THE LIVE ALBOM:
* Winter seems to mean bad news for the Tigers. It could get worse. Jack Morris may demand a trade.
* It’s true. Morris, whose contract is up, is ineligible for free agency. But, he says, under his deal he has 15 days from the end of the World Series to request a trade, and Detroit would be obliged to comply. Time is up on Monday. And Jack is prepared to bolt.
* “The Tigers know what I’m looking for,” Morris said. A three-year contract. I asked whether he thought any team in baseball would offer that at his age
(34). “It doesn’t matter whether anyone else would,” he said. “The Tigers should.”
* Hey. They did it for Trammell and Whitaker.
* Then again, even a contract is no guarantee. In the next collusion judgments, Morris could be freed the way Kirk Gibson was in 1987. Geez. By January, the Tigers’ 59-103 record may look optimistic.
* Speaking of contracts, Lion George Jamison got a big one. For his album,
“The Real George Benson.”
* A belated farewell to Eric Hipple, who always walked tall as a Lions quarterback, even though he spent much of the time on his butt.
* Uh, that new guy? Long, Chuck. L-O-N-G . . .
* Speaking of quarterbacks, don’t worry about all those screaming young women around Dallas’ Troy Aikman. He saw plenty of that in the ’70s, when he toured under his stage name, Leif Garrett.
* First Ohio State. Then Michigan State. Then Notre Dame. Now it’s the Fighting Illini. Is it me, or does Michigan seem to have more “long-awaited showdowns” than any team in the country?
* Oh, yeah. U-M 17, Illinois 15.
* After all, did any of their quarterbacks make a movie called “G.I. Blues?”
* I see Mike Tyson is going back to school. Good for him. But the faculty is a tad intimidated:
“Mr. Tyson, your term report, it’s a little slop–
“Say what?”
“A-plus. A-plus. Nice job.”
* Fans who expressed shock at the Pistons’ recent sleepwalk against Indiana had better get used to it. The playoffs next year will be a challenge for the NBA champs. But staying awake through the regular season could be the toughest task of all.
* Was Dick Versace that good when he was here?
* Ever since Bobby Clarke retired from hockey, he’s really calm. About the only excitement he shows is when he sings “Ziggy Stardust.” CUTLINE Bobby . . . Bowie? Elvis Grbac, U-M Elvis Presley, G.I. The Leif . . . Falls Near . . . The Troy? George J. George B. Mitch Albom will sign copies of “BO,” co-authored with Bo Schembechler, today 1 to 2 p.m at Michigan Union Bookstore, 530 S. State St., Ann Arbor.
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