Detroit Free Press

SELIG’S PROPOSAL CONNECTS WITH ME

SELIG’S PROPOSAL CONNECTS WITH ME

February 25, 2009 | Detroit Free Press
When Bud Selig was a kid growing up on the west side of Milwaukee, he didn't use drugs. He didn't know much about them. They were for the "bad" kids and he was a "good" kid. He didn't drink, he didn't take pills, and to this day, he says, he has never let a cigarette touch his lips.
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PISTONS WIN GAME, IVERSON’S RESPECT

PISTONS WIN GAME, IVERSON’S RESPECT

February 25, 2009 | Detroit Free Press
On a night when LeBron James sat near the Detroit bench - two earrings, one pair of shades, one shirttail hanging from his sweater - and Chuck Daly sat a few feet away - one blazer, one silk necktie, one full head of hair - you could argue that the Pistons were surrounded by the future and the past. But this night was about the present. And the present was tense.
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STILL PUZZLED ABOUT STANTON? ME, TOO

STILL PUZZLED ABOUT STANTON? ME, TOO

February 25, 2009 | Detroit Free Press
Monday morning after the NFL draft is like Sunday morning after a wild college party. You either had a great time, a lousy time or you wait to learn if you made a fool of yourself.The Lions will have to wait. It was a strange weekend. The home team took another receiver with its highest pick. A great receiver, we are told, but still another receiver. That's four in the last five years. And as rare a bird as Calvin Johnson is, his Georgia Tech team last year went 9-5. Guys who catch the ball do not ensure victories.
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THE NOSE KNOWS HOW TOUGH IT IS FOR ‘DYESS

THE NOSE KNOWS HOW TOUGH IT IS FOR ‘DYESS

February 25, 2009 | Detroit Free Press
Break your nose. Right now. Go on. Break it. Then fly 500 miles and have it reset. Surgically, by the way. None of that cup-your-hands-and-snap-it-back stuff, OK? Now come out of anesthesia, get on a plane and fly 500 miles back.You with me so far? Good. Now comes the hard part. Put on a plastic mask, tie it around your head and go out to play an NBA playoff game.Now the really hard part.Watch your team stink up the joint.
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CALVIN & HOPES A RECEIVER ARRIVES

CALVIN & HOPES A RECEIVER ARRIVES

February 25, 2009 | Detroit Free Press
In the fog of the draft, this much is clear: Everyone thought Calvin Johnson was the best player on the board. The Lions chose the best player on the board.And you can have the best player on the board - and still lose a lot of games.The Lions had Barry Sanders for a decade and lost a lot of games. They've had Roy Williams - a Pro Bowl receiver - and have lost a lot of games. Now they have another receiver, Calvin Johnson, whose very name seems to cause analysts to salivate. He is big. He is fast. He apparently was born on Krypton.The roster just got better.
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NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

February 25, 2009 | Detroit Free Press
And with the 17th pick, Lions fans said …"Who?"Gosder Cherilus. That's the pick. Gosder Cherilus. Yep. An offensive lineman with a name more suited to a horror film (the old guy in the haunted house?) has filled the spot that has been fretted over, agonized over and argued over for months. Gosder Cherilus. Boston College. Let us say right here that you or I have no idea if he will be any good.But no one saw him coming.
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THE SKINNY ON THE DRAFT IS AWFULLY THIN

THE SKINNY ON THE DRAFT IS AWFULLY THIN

February 25, 2009 | Detroit Free Press
It's silly season again. The NFL draft is a few days away. At some point in history, the draft went from an insider thing to an outsider thing. That is when it got silly. It used to be a bunch of bleary-eyed football coaches in small rooms with chalkboards. Now there are endless TV updates, devoted Web sites, all-day Internet conversations, talk radio shows - all about which team might take which player with which pick.
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STILL A GOOD NIGHT, IF NOT A NOSTALGIC ONE

STILL A GOOD NIGHT, IF NOT A NOSTALGIC ONE

February 25, 2009 | Detroit Free Press
The first hit that made any noise didn't come until five minutes in, and two of the loudest cheers came off the scoreboard: One when they ran a replay of Darren McCarty pummeling Claude Lemiuex back in 1997; the other when they showed Al Sobotka taking the octopus he'd been told not to swing on the ice and swinging it in the tunnel instead.
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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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