It's silly season again. The NFL draft is a few days away. At some point in history, the draft went from an insider thing to an outsider thing. That is when it got silly. It used to be a bunch of bleary-eyed football coaches in small rooms with chalkboards. Now there are endless TV updates, devoted Web sites, all-day Internet conversations, talk radio shows - all about which team might take which player with which pick.
I was sitting at the Pistons game, fans screaming, giant men racing up the court, when Matt Dobek, the Pistons' PR vice president, pointed at a TV and said, "My god, did you see this?"There in the corner of the screen, was a "breaking news" alert: David Halberstam killed in a car crash.
The day he signed here, as an NBA rookie fresh out of Duke, his father had to race off and purchase a razor and shaving cream to get rid of his son's "college peach fuzz." Grant Hill had never used a razor before - always used electric - and all through the news conference, "my face was killing me."
Let's start with the one you haven't heard of. His name is Valtteri Filppula, although most call him "Fil," some call him "Val," his nickname is listed as "Flip," and I've heard him referred to as "the Finn"- since he is the first true Finnish player to play for the Red Wings. Whatever you call him, he is a surprise. He just turned 23 and has one of those soft, young hockey faces that you see up close - dirty-blond hair, deep-set eyes, few whiskers - and you think, in another life, this kid is on Tiger Beat magazine and not scoring two goals in his first two NHL playoff games.
Steve Yzerman wore a charcoal suit and a dark tie and he sat way up in the highest row in Joe Louis Arena. From here, you'll note, it is impossible to cast a shadow."It's their team now," he said.And down on the ice, indeed it was. The Red Wings began their real season Thursday night, the only one anyone around here cares about, the playoffs, the opener, and if you haven't watched them since Yzerman was wearing the "C," well, they looked different.
The Duke players made their statements and the cameras cut away. Too bad. That's when the real story started.I'd like the cameras to keep rolling. I'd like them to follow Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans after the crowds disappear, in the months and years ahead.I'd like to follow them when they apply for a job, and the company interviewing them has a staff meeting and someone in that staff meeting says, "Maybe we should stay away from this guy. After all, that whole rape thing "
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.
