Michael Phelps – in the drink

October 2, 2014

Well, it hasn’t been a very good day for swimming, has it?

Michael Phelps – the most decorated Olympian to date, with 22 medals, 18 gold – was charged with driving under the influence early Tuesday morning, crossing double lanes and clocking in at 84 mph in 45-mph Fort McHenry Tunnel in his hometown of Baltimore. His blood alcohol level was .14. (The legal limit in Maryland is .08.) A trial has been set for Nov. 19.

Complicating matters for Phelps is that this isn’t his first DUI arrest. That was in 2004 when he was 19. In 2009, the Internet had a field day with pictures of him smoking a marijuana pipe. A judge might very well set Phelps’ celebrity aside – or even make an example of it – and sentence him to jail time. And he could lose his license. Maybe he should, or at the very least be forced to install one of those devices that disables cars that drunk drivers enter.

Of course, that wouldn’t stop him from getting behind the wheel of another car. ...

This is your brain on football

September 30, 2014

At my uncle’s birthday party recently, I spent part of my time with my little cousin Mark, eating birthday cake and watching the 49ers (my team) come back against the Eagles (his).

Mark is a solidly built, cherubic 9-year-old with a curly top and an appetite as big as his grin. Already a talented hockey player – like his poised, more reserved older brother – Mark told me he’d love to play football, but his parents, my goddaughter and her husband, won’t allow it.

Good call. Time magazine’s Sept. 29 issue has a poignant cover story that’s a must-read for any parent – or, for that matter, anyone interested in the game’s recent, headline-grabbing developments.

It’s the story of 16-year-old Chad Stover, who sustained a traumatic brain injury during one of the many games played under the “Friday night lights” across this country every autumn. Indeed, on fall Fridays when I leave my office late, I can see those lights and hear the throng gathered at the local high school clear across the highway.

Maybe that’s what I had in mind in this passage from my upcoming novel “In This Place You Hold Me,” about a quarterback’s search for identity amid the brutality of the NFL...

Oh, captain, their captain

September 29, 2014

How do you fall out of love?

Does it happen all at once? Or subtly over time until one day you realize that your heart no longer skips a beat when you look at the box score?

I had loved the New York Yankees and, by extension, all of baseball from the time I was about 6 years old. That’s when I first saw the old, old Yankee Stadium, all blue and white. To me, it looked like a wedding cake. The first time I walked inside and saw the field fanning out to embrace infinity, I had only one thought: “I belong here.”

Over the years, I had many memorable moments there – particularly watching the magical teams of the late 1970s – and I would go on to write about the Yanks during their magnificent run at the end of the 20th century.

But also over those years, I found myself so emotionally invested in the Bombers that I couldn’t take their defeats. Then my Aunt Mary, my beloved Tiny, who would’ve been 92 on Oct. 1, became fatally ill, and even winning became painful. Indeed when the team won the World Series in 2009, the gulf between its euphoria and my despair seemed unbreachable.

After that, Tim Tebow and Colin Kaepernick happened to me, and I made the journey that America has...

In the pink?: The NFL and women’s health

September 27, 2014

Oct. 1 begins Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and as usual the NFL will be up to its helmets in pink paraphernalia. But pardon me if it’s seems more than a tad hypocritical this year with all the domestic abuse scandals rocking the league.

It’s great that the NFL is concerned about advertisers, er, women getting cancer. But a woman with a cracked skull might have more immediate concerns, you know?

In the meantime, domestic abuse organizations are keeping up the pressure. Hope’s Door in Pleasantville recently issued a “Call to Action” as we mark the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Violence Against Women Act.

“Unfortunately, the recent horrific incidents involving the NFL remind us that domestic violence continues to be a major societal problem that can no longer be ignored,” said Jane Aoyama-Martin, executive director of The Pace Women’s Justice Center said. “I am encouraged by the public outrage, since years ago it would have been swept under the rug and ignored.” ...

Hope’s Door will be taking part in a Manhattan march remembering Gladys Ricart on Sept. 26, the 15th anniversary of her murder by a former, abusive boyfriend.  Images courtesy Hope’s Door — Hope’s Door will be taking part in a Manhattan march remembering Gladys Ricart on Sept. 26, the 15th anniversary of her murder by a former, abusive boyfriend. Images courtesy Hope’s Door

Women, 1; NFL, 0

September 24, 2014

Let’s here it for the women who’ve been beating the drum on the NFL domestic violence scandal – CBS’ Hannah Storm, who made it personal; ESPN’s Janet McManus, who keeps on digging. (Truth in advertising: Jane and I were colleagues at Gannett. She’s one of those brilliantly educated people who can talk just as knowledgeably about classics as she can about sports. Jane – one of the models for Brenna James, the sophisticated sports columnist in my forthcoming novel in “The Games Men Play Series,” “In This Place You Hold Me” – also brings a compassionate eye to what she does.)

That combination of smarts and empathy is something that’s sorely lacking as recent developments suggest that NFL and team leaders just don’t get it. The latest to weigh in – and trip all over himself in the process – was Baltimore Ravens’ owner Stephen J. Bisciotti, who was on the defensive at a news conference, claiming that he and his team did not press the league to bury former running back Ray Rice’s arrest for cold-cocking his future wife, Janay. Let’s just say that the adage that a good defense stops a good offense doesn’t apply here.

Indeed, The New York Times’ Juliet Macur – another heroine fighting the good fight – said in a Sept. 23 column that Bisciotti, commish Roger Goodell and company should “please just stop talking.” ...

To have and have not: Roger Federer – a (grudging) appreciation

September 23, 2014

All biography – Alí, one of the tennis players in my new novel “Water Music,” notes – is selective history. And all history is selective truth.

The accomplishments of those we love shine brighter than the achievements of those we don’t. Yet there is a common, middle ground in which we can assess those we dislike, or at least there should be.

So I’ve come not to bury but to praise Roger Federer, subject of a glowing cover profile in October Town & Country and, in analyzing him, to understand something of myself.

The subtitle of the article by Ed Caesar is “The Romantic Comedy Life of the World’s Greatest Tennis Player.” (Really, Ed? Greater than Rafael Nadal, who dethroned him? Or Novak Djokovic, who beat both to become No. 1?) Understand that Town & Country is a luxury magazine. Luxury magazines are in the business of selling luxury. The interview took place “in the high-ceilinged Directoire drawing room of Moët & Chandon, for whom (Federer) works as a brand ambassador.” Enough said.

The picture that emerges...

Is soccer playing the gender card?

September 22, 2014

The NFL domestic abuse narrative took a twist Saturday as that other “football” game – soccer – got into the act.

Or didn’t. Hope Solo – goalie for the U.S. national women’s team – extended her shutout record to 73 even as she’s facing charges of punching her sister and 17-year-old nephew at a late-night, alcohol-fueled party, leaving them with head and face injuries. (Ironically, she was involved in an incident in which her husband, former football player Jerramy Stevens, allegedly assaulted her. A judge dismissed the case on the grounds of insufficient evidence.)

This as Roger Goodell...