Detroit Free Press

Jerry Ball wanted somebody dead. He knew what had happened. He'd seen it a thousand times. Only this time it had happened to him, this nasty football trick: One guy holds you up, the other chops you low. And now it was his knee that was throbbing and his turn to sit on the motorized cart that would drive him off the field and into his street clothes, and, damn it, he wanted no part of this. Better a crane should lift him through the roof than to ride off like some wounded soldier in front of the enemy with their cheap trick garbage.

LIONS 23, JETS 16: Personally, I don't have any problem with Wayne Fontes saying he wants to go to the Super Bowl this year. I wouldn't want to be his travel agent, but I don't have any problem with him saying it.CHICAGO 21, GREEN BAY 14: Although the Bears have lost two in a row, Mike Ditka did not yell at them this week. That's because he chewed off his tongue last week, thinking it was gum.

THE LIVE ALBOM:* I've been doing a little math, and here's what I figure: if you give Bobby Bonilla $29 million, ...

MINNEAPOLIS -- When they build the monument to Barry Sanders, this is what it should look like: a trail of ...

It was late at night and snow was falling. I was driving home over the bridge. Suddenly, I spotted an old man standing on a girder, staring down into the icy water. He was wearing a T-shirt with the sleeves rolled up, his hair greased back in a James Dean style. There was a tattoo on his arm and a cigarette dangling from his lips. I recognized him as a character I hadn't seen in a while, Mr. Macho.He squatted as if to jump."DON'T DO IT!" I screamed. He glared at me. "Why the hell not?'"Because you have plenty to live for."