Caption: Meghan McCain campaigning with her father, Sen. John McCain, in 2008. Photograph by Rona Proudfoot.

McCain, Trump and telling it like it is

September 2, 2018

Among the motifs that threaded the death and commemoration of Sen. John McCain – who was to be laid to rest today at the United States Naval Academy Cemetery in Annapolis, Maryland – was the notion that he was a straight shooter. After all, his 2000 presidential campaign bus was called the Straight Talk Express. You might not like everything he had to say but you respected him for saying it.

President Donald J. Trump’s admirers will also tell you that what they admire about their man is that he “tells it like it is.” Yet the contrast in their straight talk couldn’t be greater and it was on full display at Saturday’s magnificent funeral service for McCain at Washington National Cathedral in Washington D.C….

:  Hot, hot, hot Stefanos Tsitsipas – who became the youngest man to beat four top 10 players in a row earlier this summer at the Canadian Open – lost to the heat and Daniil Medvedev Wednesday at the US Open. Photograph by Getty Images. — : Hot, hot, hot Stefanos Tsitsipas – who became the youngest man to beat four top 10 players in a row earlier this summer at the Canadian Open – lost to the heat and Daniil Medvedev Wednesday at the US Open. Photograph by Getty Images.

The heat is on at the US Open

August 29, 2018

The US Open – the last of the Grand Slam tournaments, celebrating its golden jubilee this season – is one of sports’ greatest events and one of its most challenging.

For fans, that is due in part to the difficulty in getting into the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens. Then once inside, members of the New York City Police Department, along with the Open’s security and ushers, have a poor sense of what’s where. (We ourselves were dropped off on Northern Boulevard, which we surmised correctly would be the shortest walk to the Media Center.)

So unless you have the directional skills of a Lewis and Clark, it can be tough going. Equally daunting for fans but especially the players this year has been the soaring heat and humidity….

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….

From left to right:  Michael Cohen, President Donald J. Trump and Michael Cohen as they appeared on money.cnn.com. — From left to right: Michael Cohen, President Donald J. Trump and Michael Cohen as they appeared on money.cnn.com.

All the president's (hench)men

August 22, 2018

It’s hard to tell which movie we’re watching nowadays. Is it “All the President’s Men,” with some speaking of President Donald J. Trumpet as an “unindicted co-conspirator,” implicated by former personal lawyer Michael Cohen in payoffs to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal to influence the election? Is it “The Godfather,” with Donnie Two Scoops speaking of former campaign manager Paul “Paulie Smart Suits” Manafort as if he were a loyal capo (as opposed to that weasel Cohen)?

Caption: A typically low-key Veterans Day Parade in the U.S. of A., this one in Baltimore in 2016. Photograph by Elvert Barnes.

Before his parade passes by

August 19, 2018

Cue Babs Streisand and all the other great Dollys going back to Carol Channing.

Or perhaps a song from another Streisand musical would be more appropriate.

President Donald J. Trumpet has been forced to cancel a parade for himself, er, veterans due to costs that have been estimated to run as high as $92 million….

Caption: Omarosa Manigault Newman plugging her Trump tell-all on “Today.” Photograph by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez for Getty Images.

Trump, Omarosa and race

August 15, 2018

These are not the best of times for race relations in America – perhaps the understatement of five lifetimes. A year after Charlottesville, 61 percent of Americans see an increase in racial tensions, according to a new CBS News poll….