OAKLAND, Calif. - Calvin Johnson took his place on the line, broke free on the snap and was open over the middle. Jon Kitna found him with a pass, Johnson cradled it in, took a few long strides with those two long legs and dove into paydirt. It was his first touchdown in his first game on the first week of the season, and he got up and ran excitedly through the end zone. In his exuberance, the youngest player on the Lions forgot about the ball. But Roy Williams, his fellow receiver, handed it to him as a souvenir.
The sky was a gentle blue, but it was raining all afternoon on the Wolverines, a kind of rain they rarely experience in the Big House. They were getting embarrassed, shown up, outplayed on national television in every way you can get outplayed in football.And it was raining boos.Those were Michigan fans making that ugly noise, fans wearing maize-and-blue T-shirts, fans who came out believing last week's shocking loss to Appalachian State was a fluke. And perhaps it was. Last week was an upset. This was just a butt-kicking.
Ever see those Three Card Monte schemes? Guy shifts around three cards; all you have to do is follow one. You point to it, you double your money.Looks so easy. So does the subprime mortgage world. Get a loan. Pay below-market rates. Don't worry if you haven't got money. By the time the rates go up, you'll find some.Both are essentially con games. But nothing forces you to play.You choose to.
TO THE MICHIGAN WOLVERINES:Tomorrow marks the last day of your national embarrassment. And the first day of the rest of your football lives.Already, you have learned a valuable lesson. How one minute you're on top of the world and the next you're on the bottom of someone's shoe. Remember it well. Remember how certain people thought you were championship material and now, after one loss, think you should stay out of the Top 25 all year. Remember how certain analysts celebrated Lloyd Carr last season and now want him broomed out of town.Remember it all.
Spit, glue, tape, bubble gum. The Tigers are on a leaky boat, grabbing what they can to plug their spurting holes, hoping to survive until the tide washes them to postseason shores. Wednesday night, the grizzled pirate Kenny Rogers, who had a blood clot removed from his shoulder in the spring, was taken out of the rusty trunk and pushed against the gushing water, asked - after six weeks away from the major league mound - to right the ship for a night.
MITCH ALBOM: YESThe word contend means to challenge for something, and unlike years past, I don't think the Lions will be out of the running by Halloween. If they win the division, they make the playoffs, and with the way Chicago traditionally flip-flops, who knows whether they'll behave like defending Super Bowl participants? So the Lions can contend for their division, which is more than we have said in recent years. Hey. Baby steps. Baby steps.Will Kitna be Lions' first Pro Bowl QB since 1971? NoLions record8-8Lions MVPJon Kitna
Can a season end the day it begins?It just did.The ant tripped the elephant. The skinny guy kicked sand in the bully's face, grabbed his girlfriend and stole his car. Some kids from Appalachian State came down from the Blue Ridge Mountains and delivered a sermon in Michigan Stadium, before 109,000 non-believers.Goliath falls.
Watching Joel Zumaya put more runners on base in the 10th inning than Nate Robertson had allowed in 8 2/3 , I was reminded of that moment in "The Ten Commandments" when Edward G. Robinson sneers, "Where's your messiah now, Moses?"Zumaya's return was so hyped, you'd have thought he was bringing a couple of holy tablets down from a mountain. That myth was quickly exploded in the hot hours Thursday afternoon, when Zumaya couldn't finish the little masterpiece Robertson started.
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.
