Detroit Free Press

FOR THE BIRDS

FOR THE BIRDS

And on the seventh day, they played baseball.I think it was baseball.It wasn't Tigers baseball. Not the brand we'd gotten used to in this postseason. It was more like a badly cracked egg: first the yoke broke and soon pieces of shell were floating everywhere. Home runs were surrendered. Errors were made. Balls went flying where they weren't supposed to go flying. And the Detroit bats - swinging too often at first pitches - were all but silent.
CURTAIN UP, AND DOWN! MSU NOT READY YET

CURTAIN UP, AND DOWN! MSU NOT READY YET

EAST LANSING - The weather was perfect, the stadium was packed and the whole town was pounding with green-and-white optimism.And then the game started.And Ohio State pulled the Spartans' pants down.Not ready. Not yet. The records suggested that Michigan State was an elite team, but records are just numbers. The field tells the tale. And on the field, there were the Big Boys and there were the Wannabes. Before this game was 15 minutes old, it told an age-old story about one team that has done it and one team that is still dreaming about it.
CURTAIN UP, AND DOWN! MSU ISN’T READY YET

CURTAIN UP, AND DOWN! MSU ISN’T READY YET

EAST LANSING - The weather was perfect, the stadium was packed, and the whole town was pounding with green-and-white optimism.And then the game started.And Ohio State pulled the Spartans' pants down.Not ready. Not yet. The records suggested that Michigan State was an elite team, but records are just numbers. The field tells the tale. And on the field, there were the Big Boys and there were the Wannabes. Before this game was 15 minutes old, it told an age-old story about one team that has done it and one team that is still dreaming about it.
STRIDE STRIDE

STRIDE STRIDE

They hook their fingers and start to run, arms swaying in unison, feet thumping stride for stride. A short black man named Michael Holmes, a tall lanky white man named Bill Guisinger. They run inches apart, all but breathing on each other.The funny thing is, Michael has never seen Bill. Wouldn't know him if walked right past. Michael is blind. His world went dark in 1978, when he was in his early 20s, the result of cataracts and glaucoma.
DESPITE THE BOOS, JOEY ONLY PART OF PROBLEM

DESPITE THE BOOS, JOEY ONLY PART OF PROBLEM

Booing won't help.I can't recall the last time a hometown quarterback got razzed all day and later thanked the fans for helping him with his accuracy. Still, many of the 61,000 fans at Ford Field on Sunday afternoon chose to shower Joey Harrington with hoots and catcalls during the Lions' collapse against Carolina, even singing "Joey sucks" at the finish. Here's a question: When you chant "Joey sucks," what's the endgame there? You expect him to say, "Yeah, you're right, I do"?
SO NOW: TURN ON, TUNE IN, TUNE OUT

SO NOW: TURN ON, TUNE IN, TUNE OUT

Last week, Apple announced that, with its newest iPods, you can download TV shows. That's right. For the low, low price of just $1.99, you now can watch the most recent episodes of "Desperate Housewives,""Lost" or select other ABC programs simply by downloading them into your iPod. The advantage, as the advertising boasts, is that you now can see your favorite shows whenever you want.
ANTICIPATION!

ANTICIPATION!

I once heard Paul McCartney asked what, for him, was the best time in the Beatles? He said just before they made it big, when everything was on the horizon, when they knew it was coming, but it hadn't happened yet.The Detroit Tigers are in that sweet spot right now. And they - and the fans - should savor every minute of it.

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.

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