Detroit Free Press

First in a series on heartbreaks and hopes of unsung Detroit area athletes.His 17th birthday was held in a ...

They gathered around him as he gave a postgame interview, big beefy men with one thing in mind. Closer now. He was ...

The last time I saw the mother she was hiding on a couch, her head wrapped in a bandana, her eyes as narrow as coin slots. She was coming off a crack cocaine high, in a burned-out house in Detroit's northwest side, with a hole in the roof, no heat, one working light bulb, floors covered in dirt. This was home to Dorothy Chatman and her teenage son, Deshawn."Have you ever seen your son play basketball?" I asked her that day."Basketball is what he's into now," she sniffed. "Next year ...it'll be something else."

I find him in the basement of a Miami baseball stadium. He is sitting at a desk, in a cloud of cigar smoke, talking on the phone."So you'll take him?" The Dump Man says into the receiver. "Great. I'll send over the paperwork ...uh-huh ...ciao."He hangs up the phone."We just dumped Kevin Brown," he says, crossing a name off a list."Kevin Brown?" I say. "The ace of the Marlins?""You got it.""The guy who helped win the World Series?""The one and only.""But why would you dump Kevin Brown? He's a local hero. He's a champion."

Rrrring."Hello, and thanks for calling The Sports World. For owners, press 1. For athletes, press 2-"Beep."Welcome to the Sports World Athletes Center. To speak to an athlete, press 1."Beep."Please select the type of athlete to whom you'd like to speak. For athletes convicted of sexual assault, press 1. For others, press 2."Beep."For athletes convicted of weapons possession, press 1. For others, press 2."Beep."For athletes convicted of rape, arson or other crimes, press 1. For athletes with no convictions, press 2."

Kordell Stewart took the snap, lunged forward and found open ground. Five yards later he was in the end zone. It ...