Tom Brady has lost home-field advantage.
The NFL Players Association had sought to have a union-friendly Minnesota court hear its suit against the NFL over its four-game suspension of Brady. But Judge Richard H. Kyle said, Not so fast. Where’s the jurisdiction?
Uh, precisely. Deflategate took place in Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass. The NFL is headquartered in Manhattan and the union, in Washington D.C. This is an I-95 corridor issue.
As it was, the judge kicked it back to New York where the NFL filed its own suit to validate commish Roger Goodell’s right to suspend Brady. So the NFLPA lost whatever chance it had to have its case for an injunction heard in a receptive venue. The thinking was that Adrian Peterson’s case – he was suspended for taking a switch to his 4-year-old – was overturned in Minnesota. So why not go there? But Peterson plays for the – pause for effect – Minnesota Vikings. And anyway, his case turned not on his being disciplined by the NFL but on his being disciplined twice for the same thing ...
(Read more)
Read MoreWith American Pharoah set to run in the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park in New Jersey Sunday, Aug. 2 – the culmination of a three-day “Pharoah Phan Phestival” – New York, home of the Belmont, is once again getting in on the act.
AP jockey Victor Espinoza rides into Steiner Sports Marketing in New Rochelle, N.Y. Monday, Aug. 3 for a “Triple Crown Celebration.” From 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Espinoza will greet fans and talk about what enabled him and American Pharoah to team for the first Triple Crown victory in 37 years ...
(Read more)
Read MoreOn Aug. 1, I'll be at The DCCenter for the LGBT Community's OutWrite Book Festival with my novel "Water Music" -- about the loves and rivalries among four gay athletes. I'll sign some books, do a reading (at 3:25 p.m.) and share news about "The Penalty for Holding," the second book in my series "The Games Men Play." If you're in Washington D.C., I'd love to see you at The Reeves Center 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The event is free to attend. For more, click on to http://thedccenter.org/outwritedc/exhibitors.html.
(Read more)
Read MoreFrom the standpoint of stupid, it’s hard to beat Deflategate. It’s a writer’s dream, a story that keeps getting more and more bizarro.
NFL commish Roger Goodell – hardly the paragon of Alexandrian leadership – has nonetheless grown a spine and upheld his four-game ban of New England Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady, which followed an NFL-commissioned report concluding Brady probably knew that two Pats’ employees had deflated the team’s footballs before the A.F.C. Championship game with the Indianapolis Colts. ...
(Read more)
Read MoreWith the appearance of American Pharoah in Vogue, the magazine considers the relationship of “Horse and Rider” in the inaugural exhibit of the online Vogue’s Gallery, a subject that dates from ancient times and that may see a resurgence with the Pharoah’s success.
Among my favorite horse-and-rider works are those involving Alexander the Great and his faithful steed Bucephalus – or “Ox-head,” for the white, ox-shaped marking on his forehead -- whom he tamed when he was just a boy. (Alexander noticed that the big, black stallion was afraid of his shadow and so turned his head toward the sun so he couldn’t see it. The story sounds like a legend, but many historians agree that it’s probably true. Bucephalus and Alexander were a team for many years until the horse died at age 26 in modern-day Pakistan, where he is said to be buried in a town named for him.) ...
(Read more)
Read MoreTom Brady has apparently made the NFL an offer it can refuse.
The NFL Players Association, on behalf of the Deflategator, has offered to have Tommy Boy pay a big fine in lieu of a four-game suspension. The overture has “met with silence” in the office of commish Roger Goodell, who heard Brady’s appeal June 23. The New England Patriots’ quarterback is prepared to make a federal case out of this should he be suspended for probably having knowledge of subordinates deflating footballs in the A.F.C. Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts earlier this year. But the fact that the Players Association has put out an offer seems like the moment in a crime show when the defense looks to plea bargain. And that suggests a certain guilt ...
(Read more)
Read MoreThat American Pharoah – so talented.
The Triple Crown winner is busy training for his next race – the $1 million Haskell Invitational Aug. 2 at Monmouth Park in New Jersey, which will be preceded by a three-day Pharoah Phan Phest. But already, he’s on to his second and third careers.
First, there’s the modeling thing. AP is featured in August Vogue, out Thursday, July 23, in a spread that includes a glamour shot by Steven Klein. The Pharoah is wet and draped in roses – which is the way Klein likes to portray his male subjects.
(Read more)
Read More