Detroit Free Press

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah -- It was the Olympic hockey semifinals, and standing behind the U.S. bench, wearing a dark ...

SALT LAKE CITY -- He's the one. The golden child. They all know it."C'MON BODE! . . ."It's the reason you saw a little more grit in their teeth as Bode Miller sliced down the giant slalom Thursday."C'MON, BODE! . . ."You could almost hear their prayer as he neared the finish."PLEEEASE, BODE! . . ."He's the reason the U.S. ski coaches and managers and poobahs all leapt a little higher when his hungry, wolfish style gave them another minor miracle, a silver medal from the back of the pack."YES, BODE, YES!"

SALT LAKE CITY -- The pebble has become an avalanche.Now the Russians want to go home. They're threatening to ...

SALT LAKE CITY -- It is raining down in Birmingham, Ala., and the air is a balmy 69 degrees. Yolanda Cooper, a senior sprinter at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, excitedly picks up the phone. She spent the previous night with her teammates watching her track coach, Vonetta Flowers, become the first black gold medalist in the history of the Winter Olympics. Vonetta, the woman who clocks her lap times? Vonetta, who runs alongside her? That Vonetta? Won the Olympic bobsled?

SALT LAKE CITY -- It is raining down in Birmingham, Ala., and the air is a balmy 69 degrees. Yolanda Cooper, a ...

SALT LAKE CITY -- Blame your parents. If they had named you Apolo when you popped from the womb, then you, too, ...

SALT LAKE CITY -- I knew this would happen if we didn't change the borders. The American sports mentality has finally infected Canada."Other countries hate us," declared Wayne Gretzky, the man who put together Canada's Olympic hockey team, which plays Finland in the lose-and-you're-out round starting today. "Nobody wants us to win but the guys in our locker room."It sickens my stomach to turn the TV on and hear some of the things they're saying about us. They're loving us not doing well. It's a big story for them."

SALT LAKE CITY -- One more night like this, and skaters will be dumping their coaches left and right.Michelle ...