NEW YORK -- Live from New York, it's . . . The Mets? Live? What are they doing still alive? Didn't you go to sleep last night figuring this thing was over? Didn't you flick off the TV set around 10 o'clock, figuring "That's it. This is history. Red Sox win." Didn't you?Ho, ho, sleepy breath.Never trust New York on Saturday night. It is rich with surprise, with turnarounds, twists, muggings and this night, ironies. Oh, what ironies! Oh what a game!
BOSTON -- Don't high school coaches all preach the same things? Fundamentals. Teamwork. Defense first, offense second. And most kids, in keeping with tradition, pay no attention.Michael Cooper was one of the weird ones. Michael Cooper listened. When they told him "defense not offense" at Pasadena High School, he said "OK. Gotcha." He worked on steals, blocks. Scoring was beside the point.
SALT LAKE CITY -- The smiles said it all. Weary smiles, puffed by heavy breathing, hands on hips, sweat pouring down their cheeks. Glen Rice smiling, and Terry Mills, a little grin, and Gary Grant almost laughing, his tongue hanging out. This was fun. This was a blast. And this was with 15 minutes left in the game.Death of a jinx. All Michigan did Saturday was ram a roadblock head-on, barreling through the whispers that a Wolverine team can't make it past the second round of an NCAA tournament and coming out, well, shall we say, smiling?Take that.
EAST LANSING -- One more. Just one more. That was the heartbeat of every rain-soaked fan in this stadium Saturday, when the Michigan State offense hunkered down against Iowa within spitting distance of the goal line with 92 seconds left. "One more!" All afternoon, the rays of glory had been busting through the white mist sky, granting the Spartans yet another big play, yet another score, yet another blocked kick or timely penalty.
MUIRFIELD, Scotland -- "Maybe you can help me with directions," I said, unfolding a map as I stepped to the counter. "I'm trying to get to the golf, the British Open, and I can't seem to . . . "I looked up.I was talking to a 12-year-old."You . . . don't drive, I take it?""Afreeed noot," he said.I have this problem whenever I go to Scotland. Actually, I have three problems whenever I go to Scotland. I keep getting in the wrong side of the car. I keep driving on the wrong side of the road. And I can't understand a thing they say.
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."
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.
