Night after night, if you watch the NHL playoffs, you'll notice a pattern. It's Joe Sakic making a lightning-quick goal for Colorado. It's Wayne Gretzky scoring three in one game for the Rangers. It's Pittsburgh's Mario Lemiuex breaking away to put it in the net and keep his Penguins from elimination. It's big players doing big things, stepping up to grab the ring of greatness that separates them from the pack.It is everything the Wings have been missing.Until Friday night.
For the last few summers, you might have seen someone who looked like Joe Dumars playing in local tennis tournaments. He never registered under his own name -- he often used "Joe Dee" as a pseudonym -- but it was he all right. Joe Dumars. Captain of the Pistons. NBA All-Star. He wasn't the best one out there. Sometimes he got beat in the first round.But there he was, swinging away.
If you want to know the truth, I'm much too busy to be writing this column, since, in addition to my duties here, I also serve as a professional football scout.That's right. I serve to spot those players the NFL overlooks in its annual draft.Hey, it's not that those NFL guys aren't thorough. It's just that, well, they sometimes miss some really prime candidates who suffer a teeny-weeny blemish on their record, such as double-homicide. I blame the media. You know how the media can be.
I have this theory about the Red Wings in the playoffs. This is my theory. They should leave town.I don't mean for good. I mean for the start of each series. Even if they have earned home ice, decline it, start on the road. Begin each series with enemy fans, booing and hissing, telling them they're no good. There's less pressure to please the home crowd. And I think they'll perform better.
"Robinson, I need a man that will take abuse and insults. If some guy slides into you and calls you a black so-and-so, you'd come up swinging. And you'd be justified. But you'd set the cause back 20 years.""Mr. Rickey, do you want a ballplayer who's afraid to fight back?""Jack, I want a ballplayer with guts enough not to fight back."There was a long pause."Mr. Rickey, if you want to take this gamble, I promise there will be no incident."-- Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey, as recounted by the scout who brought them together, Clyde Sukeforth.
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.
