Detroit Free Press

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.

He used to lie about his summer vacations. Said he did the most incredible things. Ran with the bulls in Pamplona. ...

"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.

Doug Collins cares. He cares beyond food sometimes. He cares beyond sleep. He cares so much that there were tears ...

The lights flashed on, but she had not flicked the switch. The TV changed channels, but she had not touched the remote. There was a voice on her phone that interrupted her conversations with burps, curses, and laughter -- but there was no one in her house on the other extension.The modern-day version of a haunting was happening to Debbie Tamai and her Windsor family. Only this phantom was not some long-buried soul, but a very real, very alive, very conniving punk who calls himself "Sommy" and who thinks it's cute to terrorize a family.

All week long, I've heard people dismiss this new book which claims Isiah Thomas had a gambling problem. Not because they know Isiah. Not because they were at the house where these high-stakes dice games supposedly took place.No. They dismiss it by saying, "I don't believe anything that uses unnamed sources."I heard the same thing a few weeks ago, when all those charges were comingout about the Michigan basketball program, charges that a booster had been funneling money to players for years. The critics' response?