In "Fab Five: Basketball, Trash Talk, the American Dream," Free Press sports columnist Mitch Albom chronicles the triumphs and disappointments of the five University of Michigan freshmen who shocked the college basektball world with their talent and their braggadocio. Today's excerpt, the first of five in the Free Press, deals with U-M's desperate pursuit of high school stars Juwan Howard and Chris Webber -- and others' questionable attempts to get Webber to play elsewhere. "Fab Five" is published by Warner Books; 359 pages, $21.95.Rinnng! Rinnng!
Khhlmmphph!Thought I'd parachute into this column.And now, sticking with that theme, allow me to parachute into your charitable thoughts, the way "Fan Man" -- that's what he's calling himself -- came parachuting into the ring Saturday night in Las Vegas. (In the old days, by the way, a guy interrupts a big fight, they beat him up and leave him in the street. Today, he goes to the hospital and gets a Movie of the Week.)
Maybe you see God. Maybe that's the sensation football players whisper about, after a crunching hit coughs the life from their bodies and they collapse like puppets into the turf. Maybe it's a religious thing, the gates of heaven swinging open, your maker taking a fleeting look, ready to call you home.
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.