Adrian Peterson – the NFL’s latest nightmare

September 14, 2014

What a week for the NFL – Ray Rice’s indefinite suspension for coldcocking his wife, commish Roger Goodell’s failure to respond to the seriousness of the act from the get-go and now Vikings running back Adrian Peterson indicted for felony child abuse.

Peterson, who was released on $15,000 bond but deactivated for tomorrow’s game against the Patriots, took a switch to his 4-year-old for apparently pushing a sibling because of a motorbike video game. Instead of taking away the child’s game privileges, Peterson cut and bruised the boy’s buttocks, legs, ankles and even genital area with a tree branch. This has been a common form of punishment in certain parts of the United States, which is no excuse. We live with the past not in it. Lots of things that we once took for granted – smoking, driving without seatbelts – have since proven injurious, and smart people no longer do them. But making the smart choice isn’t always that easy. ...

Colin’s eyes, Russell’s, uh, thing and the NFL’s continuing female trouble

September 13, 2014

As we move from Ray Rice (former Raven) to Condoleezza Rice (future NFL commish?), I thought we’d lighten up with Colin Kaepernick – 49ers quarterback, model, sex symbol.

Colin’s on the cover of the new V Man magazine, photographed by Bruce Weber, whose gift for capturing men and homoeroticism is unquestioned. How life and art parallel one another: In my forthcoming novel, “In This Place You Hold Me” – the second book in my series, “The Games Men Play” – New York Templars quarterback Quinn Novak poses for a series of erotic photos by fashion/art photog Elliott Gardener, whom we meet in Alí’s story arc in my first book, “Water Music.” Apparently, you really can’t make this stuff up.

Anyway, back to Colin. ...

Hope to end domestic violence

September 12, 2014

The story of Ray Rice coldcocking then-fiancée Janay Rice and a possible NFL cover-up of the act is not going away. The National Organization of Women has called for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to step down, this as former FBI director Robert Mueller is appointed to lead an investigation into what the NFL knew and when it knew it.

There has been much written about the subject and much of that misguided. People think with their hearts, their loins and their wallets. They see what they want to see. But in this case – in most cases – we need to think with our minds. Here are the incontrovertible facts, as I posted them on ESPN: Ray Rice assaulted the woman who became his wife, the former Janay Palmer, and Goodell exercised abysmal leadership in responding to that act. Both men should be gone from the NFL – permanently.

It does not matter if what happens between a husband and wife is private. (The assault took place in the elevator of an Atlantic City casino, a public place.) It doesn’t matter that the Atlantic City district attorney chose not to prosecute, although I’m sure that is being investigated, too. And most important, it really doesn’t matter if Mrs. Rice confronted her husband on the elevator or why she dated, married and stayed with him. Nor is it in anyway material that she is pleading for privacy as her world unravels, thanks to her husband.

All that matters here is that Rice assaulted his future wife, and the league chose to slap him on the wrist with a two-game suspension at first while possibly sweeping under the rug any knowledge of the video capturing the act. ...

Polo and the essence of modernism

September 10, 2014

It was a sparkling climax to the season at the Greenwich Polo Club Sunday, Sept. 7 as Royal Salute held off a surging Casablanca 10-8 in a taut match for the Royal Salute Cup.

The match, spectators were told, featured the highest quality polo in the Northern Hemisphere, with Facundo Pieres, the No. 1-ranked player in the world, the legendary Martin Aguerre and Peter Brant, the Greenwich club’s founder, anchoring the team for Royal Salute, the Scotch whisky company, while Nick Manifold, who oversees the club, and 9-goaler Hilario Ulloa (10 is the highest ranking) doing the honors for Casablanca, a polo-gear company that has a store on tony Greenwich Avenue.

If you’ve never seen this ancient sport, which dates from the Persian Empire, then you’re missing something. Polo is fast, exciting and, I suspect, more than a little bit dangerous. Just to see the horses thunder down the green expanse (10 football fields), the riders swinging their mallets as they sometimes mix it up – nose to nose and haunch to haunch – is, well, thrilling.

And did I mention sexy? Polo players are among the most attractive, masculine men in the world. ...

A blue Monday in the sports world

September 9, 2014

Well, it was a depressing sports day, wasn’t it? Let’s start with the least offensive aspect – the US Open men’s final. I didn’t see it, but then, I work for a living like many other people, so I wasn’t home for the 5 p.m. start and wasn’t about to distract myself at the office. By the time I got home, it was all over but the shouting – Marin Čilić defeating Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. An even bigger loser than Niskikori – CBS Sports, which must’ve been kicking itself over its star-less final. (Hey, the 5 p.m. start doesn’t help the ratings either, CBS.)

Perhaps the Eye Network can blame Novak Djokovic. I can’t help but think that this was his tournament to lose.

I can see Roger Federer – who is, after all, 33 – going down to the big, hard-serving Čilić. But as good as Nishikori may be, you expect more from the No. 1-ranked player in the world. Maybe it’s just me. But no matter my mood or what’s happening personally in my life or even how I feel physically, I’ve never allowed anything to interfere with my writing or my work. I know that everyone says at the end of your life, you won’t wish you wrote one more article but rather that you spent more time with your loved ones.

But here’s the way I see it: Not everyone can be a writer. Not everyone can win Wimbledon. Obituaries aren’t written about relationships. They’re written about accomplishments.

You have to look at Nole’s opportunities at most of the Slams since 2011 and wonder if he hasn’t squandered them, because of – well, what? We’ll get into that when we explore Chris Bowers’ new book, “The Sporting Statesman: Novak Djokovic and the Rise of Serbia” in an upcoming post. ...

More Michael Sam meshugas, and the beginning of the end of the (Fab) Big Four

September 8, 2014

Is there a better sports weekend than the one we just experienced? (Well, yes, you say, what about the second weekend in June, with the Belmont and the French Open final?)

This year, though, we had not only Super Saturday and the women’s final at the US Open but Derek Jeter Day at Yankee Stadium and the Royal Salute Cup at the Greenwich Polo Club, both on Sunday, Sept. 7.

Patience, dear readers, let us pace ourselves. This week there will be in-depth posts on Jeter, Royal Salute and a fascinating new book on Nole.

But right now we must address two things. The first is more Michael Sam meshugas, with the Dallas Cowboys now saying that they weren’t pressured to put Sam on the practice squad. But AP’s Paul Newberry isn’t buying it. ...

Sam, I am

September 7, 2014

As we might’ve predicted, the presence of Michael Sam in the NFL is bringing out the worst in humanity.

First, the NFL, according to NBC’s Peter King, asked around if any team had interest in putting Sam, the league’s first openly gay player, on its practice squad after the St. Louis Rams cut him, basically to avoid a PR disaster – not because the guy’s good and deserves a chance or even because the league is standing up for what’s right.

Meantime, the Dallas Cowboys bit and now a group calling itself American Decency will protest the Cowboys’ home opener against the San Francisco 49ers Sunday, Sept. 7. Gee, wonder if American Decency is going to protest spousal abuse, gun possession, drunk driving, dogfights and any of the NFL’s other little extracurricular activities.

I’ll be rooting for my Niners but go, Sam.