Detroit Free Press

MORRIS TAKES ON BASEBALL AND HIS POINT IS LIKE A THORN IN THE OWNERS’ SIDES

MORRIS TAKES ON BASEBALL AND HIS POINT IS LIKE A THORN IN THE OWNERS’ SIDES

He is making a point. You have to be blind to miss that. Here is Jack Morris, maybe the top pitcher of the '80s, telling the baseball world smack in the middle of its winter meetings that he is through with the Detroit Tigers,that there are four teams now -- and only four teams -- he wants to deal with, and knock, knock, he'll visit the first one, the Minnesota Twins, on Tuesday morning, and they better have their pens ready."Go ahead," he seems to say, as subtle as a brick through a window, "just try to ignore me."
MSU RISES TO ROSESTHEY HAD THE BALL; THEY HAD IT ALL

MSU RISES TO ROSESTHEY HAD THE BALL; THEY HAD IT ALL

PASADENA, Calif. -- They had the ball! They had the ball! Todd Krumm was cradling it, dancing with it, raising it above his head and leaping into the arms of teammate Kurt Larson, and only gravity kept them from flying off into space. All the waiting, all the lean years, all the talk of Rose Bowl jinx -- it was all crushed down and squeezed inside this little brown football, and now, Michigan State had it. God. At last.
FOR PROBERT, NO MORE HIDINGHE’S ARRESTED, YET NO ONE LOOKS CLEAN

FOR PROBERT, NO MORE HIDINGHE’S ARRESTED, YET NO ONE LOOKS CLEAN

He finally hit bottom in the cold dawn of Thursday morning, when a U.S. customs agent made him drop his pants and watched a packet of cocaine fall out of his underwear. Standing there, in a windowless room at the American border, alone, about to be charged with drug smuggling, Bob Probert was no longer a hockey player. He was no longer a Detroit Red Wing. He was no longer some tragic hero to the boozy faithful at Joe Louis Arena, who all along have continued to chant, "Hey, leave Probert alone!"He was a criminal suspect.Arrested. Cuffed. And led away.
NFL TIEBREAKERS: NEW IDEAS THAT FLY IN THE FACE OF PARITY

NFL TIEBREAKERS: NEW IDEAS THAT FLY IN THE FACE OF PARITY

Well, here we are, just one week from the end of the NFL season, and this is what we can say about the playoffs: Nobody's going.Or everybody's going. Who can tell? With the sudden parity in the NFL, a .500 record can be your ticket in, or your ticket home. We can anticipate a very long day next week, in which the NFL pundits try to sort through the numerous tie-breaking procedures.But somebody will inevitably be unhappy. And what happens if, after all the analysis -- division wins, points against, and toughness of schedule -- there is still a tie?
HEMBRICK SUFFERS ANOTHER SENSE OF LOSS

HEMBRICK SUFFERS ANOTHER SENSE OF LOSS

SEOUL, South Korea -- They never found the men who killed Damon Hembrick. Whoever did it robbed him and stabbed him and threw his body in the street in front of the McDonald's where he was working. And they got away. This was two years ago, they are still out there somewhere, and Anthony Hembrick, Damon's older brother, thinks about them all the time, even here, at the Olympic Games.
BILL LAIMBEER: MR. PERSONALITY

BILL LAIMBEER: MR. PERSONALITY

"Hey, if I were somebody else, looking at me? I'd think I was an a------, too."-- Bill LaimbeerBOSTON -- Wait. Don't tell me. You hate his guts. He's a stiff, a boor, a spoiled brat, an actor, a loudmouth; he can't jump, he can't block shots, he runs like a pregnant deer, his nose is pointy, and, when he high-fives, it looks like party time at nerd training camp."Who cares?" says Bill Laimbeer, sitting across the breakfast table. He reaches over with one of those long arms. "I'm gonna have some of your grapes. Thanks."

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.

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