There's a line from the movie "Stand By Me," a line written by Stephen King, which says "I never had any friends like the ones I had when I was 12 years old." I have thought about that line a lot recently. It seems more true than ever.Like most of you, I've made many friends as an adult. They are, in my eyes, wonderful people. Great senses of humor. Admirable. Compassionate.
Willie Green grabbed the water bucket and snuck up behind Wayne Fontes. Photographers raced over. Fontes must have known. He stood there anyhow, looking innocently away as the clock ticked down. Whoosh! Green doused his boss. Fontes yelped.Wouldn't you know it?Even when he wins, they dump on him."I can't tell you how great I feel," a raspy-voiced Fontes said after the Lions captured the Central Division, beating Green Bay, 30-20, in the last game of the regular season. "It shows what you can do when players believe."
CHICAGO -- The temptation is to say "Gimme mine." Others do. Businessmen. Politicians. Oh, they put up a good front about "what's best for everyone." But in the end it's their own skin they worry about.And then there's Steve Yzerman. He has been skating near the top of his profession for years and has watched his peer group of superstars get their dance with the Stanley Cup -- Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Mario Lemieux. So when will it be his turn? When does that big wheel stop on No. 19?
Olden Polynice was 7 years old when he came to America. He got off the plane at Kennedy Airport, holding his younger sister in one hand and his younger brother in the other. He was supposed to wait at the gate, but instead, in a new country, in a strange place, he decided to start walking.
The room was full of shoulda-been heroes. Mel Gray, who took a kickoff and burst like a gazelle through the guts of the Tampa Bay defense, an out-of-your-seat touchdown that had teammates on hands and knees thanking God for his presence. Gray shoulda been the hero. But now he tucked in his shirt and pulled on his belt. "It would've been nice," was all he would say.
TORONTO -- Before we talk about the game, which the Tigers lost, or the ill-fated starting pitcher, John Cerutti, who used to hang out with the Prince of Monaco -- I am not making this up -- I must tell you about the GRAND OPENING.Of the roof.I have seen many things as a sports writer, having done this job since the Captain and Tennille were actually allowed out in public. But there is one thing I have never seen in all my years: I have never seen a retractable roof open.
Oh, say, can you seeMy eyes? If you can -- Then my hair's too short.-- from the musical 'Hair'I used to sing that song. I used to sing it in junior high, when I came out of the gym class shower. I used to sing it as I defiantly held my hair flat against my forehead, for 20 minutes, so that, when it dried, it would indeed hang over my eyes. And then I could perform the coolest, grooviest move on the planet: flicking my head to get my bangs out of my eyes.
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.
