When I think of O.J. Simpson, who died Wednesday, April 10 of prostate cancer at age 76 in Las Vegas, I think of the short story '“Appointment in Samarra,” often retold in novels. The protagonist encounters the figure of Death, and to elude the dreaded specter, runs off to Samarra, only to find Death waiting there at the place where they were destined to meet. You cannot escape fate — or the consequences of your actions, no matter what else you do in life. Such is the Hindu and Buddhist principle of karma.
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The not-so-'golden' age of American politics
Recently, I was talking with two of my writers about an older person in the workforce. When asked how old this person was, I said, “88,” and the two, a married couple, let out shrieks of horror.
“Isn’t there a rocking chair and a porch somewhere?” the husband asked. Just so. These are not the best of times for older people in the workplace, particularly when that workplace is American politics. Many Americans polled are worried about an 81-year-old President Joe Biden squaring off yet again against a 77-year-old former President Donald F. Trump.
Read MoreLloyd Austin and 'the emperor of all maladies'
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III’s failure to disclose his hospitalization for complications from prostate cancer at a particularly sensitive moment when we are fighting proxy wars in Ukraine and the Middle East has raised the expected political hackles as well as some fascinating philosophical questions.
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Read MoreThe Taylor Swifting of the world
When Peggy Noonan, who was one of President Ronald Reagan’s speechwriters, writes in The Wall Street Journal, that Taylor Swift should be Time magazine’s Person of the Year, you know that Swift has captured the zeitgeist.
Read MoreTennis, Congress and anger (mis)management
From the courts of the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, Italy, to the halls of the United States Congress, these have not been the best of times for men and anger management.
Read MoreLast man standing -- the liberation of Novak Djokovic
Often in life what appears to be improbable is ultimately inevitable. It’s only later, though, that we understand that what seems to make no sense at first is in the end what was meant to be all along.
For much of the early part of his career, Novak Djokovic — the Celiac-ridden guy from an economically straitened family in war-torn Serbia — was a reliable, color-coordinated number three to the elegant, aloof Roger Federer and his intense, visceral rival, Rafael Nadal. But in becoming the oldest man to win the singles title at the US Open Sunday, Sept. 10, the 36-year-old Djokovic has eclipsed them —tying Australia’s Margaret Court for most Grand Slam singles titles (24); returning to the number one ranking for a record 390th week (altogether that would be seven and a half years, folks); setting a new record for most times winning three Slams in a year (four, in 2011, ’15, ’21 and ’23), having the most ATP Masters 1000 titles (39) — the list goes on.
Read MoreMedia Day 2023: On the job at the US Open
What was Media Day (Friday, Aug. 25) like for me at the US Open, having not attended for the past three years?
The same thing only different. Everything at the Media Center is digital now. And there seem to be a few new tournament sponsors, including now LVMH-owned Tiffany & Co., maker of the U.S. Men’s and Women’s Singles Championship trophies, and Mount Sinai Health System -- which also has a booth at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, where the US Open runs Monday, Aug. 28, through Sunday, Sept. 10.
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