Detroit Free Press

IN THIS HOAX, MAYBE THE JOKE IS ON US

IN THIS HOAX, MAYBE THE JOKE IS ON US

On the tape, it looks like any other high school gymnasium. The stands are packed, a crowd of students, parents, cheerleaders. The beefy young football player addresses the assembly, a shirt and tie chosen for the momentous occasion. Into a microphone, he thanks his family and his school. He makes his big announcement."It was Oregon and Cal," says Kevin Hart, looking at the two caps on a table in front of him, "and I decided I'll be playing football at the University of California."
HEY, IT’S HIGH SCHOOL – NOT THE SUPER BOWL

HEY, IT’S HIGH SCHOOL – NOT THE SUPER BOWL

It is wrong and harmful and we should all be ashamed of ourselves and I guess I'm going to keep writing it until I'm the last person in this business saying it. This glorifying of high school recruits has got to stop.Last week was Signing Day for college football, which used to be a date known only to coaches. Today, it is cause for endless TV coverage, mountains of newsprint and an Internet gone wild. What's changed? Nothing and everything.The nothing part is that a high school kid picks a college.The everything is everything else.
PATRIOT ACT III

PATRIOT ACT III

2002: NEW ENGLAND 20, ST. LOUIS 17 - 2004: NEW ENGLAND 32, CAROLINA 29 - 2005: NEW ENGLAND 24, PHILADELPHIA 21 JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Donovan McNabb tried. He threw everything he had. Terrell Owens tried. He caught all that he could. Andy Reid tried. He steered some fine drives and called some fine defenses.
KEEP SEPARATE THE SEXES ON SUPER SUNDAY

KEEP SEPARATE THE SEXES ON SUPER SUNDAY

Some things in life are not meant to be shared by men and women. Hair curlers. The Three Stooges. Picking a prom dress.The Super Bowl.Oh, I know it's fashionable to make the Super Bowl a coed experience. It is also wrong. The annual over-hyped NFL championship game, which is played tonight, should be one of those times when a woman looks lovingly into her man's eyes, lets her voice drop to a sexy whisper, and says, "Go downstairs."
HERE’S WHY EVERYBODY MADE A GIANT MISTAKE

HERE’S WHY EVERYBODY MADE A GIANT MISTAKE

GLENDALE, Ariz. - No more predictions.If the Giants stunning the perfect Patriots in Super Bowl XLII didn't prove, once and for all, the folly of predicting sporting events, nothing will. All the TV panels, all the radio call-ins, all the "picks" columns in newspaper sports sections - what's the point? All we do is give fodder to the winning team to declare "nobody believed in us."
OUR PICKS

OUR PICKS

MITCH ALBOM COLTS 31, BEARS 17 The AFC was better this season. The Colts were the best of the AFC. The Bears have been wobbly in the two areas you can't be wobbly if you want to win a Super Bowl: quarterback and defense. If both of those are magnificent tonight, the Bears could pull the upset. But the Colts can control the game as long as they don't turn the ball over. Bet on Indy's win over New England to be the hump it needed to clear: The Super Bowl may actually be less pressure.
WHAT’S TRUE DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU STAND

WHAT’S TRUE DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU STAND

Joe Biden thought he was giving a compliment.He says it was a compliment.He promises it wasn't an insult.And it proves: We hear what we want to hear.Let's examine exactly what Biden told the New York Observer when asked about Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., as a presidential candidate. This is how it was widely quoted in the press: "I mean, you got the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."
GREAT DEBATE NOT DEAD YET

GREAT DEBATE NOT DEAD YET

Today, a tradition dies. Since I have been with this newspaper, Super Bowl weekend meant the annual debate between Curt Sylvester, our esteemed, long-time football writer, and me, our esteemed, long-time person he sat next to.Oh, the fun we had! Me telling Curt his pick was as thin as his hair. Curt calling me "Shorty." Me telling Curt I saw him in the hotel fish tank. Curt calling me "Shorty."

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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