When people ask me about the subject of my upcoming novel, “The Penalty for Holding,” I tell them it’s the story of a gay, biracial quarterback’s quest for identity, acceptance, success and love amid the brutal beauty of the NFL.
It’s also the story of the workplace. What, you may ask, can we learn from the atypical workplace of the NFL? Ah, but you see, I think the violence of the NFL is a metaphor for today’s brutal workplace – one in which employees are set up to fail by 24/7 demands, no opportunity to take the vacations they earn, weak benefits and eviscerating bosses. It’s the picture The New York Times paints of Amazon. ...
Read more
Read MoreWhat would we do without Nick Kyrgios to provide us with this summer’s emotional firestorm?
When we last saw Nick, the 20-year-old Australian tennis player, he was “sock”ing it to Wimbledon, suddenly changing socks in a match that he would ultimately lose (some say would deliberately tank) to Richard Gasquet.
Fast forward to the Rogers Cup currently being played in Montreal, where Kyrgios defeated Stan “The Man” Wawrinka but not before going all “So’s your Mama” on him by observing in front of the microphones that Stanimal girlfriend, tennis player Donna Vekic, had slept with Nick compatriot Thanasi Kokkinakis. This led to a locker-room confrontation with Stan, a $10,000 fine from the Association of Tennis Professionals (with possibly more to come) and a dressing down from two of the game’s longstanding leaders. ...
Read more
Read MoreTennis is a game of doubles. In the Hitchcock thriller “Strangers on a Train,” the tennis star must confront and overcome his murderous doppelgänger. In Woody Allen’s “Match Point,” the tennis pro is his murderous doppelgänger.
In Nijinsky’s ballet “Jeux,” the male tennis player is involved with two women.
Marshall Jon Fisher’s juicy 2009 book “A Terrible Splendor” (Three Rivers Press) offers a very different pas de trios. ...
Read more
Read MoreFootball is war as theater. Violence is endemic to the sport. So it comes as no surprise that New York Jets’ linebacker Ikemefuna Enemkpali should sucker-punch his teammate, starting quarterback Geno Smith, over a $600 plane ticket Enemkpali purchased for Smith that he has yet to reimburse.
Enemkpali, (in-em-PAUL-ee) who was arrested during his Louisiana Tech days for battery of a police officer, was immediately released by the Jets. Even as NFL altercations go, this hits a new low in stupidity, and, of course, the snarkarazzi was out in force. ...
Read more
Read MoreKudos to Ryan Lochte, who became the first man to win the 200 IM four straight times when he took gold in the event Thursday, Aug. 6 – three days after his 31stst birthday – at the 2015 FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia.
As is usually the case, the event was not without its drama. An Aussie judge had said she would disqualify Ryan for staying on his back and not his belly as he came off the breaststroke phase of the medley into the freestyle.
She, however, didn’t. Good on her.
Ryan’s win, coming off a tough early start to the meet and a difficult year rehabbing his knee (injured when an overly enthusiastic teenage girl ran into him; yeah, I know, only Ryan) prompted one poster to write that swimming fast doesn’t require any brains. ...
Read more
Read MoreAmerican Pharoah is a gift from God – our own Pegasus, our own wingéd spirit. So when I received an invitation to hear Victor Espinoza speak at Steiner Sports Marketing in New Rochelle, N.Y. on Aug. 3 – well, wild horses couldn’t drag me away.
The “Triple Crown Celebration With Victor Espinoza” was a revelation both for what we amateurs learned about horses and horse racing and the frankness with which Espinoza discussed these subjects.
Looking natty in a gray suit and sky-blue tie, the Mexican-born Espinoza – who guided American Pharoah to the first Triple Crown in 37 years, then capped it with a resounding win in the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park Aug. 2 – was both humble and humorous as he reflected on a career of more than 3,000 victories. (He doesn’t know the exact number.) He had been to the Triple Crown dance before – aboard War Emblem, with AP trainer Bob Baffert in 2002; and then with California Chrome just last year. Or so Fox 5 New York sportscaster Tina Cervasio – the evening’s expert interviewer – reminded him. ...
Read more
Read MoreIt’s a busy sports month with American Pharoah rolling to victory in the Haskell Invitational; Ryan Lochte hoping to regain swimming glory at the FINA World Championships; Rafael Nadal returning to his winning clay court ways at the Hamburg Open as the Rogers Cup gets underway in Toronto; and Tom Brady moving for a decision on his suspension before the NFL season begins.
But today I want to touch on my first real out-of-town trip with my debut novel, “Water Music” – to the OutWrite Book Festival at The DC Center in Washington D.C. ...
Read more
Read More