OBVIOUSLY, NO ONE CAN COMPETE WITH TIGER
“GOOD MORNING, America, and welcome to our coverage of the British Open from St. Andrews. Let’s get right to the important stuff, shall we? Jim, what did Tiger Woods have for breakfast?””Frank, I’m outside Ye Old Scottish Pancake House,...
Parents Often Drop Ball In Youth Sports
You’ve seen these bumper stickers. “My kid made the honor roll at blankety-blank school.”
I used to think they were harmless. A declaration of parental pride. Now, I’m not so sure. Parental pride, it seems, can get you killed.
Earlier this month, in a Boston suburb, two fathers took their kids to hockey practice. One father never came home.
VITALE’S LESSON: NEVER WASTE A MOMENT OF LIFE
THIS IS a column about a column I never got to write.A few weeks ago, I got a call saying John Vitale was sick, cancer had him in its grasp. The words did not go with the man. Vitale was this huge, hulking guy, always had been, even as a kid, they had to starve him...
Mini-Music Causes Mega Headaches
Well, I lost them. All 60 songs. I don’t know where I put them. They could be under a sock. They could be behind a credit card in my wallet.
Sixty songs. Gone like that. That’s what I get for living in the era of shrinking music.
See, kids, once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far, away — the 20th Century — music came on big discs called 78s. They were heavy, solid things. You could bang a nail with them or throw them like a Frisbee. Odd Job could flick one and take someone’s head off.
Who is Odd Job, you ask?
That is why you’re kids.
It’S Official: Grant’S Gone
THERE GOES the franchise player, out the door, headed for Space Mountain. What began with great fanfare six years ago — a press conference, smiles for the cameras, a new uniform, a promise of a long-term future — ended with one late-night phone call Thursday from Grant Hill, a phone call that should have come days earlier, a phone call that, truth be told, should not have been a call at all, but an in-person meeting, if only out of respect.
FAST BREAKJOE DUMARS EXPECTS THE WORST, THAT GRANT HILL WILL TAKE HIS GAME TO ORLANDO
If Grant Hill leaves …He leaves a team that hasn’t won a title in a decade for a team that has never won a title, period.He leaves a climate that is oppressive in winter for a climate that is oppressive in summer.He leaves a promising older coach for a...
WILLIAMS ERA IS BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY
WIMBLEDON, England — Something’s happening here. Something big. One of those sharp turns in sports that you cannot appreciate until later. In due time — a few weeks, a few months, maybe even a year — everyone in tennis will acknowledge that the...
Talent Out Classes Glitz In Wimbledon’S 2 Worlds
WIMBLEDON, England — It was raining lightly. Todd Martin wanted to keep playing. Andre Agassi did not. So when chasing down a forehand, Agassi slipped, and let himself go down like a Shakespearean soldier. He lay on the grass as if he’d been shot.
The crowd hooted. Agassi remained flat for several seconds. Finally, his point made, he slowly rose and wiped his leg.
Sure enough, the official came out and suspended the match.
Ah …A Better Way To Place A Tennis Bet
WIMBLEDON, England — “Can you read that?” I ask the woman behind the counter.
“Let’s see,” she says, fingering the little pink paper. She squints.
“My handwriting,” I say, “it isn’t . . .”
“Not to worry. I’ve seen worse.”
She finally smiles. “OK. How much do you want to wager on . . .” she squints again “…Serena Williams?”
“How much?” I say. “Uh . . .”
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