The pace of the game and pressure of the moment grew more feverish as time elapsed. Chicago played with a late desperation reserved for those staring down what many would consider a startling elimination. This was the occasion that Jimmy Howard long envisioned — getting tested when nothing short of spectacular would be demanded of [...]
Congratulations Sergio Garcia. You’ve managed to accomplish the unthinkable: Turn Tiger Woods into a sympathetic figure. Nothing trumps ignorance and/or racism, and you’re now on the podium, along with one of the all-time greats, Fuzzy Zoeller. Embrace the moment. It may be the only time you get the best of Mr. Woods. Tiger now has [...]
It’s time the NHL retired the Presidents’ Trophy. What’s it good for? It’s unnecessarily treated as a regular-season achievement worthy of raising banners. But all it has done is harvest a false sense of accomplishment in a sport designed for the playoff survival of the hungriest. Chicago’s learning now what the Red Wings learned previously [...]
The Pistons got good news Tuesday night. They didn’t win the draft lottery. They didn’t even come close. This was a Powerball drawing in which those who didn’t get the exact six ping-pong balls were the happiest. This is a basketball draft in which the premium selections are deserving of a heartworm examination in relation [...]
It is never good, in the sports world, to be worried about your “own end,” not in horse racing, not in sumo wrestling and certainly not in hockey. But the Red Wings’ own end is where trouble is brewing, and has been brewing, and it needs to be fixed if they want to keep going [...]
It doesn’t matter the sport. Just say Detroit vs. Chicago and it immediately captures your attention. Winning tastes a little sweeter. Losing stings a little longer. It’s like putting Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia in the same room. The respective teams of the two cities feign niceties for appearance’s sake. But if afforded a moment [...]
When your liabilities become your assets, you can finally start smiling. Here, at last, was Valtteri Filppula — who in the first six games of this playoff series had dropped in fan opinion like an anchor with an anchor tied to it — and a wobbly puck was coming his way. Filppula, remember, nearly lost [...]
The potholes are gone. Are there four sweeter words for a driver? Belle Isle Grand Prix chairman Roger Penske expressed full confidence Wednesday that next month’s race won’t have the same ruptured pockets of dilapidated concrete on the course that spawned a 2-hour delay last year and resulted in running only 60 of the 90 [...]
For much of the night in this critical Game 5, the Red Wings and the Ducks needed a case of Red Bull. And Jimmy Howard needed a sedative. Howard went high, low, knees, blocker, glove, shoulder, squat, jump, slide. He had more energy than the next five guys in red. He did everything humanly possible [...]
The desperation ignited the desire. It mattered little whether they were grizzled playoff veterans or peach-fuzzed postseason neophytes. The Red Wings understood the magnitude of the moment Monday night. There was no longer any room for consolation, finding shreds of optimism from the debris of disappointment. “We had to win,” goaltender Jimmy Howard said. “It [...]