Snow covers most of the house now, the front door, the mailbox, the circular driveway. From the outside, it is just another suburban home, a place where children might build a snowman on the front lawn. But there are no children here, no snow man. The doors and windows are shut tight. People whisper and point when they pass. Here is why: Beneath the snow, the word "NIGGER" is written in the grass. Someone took weed killer one night and burned it in giant letters.
We lost a great man this week. He died in a hospital bed in Philadelphia. Few people noticed, because he didn't have a hit TV show or a People magazine cover. You make your living playing jazz saxophone in America, you don't expect a big funeral.
* DOLPHINS 31, LIONS 17: I remember in 1985, when Don Shula was dealing with the Lions in a possible trade for the NFL rights to Anthony Carter. The Lions got picky. Shula said, "Who do these guys think they are?" And he traded Carter to Minnesota instead. Six years later, Shula has the same attitude toward the Lions. And, unfortunately, he's gonna get his way again.* NY GIANTS 23, CHICAGO 20: Lawrence Taylor is complaining. He says he gets mugged by opponents on every play. Hey, LT. You're from New York. They're just trying to make you feel at home.
C HARLOTTE, N.C. -- The shot was a prayer; it left Scotty Thurman's hand with one second left on the shot clock and arched so high, the President of the United States could have reached out and touched it from his special seat in the upper deck. Who knows? Maybe he did. How else could a championship like this be decided, but by presidential decree?
"I am leaving, I am leaving"but the fighter still remains -- Paul Simon "The Boxer"He was playing touch football on the lawn of the library. Just another college afternoon. A student came running over, told him an NFL team was on the phone. Down at coach's office. Hurry up. Dave Krieg laughed, threw another pass.
MINNEAPOLIS -- He did it with mirrors, right? He was air-dropped in by helicopter? Wait. I know -- he was disguised in a Vikings uniform the first three quarters, then ripped off the purple on that first play of the fourth. That's it? Something like that? There has to be an explanation for how wide open Herman Moore was on that one incredible play, Halloween night, when the weirdness began and didn't stop until the Lions had a strange, questionable, but ultimately huge come-from-behind victory.
The Free Press' college basketball writers reveal how they see the Road to Minneapolis. Last year, they didn't see the Road to Indianapolis too clearly. No one predicted Duke would win the national championship.
Stop the season. Right now. On a high note. Quick, somebody, knock me out and let me sleep until next September. After all, isn't this what we dream about? Rodney Peete throwing touchdown bombs? The defense sacking the quarterback? A near-sellout crowd making airplane noise as the Lions dance on the Silverdome turf? A happy ending? Isn't that what we dream about? Stop the season. Quick, somebody get me a hammer."But what about the record?" says the voice of reason. "What about the Lions' losing record? After all, this just makes five wins against nine losses."
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.
