RALEIGH, N.C. -- It was only a number. It was only one shot. And Brett Hull has taken a million shots in nearly two decades in this league. But here he was Monday in the Stanley Cup finals, taking a beautiful feed from Boyd Devereaux, dropping to one knee and firing away. The "ping" off the post was like a magic password that opened the trap door. The puck ricocheted into the net, a secret tree house appeared, and Hull climbed into a very exclusive club.
You want to know why no one trusts politicians? Take a look at campaign finance reform, which is now, after a year's worth of hype, lying in shreds on the floor of Congress while lawmakers point fingers at one another and yell: "Your fault! Your fault!"Honestly, I've seen more admirable behavior in "The Sopranos." At least they admit they're crooks.
Bill Plaschke writes for the Los Angeles Times.Their leading scorer goes to work in the ideal accessory of all unfortunates who wear the name "Pistons" on their shirt.A mask.Their leading rebounder's unkempt hair has not been cut since the last time his team made a scoreboard sweat.About five years, he says.The only bit of greatness in their locker room is the engraving upon the one and only championship ring there.Lakers, it reads.
Things we forget about Tayshaun Prince: 1) He is only 24. 2) He barely played last season. 3) He is a college graduate. 4) He already has, in his young adult life, moved from the West to the Southeast to the Midwest. 5) While he looks like a cartoonishly skinny, open-mouthed kid, he grew up in Compton, Calif., the hard side of L.A., which means 6) he really wanted to be drafted by the Lakers and 7) he is about to go home and play them.
Marty Mornhinweg may be smarter than you think. He may be tougher than you think. He is definitely more confident than you think. Portrayed in recent weeks as a man dangling by a thread over a pit of snapping alligators -- and lucky to even have the thread -- the second-year Lions coach shows no signs of panic. In fact, if he had his way, he'd show no signs of anything but determination.
These days, and at his age, I'm not sure what Chris Chelios' best move is. But I can tell you this: shrugging is at the top the list.Ask about the pressure. He shrugs it off. Ask about his skills. He shrugs it off. Ask about his notable performance in the playoffs so far, or his keeping up with guys half his age, or his pounding and finally outlasting a Vancouver goliath named Todd Bertuzzi.Shrugs it off.
It is not for me, as a man who only comes up to Shaquille O'Neal's belly button, to judge the words coming out of his mouth. I can barely hear the words coming out of his mouth.Same goes for 7-foot-2 Dikembe Mutombo. With him, I can hear what he's saying, I just can't understand it. I know the man speaks five languages. My question is: Is English one of them?But hey, who am I to get in the middle of a big man battle in the NBA Finals? Two giants bumping, shoving and pounding on each other -- and that's just during the press conferences.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Hey, all he said was they would win. He didn't say he was going make it happen. Just because Rasheed Wallace missed his first shot, his second, third and fourth shots, his fifth and sixth shots, made his seventh, then missed his eighth and ninth, then threw up an air ball with his 10th, hey, that doesn't mean he was wrong, does it?
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.
