Detroit Free Press

Red Wings goalie Chris Osgood was interviewed on "The Mitch Albom Show" on WJR-AM (760) last week. Albom talked ...

NEWS ITEM: American Airlines now will charge $15 to check your first bag. Last week other airlines announced they would do the same.My sweet, old grandfather came down from heaven recently, just in time to join me at the airport. He'd been gone for years, so a plane trip had him excited."Why aren't you wearing a suit and tie?" he asked. "This is an airplane, not a bus."Planes aren't a big deal anymore, Gramps."Pooh. You fly in the sky, it's a big deal."We pulled up to the curb."What, no one to take our luggage?"

CORONA DEL MAR, Calif. - You often hear pro athletes - especially pro hockey players - talk about "riding the bike." They mean the stationary bike exercise machine, and they ride it to train, to recuperate, to push their lungs and muscles. Some hockey stars all but live on those things.

The nephew asked the uncle if he would come to his high school graduation. The uncle said sure. It was far away. Another country. But the nephew and the uncle always had been close. In fact, the nephew looked so much like the uncle, it astonished people. They used to mug in front of the mirror, the two of them, making the same face, the same squint, the same grin. It was like looking at old and young versions of the same face."He's really not my son," the uncle laughingly would tell people of his sister's child. "Believe me, that's not possible."

MITCH ALBOMMy favorite moment was watching Chris Osgood go down to stop the final shot in Game 6, then leap to his feet in celebration. The difference between those two postures - and the barely two seconds between them - say everything about the impossibly narrow margin needed for capturing the Cup. And Ozzie, more than most, really threw a weight off his shoulders with that final horn. A great sports snapshot.MICHAEL ROSENBERG

"Obviously, the Euros knew it and the Canadians had no idea what we were singing. It was something about winning and being champions."KRIS DRAPER, on the song the Wings sung in the locker room PITTSBURGH -"Hey," Kris Draper yelled, "is the Cup down there?""Yep," came the answer. "In the middle of the room."Draper, surrounded by his family, put an arm on one of his children."Let's go."

PITTSBURGH - One last bullet came flying at Chris Osgood. It had kill all over it. He stopped it with his glove, pushed it away with his stick, and as the blue light swirled to mark the end of the game, he was flat on the ice. But not for long. The Red Wings were coming home. The Stanley Cup was coming with them. As they say in fairy tales, "All's Well That Ends Red."Well, in Detroit fairy tales.