by Mitch Albom | Jan 9, 2024 | Detroit Free Press, Sports
HOUSTON — And then, all Hail broke loose. Mikey Sainristil intercepted a fourth-down pass, a desperate heave by Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. that landed right in Sainristil’s gut. He took off the other way, eyes widening. Ten yards. Twenty yards. Thirty...
by Mitch Albom | Nov 26, 2023 | Detroit Free Press, Sports
Thrillers aren’t thrillers until the hero gets in trouble. And everything that happened until the third quarter in the Big House thriller Saturday, when Zak Zinter went down with a knee injury so gruesome Fox wouldn’t show it on TV, was just buildup. After...
by Mitch Albom | Nov 12, 2023 | Detroit Free Press, Sports
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — They announced the attendance for Saturday’s game as 110,856, the second largest crowd in the history of Beaver Stadium. No surprise. Everyone wants to see an execution. And that’s what critics were hoping for, wasn’t it? Jim Harbaugh,...
by Mitch Albom | Nov 10, 2023 | Detroit Free Press, Sports
J.J. McCarthy wore figure skates — once. His mother, a former figure skater herself, got him to try a pair. He went on the ice and “kept falling on my face.” So he made an announcement: “I’m not wearing those things anymore.” He was 5 years old. Near as I can...
by Mitch Albom | Nov 5, 2023 | Comment, Detroit Free Press
Nearly 20 years after he was fired by Indiana University, Bob Knight was asked by Dan Patrick about going back to be recognized for the 29 years he put in at the school. Knight refused. “I have absolutely no respect for those people …” he said. “I hope they’re...
by Mitch Albom | Oct 22, 2023 | Detroit Free Press, Sports
It felt less like a football game than a fraternity prank, where the upperclassmen leave the pledges in their underwear, in the cold, in the middle of a corn field. It was 28-0 at halftime, 42-0 after three quarters, and backups-to-the-backups making it 49-0 just...
by Mitch Albom | Sep 11, 2023 | Detroit Free Press, Sports
It’s not about sex. It’s about judgment. That’s the reason Mel Tucker has been suspended as coach of the Michigan State Spartans and, in all likelihood, will never coach them again. Judgment. Not sex. A hearing will determine whether what went on between...
by Mitch Albom | May 7, 2023 | Detroit Free Press, Sports
Last week, Hunter Dickinson, arguably the best player on the Michigan basketball team, posted a message on social media. The message was simple: I’m leaving for greener pastures. Oh, he didn’t put it that way. Dickinson called his transfer to another...
by Mitch Albom | Dec 5, 2022 | Detroit Free Press, Sports
Self-help experts will say how others see you is not as important as how you see yourself. They never voted in a college football poll. Michigan football finished its Big Ten campaign with a perfect record and a championship, a perfect record overall, and a No. 2...
by Mitch Albom | Dec 2, 2022 | Detroit Free Press, Sports
Not a good look. Admit that much. Even if you are a Maize and Blue maniac, your star football co-captain being arrested on a gun possession felony in early October, being allowed to play for Michigan football the very next day, not being charged for the next...