Detroit Free Press

HASEK OUT FOR SEASON; CUP CHASE FALLS TO CUJOGOALIE’S TROUBLESOME GROIN ENDS RED WINGS’ $6-MILLI

HASEK OUT FOR SEASON; CUP CHASE FALLS TO CUJOGOALIE’S TROUBLESOME GROIN ENDS RED WINGS’ $6-MILLI

That thump you just heard was the sound of a city falling to its knees and begging Curtis Joseph to forgive and forget.Or maybe it was Mike Ilitch fainting.Truth is, there were many things going bump in Hockeytown on Tuesday after Red Wings goaltender Dominik Hasek announced that the Grand Experiment was over, that his groin was not improving, that he was done playing hockey this year.
LIONS MAKE SMART HIREMARIUCCI SIGNS 5-YEAR, $25-MILLION DEAL

LIONS MAKE SMART HIREMARIUCCI SIGNS 5-YEAR, $25-MILLION DEAL

Put on the coffee. Pull open the shades. The Detroit Lions, awakening from a decades-long slumber, are today, officially, entering the 21st Century.They are, for the first time, hiring a coach that other teams actually covet. They are, for the first time, paying the kind of money the top teams pay and the top coaches get. They are, for the first time, jumping feet first into the sandbox with the other top NFL teams, looking to a proven, young winner to guide them -- instead of some who-dat face they got on the cheap.
WHEN NEEDED, OLD GLORY IS ALWAYS THERE

WHEN NEEDED, OLD GLORY IS ALWAYS THERE

That our flag was still there through the gloom and despair hanging on porches, flapping in schoolyards painted on cheeks of young mothers whose husbands are leaving to face the rockets' red glare, bombs bursting in air and our flag is still there
WE TURN OUR SERIAL KILLERS INTO CELEBRITIES

WE TURN OUR SERIAL KILLERS INTO CELEBRITIES

How could someone do that?" a friend of mine asked. "How does someone get so sick?"He was talking about the sniper who has been systematically killing innocent people in Maryland and Virginia, stalking them in their everyday acts, then shooting them as they put gas in their car or mow their lawns."He's jut picking them off, like target practice," my friend said. "He kills one, then he goes and kills another! What could possibly make a person that twisted?"
WITH EMINEM, REAL MUSICIANS GET A BUM RAP

WITH EMINEM, REAL MUSICIANS GET A BUM RAP

Editor's note: This column contains lyrics that could be offensive. But the Free Press thinks they're important to understand the columnist's view.So I went to the Eminem concert in a football stadium last week and here's one good thing I can say about it right off the bat: There were no long guitar solos. That was good. There were also no musicians. That was bad.
BIRTH OF TWINS GIVES SHANAHAN NEW LIFE

BIRTH OF TWINS GIVES SHANAHAN NEW LIFE

It was a ride to work like any other ride to work, except Brendan Shanahan had 50 cigars in the backseat. He would give them out to his teammates. He would shake their hands. He would tell them the details of the story, the date (Saturday); the time (3 in the afternoon); the names (Maggie and Jack); the birth order (Maggie first, Jack second, one minute apart); his wife's condition (good); his condition (good); the grandparents' condition (over the moon).It was a ride to work like any other ride to work -- except everything had changed.
PACK COMES FOR DINNER — AND IT’S DELICIOUS

PACK COMES FOR DINNER — AND IT’S DELICIOUS

BECAUSE I like Brett Favre, as a guy and as a quarterback, I almost felt bad for him at the end of Sunday's game, surrounded by Lions, looking desperately downfield, forcing a bad pass and watching it land in the arms of the wrong guy to choke a would-be miracle....Well, I said "almost."In the end, I choose to feel about Favre's fate the way I did about eating crocodile down in Australia: It's payback. Eat or be eaten.
FROM ANGOLA TO APATHY: THE DREAM TEAM STORY

FROM ANGOLA TO APATHY: THE DREAM TEAM STORY

SYDNEY, Australia -- Eight years ago, when NBA players arrived at the Barcelona Olympics, it was Moses at the Red Sea. Everything stopped. Everyone stared. The first game of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and the rest of the Dream Team was an E-ticket ride, dignitaries, high rollers, impossible to get a seat.

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.

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