The latest American mass-murderer – Christopher Harper-Mercer, who gunned down nine people and injured nine more, two critically, at Umpqua Community College in Roseberg, Ore. Oct. 1 – is also the latest example in what I call the literature of rejection, someone with a disproportionate rage at life’s inequities and disappointments who decides to take it out on others. The cast of characters includes mass murderers (Timothy McVeigh, Osama bin Laden), dictators (Adolf Hitler) and assassins (John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald).
In Harper-Mercer’s case, he had been rejected by a firearms’ academy – too immature and entitled, what a surprise – and he didn’t have a girlfriend. This would be laughable if it weren’t so deadly. ...
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Read MoreThat sound you hear is the inevitable back-peddling that results when something blows up in a public figure’s face. In this case the figure is the ever-popular, nary-a-misstep Pope Francis, who, it turns out, met during his Washington D.C. visit with Kim Davis, the rogue Kentucky clerk who went to jail rather than issue gay marriage licenses.
It’s a measure of the esteem in which the pope is held that many have been falling over backward to make excuses for what has been viewed as a miscalculation. The Vatican had intimated it was no big deal. Davis’ lawyer, of course, countered, Oh, yes, it was. ...
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Read MoreDid you see the pictures of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in Thailand? Didn’t they look lovely in their silk jackets – Rafa in blue for the queen, a bespectacled Nole in yellow for the king? And how respectful were they as they lay wreaths at the Erawan Shrine, site of an Aug. 17 bombing that killed 20 and injured more than 120.
Rafa and Nole, in turn, received gifts, including ceremonial loincloths, enjoyed a little retail therapy and played a one-hour exhibition – which Nole won 6-4, 6-2 and for which they were each paid a little more $2 million, no doubt for their respective charities.
Still, that’s right, one hour, $2 mill. As the Gershwin song says, “Nice work if you can get it, and you can get it if you try.” ...
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Read MoreThere’s something magnificent about watching an athlete in his prime. Witness Novak Djokovic. The same can be said of Aaron Rodgers, arguably the NFL’s finest player. Having won the league’s MVP Award last season, he’s off to a dream start as his team, the Green Bay Packers, has gone 3 and 0, including a decisive 38-28 win over the Kansas City Chiefs. (Next up – the troubled San Francisco 49ers, whose QB, my beloved Colin Kaepernick, isn’t exactly inviting comparisons to Rodgers this year. Did anyone say 4 and 0?)
Rodgers, the NFC’s offensive player of the week, is probably what casual observers think of when they think of a quarterback. (And indeed, he was in part the inspiration for Tam Tarquin, the golden QB and love interest in “The Penalty For Holding,” the forthcoming novel in my series “The Games Men Play.”) ...
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Read MoreWe kid around on this blog about tennis players, their quirks and perks, but they are also men and women of conscience.
For every ace Andy Murray hits from now until the end of the season, he is donating 50 pounds (roughly $78) to UNICEF on behalf of the Syrian refugees. (Good man, Andy. Keep ’em coming.)
For Novak Djokovic, seen here visiting a designated play space for refugee children at the Hotel Bristol in his native Belgrade, this is clearly personal. He’s not only a UNICEF ambassador; he’s a man who was bombed as a child and who once said that war is the worst thing anyone can experience. ...
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Read MoreIt warmed my heart recently to hear that Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will resume the greatest rivalry in tennis next week at an exhibition match in Thailand.
According to Tennis World, Lawn Tennis Association President Suwat Liptapanlop said Djokovic and Nadal will boost Thai tourism:
“Both players will go shopping at the One Tambon One Product (OTOP) hall in the afternoon of Oct. 1 and they will meet (Prime Minister) Prayut Chanocha at Government House at 11 a.m. on Oct. 2.” ...
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Read MorePope Francis’ celebration of Mass at Madison Square Garden tonight prompted my friend, sports publicist and blogger John Cirillo, to email me a post on his favorite Garden moments, which got me thinking about my own.
But first, a little history. The Garden, named for President James Madison, really was once a garden – a rooftop garden that was part of an elaborate Moorish-style complex designed by architect Stanford White, who was shot there in 1906 by a crazed Harry Thaw over Thaw’s wife (and White’s former mistress) chorus girl Evelyn Nesbit. (She figures in both E.L. Doctorow’s novel “Ragtime” and the movie “The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing.”) ...
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