Wait a minute, teenagers. Not so fast. Come back here with that fashion article printed in this very newspaper just two days ago, the one with the headline "PROM-ising Alternatives" that dealt with new ways to dress for your high school prom without looking traditional, which is to say, a dweeb.Gimme that paper!riiip . . . swiiip . . . shrshhh . . . There now.
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland -- Before I get to my newest favorite athlete and my personal choice to win this year's British Open, a golfer who is allergic to grass, I want to tell you about an exciting new travel experience: sitting on a highway, waiting for a Scottish tow truck! Sounds great, huh? This is how I spent much of my first day here Wednesday, after my rent-a-car broke down somewhere between The Firth of Forth and The Fifth of Schnapps.
I find them in the basement, right were I left them, on a dusty shelf, squeezed together, like cold cuts in a sandwich. Janis Joplin. The Beach Boys. The King and I. Did I always have this many? "Long time, no see," I say.My albums say nothing.Are they mad? It has been a while. Ever since that birthday, seven years ago, when the CD player arrived. It was black and shiny, with cool new gadgets and a little drawer that opened and closed.
When Louis Willie was 13 years old, he boarded a Dallas streetcar and made his way to the back, past the "Colored" sign, where it was safe for him to sit. It was a September morning, during the Depression years, and he was on his way to school.Soon the car was filled. A middle-aged white man lumbered down the aisle. Seeing no empty seats, he looked at Willie and said, "Get up, boy.""No," Louis said.The man glared. "I said get up, boy."
BARCELONA, Spain -- The class was Humiliation 101. The teachers were Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. The student was a baby-faced Croatian named Toni Kukoc.By the time they were done with him, Kukoc was small enough to fit through a keyhole -- and when he started the game, he was 6-feet-10. Poor Toni. I guess it's not enough that his country has been reduced to rubble. Michael and Scottie wanted to get in a few shots, too.
LILLEHAMMER, Norway -- The meeting room is small, with an oak table, chairs and thin curtains on the window. The big man enters without fanfare. No staff behind him. No flag. No official uniform. The translator is provided by Norwegians, and once upon a time, that would have been unthinkable.
He began to die in a grotesque fashion, dropping to the floor, convulsing in spasms, his arms and legs twitching as teammates stared in horror. Like many people, I cannot get that image of Hank Gathers out of my head. The question is: Should it be there in the first place?
BARCELONA, Spain -- I had promised myself I would go the whole weekend without speaking, writing, or even thinking the words "Dream Team."But this is too good to resist.It now seems that our rich and talented NBA heroes -- whom we sent here to stomp on those commie heathens and bring home the old basketball glory -- may not step up for their Olympic gold medal after all.In fact, Michael Jordan, the biggest star on the team, said, "They can mail me the medal. I'm not getting up on that victory stand."
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.
