by Mitch Albom | Dec 16, 1986 | Detroit Free Press
He did not look older. He did not look wiser. He looked tired. Which is what you’d expect.
“What do you think?” someone asked Chuck Long, just moments after the Lions dropped a heartbreaker, 16-13, to the Chicago Bears.
He shook his head. “Now I know what Eric Hipple’s been going through all these weeks,” he said.
Now he knew. First-hand experience. This was supposed to be Chuck Long’s night, his debut as starting quarterback. Monday Night Football, the nation watching. And for a few brief moments it was all he could have wanted.
by Mitch Albom | Dec 16, 1986 | Detroit Free Press
There were long lines, and long cheers, and signs — “Chuck it Long!” “Longing for a win!”Long signs.When the announcer came to the name he paused, a long pause, and the sellout crowd knew what was coming and they rose to their...
by Mitch Albom | Dec 15, 1986 | Detroit Free Press
You have been waiting for him. I have been waiting for him. It has become the thing to do here in Detroit, waiting for him.
“When, Chuck, when?” we ask.
“Soon, folks, soon,” we are told.
His teammates have been waiting for him. His coaches have been waiting for him. All season long, they have watched him with anticpation.
“When, Chuck, when?’ they ask.
“Soon, men, soon,” they are told.
by Mitch Albom | Dec 14, 1986 | Detroit Free Press
He is making a point. You have to be blind to miss that. Here is Jack Morris, maybe the top pitcher of the ’80s, telling the baseball world smack in the middle of its winter meetings that he is through with the Detroit Tigers,
that there are four teams now — and only four teams — he wants to deal with, and knock, knock, he’ll visit the first one, the Minnesota Twins, on Tuesday morning, and they better have their pens ready.
“Go ahead,” he seems to say, as subtle as a brick through a window,
“just try to ignore me.”
by Mitch Albom | Dec 14, 1986 | Detroit Free Press
He is making a point. You have to be blind to miss that. Here is Jack Morris, maybe the top pitcher of the ’80s, telling the baseball world smack in the middle of its winter meetings that he is through with the Detroit Tigers, his contract is up, and there are...
by Mitch Albom | Dec 14, 1986 | Detroit Free Press
We may have stumbled onto something here. Listen . . . “The Jets are unstoppable!”Remember that? Remember when everyone was saying that? Wasn’t it not too long ago? And what happened?The Jets went plop.”The Raiders! They’re on their way!...
by Mitch Albom | Dec 7, 1986 | Detroit Free Press
HONOLULU — Don’t tell me. Jim Harbaugh came into Michigan’s locker room at halftime Saturday, the Wolverines tied with the unranked Hawaii Rainbows, 3-3, and he said, “Don’t worry. I guarantee we will be lying on the beach tomorrow.”
Well, something like that.
It took just six minutes in Aloha Stadium for Michigan to realize they play football for real out here. Harbaugh was sacked rudely on U-M’s first possession, a should-have-been touchdown drive turned into a field goal, and the vacation was over and the game was on.
by Mitch Albom | Dec 7, 1986 | Detroit Free Press
HONOLULU — Are you sitting down? Good. Let me break your heart.
Let me introduce you to your daydream, your fantasy, the thing you should have done when you were 18 years old and you realize only now, as you shovel three feet of snow from around your Plymouth Horizon.
Let me give you Joe Piccola.
Linebacker, University of Hawaii.
“Hi,” he said, “how ya doin’?”
by Mitch Albom | Dec 7, 1986 | Detroit Free Press
In the next few weeks, you will hear countless TV announcers talk about home field advantage in the playoffs.”There’s a great deal at stake here,” they will say as the game begins. “These teams are fighting for the home field advantage in the...
by Mitch Albom | Dec 7, 1986 | Detroit Free Press
PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii — They never pulled the bodies from the USS Arizona. They tried a few times, but back then salvage equipment was too bulky, and besides, there was a war on, so they quit it, and then, later, there was talk about raising her altogether to get...
