MAY CLEAR HEADS PREVAIL THIS YEAR
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — I’m killing a tradition this year. I wish I didn’t have to.Since I joined this newspaper, my New Year’s Day column has always begun: “GOOD MORNING. YOU CAN GET OFF THE POOL TABLE NOW. . . .”It was written in...
QUARTERBACK DOESN’T FIT THE MOLD
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Demetrius Brown is late. Or maybe he’s not coming. He was supposed to be in the lobby for a 7:30 a.m. interview but 7:30 came and went and so did 7:45 and 7:50. The PR director calls his room. He shrugs. We wait.Eventually, Brown...
BO’S INSULTS MUSIC TO WOLVERINES’ EARS
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Maybe your mother once gave you this line: “I only yell because I love you.” And maybe you believed her. Mothers can get away with that kind of thing. They have credentials.Football coaches are another thing. Except Bo...
Fight Without Fear: Stricken Former Msu Star, Wife Live Life To Its Fullest
LOS GATOS, Calif. — His body is limp and covered with a blanket. His mouth moves, but there is no sound. His wife sits next to the bed, reading his lips.
“It began . . . when I was playing basketball . . . and I kept dropping the ball. . . . Then in the classroom . . . I would drop the . . . what was that, honey? Oh. . . . I would drop the chalk. . . . “
HARK, THE HERALD ATHLETES SING …
Good morning. Merry Christmas. Hear those voices outside your door? Look, it’s . . .Kirk Gibson singing “Winter Wonderland”Watch me swing, it’s a dinger,World Seee-ries, what a dinger!I’m hobblin’ along, singing my song,A hero now...
FONTES GIVES THANKS, BUT IS HE IN OVER HIS HEAD?
The new head coach, who is an excitable fellow, was driving down Southfield Road, barely able to contain himself. He had just been given the job of his dreams — a three-year contract to coach the Lions — and, filled with joy and gratitude, he wanted to...
As The Saying Goes: Last Words Of 1988
I like words. Words are my business. But usually, as the sports year draws to a close, all we look back on is action. The great plays. The winning moments. Nobody remembers the colorful, fascinating, and often boneheaded things that people said during the course of the year. Sure. They would rather forget them.
Not so fast. I have spent all year saving up great nuggets of sportstalk. And I have spent the last week digging them out from behind my desk. Some, in retrospect, look wise. Some look foolish. And some look just plain . . . ridiculous.
A NOT-SO-FOND FAREWELL, DARRYL
Isn’t it amazing how time flies? It seems like just yesterday Dexter Manley was suspended for 30 days of training camp. And now the season is about to end, and ol’ Dex is going home for the holidays.Yes, it’s true. Today is the final Sunday of the...
Slapstick Meets Slap Shotpistons’ Salley Marvels At Hockey Players’ Funny Ways
This is his first hockey game. He is very excited. He hands his ticket to the attendant at Joe Louis Arena, who hands it back and looks up, and up, and up.
“Aren’t you . . .?” the attendant asks.
“Wayne Gretzky?” says John Salley.
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