BARCELONA HAS IT ALL – ALASBEWARE OF CROWDS, NOISE AND ANYTHING IN ITALICS
“Do you not swelter? Are you not cramped and crowded?”Epictetus, on the Olympic Games, first century AD BARCELONA, Spain — Well, sure, you swelter. You cramp. You sweat. You take a deep breath and suck a mouthful of bus fumes. These are the Olympics....
HERE’S THE NAKED TRUTH, FROM ATHENS TO BARCELONA
They ran naked, for one thing.Really. In ancient Greece, or so the legend goes, Olympians sometimes ran their races in the raw. Nude. A-buffo. Today, Russian athletes don’t have a flag or even an anthem. But they have shoe contracts.Progress, right?To moan that...
Ilitch And Tigers: Close To Done Deal
I’m back. And I have good news. The Tigers will soon have a new owner: Mike Ilitch. He will buy the team. The deal will be in cash, the $80-85 million range. Ilitch is the man. No partners involved. The money is in escrow, and Tom Monaghan is mulling over the offer. Maybe he has even given his OK by now. If not, I know a lot of people willing to camp outside his window chanting, “SIGN IT, TOM! SIGN IT!”
Pain, Loyalty Tug At Rodman
Free Press columnist Mitch Albom spoke with Dennis Rodman on Thursday morning before Rodman departed for Texas. Here are excerpts from that conversation.
Q — Is it true you don’t want to play for the Pistons anymore? A — It’s not like that. I don’t want to do anything against Ron Rothstein, but what he and Jack (McCloskey) did to Chuck Daly was wrong. Chuck did so much for this team, and they basically pushed him aside and said, “OK, we got a man to take your place.”
YES, ISIAH: HE GOT WHAT HE WANTED
So there I was, asleep in my hammock, when my boss calls and says, “I know you’re on sabbatical, but as long as you answered the phone . . . how about attending the Ron Rothstein press conference and writing about the turmoil with the Pistons?”My...
COACH SMILING; IS ANYONE ELSE?
So there I was, asleep in my hammock, when my boss calls and says, “I know you’re on sabbatical, but as long as you answered the phone . . . how about attending the Ron Rothstein press conference and writing about the turmoil with the Pistons?”My...
IT’S TIME FOR A BREAK FROM SPORTS DOLDRUMS
I am going away. Taking a break. When the biggest news on the sports page is two boats sailing around a stick, it’s time to take a powder.Besides, if I watch the Chicago Bulls win one more NBA title, I might jump off a ledge.So I depart. Just for a while. In...
Put Prudence Back In Jurisprudence
There’s this story about Fiorello La Guardia, who was mayor of New York during the ’30s and ’40s. He was serving on police court one cold winter night when a shivering old man was brought before him. The man was charged with stealing a loaf of bread. “My family is starving,” the man said.
Season Of Promise Halted By Red Light
CHICAGO — The game ended the way they all seemed to end, the way this whole damned, crazy post-season has ended. Bang — and you’re dead. Less than 100 seconds left on the regulation clock, the crowd on its feet, screaming like beasts. Paul Ysebaert bumped into Sergei Fedorov deep in his own end. The puck squirted loose, here came Chicago’s Greg Gilbert, scraping it out, shoveling it to a driving Brent Sutter, who pushed it past Tim Cheveldae for the only goal that mattered — which was also the only goal of the night. Game over.
Red light.
Darkness.
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