13
Jun
2009
Mitch Albom Is Detroit Sports
“No cursed bounce or haunted ricochet,” Mitch Albom wrote in today’s Detroit Free Press, about half way down the article, on the Red Wings’ loss last night.
Most people not from Detroit know Albom as the Author of Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You’ll Meet in Heaven, but Detroiters have long known him for something more: the voice of Detroit sports.
I’ve long said that Albom could write about anything–like dust–and make it interesting and heartfelt. I’ve even read his articles about things like tennis and golf.
RecentlyYou May Call Me “Sir” or Etceterablah.com wrote about John Updike’s sports writing. I commented that for me, the best sports writer of all time is Mitch Albom (ugh, I just looked back at that post and I had written “rights” not “writes” in my comment. ::shakes head sadly::). With that in mind, I decided to do this post.
Albom has chronicled the ups and downs of the Lions, Tigers, Wings, and Pistons, with a spirit that captures both the players and fans. There’s something to be said about evoking both the harsh truth and ebullient joy in equally good prose.
Today’s article was the former.
As tied up in cars, in their making, or lack thereof, Detroit is, it is still a dynamic city. It is still a city that feels the pain of its beloved team’s loss. Besides being the Motor City, it is also Hockeytown.
And Mitch Albom is Detroit Sports. It’s a part of his writing I would like people to understand, because it’s where all of the sentiment, description and human understanding found in his books come from. Whereas Updike was a great writer, and could easily slide into the occasional sports article, Albom, I think, is a great writer because of his sports writing.
The Free Press has gone to an online format only about half the week. But if papers can retain the quality of their writing, as this one has done, maybe they’re not in as much danger after all. Maybe.
Read Mitch Albom’s article here.
Though Mitch Albom wrote some the best sports pieces for the 2004 Pistons that I’ve ever read, I’m not overly impressed. He’s pretty pretentious and clearly has a very HIGH opinion of his own writing.
Also, the device of repeating the key phrase 3-4 times throughout an article is cool, done sparingly. He does this in every other thing he writes. Get a new trick, Mitch.