"Jack, if . . . " a reporter began."Jack, but . . . " a reporter began.Oooh. This was too good. Jack Morris couldn't resist. He leaned back smugly against his locker and began to sing."If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a Mer-ry Chris-tmaasss."Pause."Dandy Don Meredith," he quoted, "Monday Night Football."Jack Morris, Monday afternoon baseball.
Mike Henneman put the can of Foot Guard in one corner and lined his shoes neatly along the bottom rack. This was the first game of the year in Tiger Stadium. He had a new locker. Dan Petry's old locker."He passed it on to me," said Henneman, a good friend of Petry's before Petry's trade to California in December. "He wanted me to sit here. We came to work out once during the off- season, and he said, 'You know, Mike, someday you're gonna have to get out of the corner where you're sitting now.' "
CALGARY, Alberta -- Somewhere inside the Olympic ice oval here lies a happy ending that no one can find. Dan Jansen, a 22- year-old American, was skating for all the right reasons Sunday night: for the gold medal, for the years he has trained, for Jane Beres -- mostly for Jane -- his sister, who died of leukemia Sunday morning, and who had wanted him to win as much as anyone. Stories like that are supposed to work out, aren't they? Sorrow balanced by glory?
WIMBLEDON, England -- Aw, who needs an appendix anyhow? Not Pat Cash. Not when he's on Centre Court at Wimbledon, with Princess Di watching from the Royal Box, and a thousand teenage girls screaming from the stands, and the No. 2 player in the world, Mats Wilander, wilting across the net, going down, down and finally out.Cashed out, so to speak.So what if Cash was ranked No. 413 in the world coming in here? So what if he was about to turn down his wild card invitation -- until an Aussie buddy said, "Ah, why not have a go, mate?"
BOSTON -- I wear a white sheet with two holes near the eyes and I float through the streets without touching the earth. When I pass, clouds turn to sun, heads turns to tails, families with six boys suddenly give birth to girls. I am quick. I am on you like destiny. I am the Law of Averages.Boo!
NEW YORK -- That music you hear from the Big Apple isn't "New York, New York" anymore.It's taps.Pennant races may not be over until they're over, but if Saturday's 9-4 Tigers loss didn't decide the fate of the American League East, it summed it up rather neatly: The Red Sox won again in Boston, the Yankees exploded their napalm offense, and the Tigers, defeated, went gentle into that very bad night."Do you find yourself talking more or less to the team as this goes along?" someone asked manager Sparky Anderson after Detroit's 16th loss in its last 19 games.
March 17, 1989By Steve Kornacki ATLANTA -- It didn't look good for Michigan.Xavier proved exasperating much of the game. The Musketeers powered the ball inside and frustrated the Wolverines with their quick guards.The Wolverines needed more than 23 points apiece from Glen Rice and Rumeal Robinson to put away a 15-point underdog. They got it from Terry Mills and Demetrius Calip in a 92-87 win Friday at the Omni.Mills played with purpose found, and Calip played on a memory. Together, they were the difference.March 19, 1989 By Mitch Albom
"Hey, if I were somebody else, looking at me? I'd think I was an a------ too."-- Bill LaimbeerBOSTON -- Wait. Don't tell me. You hate his guts. He's a stiff, a boor, a spoiled brat, an actor, a loud-mouth; he can't jump, he can't block shots, he runs like a pregnant deer, his nose is pointy, and, when he high-fives, it looks like opening day at nerd training camp."Who cares?" says Bill Laimbeer, sitting across the breakfast table. He reaches over with one of those long arms. "I'm gonna have some of your grapes. Thanks."
Mitch Albom writes about running an orphanage in impoverished Port-au-Prince, Haiti, his kids, their hardships, laughs and challenges, and the life lessons he’s learned there every day.
