It is easy to imagineAmerica without prohockey. Look around. We are living it.The NHL has been shut down for three months. Guess what? Life goes on. Sports go on. Remember when people used to say "football, baseball, basketball and hockey" as if they were four equal slices of pie? Well, ESPN hasn't lost 25 percent of its content, newspapers haven't cut 25 percent of their space, and the idea hockey might constitute a large chunk of the U.S. sports stage is now laughable.
Ah, parity.The idea that no team is too much better than another. The idea that almost all teams have a shot at the playoffs.It was on display Sunday afternoon at Ford Field. The Lions and Cardinals, both proud possessors of 4-7 records, were nonetheless in the thick of the playoff hunt. And so, before a crowd that needed a Dunkin' Donuts mascots race to be stirred into making noise, a battle was waged.
So you decide to visit the relatives for Thanksgiving. It's a long distance, but that's why we have airplanes. And that's why, in order to make the Thursday afternoon meal, you leave Monday at 4 a.m.Traffic to the airport is normal for holiday time, meaning backed up three miles. When you finally enter the airport complex, you check the signs for your airline. You see a Spirit, a Song and a Ted. These are airlines? Where does Ted fly? Ted Land? And what, you wonder, is an Aer Lingus? Is that X-rated?
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.
