MILWAUKEE -- As the winter sunlight slowly died on this, the town that made America burp, here were the Lions, trudging off the grassy County Stadium field, heads down, cleats clomping, looking like men who voted against NAFTA.And here were the Packers, dancing off the field, waving to the cheering crowd. Reggie White, the massive defensive lineman, held the No. 1 finger high over his head and twirled it around a few times, as if fly casting, or doing an Arsenio Hall impersonation."REGGIE! REGGIE! REGGIE!""HERE WE COME, REGGIE!"
There's a line from the movie "Stand By Me," a line written by Stephen King, which says "I never had any friends like the ones I had when I was 12 years old." I have thought about that line a lot recently. It seems more true than ever.Like most of you, I've made many friends as an adult. They are, in my eyes, wonderful people. Great senses of humor. Admirable. Compassionate.
* Green Bay 20, Lions 13: The Lions are playing for league-wide respect. The Packers are playing to make the playoffs. The second is more desperate. Always go with desperation.* Miami 17, New England 6: Don Strock starts the game at quarterback, gets hurt, Shula calls on Bob Griese, who gets hurt, Shula calls on Earl Morrall, who gets hurt . . .
Twenty . . . The clock matched Chris Webber's age when he pulled down the rebound. But as the seconds ticked away, he seemed to grow younger with them. Nineteen . . . His first thoughts were of victory, how his whole life had been geared to this moment. We will win, he told himself, cradling the ball against his chest. We will make a basket and we will win!Eighteen . . .
Fourth of five excerpts from from "Fab Five: Basketball, Trash Talk, the American Dream" by Free Press sports columnist Mitch Albom. "Fab Five" is published by Warner Books, 359 pages, $21.95.On a cold January night in 1973, Jeanne Rose felt the stirrings of her fourth child. She called her brother Len -- "Hurry up, I'm having the baby" -- to drive her to the hospital. He raced over in his green Fiat, helped her in and slammed on the accelerator. By the time they reached the hospital, Jeanne was deep into contractions."Hang on!" Len urged."I'm trying!" she said.
Nothing dogged the Fab Five's reputation more than trash talk. And never was there more trash talked than in the Michigan-Cincinnati game during the 1992 Final Four in Minneapolis.The young Wolverines were already famous for jawing, and the Bearcats were pretty damn good, too. Cincinnati's entire roster was made up of transfers or junior college players, which meant that -- unlike the Fab Five -- most of the Bearcats were not highly recruited. They were the leftovers. And they had something to prove. They flexed. They boasted.They talked.
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.
