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Rodriguez: ‘i've Got Thicker Skin Now. I've Got Alligator Skin.'

DETROIT FREE PRESS  | Sunday, August 29, 2010

The first time Rich Rodriguez got fired was one year after he'd been hired, as a 25-year-old head coach at Salem College. He was sitting in the office, two weeks from getting married, with a new car loan and a new house loan, and the phone rang. His school had just merged with a Japanese university. Football, like many other programs, was being dropped. "I called Rita and said, ‘I got good news and bad news. The bad news is,... (Continued)

Finding the Silver Lining

PARADE MAGAZINE   |   September 27, 2009

Rain falls on the church roof. It pours through a gaping hole and splashes onto the pews. Against the plop, plop, plop of gathering water, a pastor urges nearly 100 weary men to believe in the future. They wear old jackets or sweatshirts. They line up for chili and cornbread. They sleep on the floor, atop vinyl mattresses.

“Enjoy the meal,” the pastor tells them as they line up. “There’s a place for you here. See that man for a blanket…” Continues

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Papa Don't Preach

August 29, 2010. Antonio Cromartie

more parting shots

Rodriguez: ‘i've Got Thicker Skin Now. I've Got Alligator Skin.'

DETROIT FREE PRESS  | Sunday, August 29, 2010

The first time Rich Rodriguez got fired was one year after he'd been hired, as a 25-year-old head coach at Salem College. He was sitting in the office, two weeks from getting married, with a new car loan and a new house loan, and the phone rang. His school had just merged with a Japanese university. Football, like many other programs, was being dropped. "I called Rita and said, ‘I got good news and bad news. The bad news is,... (Continued)

The Courage of Detroit

Sports Illustrated | Sunday, January 11, 2009

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!”
 
“Because God loves me!”
 

 
They clapped. They... (Continued)

Mitch, the Players, the Job
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