Mitch Albom

Mitchell David Albom (born May 23, 1959 in Passaic, New Jersey) is an award-winning American sportswriter, novelist, philosopher, newspaper columnist for the Detroit Free Press, syndicated radio host, and TV commentator. He is a graduate of Akiba Hebrew Academy, Brandeis University, and Columbia University. Before becoming a journalist, Albom was briefly an amateur boxer, nightclub singer, and pianist.

Author

Albom wrote the best-selling book, Tuesdays With Morrie (1997). After being featured prominently on Oprah Winfrey's show, the book sold exceptionally well, and Oprah Winfrey produced a television movie adaptation for ABC starring Hank Azaria and Jack Lemmon. The television movie adaptation of Tuesdays with Morrie was the most watched television movie of 1999 and won four Emmy Awards. Albom's second book is the New York Times best-seller The Five People You Meet in Heaven (2003). It sold very well, although some have criticized its sentimentalism. It also was turned into a television movie for ABC, starring Jon Voight, Ellen Burstyn, Michael Imperioli and Jeff Daniels.

His most recent book is titled For One More Day, published in 2006, about a son who gets to spend a day with his mother who died eight years earlier.

Some respected book reviewers fault his work for being overly sentimental and for lacking enduring qualities.

Sports Columnist

Albom first gained fame as a sports columnist for the Detroit Free Press newspaper. Between 1985 and 2000 Albom wrote several sports column each week, as well as a general commentary column on Sundays. Currently his columns appear on a sporadic basis. During that time, Albom also provided regular sports updates on local radio stations. He "was everywhere" in Detroit media.

Each year his sports columns were entered in the Associated Press Sports Editors contest. Albom competed against columnists at newspapers with a circulation above 250,000. All entries are judged anonymously. Preliminary judging is done by more than 90 sports editors, then senior news executives at papers throughout the United States make the final awards. The judges change each year.

Albom is the most decorated winner in the history of the contest. Between 1985 and 2000 Albom won first place in column writing thirteen times, and between 1991 and 2000 he won first prize in feature story writing seven times.

Personal

After his experiences with Morrie Schwartz, subject of Tuesdays with Morrie, he started a Detroit volunteer group in 1998 called "A Time to Help". Every month, the group (affiliated with Volunteer Impact) does a project to help serve and improve the Detroit community. Projects have included work at homeless shelters, food banks, senior citizens homes, and orphanages. Mitch and his radio co-host Ken Brown lead each project and try to use the group as a catalyst to increase volunteerism.

Mitch Albom is also part of a rock band, The Rock Bottom Remainders, whose members are all published writers.

Mitch Albom appears regularly on ESPN's The Sports Reporters and SportsCenter. His radio show airs on WJR radio in Detroit from 5 to 7 p.m. ET, as of 2006. The radio show was simulcast on MSNBC in 2001.

Controversy

Albom was the center of a journalistic controversy in April 2005. His column on April 3 described former Michigan State University Spartans Mateen Cleaves and Jason Richardson cheering Michigan State University at a Final Four game against North Carolina on April 2. However, he later announced that this was not true: the players were never at the game.

Upon an internal investigation, the Detroit Free Press explained that Albom's column was written based on interviews he'd had with the two players the week prior to the game. They had both expressed plans to be at the game but were unable to attend. Albom did not have an opportunity to omit this in his column, however, because the deadline for the Sunday column was April 1 - the night before the actual game. The newspaper declared that disciplinary actions would be taken. Some publicly called for Albom's resignation.

Albom stirred controversy once again in an October 2006 column in which he dismissed allegations that Detroit Tigers pitcher Kenny Rogers had used pine tar in the palm of his pitching hand by stating he had "shaken Kenny Rogers' hand after the game and there was not sticky substance on it." A New York Times sportswriter pointed out several days later that Rogers is a left-handed pitcher (most people shake hands with their right hand).

External links

• Mitch Albom's Website
• Starbucks Book Break Discussion on Mitch Albom's for one more day, hosted by Starbucks Book Break
• Mitch Albom's Radio Show Website
• Albom's Detroit Free Press Sports Archives
• "Heaven is His Playground," a critical look at Albom by Bryan Curtis