Detroit Free Press

It's a long walk to the Red Wings locker room at the farthest end of the arena tunnel, past the storage areas and the electrical wires, and past the benches where the players' wives sit and wait for their husbands.

NEWS ITEM: As the United Nations convenes to celebrate its 50th birthday, leaders from 185 countries will gather today for a "class photo." It is the first time so many world leaders have been photographed in one room. A special task force has been working on the shoot since last spring, and a recent run- through took more than six hours."You must carry this out with maximum civility," said Francois Giuliani, director of the UN media division. You can't just say, 'You there, stupid, you're moving.' "

The protester was knocked down. As he lay on the ground, one policeman handcuffed him, while another put his foot on the man's forehead to hold him still.This happened in Seattle last week. I know this not because I was there, but because I saw it on TV. The camera zoomed in on the policeman's foot and held there for at least six seconds.I was never told what the protester did to warrant such police behavior. I have no idea if the guy verbally abused the officers, threatened to kill them, maybe pulled a gun. All I saw was that foot on his forehead.

* HUT ONE: I'm gonna miss the little fella. There. I said it and I'm not ashamed.I'm talking about Lou Holtz, who announced his retirement this week -- actually, he announced the sentence "I think this is the right thing to do" this week, approximately 2,538 times during his news conference, which, by the way, is still going on down in South Bend, Ind., and is being carried live by ESPN6 -- and yes, I have to admit, I got a little misty.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but if I am born in Canada, and I am raised in Canada, I'm Canadian, right?

WIMBLEDON, England -- Here is the reason I will never be a world-class tennis player: I refuse to let a ball girl stick her finger in my eye. This, apparently, is a new requirement at Wimbledon, based on the behavior of Shuzo Matsuoka, a tall Japanese tennis ace. Shuzo is the first man from Japan to reach the quarterfinals here since 1933.He also travels with his own karaoke machine.You think a finger in the eye is gonna stop him?

Since you can't bring up a racial issue in this country without whites running to one side and blacks running to the other, let me try a different angle on this Ebonics idea.If I were black, I'd be insulted.