Detroit Free Press

'So what is your new book about?"I've been having problems with that question. When you wait six years to write something new, when you pour your heart and soul into making it good, explaining it seems hollow and unworthy."But what is it about?" How do you answer? Strangely enough, seeing those images on the anniversary of Sept. 11, I think I found a way.

EASTLANSING -- Less than a minute into Wednesday night's Michigan State-North Carolina game, the shot clocks went out, and someone had to root around in the storage closets and drag out the old corner units. Prop 'em up. Plug 'em in. So already, the night was going back in time.

Don't look now, but cable TV news just wet its pants. The story it prays for every programming day tumbled from the lips of a clean-cut young district attorney Friday afternoon, against a backdrop of the gorgeous Colorado Rockies."After much deliberation, charges were filed today against Kobe Bean Bryant," said Mark Hurlbert, the DA in Eagle County, Colo. "The defendant is charged with one count of sexual assault, a class three felony. . . ."Penalties are (if convicted) prison terms: four years to life imprisonment."

There used to be this "Saturday Night Live" routine in which Chevy Chase, as the Weekend Update newscaster, reported on the death of Spain's dictator, Francisco Franco. Every week, Chevy would say, "This just in: Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead!"It's starting to get that way with Barry Sanders, isn't it? Every few months, we get a new report, a man on the microphone, a newspaper account, an eyewitness. The message is always the same: "This just in. Barry Sanders is still retired."This just in: Water is still wet.This just in: The sun is still hot.

Good morning. Are you ready to kill someone?We do it Monday. All of us. We kill a man. You, me, everyone on your block.There will be no actual blood on our hands. None that we see, anyhow. But it will be there. A drop of blood. Human blood. Blood belonging to the worst mass murderer in history, Timothy McVeigh, a wicked, remorseless killer -- but blood nonetheless.

OH, SURE, that might have been fun. Different girlfriend every week? Being a "player" on the party scene?Might have been fun. Just wasn't him. Not A. J. Granger. When he arrived as a freshman at Michigan State, he already had a high school sweetheart. And after he graduates in a couple of months, he's going to marry her. Same girl."The other guys on the team can't believe it," he admits. "They keep saying to me, now you got four months left as a single man, now you got three months left . . ."

Let's begin with the brussels sprouts. There was an attempt at a world record: Who could eat the most in one minute?"You won't want to miss this!" the host said.Now, I had no idea they kept records on brussels sprouts. But I am behind on all things British and Irish. This became clear during a book tour last week in Dublin and London.

This is a story about taking pride in your work, whether it's saving children or cleaning toilets -- or, in Willie Davis' case, both.Willie Davis is a janitor. Oh, you can call him a custodian, or a caretaker, or a sanitation engineer. You can call him the King of England if you want, he still takes a broom every day and cleans the dirtiest corners of Arthur Smith Junior High School in Alexandria, La.And when he's done sweeping, he mops. And he waxes the floors. He does the windows. He mows the lawn. He plucks the weeds. When he has to, he cleans the toilets.