Bob Probert was in a hot dog joint the other day when a stranger spotted him and the stranger was drunk and all of a sudden, he's Probert's best friend. He throws his arm around him, he's slobbering, "Hey, Probie!" like they're old pals."He wanted me to go muskie fishing with him," Probert says. "He kept bothering me, saying let's go, let's go, we'll have a great time. And at the end he says, 'Hey, Probie, we'll get a cooler and I'll buy the beer.'
I'm all for the holiday spirit, but I'm not sure about Jim Arnold's latest Christmas idea: the Detroit Lions garbage can. Arnold, the Lions punter, says you can do anything with it -- "Use it as a party can, a storage can. Fill it with cans, and it's a can can."Of course, Lions fans might have other suggestions. They might like to put the Lions' defense inside the garbage can. Or maybe the owners manual for the run 'n' shoot.
* COWBOYS 24, LIONS 10: The only similarity between this game and last year's playoff win will be the traffic jam in the parking lot.* PHILADELPHIA 14, LA RAIDERS 10: Jim McMahon is back at quarterback, while Randall Cunningham sits on the bench, wearing a headband that says, "NOT MY FAULT."
I return from vacation. My arms are full. I can barely see over the things I carry. Brochures. Scuba fins. An elephant gun. Ideas. I have ideas."Look, boss," I say, dumping the mess on his desk. "Great stuff here. Mountain climbing in Ecuador. A kayak race in Siberia. Tractor pulls in Idaho. Great stuff."He glares at me."OK," I say. "Maybe the tractor thing isn't great. But we can work with it.""What are you talking about?" he says."Ideas. Story ideas. How we can get through August on the sports pages."
Nobody listens to pop music anymore; they watch it. They flick on MTV, plop in a couch, and let the images take over. What was once a drumbeat is now a cue for the video editor, jump cut, jump cut, dancing bodies, lips, hair, ocean waves, naked girls, gangs waving their fists, guitar players sticking their tongues out.
CHAPTER 4: Leggenda. 1.A legend.FORLI, Italy- They all wanted a piece of Bob McAdoo, all those people outside the bus, screaming and waving and cheering in Italian. Through the window he saw them, and thought to himself, "I better watch my wallet." So he slipped it in the pocket of his gym bag and..."BOB!" They were all over him. Hugging him. Slapping his shoulders. "SI, BOB!" "CIAO, BOB!"
MINNEAPOLIS -- All he has done is win the last five games he has started, and he may have just temporarily saved the Lions' season, so you can see why Bob Gagliano is the throwaway quarterback on this team, right? A rookie does what Gagliano did Sunday, tosses three touchdowns in a come-from-behind victory, the coach goes nuts, the kid's the next Joe Montana. Gagliano does it, and it's just the aging veteran pulling one out of his hat.
* Lions 21, Falcons 17: I fully expect the Lions to win their opener, unless Andre Rison pulls a gun and says he is "just protecting myself," in which case, I favor the Falcons by whatever they want.* Chicago 16, NY Giants 13: Already, I miss Ditka. Somehow "Iron Dave" doesn't have the same ring to it.
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.
