Detroit Free Press

Let's make this simple: If you're a hockey player, being a Red Wing is a pretty good job. Tonight, 20 men will ...

There was a popular song during the first World War. Its title was "Over There." It encouraged young men to "get your gun" and "make your mother proud of you." It told the world "the Yanks are coming . . . and we won't come back till it's over over there."Today, for most of us, war is indeed, "over there." It arrives only in green-screen TV reports and controlled press briefings and presidential photo ops that say "Mission Accomplished." Some of us would like to keep it that way.So last week, when images of flag-draped coffins appeared on the Internet, many complained.

Millions of years from now, when all that is left of mankind are some dusty ruins and a tape of the Red Wings' 2004 playoffs, aliens will assume that the closing ritual of every NHL game was to have an opposing player skate toward the goalie, and casually -- some might even say matter-of-factly -- ram an elbow into his head.Which pretty much sums up Ville Nieminen's last few seconds Thursday night.

In the NBA, there are players who rise, and players who rise to the occasion, and here was Ben Wallace rising so ...

Brett Hull is talking on a cell phone as he drives to the airport with his carpool buddy, Chris Chelios. I am ...

Things we learned from the NFL draft:1) Sunshine is overrated.2) Joey Harrington can now look to his right and his left.3) It's OK to draft 20-year-olds, but not the ones who go to the Supreme Court.Let's begin with the sunshine.Silly me.Here I thought all anyone could want in life was beach, breeze and beautiful blondes.Obviously, a subway that smells like urine is more attractive.

The Professor said good-bye last week, retiring from the game with little fanfare and only a few paragraphs in the ...