Nelson Mandela, who died Thursday at his home in South Africa at age 95, is a reminder that you have to live the life in front of you, however painful or difficult it may be.
He lived his as a son not only of South Africa but of the world.
Rest in peace.
Read MoreThe death of Peter Graf – father of tennis legend Steffi Graf – Saturday in Germany reminds us that there is no stage parent quite like a tennis parent. We are taught never to speak ill of the dead, and yet as Shakespeare observes in “Julius Caesar,” “the evil that men do lives after them.” Peter Graf, who died of pancreatic cancer at age 75, was a manipulative, even abusive, father who mismanaged his daughter’s winnings and embarrassed her with a Playboy model liaison. (He was convicted of tax evasion and served a little more than two years in prison.)
But he was also the man who spurred and inspired Steffi to become the only tennis player to date to win the Golden Slam – the four Grand Slam events plus the Olympic gold medal – in a calendar year. So there had to be something there, right? Read more
Read MoreShould it surprise us that a man would think that an image of a naked/sexualized woman doesn’t objectify her?
In a piece for the “Gray Matter” column in the Dec. 1 edition of The New York Times, Yale psychology professor Paul Bloom states that images of a naked or sexualized woman don’t objectify her and that objectifying people isn’t necessarily a bad thing (as in sitting behind someone to block the sun). What makes pornography dangerous, he says, is the way it reduces people to their animal nature.
Fair enough, but I think the subject is even more complex than he realizes. First off, he confuses the words “naked” and “nude,” which the art historian Kenneth Clark brilliantly differentiates between in his book, “The Nude.” Naked is about reality and vulnerability. You’re naked in the shower. You’re naked in the doctor’s office. The people in a porno film are really naked, and they’re really having sex. Read more...
Read MoreWhat kind of man walks away from $1 million?
Maybe the kind who knows that some things are more important than money.
Such a man is John Moffitt, a third-year guard with the Denver Broncos who recently retired from the NFL.
Moffitt had a so-called dream job protecting the glamorous, commanding Peyton Manning, the Broncos’ already legendary quarterback. But protecting quarterbacks is one aspect of football that has led an increasing number of players to develop CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a form of dementia resulting from the concussions and sub-concussive events that are part of the sport. Read more...
Read MoreThe man who is perhaps the best swimmer in the world won’t be helping the U.S. win another “Duel in the Pool” when the five-year-old event is contested Dec. 20 and 21 in Glasgow. (This is one of those events that pits us against everyone else.)
It seems that an enthusiastic teenage girl ran into Ryan Lochte, literally, tearing a ligament in his left knee and spraining another. (In my second novel, “In This Place Your Hold Me,” the rakish star quarterback of the New York Templars breaks his leg when he slides off his girlfriend in a particularly lubricious encounter, paving the way for my main character, Quinton Day Novak, to become the signal-caller. I guess you can’t make this stuff up.) Read more...
Read MoreI remember the moment I became enamored of Maureen Dowd. For along time I resisted the pull of this Iris, goddess of discord, always willing to toss in the apple of discontent and see what happened. I can still remember her portrayal of the “Titanic” era Leonardo DiCaprio as a featherweight. Ouch.
I know men who prefer Gail Collins,The New York Times’ other prominent female columnist. The difference between Gail and Maureen is like the difference between Jay Leno and David Letterman. Like Jay, Gail seems nicer. But nicer can be more devastating. (Right, Mitt Romney?)
And then it happened. Maureen wrote about a guy coming up to her in a bar and saying, “You’re just an embittered spinster.” And I knew. Just as Jackie was said to have made the world safe again for brunettes, Maureen has made the world safe for embittered spinsters. Like me. Read more…
Read MoreCheck out this fun video of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic playing tennis on a boat near Perito Moreno Glacier in Patagonia, Argentina to promote t and t – tennis and tourism – while they’re on the David Nalbandian farewell tour. You can see they’re playing very carefully, almost as if it were table tennis, because one slip and its “Titanic” time – but is this crazy or what? I like the moment Nole calls Rafa to the net. I think he’s suggesting Rafa try to hit the glacier with one of his serves.
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