Detroit Free Press

WIMBLEDON, England -- She is still halfway between there and here, like an infant frozen in those first steps from mother to father. Behind Martina Navratilova is a country, a family, and now, five straight Wimbledon championships. Alongside her is a Texas estate, a woman friend, an American coach. Ahead of her still lies acceptance, a place in our hearts. And there is no telling when it will all come together.

CLEVELAND -- Bernie Kosar came walking back to his locker, grinning like a thief."You won't believe who just called me," he whispered to fellow quarterback Garry Danielson."Who?" said Danielson.

Let us talk today about the touchdown celebration. It is not what it used to be.Gone are the days of Billy (White Shoes) Johnson, wiggling his knees like a man balancing on an ocean raft.Gone are the days of "the dice roll," where two players dropped to the turf, spun the football, then slapped hands as if they'd just rolled snake eyes.Remember when the spike was a work of art? Now the trend is to flip the ball to the referee and run off in search of a Gatorade bucket to dump on the coach.

CALGARY, Alberta -- February 22, 1992 -- News Item: The 90- meter Olympic ski jump was postponed yet again yesterday due to high winds. ABC-TV, which has remained in Calgary since February 1988, said it was "optimistic" the winds would die soon, so the event could be held and they could all go home.

CLEVELAND -- He was the perfect quarterback. He was cool, he was unfazed. He completed every pass he threw. Naturally. When the game was over, his uniform was still sparkling clean, and he took it off and strolled in for a shower as if it were just another day.Naturally."How many of those have you thrown in your career?" someone asked Brian Brennan, after his big fourth-quarter strike to Herman Fontenot, the longest pass of this Lions-Browns game."Three," he said, wrapping a towel around himself. "I'm three-for-three. I am 1,000 percent. Two for touchdowns."

INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- They needed a hero. They needed someone to combat the Hollywood ending that was about to unfold. The Pistons were winning, the Lakers were dying -- but suddenly the Lakers were rising again, feeble bones, pulled hamstrings, the ghosts of champions past, howling and clanging chains.

MIAMI -- Hours before the madness, before the screaming crowd, before the last-minute drive that would shower them all in history, Joe Montana had arrived at the stadium, opened his bag, and smiled. What was this? His wife had packed him a present. He lifted the red jersey out of the bag. It was the one he had worn four years ago -- in his last Super Bowl."I knew what she meant," the 32-year-old quarterback would say later. Be yourself. Do what you always do. Win.He slipped it on.

Once upon a time he hid in the back of a dark Mercedes as it raced through the German countryside. He was a scared kid defecting from his homeland.On Sunday morning, he hid in the front of his four-wheel- drive truck after it smashed into a car on Woodward Avenue. He was a drunken adult, hoping the cop wouldn't see he'd been driving. I don't know what Petr Klima dreamt of when he came to America three years ago. I doubt it was prison. Or a rehab center. Or life with no paycheck. He is facing all three now.