If there's one thing that should get everyone's attention, it's the end of the world.BOOM!Do we have your attention?Maybe, maybe not. Last week, a huge setback occurred in the nuclear bomb arena. The United States -- which leads the planet in nuclear technology the way the Atlanta Braves lead baseball in good pitching -- rejected a treaty that outlaws exploding nuclear devices for testing purposes.Let me repeat: We rejected it.
MIAMI-- Few reporters talk to offensive linemen. They are big, thick-necked creatures who toil anonymously in the mud and muck, so that a flashy, famous running back can zip through the holes they open and score touchdowns.Running backs, we want to talk to. Quarterbacks, we want to talk to. Receivers, we want to talk to.Offensive linemen? It's like interviewing Madonna's limo driver.The only thing you might ask a lineman is, "Pardon me, did you see the running back?"
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Some sat on bridge chairs. Some sat on the blue carpet. Some just leaned against the wall and sighed. This was awful. They weren't even in uniform. Shawn Burr dug his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Darren McCarty crossed his legs, one sneaker over the other. Reporters filed past, looking them over, moving on."It's like being doggies in the window," McCarty mumbled. "We might as well be in a pet shop."
In the empty years, when Doug Collins was out of coaching, All-Star weekend was when he and his daughter, Kelly, would share some quality time. Of course, because they both love basketball, this still meant going to the game. But they sat together in the stands. They laughed and pointed out special plays. And when the game ended, they went not to the tunnel, but to the parking lot.
In the end, you could no more stop them than you could stop the moon. They rose to the occasion, they rose to the challenge, and finally -- when the last seconds ticked away and Chris Osgood threw his hands into the air and leaped into a hug from Larry Murphy as a lonesome octopus came flying onto the ice -- finally, they raised the roof. They were back to the big stage, the Stanley Cup finals, and they burst through the curtain with a certain swagger, as if they knew it would happen, as if they've been here before.
MIAMI-- "When he arrived here, we're all like, 'We traded for him? He's going to be our quarterback?' " -- Jamal Anderson, Falcons running backFootball will forgive you many things. Fragility is not one of them.You can have a big mouth. You can oversleep. You can have a police record. But if you break too easily, they start looking elsewhere.
TAMPA, FLA. -- From one side came defensive lineman Chidi Ahanotu, breathing fire. From the other side came defensive end Warren Sapp, ready to chew someone's arm off. There was no escape. No hole to dive into. It was like being trampled by buffalo, and all Gus Frerotte could do on this final fourth down was try to wrangle his hand free and whisk the ball away, like a man heaving the treasure as he goes off the cliff.Incomplete pass. The Tampa crowd roared.And that was the end of our kidding ourselves around here.
INDIANAPOLIS -- It wasn't the way he chewed gum as he jogged out of the tunnel, nor the ease with which he carried the ball in his first lay-up drill, one-handed, effortless, as if putting a glass on a shelf. No. What convinced you the guy was back for real were those familiar beads of sweat glistening on his smoothly shaved head, exerting himself again, in basketball, after nearly two years away. His number was already retired and a statue erected in his honor. Now he stripped off his warm-ups to the familiar red-and-black uniform. The crowd exploded.
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.
