O: Mr. Baseball CommissionerFROM: Field Correspondent RE: All-Star Break ReportDear Sir,As per your request, I am filing my report on the state of baseball at the midway point and, to sum up, let me say, Brazil 3, Netherlands 2.No, you're right, that is not baseball. But that is my point. More people are now familiar with World Cup soccer than they are with many parts of our national pastime, such as when does the strike start, who makes the playoffs, what division does Milwaukee play in, and is the strike over yet?
WIMBLEDON, England -- I saw it. I swear. It was gone in an instant, but I saw it. Men's semifinals, third set, a hotly contested point, and I spotted -- are you ready for this? -- a bead of sweat on Pete Sampras' forehead!Well. I thought I saw it.Maybe someone's air conditioner was leaking.The Iceman Serveth. Everybody duck. The latest racket in the world of racquets is this skinny, dark-haired, unflappable tennis machine that makes the cop who chased Schwarzenegger in "Terminator 2" seem like Fred MacMurray.
WIMBLEDON, England -- If she weren't gay, this would be such a big story. Cameras would be following her all week, and TV and radio would be updating her progress. But here is the dirty little secret about Martina Navratilova. Not that she's a lesbian. We've known that for years. She admits it. Talks about it. Doesn't try to hide it. The dirty little secret is that she keeps paying for it.
LONDON -- Now that America has caught soccer fever -- or, as medical experts call it, baseball boredom -- I thought I'd examine how the World Cup is doing here in England.England is a perfect country to study for two reasons: 1) I happen to be here; 2) The English, who love soccer almost as much as they love tea, ARE NOT IN THE WORLD CUP.And America is.
WIMBLEDON, England -- How about this? A couple of normal American kids won at Wimbledon. By "normal" I mean no drug busts, no police records, no terrorizing fathers, no private jets, no exposed belly buttons, no Barbra Streisand infatuations, no earrings. Well. I take that back. The girl wore earrings. But in her ears, not her nose.
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.
