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An illustration from the poem "Guy u Chawgan" ("The Ball and the Polo-mallet"), an illuminated manuscript in the collection of the Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, conveys the ancient Persian origins of polo as an ex… — An illustration from the poem "Guy u Chawgan" ("The Ball and the Polo-mallet"), an illuminated manuscript in the collection of the Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, conveys the ancient Persian origins of polo as an exercise for the imperial cavalry.

The Other Open

August 26, 2018

If you are a reader of this blog, then you know that I am writing a series of novels called "The Games Men Play" and set in the worlds of swimming, tennis and football. The first two, "Water Music" and "The Penalty for Holding," are available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The third will explore the equestrian worlds of show jumping, polo and Thoroughbred racing. It's a tale of bloodlines and bloodlust set amid rival equestrian families and told in part from the viewpoint of a colt that is trying to become the first since Whirlaway to win the Triple Crown and the Travers Stakes.

With this in mind, I thought you'd enjoy a repost from WAG Weekly, the e-newsletter that's part of my editing day job, about the other Open starting today in the New York metro area….

The trophies from the US Open's men's and women's singles championships gleam against the backdrop of the Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan. Tim Camuso/USTA

(US)Open season

August 24, 2018

The US Open begins officially Monday, Aug. 27, and unofficially Saturday, Aug. 25 when the Billie Jean King USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park hosts Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day….

Some members of the San Francisco 49ers kneeling during "The Star-Spangled Banner" before a game against the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland on Oct. 15, 2017. Photograph by Keith Allison. — Some members of the San Francisco 49ers kneeling during "The Star-Spangled Banner" before a game against the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland on Oct. 15, 2017. Photograph by Keith Allison.

Talking 'Turkey' about NFL protests

August 12, 2018

Wildfires still burning out of control in California. Some border babies still not reunited with their parents. Markets reeling from Turkey’s plummeting economy, pushed further down by Trumpian tariffs.

But thank God President Donald J. Trumpet has made us safe from kneeling NFL players….

Aaron Rodgers, seen here in action against the Carolina Panthers on Oct. 19, 2014, is one of the latest people to respond to President Donald J. Trump's criticism of LeBron James. He thinks we should take a stoic approach. But should we? Photograph … — Aaron Rodgers, seen here in action against the Carolina Panthers on Oct. 19, 2014, is one of the latest people to respond to President Donald J. Trump's criticism of LeBron James. He thinks we should take a stoic approach. But should we? Photograph by Mike Morebeck.

Trump, LeBron James and free speech

August 9, 2018

Aaron Rodgers is among the latest people to respond to President Donald J. Trump’s criticism of LeBron James. Rodgers thinks we should take a stoic approach to Trumpian attacks. But should we?….

Il Sodoma's "Marriage of Alexander and Roxane" (1517), a fresco in the Villa Farnesina. Alexander and Roxane figure in Rudyard Kipling's "The Man Who Would Be King," a cautionary tale about demagoguery.

The battle for narrative in the age of Trump

July 28, 2018

Donald Trump controls the national narrative. Instead of complaining about it, his critics need to ask this salient question: How are they to wrest control of it from him?…

An inspiring event with Billie Jean King

April 5, 2018

Here I am with (left to right) judge and journalist Lisa Wexler, tennis legend Billie Jean King and WAG society editor Robin Costello at a benefit for Fairfield County’s Community Foundation: The Fund for Women & Girls at the Hyatt Regency Greenwich earlier today. The Foundation, which empowers underserved girls and women to do everything from leaving abusive relationships to starting businesses, raised a projected $110,000 — $10,000 from King herself. She is like that ...

The gun control movement’s #MeToo moment

February 24, 2018

Just as The New York Times’ Harvey Weinstein series ignited #MeToo, so the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, has galvanized a movement – and a generation – against gun violence in a way that we thought the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting would but never did.

I know: We’ve been here before – too, too many times. But this time feels different as high school students have taken to the streets and to buses – latter-day Freedom Riders, Oprah Winfrey called them – to protest the absolute lunacy of children, and the rest of us, being held hostage by people who think their Second Amendment rights entitle them to assault weapons.

Why does their right to own guns that should only be in the hands of the professionals trump our peace of mind? ...