There is only one hockey player when you want to compare Detroit and Chicago - as sports towns, as food towns, as bar towns, and as hockey towns - and you know who he is.Chris Chelios, 47, was born in Chicago and played nine years as a Blackhawk. He now lives in Detroit, where he has played 10 years as a Red Wing. He is the son of a Chicago restaurant owner; and Chelios now owns two restaurants of his own - in Detroit and Dearborn.He has eaten pizza in both towns, drank beer in both towns, done the late-night thing in both towns, and been cheered and booed in both towns.
You can't blame the Red Wings for falling behind in the opening minutes Sunday afternoon. It takes awhile to put your teeth in, slide the orthopedic shoes on and get the walker out of the closet. "With our legs, because we're so old, like everybody says, you gotta loosen up in the morning," deadpanned Chris Osgood. "And we didn't get a chance to do that." He chuckled. Then he put in his hearing aid.
Here's a scenario: We release more photos of our alleged abuse of prisoners. Those photos shoot to the Internet. They are posted in hotbeds of Islamic extremism. Recruits are rallied. Revenge is demanded. A group of U.S. troops in Iraq or Afghanistan is ambushed, and some are taken prisoner. They are filmed with bags over their heads, as terrorists threaten to slit their throats. And then they do.
It's a good thing the Red Wings have a game today. Otherwise, Dan Cleary's skates might never touch the ground.Several days after the toughest series many of the Wings can remember, Cleary still is flying from being the man who scored the final goal. Actually, he shoved, poked and jammed that puck under Anaheim goalie Jonas Hiller with 3 minutes left in Game 7. He didn't even see it cross the line."I got pushed back and was falling," he said. "But I knew it went in from the noise."
When it comes to one funny bounce - and it has.When it comes to one weird deflection - and it has.When it comes to one ricochet, one shove, one screen, one stray skate blade, one well-positioned stick, one churning body, one annoying pest in front of the net - and it has.When it comes to all of this - and with Game 7, it surely has - I'd look to Tomas Holmstrom.If I could find him.
Long before the empty-net goal by Henrik Zetterberg, long before Darren Helm saw his espresso energy pay off with a red light, long before Pavel Datsyuk amazed everyone with a puck flip over the net as if he were tossing a pizza, long before Jiri Hudler bunted the puck over the goalie's shoulder into the net - yes, bunted, in mid-air, I'm not getting my sports mixed up - long before all that drama and exhaustion and waiting and nail-biting and cheering and music and fireball explosions, long before all that   there was Johan Franzen.
Since today is Mother's Day, it seems a good time to take stock of the first thing a mom gives you when you come into the world, and sometimes even before you do. Your name. Oh, I know Dad may be involved in this. Sometimes. But based on an unscientific poll of specific individuals - in this case, me - one concludes that more often than not, Mom has the final vote on what to call the little angel. And today it's Emma.
And his hair was perfect. Every time I think about Chuck Daly, I think about that old song lyric. Chuck coming down the tunnel, nodding just before going out, and his hair was perfect. Chuck charging down the sidelines, screaming "GIMME A BREAK!" and his hair was perfect. Chuck speeding through a shopping mall, fingering the suits, Chuck grinning through a TV interview, Chuck wearing Armani or Hugo Boss, and his hair - wavy, thick, blown back like a Roman statesman's - was perfect. It gave him the image of a man in control, always coiffed, always ready.
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.
