CALGARY, Alberta -- Somewhere inside the Olympic ice oval here lies a happy ending that no one can find. Dan Jansen, a 22- year-old American, was skating for all the right reasons Sunday night: for the gold medal, for the years he has trained, for Jane Beres -- mostly for Jane -- his sister, who died of leukemia Sunday morning, and who had wanted him to win as much as anyone. Stories like that are supposed to work out, aren't they? Sorrow balanced by glory?
WIMBLEDON, England -- Aw, who needs an appendix anyhow? Not Pat Cash. Not when he's on Centre Court at Wimbledon, with Princess Di watching from the Royal Box, and a thousand teenage girls screaming from the stands, and the No. 2 player in the world, Mats Wilander, wilting across the net, going down, down and finally out.Cashed out, so to speak.So what if Cash was ranked No. 413 in the world coming in here? So what if he was about to turn down his wild card invitation -- until an Aussie buddy said, "Ah, why not have a go, mate?"
BOSTON -- I wear a white sheet with two holes near the eyes and I float through the streets without touching the earth. When I pass, clouds turn to sun, heads turns to tails, families with six boys suddenly give birth to girls. I am quick. I am on you like destiny. I am the Law of Averages.Boo!
NEW YORK -- That music you hear from the Big Apple isn't "New York, New York" anymore.It's taps.Pennant races may not be over until they're over, but if Saturday's 9-4 Tigers loss didn't decide the fate of the American League East, it summed it up rather neatly: The Red Sox won again in Boston, the Yankees exploded their napalm offense, and the Tigers, defeated, went gentle into that very bad night."Do you find yourself talking more or less to the team as this goes along?" someone asked manager Sparky Anderson after Detroit's 16th loss in its last 19 games.
March 17, 1989By Steve Kornacki ATLANTA -- It didn't look good for Michigan.Xavier proved exasperating much of the game. The Musketeers powered the ball inside and frustrated the Wolverines with their quick guards.The Wolverines needed more than 23 points apiece from Glen Rice and Rumeal Robinson to put away a 15-point underdog. They got it from Terry Mills and Demetrius Calip in a 92-87 win Friday at the Omni.Mills played with purpose found, and Calip played on a memory. Together, they were the difference.March 19, 1989 By Mitch Albom
"Hey, if I were somebody else, looking at me? I'd think I was an a------ too."-- Bill LaimbeerBOSTON -- Wait. Don't tell me. You hate his guts. He's a stiff, a boor, a spoiled brat, an actor, a loud-mouth; he can't jump, he can't block shots, he runs like a pregnant deer, his nose is pointy, and, when he high-fives, it looks like opening day at nerd training camp."Who cares?" says Bill Laimbeer, sitting across the breakfast table. He reaches over with one of those long arms. "I'm gonna have some of your grapes. Thanks."
He woke up once an hour, always in a sweat."WHO WON GAME 3?"The voice screamed inside his head. He could not answer. Why couldn't he answer? Why couldn't he remember? Who won Game 3?And then Chuck Daly took a breath, in the dark, and suddenly realized where he was and who he was. And why he couldn't answer. This was Saturday night; Game 3 hadn't been played yet.
He will be hitting and hitting and he will never stop. It will be September and Mr. Chet Lemon will have hit in every game."Are you worried about today?" a reporter from Sports Illustrated will ask him, pushing to the front of the media mob. "What if today is the day your streak finally ends?""Gosh, I don't know," Lemon will say, banging the dirt off his spikes. "Yesterday you asked me that, and I got two hits, and the day before you asked me that and I got three hits."
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.
