OK. I'm on the bandwagon.I walked into the Lions' locker room this week after practice and was barraged by "Look who it is!" "Hey, didn't you pick us to lose to Chicago?" "Uh-huh. Uh-huh." They strutted past. They pointed at me and laughed.You know what you call that?Cockiness.I haven't seen that with the Lions in years.And that's what has been missing.Of course, I wouldn't mind if they took it out on the opposing team instead of me, but. . . .
CHICAGO -- Long after he fired the shot that sank Detroit Saturday afternoon, Michael Jordan sat by his locker, glanced around the empty room and contemplated the enemy."They don't have that go-to guy right now," he said of the Pistons, a team his Bulls suddenly lead, 2-1, in the Eastern Conference finals. "It used to be Adrian Dantley. We could never stop him. If they needed a basket at the end, they could go to him in isolation and he'd get a shot or a foul."I was real happy when they traded Dantley for Mark Aguirre. It's a lot easier for us now."
TROON, Scotland -- He is everything that's great about American golf and everything that's wrong with it. Lee Trevino is a natural competitor and a more natural entertainer, a man who can bang a few heads together and say, "Hey, guys, why so serious? This is sports. Enjoy it!"That's the great part. The problem is, there are so few like him. He is almost 50, in a young man's game. By rights, there should be a host of less-wrinkled Americans with bigger followings.
EAST LANSING -- Well, now, wasn't that a nifty little college football game? A bit of this, a bit of that, another this, then another that, then some more of this and a little bit more of . . . What happened? What didn't happen? Notre Dame came to Michigan State, and MSU won, 20-15. That is the Reader's Digest version. The real story is longer than a Howard Cosell commencement address, and about as easy to follow.
Chuck Daly stood at center court, the applause wild, the spotlight caressing him. He held the microphone. He grinned. For a minute I thought he would break into a snappy rendition of "Mack The Knife." Ah-one, ah-two, ah-three . . . Show biz.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- You can take all your game plans, all your playbooks, all your film and your chalk and your clipboards -- and toss them in a garbage can. Pour on some lighter fluid, throw in a match, and let a couple of bums down in the Bowery have a warm night for a change.Might as well, if you're the New York Jets and you're going to get knocked out of the playoffs by a what's-his-name who picks up a ball that everyone thinks is dead and runs it in for a touchdown. Hey, why bother with all the paperwork, right?
Those of us who predict the NFL are very superstitious. The slightest little thing can upset our whole routine. And what does this newspaper do?They move us from Sunday to Saturday.In the middle of the season!I'm sorry. I can no longer be held responsible for my picks. If I get every game wrong, you can blame my boss, and I will be happy to provide you with his home phone number. On the other hand, if I get them all right . . .Thank you very much.And now this week's picks . . .
BASEBALL CITY, Fla. -- On the one hand, we have Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, where the paint is peeling. On the other hand, we have Baseball City, where the roller coaster can be seen between pitches."We've got artificial turf, network lighting and six fields, all of major league configuration," says the guide walking me through this new baseball wonderland. "Plus we have the log flume.""The log flume?" I say.
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.
