NEW ORLEANS -- Drew Bledsoe is not ready to win a Super Bowl. That is just my opinion, and I could be wrong, but after watching him here all week, my lasting impression is that of deer being dragged by a chain. He seems overwhelmed, itchy, at times almost frightened.
NEW ORLEANS -- He pinches a wad of tobacco into his mouth, looks at the crowd from behind blue sunglasses, then spits carefully over the edge of a paper cup, the brown drool falling as slowly and deliberately as his act, which has always been angry. Jim McMahon coughs and reaches around to scratch the back of his gray T-shirt, and he looks as if he might belch when someone asks him for the umpteenth time to compare this Super Bowl with his other one."They're about the same," he drones in a sort of Southernish accent, " 'cept this time I'm not starting."
You wouldn't say "My family is sick and dying, but my life is good." You wouldn't say "Everyone at work is in danger, but my life is swell."So I'm confused by the latest nationwide poll in which most Americans say they are happy with their lives, even though the country is in trouble.Hello? This is like saying "My car is about to go off that cliff, but no worries, I'm wearing my seat belt."
The paper. I kept looking for the piece of paper. The crib sheet. The notes. Something written down that Bobby Ross was no doubt checking as he stood at the microphone, neatly coiffed, rattling off his coaching blueprint. Methodically, he outlined why he came here, how he operated, and the steps he would take to build a winner in Detroit. Surely he was working from a script, no? It was too logical. Too orderly. The Lions haven't witnessed this kind of organization since the Silverdome crowd sang an on-key verse of "Another One Bites the Dust."
Week after week during this past football season, I would walk into ESPN and see the grinning faces of analysts Joe Theisman and Sterling Sharpe."How 'bout those Lions?" they would yell, and then break up laughing.They would shake their heads, ask me about the latest embarrassment, then ask me to explain again how Wayne Fontes kept his job. And then they'd laugh some more.They are not laughing this morning. They are nodding in admiration. That is the first thing Bobby Ross brings the Lions. He's legit. Everyone stops laughing.
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.
