CHICAGO --As he climbed the steps, he heard the national anthem -- and a jolt went through him that left him numb. They were starting the game. And he wasn't out there. When he took his seat, far from the action, they dropped the puck -- and another jolt. He wasn't out there.And when Chicago scored the first goal, and then another, putting the Red Wings in a deep hole on this suddenly critical playoff series game, the sensation was the same. A jolt, and then--"Empty," he sighed.
I never got much out of reading Thoreau. Maybe because I read him in high school. An urban teenager doesn't exactly fall for a guy who moves to the woods and talks to squirrels. I do, however, remember one line he wrote. It struck me when I read it and it has stayed with me all these years: "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."What did he mean by that, I wondered? Did grown-ups really have it so tough? Quiet desperation? Such contrasting words. Like "dying hope." Or "deafening silence."Or "I didn't mean to hurt my babies."
Michigan's Fab Five started their first game together two years ago Wednesday. A lot of changes have taken place since then -- from the Final Fours, to Chris Webber's departure to the recent incident involving Ray Jackson and Jimmy King. As a reminder of how it all began, the Free Press offers this excerpt from "Fab Five: Basketball, Trash Talk, the American Dream," written by columnist Mitch Albom.
ATLANTA -- It was the best of periods, it was the worst of periods. And it is the reason why you cannot dismiss these Detroit Pistons -- not until the last breath is gone from their lips. You can criticize them, shake your head at them, wonder about them, get sick over them, lose money on them, lose hair on them, but you cannot dismiss them, no way, simply because of nights like Tuesday, when, in two hours of basketball, they played one quarter like "Night of the Living Dead" and another like "The Greatest Story Ever Told."And they won the game.
Sometimes I wonder whether television is covering the same world as the rest of us.In the world we live in, Saddam Hussein is, at best, a political tyrant. At worst, he's a raving lunatic. Nowhere -- at least nowhere that I know of -- is he considered a prize.Except in the land of TV.
Well, once again, movie fans, it's Mr. Oscar here to answer your Academy Award questions. Let me start by saying there are three things you can count on in this year's broadcast: 1) You will not win anything. 2) You will not be nominated for anything. 3) You will fall asleep before any of the good awards are given out.Well, I can see you're excited already. Let's begin, shall we?Q. Mr. Oscar. Can you explain the basic purpose of the Academy Awards?
The first piece of hate mail I ever received came from a Michigan State fan.He felt our sports section was giving Michigan too much attention while ignoring his team, the Spartans. The letter went something like this:"I'm sick of all the publicity U-M and its crybaby coach Bo Schembechler get in the Free Press. How come you never write about the Spartans? How come it's always MICHIGAN MICHIGAN on the front page and then some little article on State buried inside by the tire ads?
They were chanting his name like some sort of pagan ritual, louder and louder, until it echoed through the building in this dreamy roar: "CHEVVV-VY! CHEVVV-VY!" Finally, when the work was done, when this little miracle was over, Tim Cheveldae skated out from the net, raised his stick and was mobbed by his teammates, who, like him, had just completed an exhausting journey from the brink of elimination to the horizon of hope.The Red was back in the black.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The big lie began every morning, with the book bag he carried and the clothes he wore. He would eat breakfast, kiss his mother good-bye, make like he was going to school, then not go to school at all. He would go to a gym and play ball. All day. When one gym closed, he would go to another. In between, he'd sit in parks and stare at the sky.
Somebody's gotta pay. That was the last angry yell when they locked the doors at Joe Louis Arena, and that was the echo in the air Friday afternoon, on a quiet street in Birmingham, as Bryan Murray stood beyond the hedges of his front lawn, a few steps off the deck, talking about why he'd just had his head cut off."I haven't even told my daughter yet," he said, looking down the street toward a group of children riding bicycles. He turned at the sound of TV satellite trucks pulling up to his driveway, one, two, three. "I guess when she sees those, she'll know something's up."
News Item: Pistons coach Chuck Daly will meet this weekend with NBC Sports executive producer Terry O'Neill to discuss Daly joining the network as an NBA analyst next season.NEW YORK -- "Good morning, Chuck. Great to see you.""Thanks, Mr. O'Neill.""Terry. It's Terry. Have a bagel. Say hi to our lawyers.""Geez. There's a lot of them.""Thirty-seven. The others couldn't make it. Now then, Chuck, we're very excited about you joining our team. We see big things for you at NBC. Really big things."
