CHICAGO - Ben Wallace stood at the loneliest place in his world, the free-throw line. He dribbled. He shot. Swish. He dribbled. He shot. Swish again. The place exploded. Ben nodded. The fans had their cheer. The Bulls had their win, 102-87. And the Pistons had another game to play.They are on borrowed time now, these Pistons; they are borrowing it from themselves. Every quarter they extend this series is a quarter they should be saving for the next one. Every minute they play these Bulls is a minute they should be resting up for someone else.
The year he was born, a guy named Johnny Carson started working on "The Tonight Show," John Glenn went around the Earth in a spacecraft, and the United States discovered Soviet missile bases in Cuba.Chris Chelios is still skating.The year he started grade school, a doctor named Christiaan Barnard performed the world's first heart transplant and an actor named Dustin Hoffman mumbled, "Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me."Chris Chelios is still skating.
I'm less concerned about Paris Hilton going to jail than I am about her getting out. When she gets out, the fawning over her will be even worse, multiplied by the fact that - unlike most moments in her vapid life - there is actually something to talk about. Listen. You can hear it already:
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Mike Babcock sat alone in a windowless space in the bowels of the Sharks' arena. Because reporters were rushing to file stories, there were mostly empty chairs before him. He spoke about victory, the sense of pride and relief.But it felt too small, like a presidential candidate talking at a bus stop. So we should take a moment here to appreciate how damn hard it is to do what the Red Wings have just done: reach the conference finals as a favored team.
SAN JOSE, Calif. - As we always say, you can never have enough Swedes on your hockey team. Mikael Samuelsson may not be the first name you think of when rattling off Swedish Wings, but Monday night he was the Nordic Nuke, the Scandinavian Slayer, the Go-To Goteburger. His two goals in less than five minutes continued a streak of Swedish successes that have finally, finally, given the Red Wings two things they desperately wanted:1) A return to the Western Conference finals for the first time in five years, and 2) A day off.Swedeness and light.
Josh Hancock is dead. That fact does not change. He was dead the day the accident happened. He was dead the day the Cardinals attended his funeral. He was dead the day they glumly returned to baseball, wearing his number on their sleeves. And he is dead today, with the toxicology report showing he was drunk by nearly twice the legal limit when his Ford Explorer plowed into a tow truck.He is dead today with the news that he was talking on his cell phone at the time of the crash - talking to a woman about meeting her at a bar.
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.
