Everybody has their favorite feel-good story in the world of sports.
Feel-Good Story of the Week: Start with two cups of some guy named Az-zahir Hakim, add a pinch of Arena Football lifer Kurt Warner, sprinkle in a teaspoon of Dick Vermeil (tears included), mix, then heat until warm ... or absolutely sizzling. What do you have? The 5-0 St. Louis Rams.
Feel-Good Story of the Century: Diagnosed with testicular cancer, Lance Armstrong was given a 50 percent chance of living. After his 7:37 victory in the 1999 Tour de France, the talk isn't about radiation or remission anymore, but rather about a repeat.
Great stories, but not all-time feel gooders. I'll reserve that for possibly the newest member of the Duke basketball family.
With recent recruiting hauls that netted names like Avery, Brand, Maggette and Jason Williams, the burning question ignited once again as ballyhooed Blue Devil prospects took in the Midnight Madness festivities last weekend in Durham: Who would be the latest high-school great to don the blue and white?
Would it be Bloomington, Ind., baller Jared Jeffries? How about the chiseled Darius Rice?
Nope. I've got the scoop on this one, and I'm pretty sure Prep Stars Recruiting Handbook hasn't the slightest idea who some kid named Robby Higginbottom is. They probably shouldn't - after all, he didn't even start for his high school team. That's right, high school.
He has the measurements of a club-league worldbeater: 5-foot-10, 150 pounds, azure blue eyes, marginal muscle tone, mediocre game.
But the boy is big on heart, and in a day when cantankerous children like Scottie Pippen and Steve Francis act as if they rule the known quadrant without one, heart can go a pretty long way.
And what this guy did last week took heart: He randomly showed up for a walk-on tryout well before sunrise, then promptly sprinted the sub six-minute mile needed to stay in the hunt for a spot. All of this in front of one of the most prominent faces in college athletics, Mike Krzyzewski, who hadn't even a fraction of a clue who the kid was.
Just one day later in a Midnight Madness walk-on scrimmage at Cameron, he nailed a jumpshot from the wing for all the Cameron Crazies to bob up and down to ... or maybe just ask, "who is this guy?"
Even if the Crazies didn't know who he was, Steve Wojciehowski did. That's right, the Steve Wojciehowski: That pesky little point guard turned assistant coach who probably still sleeps in his uniform. A self-proclaimed basketball fundamentalist, Robby played well enough to earn a couple of slaps on the back from Wojo.
It's tempting and almost natural to compare the two (blond-haired, blue-eyed, stumpy white kids), but I'll spare my friend - Robby, that is - the embarrassment of being likened to that Blue (Devil) blood.
So now Robby sits in his dorm room, not the plush apartment with built in kitchen and deluxe, triple-decker stereo, but the normal one where normal guys live. He sits and he waits for a phone call to tell him that Duke basketball isn't above taking a guy with heart and guts enough to dwarf the ridiculous game any Duke signee can boast.
If Coach K has any sense at all, he'll put him on speed dial.
The odds are slim, though - not because Robby doesn't belong in blue and white, but because half of the time the sports world doesn't appreciate its special cast of characters - from the superhero slam-dunker to the real-life Rudy - until they're gone.
Last week we lost a true giant in every sense of the word: Wilt Chamberlain. "The Stilt" had everyone's admiration, but as Wilt recently mourned, no one ever rooted for Goliath.
You can rest comfortably, big man. With all due respect to Gheorghe Muresan, I've found my giant, and he's lucky if he reaches my forehead. But you can bet I'll be rooting for him.
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