends on maximum physical performance, there is no testing for marijuana? No penalties for being arrested for possession?
AT THE HELM, MITCHELL MADE TITANIC MISTAKES
This is one of those weeks when you blame the quarterback, and it might not be nice and that’s too bad. You want a winning football team? A playoff football team? You start with the guy who takes snaps. A quarterback can lead the way up and he can lead the way...
DO PARENTS STILL HAVE ANY RIGHTS?
I was hit as a child. I was spanked and I was slapped. I was smacked in the face when I said something dirty, and I was chased up the stairs for a butt-whipping when I did something really wrong, which in our house meant insulting my mother. My father did the hitting...
Can Grant Hill Still Stay So Nice? So Far, So Good
Having not seen Grant Hill in a few months, I go to Pistons practice with a twinge of concern. Off-seasons, I believe, are when egos take root. Players go home to friends and family. They hang out in clubs and parties. They hear the sycophants saying, “Man, you should be making more money . . .” or “How come you’re not bigger than such-and-such? He doesn’t have half your talent . . .”
They come back with an attitude. A chip on their shoulders. During the season, there is barely time for playing, sleeping, and catching the next plane; it’s the off-seasons when monsters are hatched.
THREE-RING CIRCUS? I THINK I’D MANAGE
I am starting a new boxing team. I want fighters with heart. I want fighters who eat nails and spit glass.I want Charles Barkley.Charles will be my heavyweight. We will take on all comers. Actually, Charles has been taking on all comers for some time now. There was...
Halloween Another Sign Of Scary Society
Here was the worst thing that ever happened to me on Halloween. I was 7 years old. I wanted to be a mummy. Since mummy costumes were hard to find, my mother cut white rags into narrow strips. Then she wrapped me from head to toe. To keep the rags tight, she safety-pinned them together. As ideas go, it was long on love and short on practicality.
U-M’S New Basketball Coach Was Best Option
In the end, he did the smartest thing. And, more importantly, the decent thing
— for both the University of Michigan and any other school involved. Robbing one basketball program to feed your own would never fly, not in the land of
“core values” that Tom Goss has rechristened the maize-and-blue.
“With all the coaches I interviewed, it kept coming back to one question,” the U-M athletic director said Friday. ” ‘What will you tell the players you’re leaving behind?’ I never got a good answer.”
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