Friday night, at a high school football playoff game, it was damp and cold, and the players bounced on their toes to keep warm. Near the Rochester Adams bench, amidst all these bigger teenagers, stood Jordan Kidder, barely five feet tall, with glasses and braces, a school cap, a jersey, a varsity jacket and a job to do."Watch this for me, Jordan, OK?" a player said, running over."OK," he said."Some water, Jordan," another said."Here," he said, handing over a bottle."How's it going, Jordan?" another said, slapping his hand.
There could be 1,000 things in the world, and Terrell Owens and I would disagree on 999 of them. But one thing he said recently did strike a familiar chord - not only with me, but with every Lions fan out there.Owens suggested that if Brett Favre were the Eagles quarterback, the team would be better, maybe even undefeated. Now, he may be dead wrong. He may have insulted his actual quarterback, Donovan McNabb. But in saying what he did, Owens was only doing what fans here have been doing for years: Playing the what-if game.
As I watched Daunte Culpepper get sacked, miss receivers, bump into teammates and hear boos from fans, I was hit with the following thought: Nobody needs the NFL this badly.Culpepper, who came out of retirement for Sunday's game, began the first quarter with an incompletion and an interception. He ended the second quarter by banging into his running back. He got three snaps in the third quarter. And he sat for the fourth.
MINNEAPOLIS - Don't blow a fuse. Don't raise your blood pressure. It's not worth it. This team is not worth it. The season is perfunctory. It's a different organ grinder, but the same old monkey.
Being a sportswriter may not get you much - besides a decent seat and mustard on your tie - but it does prepare you for race relations.Maybe that's why, from the start of the presidential campaign, I've been less concerned with Barack Obama than some of my countrymen. There were many white voters who were hesitant about a black president. Some were painfully blunt. They spoke, insultingly, about watermelon patches on the White House lawn and rappers like Ludacris as official guests.
A friend said I must buy this "new" CD."It's great!" he gushed. "Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane live at Carnegie Hall."They're both dead, I said. "But this is their best stuff ever!"I have given that sentence some thought. Perhaps we've been worrying over nothing. Being dead is not the career killer we thought it was.In fact, it may do wonders.
Now we'll see what it means to be a "great American."For nearly eight years, anyone who dared to criticize President George W. Bush risked being called unpatriotic. The people doing this name calling are mourning John McCain's loss today.We'll soon see if it's about country or party. Remember, if you need to support the president to be a "great American," critics must get behind Barack Obama or risk total hypocrisy.
America gets a new president. The Lions get a new quarterback. Quick. Which of these events happens every other week?Right you are! The Lions' new quarterback is 31-year-old Daunte Culpepper, who, simply by signing a contract just became the most famous player on the team. That's sad enough. He also became the biggest attraction on the team, the most recognizable name on the team and, to hear some people tell it, the best player on the team. He also may start Sunday's game. Heck. By Monday, he could own Ford Field.
Mitch Albom writes about running an orphanage in impoverished Port-au-Prince, Haiti, his kids, their hardships, laughs and challenges, and the life lessons he’s learned there every day.
