Detroit Free Press

I get around. I hear stories. I have heard of a one-legged skier and a midget baseball player. I have heard of a boxing promoter with electric hair. I have heard of The Chicken. I have never heard of a hockey player whose career almost ended because his agent died.His agent died?"What happened?" I ask."Normie was pretty old," the player says."Normie," I repeat.I am hearing some strange things. I am hearing stories too weird to be lies. I am sitting with Jim Leavins, age 25, and he is telling me how he came to be a Detroit Red Wings defenseman.

So this is the week that Bo Jackson returns to Kansas City wearing a helmet. Not a bad idea, considering the treatment he'll receive.As everyone knows, Jackson is playing football in his spare time away from baseball. The people in Kansas City, where he plays baseball, would rather he concentrate on his summer game. You know, like NOT STRIKING OUT SO MUCH!

There are only 19 shopping days left until Christmas, which barely gives us time to suggest the best holiday gifts for your favorite NFL teams. Many of these items are available at your favorite department store. The others, I just made up.NEW YORK GIANTS FANS: You can start buying all the leftover autobiographies by last season's Super Bowl champs. No one else wants to read about a 3-8 team. No matter how much Gatorade it spills.

You might call it growing up, or, if your address ends in California, maybe mellowing out. Fair enough, since California is still an off-season home to Ron Duguay, a nugget of the glamorous life he once commandeered.

The coach speaks in a whisper, and the young wrestlers gather around him in a semicircle on the purple mats. They listen. They say nothing. A few of them are big and muscular. Others are smaller, their skin soft. They are teen-aged, but they are still children, really. And children should never have to witness a murder, especially not to one of their own. But it happened inside Romulus High School, and now everybody here must learn to live with the nightmares, and it is not easy.

So this is the week that Bo Jackson returns to Kansas City wearing a helmet. Not a bad idea, considering the treatment he'll receive.As everyone knows, Jackson is playing football in his spare time away from baseball. The people in Kansas City, where he plays baseball, would rather he concentrate on his summer game. You know, like NOT STRIKING OUT SO MUCH!

There are only 19 shopping days left until Christmas, which barely gives us time to suggest the best holiday gifts for your favorite NFL teams. Many of these items are available at your favorite department store. The others, I just made up.NEW YORK GIANTS FANS: You can start buying all the leftover autobiographies by last season's Super Bowl champs. No one else wants to read about a 3-8 team. No matter how much Gatorade it spills.

You might call it growing up, or, if your address ends in California, maybe mellowing out. Fair enough, since California is still an off-season home to Ron Duguay, a nugget of the glamorous life he once commandeered.