Mitch Albom's Blog, page 21
August 16, 2015
From the Detroit Free Press: Broken jaws, insults: Is sportsmanship dead?
Two football players got in an argument this past week. One was a linebacker. The other was the starting quarterback. Often starting quarterbacks wear red jerseys during practices, to remind teammates not to hit them too hard.
That didn't stop the linebacker. In a dispute allegedly over $600, he coldcocked his quarterback in the face in the locker room — a "sucker punch" is how some witnesses described it — breaking the passer's jaw and landing him on the injured list for at least the first few weeks of the season.
August 9, 2015
From the Detroit Free Press: A privilege to appear in Free Press for 3 decades
Not many people know this story. Before working at the Detroit Free Press, I was a sports feature writer at a newspaper in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. I was desperate to be a columnist. I had come from the music world, I thrived on creativity, and it felt natural to me to write with a voice, all things a column job affords.
After two years, my chance arrived in Ft. Lauderdale when the senior columnist left for another job. I was beyond excited. I gushed to my boss over the thousands of topics I wanted to write about. On my way out of his office, I casually asked what the new salary was.
From the Detroit Free Press: ‘Nice ice baby’ is our new motto downtown
Lemonacherry? Lemonacherry?
Those were the first Italian words I ever heard. Well. I thought it was Italian. I lived in a small New Jersey town and my greatest culinary delight was walking to a corner grocery for a dessert called water ice. It was the best. Frozen like ice cream, but tastier and juicier — a derivative of Italian ice sold mainly in the Philadelphia/New Jersey area. Mine came out of an old freezer, guarded by the store owner, Frank Genova, a short immigrant with dark, wavy hair.
August 5, 2015
From the Detroit Free Press: We wonder why Dombrowski's now done with Tigers
Something happened. We don't know what. We might not for a while. But there is no way Tuesday afternoon's sudden dismissal of Dave Dombrowski as Tigers president and general manager is a consensual parting of the ways. Not midseason. The Tigers don't fire people midseason. And not executives. And not on a Saturday. In general, in life, you work on Saturday only if you have to.
August 4, 2015
From the Detroit Free Press: SHOCKTOBER
Tigers swept by Orioles
SHOCKTOBER
mitch albom: Winter comes early again and who knows what this team will look like next year
Winter began to creep into the city just after six o'clock Sunday night, courtesy of a man named Nelson Cruz - or, as he is known around here, Death. Cruz, the Baltimore Orioles' designated killer, swatted a David Price pitch in the sixth inning of a scoreless game and lifted it toward rightfield. It appeared, at first, to be a harmless foul.
August 2, 2015
From the Detroit Free Press: One-footed cheerleader never lost her smile
She was the first cheerleader I ever wrote about. Maybe the only one. It was 24 years ago, but I still remember Beth Hardman, because her smile was as blinding as a headlight and she wore a sock over her left foot.
Or what remained of her left foot.
Hardman had a rare cancer. They gave her a choice: Try radiation and hope it wouldn't spread or amputate the foot and be sure. And even though she was 16, an age when deciding what clothes to wear is a major deliberation, she didn't hesitate.
"I think we ought to take it off," she said.
From the Detroit Free Press: Tigers' reboot means they failed this season
It's not the what. It's the when.
Thirty years ago, the trade deadline was June 15. Teams used it for last-chance shuffling before settling in to battle for the playoffs.
But since 1985, when the trade deadline was moved six weeks later, to July 31, the whole concept has changed. Now contending teams use it to turbo charge their chances, and the rest throw their expensive sandbags overboard and float off into the dreams of next season.
July 26, 2015
From the Detroit Free Press: It’s a bird, a plane, it’s an Uber man
I am from the generation whose mothers preached “Don’t ever get in a car with a stranger!” So right from the start, Uber had me nervous.
Let’s see. You download an app onto your phone. You type in where you are. A driver you never met before suddenly appears, knows your name and has a loose connection to your credit card. The vehicle may be a Lincoln, an SUV or a six-year-old Kia, the same car the driver just took to the grocery store, or, for all you know, the drug pickup.
You get in.
July 19, 2015
From the Detroit Free Press: SHOCKTOBER
Tigers swept by Orioles
SHOCKTOBER
mitch albom: Winter comes early again and who knows what this team will look like next year
Winter began to creep into the city just after six o'clock Sunday night, courtesy of a man named Nelson Cruz - or, as he is known around here, Death. Cruz, the Baltimore Orioles' designated killer, swatted a David Price pitch in the sixth inning of a scoreless game and lifted it toward rightfield. It appeared, at first, to be a harmless foul.
July 18, 2015
From the Detroit Free Press: Donald Trump leads polls, but boredom is winning
Why is everyone so worried about Donald Trump? Does anyone really think he’s going to be president? I’m not sure he even wants to be president. He’s a buffoonish businessman who seems to have dedicated his life to collecting piles of money, escaping debt, sticking his name on buildings, putting himself on television, overinflating his importance, and making sure he always has a beautiful young woman on his arm, perhaps to counter his haircut.
