Every Christmas I remember a ticking-off from my late mother-in-law, an observant Roman Catholic, after I'd jeered at some celebrity for being as thick as brandy butter. Well, I can't pretend that I've always abided by my mother-in-law's stricture in newspaper columns I've written over the years. But bearing her lesson in mind, and in the spirit of Christmas peace …
Even in a hospital bed, with a horrific spinal-cord injury that would confine him to a wheelchair for the rest of his life, Mike Utley gave his Detroit Lions teammate a helping hand. Detroit had a lot of exceptional play that season — the running of Hall of Famer Barry Sanders, the surprising emergence of quarterback Erik Kramer, a stifling …
