ST. LOUIS -- Put down those bats and gloves. Drop those box scores. Just for today we're talking mood. Color. Flavor. For all you unfortunate souls who can't be here at this All-Muh-ZU- rah World Series, and you don't know what you're missing -- but then, how could you know what you're missing? How could anyone know what they're missing, come to think of it? -- I am here to capture some of the sights and sounds and smells. A Day in the Life of an I-70 Classic. Spanning the streets. Leaving no Bud can unturned. The thrill of the foam, the agony of the hangover.
Pop quiz. Here's the question: 1. Roger Craig is:A) A baseball manager.B) A running back.C) The same person, in different shoes.The answer, of course, is C), which explains why, when Craig talked to his pitcher in Saturday night's National League playoff game, he said: "X-screen red on three, ready, break!!"
BOSTON -- Well, now. Wasn't that a nice little visit to Fenway Park? Anything else we can break on our way out?Tigers win. Red Sox lose. In Boston. Did you hear that, America? RED SOX LOSE IN BOSTON. THE STREAK IS OVER. No doubt that will get more attention than Detroit scoring 18 runs in one game -- as much as any American League team has scored this year.Wait.Did I say 18 runs?Yes. I did. The Tigers? They don't score that in a week, do thay? Here is a synopsis of the game: SCRREECH!* percent$ . . . ayee!
ANN ARBOR -- Must have been the pope.How else do you explain this thrashing, this 26-7 loss to Notre Dame, the worst Michigan defeat in 20 years? In the opener? Whoa. Michigan doesn't lose home openers under Bo Schembechler, does it? It hadn't in the last 18 seasons.And now it has. Badly."Was there anything positive in that game?" someone asked Schembechler after the turnover-plagued defeat by the Irish."No . . . no . . . " the coach answered, biting his lip, "as a matter of fact . . . no."So, in other words, no.
BOSTON -- He was running alone before it was halfway over. No one breathing down his neck. No footsteps to worry about. The other 4,738 runners in the Boston Marathon were all behind Rob de Castella, way behind him. So for the last hour of the race, right to the finish line, his only companions were the police motorcycles and the press truck. It was a sterile victory. But then, the whole thing was sterile, wasn't it?
MINNEAPOLIS -- I have an idea that's going to make me a lot of money. A Kirby Puckett Doll. Great for kids. Pull the cord, it jumps over the crib. Here's the plan. We make it small. Like Kirby. A shaved head. Like Kirby. We give it muscles, and a Santa Claus smile. Like Kirby. Then we open shop outside the Metrodome. Sell from a table. Ten bucks a crack. I figure a million by New Year's. More if the Twins win the World Series. Everyone in town will buy one. Maybe two. Barbie and Ken. Cabbage Patch Kids. Kirby Dolls. My idea.
Try to read this column, and try to understand it, because there are young men out there who can do neither. College students. At least that's what they're called. They're really just football and basketball players dressed in school colors.For four years, they're squeezed like a tube of toothpaste. And then they're left on the sink.Education is an accident. If it happens at all.
I have been to many funerals in my life. I had never been to one like they had for Sam Washington on Saturday. People came from all over -- white, black, old, young, basketball players, kids in sneakers, mothers, fathers, coaches.They filled the pews at St. Cecilia Church, there, ostensibly, to say goodby to a man they loved. It was a sad moment, yet there seemed to be little sadness, and when they spoke of him, one by one, loved ones rising to tell stories about "Sammy," well, there were actually ripples of laughter, and tears mixed with smiles.A funeral.
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.
