Emu Has Dream Season After A Near-Nightmare
This is beautiful. We’re here freezing in Michigan and Jim Harkema is out in the California sun, practicing for a bowl game. Isn’t that ironic? Especially since he was on the verge of losing his team, his helmets, his field, the works, three years ago. Nobody wanted Eastern Michigan then. But sometimes, if you just stick with it. . . .
AS TIGERS’ MR. NICE GUY, PETRY WAS ALWAYS AN ANGEL
Baseball players can make you feel small. They see you walking around the clubhouse, asking questions, and they act like kings — they ignore you. Do not speak unless spoken to. “You know,” some are fond of telling reporters, “I never even read...
These New, Stable Lions Still Emit A Faint Odor
Wasn’t that something? The way the Lions came back and slaughtered the Rams, ran all over them, shut down their passing attack, scored four times in the final two minutes? Who’d have believed that? Wasn’t it something? Wasn’t it–
Oh.
You were there.
Thought I could fool you for a minute.
Let’s see. What can I really tell you about the “new” Lions, supposedly more stable now that Darryl Rogers has been reprieved as the coach. Stable? Well. They stayed exactly the same as the weeks before. Lost, 37-16. I’d call that stable.
Let’s start with the good stuff:
It’S Shopping Time For Nfl Teams
There are only 19 shopping days left until Christmas, which barely gives us time to suggest the best holiday gifts for your favorite NFL teams. Many of these items are available at your favorite department store. The others, I just made up.
NEW YORK GIANTS FANS: You can start buying all the leftover autobiographies by last season’s Super Bowl champs. No one else wants to read about a 3-8 team. No matter how much Gatorade it spills.
ROGERS FACES MORE OF SAMELIONS COACH’S REPRIEVE LIKELY WON’T MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE
Fine. He keeps the job. Now what? Darryl Rogers’ football team has lost nine of 11 games this year, the fans have gone from screaming to yawning, and now it’s Sunday again. When owner William Ford gave Rogers his vote of confidence last week — told...
Lions’ Pot Boiling Over, But Owner Does Nothing
So Bill Ford came out of his office and turned on the shower and washed Darryl Rogers clean. “He’ll be back next year,” Ford said to a couple of reporters Thursday. “I just want to put that to rest.” And then he said the same thing to the Lions themselves, and then the TV guys got a hold of it, and with that, we spritzed away all those dirty rumors that Rogers, the coach whose team has gone from 7-9 to 5-11 to 2-9, might somehow be in danger of losing his job.
WINGS’ DEMERS WANTS TO STEP ON SOME HEADS
When I last left Jacques Demers, it was 6 a.m. on a cold spring morning at the Windsor airport. His team, the Detroit Red Wings, had just lost to Edmonton in the conference finals, the end to a gloriously crazy hockey season that had gone further than anyone expected....
Meanwhile, Let Us Theorize The Actualities Of The Conflicts
The other day I saw something I could not believe, even for the NFL.
During the broadcast of the Thanksgiving game, NBC employed a sports psychologist as an additional analyst to the regular color man. A sports psychologist? On the microphone? Yes. This takes the cake. Even for pro football, this was too, too. . . .
Well. Let me give you a sample of what it was like:
ANNOUNCER: . . . and Jones picks up two yards.
COLOR GUY: Jimbo, he ran off tackle there, and they’ve been going at that spot all day long!
A Thanksgiving Meal That’S Food For Thought
“ALL RIGHT, LISTEN UP, EVERYBODY! Welcome again to our annual Detroit sports Thanksgiving meal. You know, I tell ya, there ain’t nothin’ better than getting together with people you ain’t seen for a while and just — “
“Enough, Sparky. Say grace so we can eat.’
“Grace so we can eat.”
“DIG IN!”
“Jeez, Gibby, use a fork, will ya?”
“Aw, listen to you, Jack. Hey, Isiah. Pass me the cranberry sauce.”
“Behind the back or through the legs?”
“Heh-heh. Good one, Zeke.”
“Thanks, Lam.”
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