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As Terry Francona prepares to say goodbye, a tribute to his humor and humanity

Related Topics: Terry Francona, Michael Jordan

During spring training in 2012, Terry Francona was working with ESPN. It was the year after he was fired as manager of the Boston Red Sox, a year before he was hired to manage Cleveland. Tito has a terrible sense of direction, so that spring, ESPN placed him in my care. My sense of direction is also horrible, but next to Tito, I am Vasco da Gama. Our first night in Florida, we were assigned to stay at a Disney property called Fort Wilderness. It wasn't a hotel, but individual log cabins in the woods -- complete with bunk beds, as if we were Cub Scouts.