by Mitch Albom | Oct 1, 1988 | Detroit Free Press
SEOUL, South Korea — As a general rule, boxers do not have much to say. In fact, unless it is Ali talking to Cosell, the sum total of a boxer’s vocabulary often can be listed as: “I hit him good. . . . I hurt him bad. .
. . Where’s my check?”
Riddick Bowe is an exception. Riddick Bowe has something to say. Unfortunately, it is not always something his coaches are eager to hear.
After his first fight at these Olympics, reporters asked Bowe, 21, a super-heavyweight, why he went for a knockout instead of boxing for points.
by Mitch Albom | Oct 1, 1988 | Detroit Free Press
SEOUL, South Korea — He was the old man in the ring, an Army guy with a gold tooth, a soldier who knew how to size up unfriendly territory.
“I figured,” Ray Mercer said, “that if two men were left standing at the end of the fight, I wouldn’t have much of a chance.”
Right. He would be eaten alive. Mercer, a heavyweight boxer going for a gold medal, had the misfortune of fighting a Korean in his native land. And if you’ve ever heard the crowds here when a Korean is involved in a fight, well, suffice it to say, you’d be looking for a knockout, too. Or a trap door.
by Mitch Albom | Sep 30, 1988 | Detroit Free Press
SEOUL, South Korea — Oh, Florence, be for real! Tell us that blazing world record in the 200 meters Thursday was yours and yours alone, that your magnificent sprinter’s body is all hard work and dedication, that when you crossed the finish line and waved your hands and beckoned to your husband, Al, to join you in glory, and he lifted you and swung you in his loving arms and the stadium roared with delight — tell us all that was genuine, real hero stuff, because the Olympics need that right now. In the worst way.
by Mitch Albom | Sep 29, 1988 | Detroit Free Press
SEOUL, South Korea — You can’t win ’em all. But we could. If we sent our best. NBA players? Olympic competition?”Why not?” people say.They are saying it loudly today, after Tuesday night’s stunning 82-76 defeat by the Soviet Union,...
by Mitch Albom | Sep 29, 1988 | Detroit Free Press
SEOUL, South Korea — She bounced along the track, arm in arm with her husband, holding an American flag. They bowed to the crowd, their smiles as big as the Olympics themselves, and then Bobby Kersee pushed his wife out on her own — “Go on! Go! Take...
by Mitch Albom | Sep 28, 1988 | Detroit Free Press
SEOUL, South Korea — It ended quietly, with no screams of “Foul play!” or “How could they!” Not this time., The U.S. Olympic basketball players were walking off the court at Chamshil gymnasium, their heads down, their hearts broken. They...
by Mitch Albom | Sep 27, 1988 | Detroit Free Press
SEOUL, South Korea — Willie Banks, who has been in track and field a long time, was crammed in a phone booth in the middle of the athletes’ village, dropping coins at a furious pace. “I just heard,” he said. “And I’m aghast! And when the rest of the guys wake up, they’ll be aghast, too.”
by Mitch Albom | Sep 27, 1988 | Detroit Free Press
SEOUL, South Korea — The knock on the car window was frantic. He rolled it down. Two American teenagers, dressed in T-shirts and USA caps, began to plead desperately. Please. Pleeeease! What did they want? They wanted his socks.”My what?” said Dan...
by Mitch Albom | Sep 26, 1988 | Detroit Free Press
SEOUL, South Korea — She walked along the corridors of the Olympic Stadium, alone, unrecognized, her calf muscle still throbbing from the race.
“I think I go around here,” said Mary Decker Slaney, pointing to a concrete post. “No . . . wait. It’s the other side. Oh geez.”
No one stopped her. No one recognized her. Were this Los Angeles, 1984, she would be unsafe in these crowded halls, she would be mobbed, either by fans or by reporters.
by Mitch Albom | Sep 25, 1988 | Detroit Free Press
SEOUL, South Korea — She wins. Hands down. They can stop the Olympics now, because America has found its sweetheart, its new Mary Lou. If that smile doesn’t get her on television, billboards and Wheaties boxes from Maine to Mexico, then somebody’s sleeping on the job.
“How are you coming on your homework?” someone asked Janet Evans, 17, after she won her third and final gold medal Saturday in the 800-meter freestyle swim.
“No comment,” she giggled.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I’m doing it on the plane home.”
