Detroit Free Press

SOUTHEAST REGIONAL

SOUTHEAST REGIONAL

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
BILL LAIMBEER: MR. POPULARITY

BILL LAIMBEER: MR. POPULARITY

"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."
DALY ROUTINE TOUGH, BUT HE DOESN’T CRACK

DALY ROUTINE TOUGH, BUT HE DOESN’T CRACK

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.
162-GAME HIT STREAK: LEMON IS ON HIS WAY

162-GAME HIT STREAK: LEMON IS ON HIS WAY

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."
MICHIGAN’S MITE TOO MUCH FOR MIGHTEST MIDSHIPMAN

MICHIGAN’S MITE TOO MUCH FOR MIGHTEST MIDSHIPMAN

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Bombs away. How else do you beat the armed forces? Stop, pop -- drop, drop, drop. The line that really separated Michigan from Navy Thursday night was not the Vegas spread, but the white curve on the court where two points become three. In military terms, U-M held the high ground.Bombs away.
THE COMEBACK KEEPS US ALL YOUNG

THE COMEBACK KEEPS US ALL YOUNG

LAS VEGAS -- "The way things are now," sighed Emanual Steward, who has spent his whole life in boxing, "they could take Muhammad Ali out of retirement, set him up to face Mike Tyson, and you know what? By fight time, people would believe Ali could do it."
OT HEARTBREAK: WINGS LOSECRUEL REALITY HITS AFTER A CLOSE CALL

OT HEARTBREAK: WINGS LOSECRUEL REALITY HITS AFTER A CLOSE CALL

The breath came out of the dream in such a gush, it surely rippled the waters of the Great Lakes. "They lost?" the crowd seemed to moan, a dying moan, after the Wings fell to Edmonton, 4-3, in the biggest, best and most heartbreaking game of hockey to be played in Detroit in 22 years. "How can it be? They really lost?"They lost. That is the reality. It has to be, because only reality could be that cruel. So close. The Red Wings had been so close in this hot, draining
A WRITTEN CLUBHOUSE TOUR FOR OUT-OF-TOWN SCRIBES

A WRITTEN CLUBHOUSE TOUR FOR OUT-OF-TOWN SCRIBES

I would like to welcome each and every out-of-town journalist who has come for this weekend's big Tigers-Blue Jays series. Unfortunately, that would really run up my phone bill. So instead, I offer a gift: a personalized MAP-TO-THE-STARS of the Tigers clubhouse. After all, we don't want you walking into the showers.

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.

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