You could hear him coming from miles away, the roar of his engine spitting down the gravel road. Noise meant speed, and to a supercharged, grease-under-the-fingernails racer like Chad Schlueter, speed was what life was all about. His family would listen from the kitchen and they'd hear his truck and its eight-cylinder thunder -- rrrrrrRRRRRRMMM! -- and they'd grin and say, "Chad's home." Some nights his sister Nicole, who adored him the way only a younger sister can, would lie awake until she heard his rumble. "Then I knew he was safe," she says, "and I could sleep."
* Detroit 28, Tampa Bay 10: The Bucs, having missed the playoffs, can't wait to end the season and get out in the sun. Wait a minute. They live in the sun. Pick vs. spread: Detroit.* San Diego 30, NY Giants 20: The Giants can't wait to finish this year and get the heck out of New York. But then, that goes for anyone who lives there. Pick vs. spread: San Diego.
First in a series on heartbreaks and hopes of unsung Detroit area athletes in 1995."A person like me needs all the support he can get, because of all the things that happen to me."-- From a 10th-grade English paper by Dewon Jones
Let me step to the plate and be the first to offer the Lions this apology on behalf of the media: They were absolutely wrong for doubting you.OK! OK! I mean, we.There. Merry Christmas.Not that there wasn't cause for doubt about two months ago, when the Lions were 3-6. At that time, we had no proof this team could win a coin toss, let alone its next six games.
I am from Earth. You are from Mars. I take your hand and we go Christmas shopping."Very big," you say, as we pull into the mall parking lot. "Is this a center for intelligent life-sharing experience?" "YO, JERK, THAT'S MY SPACE!" I yell.We park the car, and walk through whipping wind and blinding snow, as we cross the approximately 37 miles to the mall entrance. When we open the door, we are flattened by an army of exiting shoppers."Are their loved ones in danger?" you ask, wiping the footprints off your space suit.
* Detroit 27, Jacksonville 17: The players in Jacksonville are complaining about a dictatorship under head coach Tom Coughlin. I don't know. Just because you have to ask permission to sneeze doesn't mean it's a dictatorship. Pick vs. spread: Jacksonville. * Pittsburgh 21, New England 20: Terrific quarterback. Brilliant coach. I thought those two things alone were supposed to put you in the playoffs. What happened, Pats? Pick vs. spread: New England.
HOUSTON -- Let's not say the stadium was empty. Let's just say that if you were sitting behind one end zone, and the hot dog guy was clear across the other end zone, all you had to do was yell, "Sir? When you get a chance?"
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.
