Like Mark Twain’s death, reports of the demise of Rafael Nadal’s career – often instigated by Rafael Nadal himself – have been greatly exaggerated.
It was just a short while ago as Novak Djokovic blazed through the winter season that Rafa was questioning whether he should go on.
Oh, what a difference a spring (and, let’s face it, Rafa’s favorite surface, clay) can make. Having won in Monte Carlo – where Nole exited early – and Barcelona, Rafa’s back. As if there were any doubt that he would be. ...
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Read MoreWith all the talk about this year’s crop of 3-year-olds for the Kentucky Derby – Will it be the presumptive favorite Nyquist or his gray rival, Mohaymen, or Exaggerator? – I’ve been feeling a little nostalgic for American Pharoah and his glory Triple Crown run last year.
Well, we Pharoah phanatics are about to get a phix: AP is the subject of a new book by Joe Drape that was excerpted in The New York Times.
“American Pharoah,” published by Hachette Books, will be available April 26. ...
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Read MoreWhile American Pharoah is busy making babies, our old friend California Chrome is busy winning races.
CC – who won the 2014 Kentucky Derby and Preakness – earned the richest prize in horse racing, taking the $6-million Dubai World Cup on March 26. The win makes him the all-time moneymaker at $12.4 million. (And he could add to that by entering January’s $12 million Pegasus Championship, which would alternate between the Santa Anita and Gulfstream parks.)
But the real winner here may be Victor Espinoza, who rode the Pharoah, of course, and rides CC as well. ...
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Read MoreDays before Valentine’s Day – Feb. 12 to be exact – American Pharoah had his first date with a mare named Untouched Talent at Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky.
"I am thrilled. The mare that is in heat and ovulating is the dam of Bodemeister, a stallion I raced and own," American Pharoah's owner Ahmed Zayat said. "Very excited. Can't wait for little Pharos.”
If all goes well, the first of them will be born 11 months from now. Meanwhile, American Pharoah has taken to his new occupation the way he once took to the track.
“They just told me the first time that they brought him for what they call a test breeding, he was just like he was on the racetrack,” Zayat said. “A champion.”
Indeed, AP seems to be the best kind of performer – competitive enough to be a winner but not so competitive to be difficult off the track. ...
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Read MoreWell, now we have the backlash to the fallout from Serena Williams being named Sports Illustrated’s “Sportsperson of the Year.”
How dare she be picked over fan fave American Pharoah, went the fallout.
How dare anyone compare her to a horse or pick an animal over an African-American female athlete, went the backlash.
Let me try to make a nuanced argument here, not the Internet’s forte. Williams was chosen as much for what she symbolizes – African-American female athleticism in a racially troubled country – as for what she has accomplished. ...
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Read MoreAll hail the Pharoah.
American Pharoah has been named Sports Illustrated readers’ “Sportsman of the Year.” The SI staff’s choice will be announced tomorrow on SI.com and NBC’s “Today” show.
AP received 47 percent of the vote. The World Series’ winning Kansas City Royals garnered 29 percent, while soccer star Lionel Messi earned 6 percent. Tennis No. 1 Novak Djokovic finished ninth. ...
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Read MoreIs it right to talk about Sports Illustrated’s controversial nomination of American Pharoah for Sportsman of the Year at a time when there are so many lost souls and unanswered questions amid the mass shooting of a facility for the disabled in San Bernardino, Calif.?
I think it’s relevant. We are divided from nature, of which we are apart, in part because we are divided in our own human nature.
There are two types of people who misunderstand nature. The first doesn’t care about it and ranges from those who toss the ice cream pop wrapper out the car window onto the highway to those who abuse animals. ...
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