The last nine minutes were like something out of a war movie, explosions, bodies flying, nobody sure who was still out there, or, for that matter, who was even left standing. Vladimir Konstantinov hit the ice to block a shot, and his hand went numb from the impact. Paul Coffey took a stick to the head and lay face-down, bleeding. Sergei Fedorov saw a rebound and tried to flick it past the goalie, the crowd screamed, the puck hit the goalie's leg pads, the crowd screamed again, Fedorov tried again, off the body -- denied!
To me, life is a song. That's the kind of fella I am. I see the sky, I sing "Here comes the sun." I see a hockey game, I sing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth." I see Marge Schott, I sing "If I only had a brain."
Sometimes, this is the only thing more baffling than the people in sports: the people who try to get close to them.Take the cases of Marge Schott and Michael Irvin.
NEWS ITEM: Kobe Bryant, a 17-year-old high school basketball player, announced last week that he would skip college and immediately enter the NBA draft. He follows 19-year-old Kevin Garnett, who did the same thing last year. Many worry that the pattern will continue, and that college may one day be seen as a meaningless step in a pro sports career. "How much younger can it get?" one coach wondered . . . LOS ANGELES, May 5, 2014 -- Six-year-old Joey (Slamma) Jamma called a press conference to announce that he was skipping elementary school and jumping straight to the NBA draft.
Of all the players to be goal-less in the playoffs, he seemed the least likely. Faster than just about anyone he faced, blessed with the moves of an NBA point guard, got an MVP award in his closet, a Nike commercial in his personal film file -- you would think Sergei Fedorov would have put one puck in the net in six games against the Winnipeg Jets.
So now they have a taste. Now they know what it feels like to want something so badly, to have the devil's foot on your neck and to grab that foot and struggle for your life. I salute the Pistons' courage and I salute their effort.And that's it for the nice stuff.
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.
