On a weekend when we impeached the president, lost a future speaker of the House and bombed a foreign country, it's comforting to know that certain stories remain unchanged.Ladies and gentlemen, the Detroit Lions.On Sunday, the Lions played their last home game of 1998, and they closed the local show by once again promising to do better next year. Of course, they promised that for this year. You see how this repeats.
When those in power say they're doing what the American people want, you can pretty much bet they have their own interests in mind.Take Kenneth Starr. For the past four years, he has pursued the president's every conversation, memo, phone call and sneeze. He has spent more than $40 million in taxpayer money. He insists he is doing what the American people want -- even when the American people tell him they're sick of him.
There goes autumn. Before it even started. Detroit's football season has been knifed at the knees, it is bent, bleeding, broken -- and the trees haven't dropped their leaves yet. The Lions lost Sunday, which is no longer news around here, but how they lost was unique, even for them. Blown snaps. A rainstorm of penalty flags. Last year's quarterback returning to burn them. And the final crushing blow: Superman humbled.
ATLANTA -- Carl Lewis was standing next to me on the set of "Good Morning America" Friday, wearing frayed tan shorts, a matching top, and sandals with no socks. It was 7:45 a.m., and everyone was yawning. Carl was with his agent and some guy who is co-writing Carl's new autobiography. None of them seemed in a hurry to get anywhere.
Well, football fans, the NFL playoffs, known to insiders as "games that are actually close," are now officially over. Which means: Time to duck.Over the next two weeks, you will be bombarded with Super Bowl Previews, Super Bowl Extras, Super Bowl Insiders, Super Bowl Extravaganzas, Super Bowl Close-Ups, Super Bowl Analysis, and Super Bowl Commercials Featuring Michael Jordan.After which will come the actual game, a nail-biting 52-10 victory for the NFC team.
The first thing I saw when I entered the Silverdome parking lot Sunday night was a Lions fan leaning against his car. He had a bag over his head.This was not an encouraging sign. As headgear goes, the bag rates low on the sports list, behind the rainbow wig, the big piece of cheese, and the beer cans with plastic sucking straws. Still, I had to wonder how many fans would be there at all -- including Mr. Baghead -- if Barry Sanders were not on the team.
The last time I saw the mother she was hiding on a couch, her head wrapped in a bandana, her eyes as narrow as coin slots. She was coming off a crack cocaine high, in a burned-out house in Detroit's northwest side, with a hole in the roof, no heat, one working light bulb, floors covered in dirt. This was home to Dorothy Chatman and her teenage son, Deshawn."Have you ever seen your son play basketball?" I asked her that day."Basketball is what he's into now," she sniffed. "Next year ...it'll be something else."
Free Press sports writers pick the Rose Bowl:MITCH ALBOM First we never heard of Ryan Leaf, then he was going to win the Heisman, then he was going to single-handedly beat Michigan. I prefer first impressions. Michigan 31, Washington State 10.KEITH GAVE
By the time you read this, I will be home. At least I should be home. On a book tour, you never know. I might be stuck in a St. Louis radio station, between Oasis records.Which is not an exaggeration. There I was, out on tour for "Tuesdays With Morrie" -- which is a small, inspirational book about an old man who is dying talking to a young man about what's really important in life -- so naturally I was ushered into an FM alternative rock station, where a disc jockey introduced me by fading down the volume on -- I'm not kidding here -- the new Oasis single.
MEMO TO: Bobby RossFROM: William Clay Ford, OwnerEureka, Bobby! I think you've found it.Remember that team you talked about when I hired you? The kind of team you wanted to build here, the kind that hits and makes plays and beats teams it's not supposed to beat? Freeze it right there, Bobby, my boy. Freeze it on this victory against the Packers. You're onto something here. As my granddaddy said, "I think they'll buy this model."
Today should be a sellout. Tiger Stadium should be rocking with noise and fans should wave painted bedsheets that read "TRAM AND LOU FOREVER." There should be network TV announcers hyping the streak, telling viewers, "What you see this afternoon may never be seen again, two players who started their careers on the same day and played beside each other ever since, 19 seasons, one team, longer than any shortstop and second baseman combo in American League history. . . ."
NAGANO, Japan -- "I hate to be negative, but this was a complete waste of time."-- Keith Tkachuk, after Team USA was eliminatedBy the time you read this, our red, white and (mostly) blue hockey team will be on its way home, its sticks between its legs. Not only did our men fail to outshine the rest of the world at these Olympic Games, they didn't even outshine their U.S. female counterparts, who captured the gold in splendid fashion.
