A National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Famer, Mitch Albom has written a syndicated column for the Detroit Free Press for the last 30 years archived here exclusively, free of charge. He also periodically writes for national magazines. And he’s a regular on ESPN’s the Sports Reporters, from which his “parting shot” commentaries are collected here.
The Latest Column
How a man who can’t move manages to move us all
What have you done so far with your day? Even if you’re reading this early in the morning you’ve likely brushed your teeth, dressed, brewed a cup of coffee. The more ambitious may have already worked out, showered, cooked breakfast. At the very least, you’ve used the...
read moreMitch’s First Column: August 8, 1985
Give me a Sporting Chance, and I’ll Give it Right Back
Let’s start with an old joke.
On a plane trip home after a football game, Buck Buchanan, a massive lineman for the Kansas City Chiefs, was sitting next to a sports writer. Buck had the aisle seat. The sports writer was by the window.
Dinner came, and they ate. Soon Buck fell asleep. … keep reading»
From the Press Box
Mitch Albom is nationally known sportswriter; columnist for the Detroit Free Press; author of Tuesdays With Morrie, The Five People you Meet in Heaven and other best-selling books; TV and radio personality; and philanthropist. For the past five years, he has been working to help children orphaned after a devastating earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010. He writes about that effort here.
Working with Haiti’s orphans: Smiles make it worthwhile
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – The woman in the chair had a small child sleeping in her lap. She had come to give him away.
“Who is the father?” I asked, through a translator.
“There is no father,” she said.
“Aren’t you the mother?”
“No.”
“Whose child is this?”
“I found him abandoned under a tree behind a hospital. He was maybe 2 months old, and his belly was big. He was crying. So I took him to the police.”
“What did they tell you?”
“They said, ‘Why did you pick him up? You should have left him there.’ So I took him home. And now I am here.”
The Courage of Detroit
January 12, 2009 | Sports Illustrated
This was Christmas night. In the basement of a church off an icy street in downtown Detroit, four dozen homeless men and women sat at tables. The smell of cooked ham wafted from the kitchen. The pastor, Henry Covington, a man the size of two middle linebackers, exhorted the people with a familiar chant.
“I am somebody,” he yelled.
“I am somebody!” they repeated.
“Because God loves me!” …keep reading
The Joys of Summer
Go ahead, kids. Lie in the grass. Study the clouds. Daydream. Be lazy. You have our permission.
I feel sorry for today’s kids. Summer comes, they’re finally free from school—and bang!Band camp. Science seminars. Internships.
Instead of downtime, it’s get-up-and-go time. Chorus travel, archaeological digs, dance tours. My nephew from Michigan flew to Georgetown University for a summer medical program, replete with cadavers. He was 16.
He’s hardly alone. Some kids fill their summers with so many prep courses that they’re ready to graduate from college by the time they get there. It’s all very admirable, but here’s a question: Why so busy?
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