Detroit Free Press

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Brian Hoyer heaved the pass downfield - then took a shot from a linebacker who I swear was ...

Every day I have less In my bank account.Every day I grow scaredAs my losses mount.Every day there is lessTo the ...

I had this idea, before the rematch between the Red Wings and Penguins, that Marian Hossa might wait until Sidney Crosby had the puck and was flying down the ice and then he'd yell, "Yo, Sidney, right here!" and out of habit, Crosby would fire the puck to his old teammate."I did that against New Jersey," Hossa told me earlier this week. "Their defenseman (Colin White) was under pressure and I yelled, ‘Whitey, Whitey!' and he sends me the puck behind the net."Really? "Yeah. Right on the tape."

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.

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.