The Clippers deal and what the market will bear

June 2, 2014

Why is everybody up in arms about sports nut Steve Ballmer buying the Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion?The team, people say, is worth $750 million at best. It’s all about the television rights jacking up the price in the second biggest market, others say.

I say it’s only about one thing – what the market will bear. It’s like the art market. (Or the stock market.) You pay $95 million for a Van Gogh, it’s worth $95 million. Now is a Van Gogh worth $95 million? Actually, I’d have to say that since he was a great artist – a great dead artist who can’t make any more paintings – then a Van Gogh is priceless. But we don’t live in a world of aesthetics. We live in a world of insurance policies – so much if your roof is damaged, so much if your windshield is cracked. Everything has its price, which is not the same as its value.

On ‘Words and Pictures’ – and words and pictures at The Lionheart Gallery

May 21, 2014

We’re all patterns in the universe, swimmer Daniel Reiner-Kahn reasons in my new novel “Water Music.” But sometimes it’s only when we’re at the end of a journey – maybe even life’s journey – that we understand how the strands came together. At other times, we recognize how the strands fit as they’re being woven.

Last week, I had an onstage conversation with film critic Marshall Fine at the Emelin Theatre in Mamaroneck, N.Y. about the relationship between language and images after a screening of “Words and Pictures,” which opens this Friday, May 23. It’s the story of a tempestuous rivalry between a prickly artist (Juliette Binoche) and a showoff writer (Clive Owen). Four days later, the writer (me) and the artist (David Hutchinson) came together more happily at a reading from “Water Music” at The Lionheart Gallery in Pound Ridge. After, I opened up the floor for a discussion about David’s paintings and drawings there, which are based on the perverse writings of Jean Genet.

First, a few words about “Words and Pictures,” a rather contrived but nonetheless absorbing movie about a love-hate relationship that sparks a contest between the artist’s students and the writer’s. It occurred to me after that the only arena in which men and women compete is the intellectual one.

California Chrome goes for the (Triple) Crown

May 19, 2014

So now it’s on to the Belmont Stakes June 7 and a shot at the Triple Crown, and you think, We’ve been here before, most recently with I’ll Have Another. We get all excited and then we’re let down, so when a new champ comes along, we hedge our bets with Why-he’ll-win, why-he-won’t articles.

But I’m a born optimist, one who’s not afraid to go out on a limb. I believed right from the get-go that California Chrome will do what no horse has done since Affirmed in 1978. He has the speed and endurance, the smarts and the heart. And, contrary to what people think who’ve misinterpreted his rags-to-riches story, he has an excellent pedigree, with Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Native Dancer among his ancestors. His owners’ origins may be humble, but there’s nothing humble about Chrome’s bloodlines. And blood will out.

The equine Ali-Frazier – Affirmed and Alydar

May 10, 2014

Amid California Chrome’s quest for the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred racing – which continues May 17 with The Preakness at Pimlico Race Course in Maryland – comes Linda Carroll and David Rosner’s juicy new book “Duel for the Crown: Affirmed, Alydar, and Racing’s Greatest Rivalry” (Gallery Books, $26, 360 pages). It tells the story of two coppery 3-year-old colts – laidback Affirmed out of upstart Harbor View Farm in Florida and high-strung Alydar out of Calumet Farm in Kentucky, the New York Yankees of Thoroughbred dynasties – who in the spring of 1978 offered racing fans and the general public alike two very different approaches, the authors write:

“Despite their similar chestnut coloring and their shared bloodlines as descendants of the great Native Dancer, Affirmed and Alydar boasted the kind of clashing styles and complementary personalities that fuel the most enduring rivalries. Off the track, the refined Affirmed was as relaxed and easygoing as the regal Alydar was macho and aggressive. On the track, their contrasting styles forged the equine equivalent of Ali the Boxer versus Frazier the Slugger. Affirmed, graceful and swift like Ali, was the classic frontrunner, gliding with the precision of a stopwatch and flicking his ears to alert his precocious jockey (Steve Cauthen) to an impending challenge, while Alydar, brawny and bullish like Frazier, was the classic stalker, gearing up to unleash his come-from-behind knockout punch. The classic confrontation was so close that it would all come down to one champion’s indomitable will to win.”

Indeed, they would race each other 10 times in 14 months, with Affirmed usually gaining the upper hand, er, hoof. But it wasn’t easy.

Phelpte moves on to Charlotte

April 28, 2014

So in the end, Michael Phelps didn’t make the final of the 50 free in the Arena Grand Prix in Mesa, Ariz. (He swam his patented butterfly stroke in the prelims. The rules allow you to swim any of the strokes in the free.) And Ryan Lochte bowed out of his final races. (He’s been nursing a knee injury and said he had pushed himself too hard in February.)

But having them back racing each other is certainly a boon for their sport despite the emergence of some young swimmers.

Phelpte – the Rafanole of swimming

April 25, 2014

It’s as if one never said goodbye and the other was never injured.

Michael Phelps, on the comeback trail, aced his prelim heat in the 100 butterfly only to fall to archrival and good friend Ryan Lochte in the Arena Grand Prix final Thursday night.

"Down there at the turn I kind of peeked over and I saw him and almost started smiling," Lochte said later.

“Why?” Phelps countered, “because you were ahead?"

Is Phelpte a great rivalry or what?

Phelps and Lochte – together again

April 24, 2014

Is it any surprise that the Arena Grand Prix – which takes place Thursday, April 24 through Saturday, April 26 in Mesa, Ariz. – is sold out? Michael Phelps is swimming in his first meet since the London Games in what looks like the beginning of the comeback trail and may face off with pal and rival Ryan Lochte in the 100 butterfly and 100 freestyle. Michael is also swimming in the 50 free while Ryan is entered in the 200 free, the 100 and 200 backstroke and the 200 individual medley.

There are a lot of other stars at the meet – including Nathan Adrian, Conor Dwyer and France’s Yannick Angel – but all eyes will be on Michael and, to a certain extent, the old rivalry.

For his part, Ryan has said he always knew Michael would be back.