(The Boston Herald picked up on this. Here’s a link.)  

Here’s a link to a Poynter Institute interview I had forgot about related to this.

On Easter night I was distressed to hear a man’s voice calling from my daughter’s cell phone.  I was really distressed when he told me he’d found her purse in a Washington, DC cab.  

My daughter lives in D.C.  So does my son.

My brother had just visited them for the NCAA hockey championship game between Miami and Boston University.  Our extended family watched the game with my parents in Dayton on Saturday night.  

Holding a 2 goal lead with only a minute to play it became clear Miami was about to win its first national championship in any sport.  Our family had watched Miami hockey since my brother played left wing on its first D1 team.  Now we shared a small sense of ownership in this profound achievement.  That is until the Terriers, like a gang of street thugs, ripped away what had so fleetingly been ours.  That final minute plus a little overtime was all it took.  We spent Easter feeling violated.

The voice on my daughter’s cell phone said that he had been around enough to know not to give the purse to the cab driver.  Instead, he took it home, to where else - Boston. He worked at BU. 

He proceeded to provide a full account of the contents of the purse: phone, license, 2 earrings, $120, and credit card. He offered to Fed Ex it, but said he would keep $100.  I earnestly agreed, “sure, fine, thanks”, thinking he was the most stand-up thug I ever heard of.  He was joking.

I said, “This is really nice of you.  What is your name?”  ”Mike Eruzione”, replied the voice.

I didn’t want to be fooled again.  ”Ha ha, right, you’re messing with me, but you do sound like him.”  Laughter in the background.  The voice said, “No I really am Mike Eruzione.”  Me: “Okay, if you’re Mike Eruzione, what IHL team did you play for?”  The voice: “Toledo Golddiggers.”  Me: “Wow, you are Mike Eruzione! I used to watch you play in Dayton.”  Eruzione: “Yeah, against the Gems.”  (My father had been team doctor of the Gems.)   After some chitchat with my famous friend, I offered to send a check to cover the delivery cost. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll send it tomorrow.”

When we got home there was a message on our landline phone: “I found your daughter’s purse… call this number and ask for Mike or Donna”. The hero of THE MIRACLE ON ICE , the scorer of the winning goal against the Russians in the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics, doesn’t leave things to chance.  The purse arrived on Tuesday with its full inventory.  

What a guy.  I think I’ll put him in my Fave Five.