So let’s try something different. A blog. Why not? I’ve written on notepads, legal pads, my pants leg, a Tandy 1000, an Apple, a BlackBerry and the back of my hand.
Why not cyberspace?
Periodically, my blog – which I wanted to call “blah-blah-blog”- will appear in the newspaper, in this space, and simultaneously on the Web (go to freep.com). That version will get modified at all hours and eventually handle feedback, enabling me to have one foot in print and the other in, well, wherever the Web is. It also will give me a chance to update my views on things, such as the Lions-Packers game, which I no longer predict the Lions will win by two touchdowns.
Why try it? Why not? Besides, some thoughts come to me in the middle of the night, like: “Ohmigosh, the Tigers are in the playoffs.”
So let’s begin.
OHMIGOSH, THE TIGERS ARE IN THE PLAYOFFS! Before we go one step farther, before we do the slightest bit of figuring out of who or where they would play, can we simply give a nod to this baseball team? When the Tigers started winning, we thought it was a mirage. When they kept wining, we thought it wouldn’t last. When they started losing, we thought it would get worse. And now that they’ve won enough to ensure at least a wild-card berth, they deserve credit and congratulations. One of these days, even Jim Leyland is going to admit it.
BAYOU HYPE: I’m glad the Saints are playing a home game, but since when did the NFL become the cavalry? It wasn’t just New Orleans ruined by Katrina, and all won’t be fixed this morning. You’d think, by the buildup to Monday night’s game, that Reggie Bush was rebuilding the levees himself.
BONDS AND LEAKS: In this fearful era we live in, what’s happening with the two reporters who wrote the book “Game of Shadows” should disturb you.
Last week a judge agreed the men should go to jail for 18 months unless they reveal who leaked grand jury info about Barry Bonds and steroids. Eighteen months? For writing about drug use? Drug DEALERS do less time.
Anyhow, if people went to jail every time there was a leak, you couldn’t slide another person behind bars, much less a nail file.
Why not just give up the source, you say? Because if reporters started coughing up confidential sources every time someone pressured them, nobody would talk to anybody. And if you think the world would be a better place that way, then welcome to a world where Enron is still bilking people and the Nixon administration is breaking and entering. Whistle blowers would disappear. And the effectiveness of the media – at their best when unearthing harmful things those in power are trying to hide – would melt away.
But there I go, blah-blah-blogging
Contact MITCH ALBOM at 313-223-4581 or malbom@freepress.com. His novel “For One More Day” hits bookstores today. More on 1C and 2D.
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