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Knocking Woods

November 22, 2014

The single most interesting thing about Tiger Woods is that his ex-wife once took one of his golf clubs to him.

And the reason that’s the single most interesting about him is that character is destiny.

That the ex-Mrs. Woods took a golf club to his car as he tried to speed away from her five years ago this Thanksgiving after his infidelity came to light says much more about his character than it ever would about hers.

Woods cheated on his then-wife, Elin Nordegren, with a bunch of other women, each of whom, unbelievably, thought she was the only other one. (Ladies, ladies, you know the old saying: If he cheats on his wife with you, what makes you think he won’t cheat on you? And by the way, I have a bridge to sell you.)

At first glance, it’s hard to understand what they saw in him. His is not “the face that launch’d a thousand ships and burnt the topless towers of Ilium.”

But then, as Elizabeth Taylor once shrewdly observed, “there’s no deodorant in life like success.” And few have been more successful than Woods, hitting all those little white balls around all those greens over all those years for all those millions, donning all those green jackets and afterward answering all those questions with responses that promised much and delivered nothing. ...

Men’s tennis at a crossroads?

November 16, 2014

Had an interesting conversation with a saleswoman the other day regarding watches. I remarked that it’s intriguing that so many watch manufacturers have tennis players for pitch men – and women. You don’t see as many NFL players representing watches.

That might seem counterintuitive since tennis isn’t played against a clock – although it certainly records the time of each match, whereas football is played in four 15-minute intervals, albeit with lots of timeouts and a halftime. Shouldn’t Peyton Manning be the spokesman for Piaget?

But a watch – a gift of time – is a classy thing, she said. Tennis players are classy, she added. By implication, football players are not.

It’s always dangerous to generalize, of course, but there is some truth in what she said, as I myself have pointed out in this blog. Tennis has prescribed rules for deportment and an intimate, relatively quieter setting – though it can get pretty loud – that underscores infractions. When Novak Djokovic sarcastically applauded the crowd as it applauded his double-fault in a semifinal against Kei Nishikori at the Barclay’s ATP World Tour Finals in London Nov. 15, he was quick to blame himself for letting the crowd get to him and losing his concentration.

Michael Phelps, Adrian Peterson and the money game

November 12, 2014

The roster is set for the U.S. swim team that will take on the world in Kazan, Russia next summer and one name is, of course, conspicuous by its absence.

Michael Phelps is in rehab and serving a six-month suspension from the sport, following his second DUI arrest. His court date has been postponed until Dec. 19.

When Ryan Lochte, who’ll lead the American men at the world championships, said Phelps’ DUI “sucked” for swimming, this is what he meant. Of course, this is an opportunity for other swimmers to step up on the blocks and shine. But there’s no question, too, that the team would’ve been stronger with him than without him, and his arrest throws into jeopardy his competing in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janiero, because it’s all about the build-up of training.

Yes, yes, yes, of course, there are more important considerations here, like addiction, like the possibility of a drunk driver killing or injuring someone. But those concerns are somehow buffeted by the games men play when elite athletes are concerned. ...

Why football won’t go up in smoke

November 10, 2014

The cover story for the Nov. 9 New York Times Magazine asks the provocative question: Is football the next tobacco?

The answer is “No,” and the key to that answer lies not in football or tobacco but in something else – influenza.

Like the flu, tobacco is airborne. If you were to smoke in let’s say an NFL arena, you would be subjecting not only yourself but the people all around you to carcinogens. Tobacco lost its household brand identity, because enough people came to understand that it wasn’t just about other people smoking themselves to death. It was also about how secondhand smoke could kill you.

But when you go to that same NFL arena to watch a game, you’re not risking a brain injury; someone else is. And for many people, that is, selfish or not, an acceptable risk.

President Barack Obama, a Chicago Bears fan, may have voiced the sentiment of a nation when he said that if he had a son, he would not let him play football. And yet, he says, he will remain a fan.

“At this point, there’s a little bit of caveat emptor,” Michael Sokolove quotes him as saying in The Times Magazine piece. “These guys, they know what they’re doing. They know what they’re buying into. It is no longer a secret.”

The president is a rational, compassionate man. So are we all – rational, compassionate people who are comfortable with other people bashing their brains in for our amusement, because, hey, they know what they’re getting into, much like a prostitute or a stripper or a porn star. It’s just another meat market. ...

A flag on the play for John Moffitt

November 7, 2014

Unsettling news out of the Nov. 6 edition of The New York Times, which chronicles the difficult time John Moffitt – whose departure from a $1 million contract as a Denver Broncos offensive lineman was the subject of post on this blog – has had adjusting to “civilian” life.

There were flirtations with writing and standup comedy – all well and good, particularly at age 27. But then came the drinking and the drugs and the possibility of jail time for possession, which was averted.

It’s difficult when you end a career to find the structure the job once provided, particularly when you’re a football player, with all the insular entitlement that implies.

That’s one of the reasons that Quinn Novak – the hero of “The Penalty for Holding,” my forthcoming novel in “The Games Men Play” series – clings to his football career, even though he thinks the brutality on and off the field is killing him. ...

Football: America’s new pastime. But for how long?

November 5, 2014

Interesting article in the Nov. 4 edition of The New York Times by David Leonhardt, “The Upshot” columnist, about the decline of youth football among liberal, well-educated families.

Leonhardt points to boxing and horse racing – once household sports – as well as to smoking and seatbelts as examples of how public opinion can change culture.

Technology can change sports and culture, too. In the 1970s and ’80s, tennis was dominated by teenagers. Then the rackets became larger and graphite and tennis turned from a touch serve-and-volley game to a power baseline one played by adults.

Football changed, too. Improvements in the helmets and padding meant that the body could withstand greater hits. The problem is that the brain can’t, with concussions and sub-concussive experiences leading to early on-set dementia and no doubt playing a role in the NFL’s domestic violence crisis.

The neuroscience on football has also spurred parents to say “not my child." And if enough parents say that, experts note, the sport is dead. ...

Adventures in publishing, again

October 27, 2014

Another successful event for my new book “Water Music,” at The Loft: LGBT Community Services Center in White Plains Thursday night. What provocative conversation that ranged from sports to domestic violence and was every bit as stimulating the discussion at The Lionheart Gallery in Pound Ridge this past May.

There are few things as satisfying as connecting with people deeply. Well, that and meltaway coffee cake from Enrico’s Pastry Shop in Hartsdale.

Then on Saturday, I attended another publishing workshop sponsored by the Sarah Lawrence College Writing Institute. Editor Caitlin Alexander and agent Cynthia Munson led a session on writing a query letter to an agent or publisher that contained a lot of tips from formatting (don’t forget to double space your manuscript) to pitch conferences (the December New York Pitch Conference presented by the Algonkian Writer Conferences and New York Publishing).

Perhaps the biggest thing I learned is that for the query to work – in other words, for your letter to entice an agent and publisher to consider your manuscript – you have to have a catchy hook, which involves a succinct, specific description of your book as well as comparative titles. ...