Frank Deford, Stand Up Sports Guy
As it happened, the year Frank Deford joined Sports Illustrated was the year it finally became profitable. Sports, too, took off as never before: TV networks began vying for games, the National Football League and National Basketball Association blossomed. “I was suddenly valuable!” Deford says in that booming, gruff voice […]
The Lure of the Alaska Pipeline
Oil companies ordered 3 million tons of pipe in 1969. This was before they had even completed the drawings for the Alaska pipeline. The route from Prudhoe Bay at the top of the state, down the entire width of Alaska to the port of Valdez, where the water wasn’t frozen. […]
Traveling the Sahel with Jeffrey Tayler
Jeffrey Tayler wrote a compelling book I am now reading called Angry Wind: Through Muslim Black Africa by Truck, Bus, Boat and Camel. I have waited months to read this, I devoured his other book about a trip down the Congo river, and I finally found this at my son’s […]
Meeting Olga, Ben and Mark at a Pelham Party
At a party on Saturday night in Pelham Manor, NY, I met several interesting people. They had gathered to celebrate our friend Tom’s 50th. First was Mark, a 53-year-old Englishman who looked no older than 35, who said he was a retired musician. I later found out that he had […]
Turning Fifty, Hawaiian Style
We are off to New York tonight for a Fiftieth Birthday celebration. That seems to be the year that people decide is a big party year, rarely do we celebrate 60, and 30 isn’t that big a deal either. Tom Bricker turned 50, so it’s time to go to a […]
Spotting a Moose….or Did We?
Today we drove up to Greenfield to scout out a location for my daughter Kate’s wedding in July. The White Eagle Society’s Polish Picnic Grounds looked like the perfect spot. A big pavillion, acres of grass, tables, a huge barbecue pit and a nearby river. It will be great in […]
Don’t Bother with Voicemail in China
Clive Thompson writes in the NY Times magazine about Google and China. “Google was not, in fact, a pioneer in China. Yahoo was the first major American Internet company to enter the market, introducing a Chinese-language version of its site and opening up an office in Beijing in 1999. Yahoo […]
The Death of the Hat in 1960
A few months ago we had dinner on San Francisco’s Fishermen’s Wharf with another couple, and I learned a lot that night about the man, Stan. We began talking about his father, with whom he has always had a stormy relationship, fraught with terrible fights, accusations, and a tangled web […]
Funny Things We Say and Think About
I love words and expressions, and sometimes I chuckle to myself as I am driving or walking about certain turns of phrase. Yesterday I mulled over “poor man’s,” for example. I was thinking about a friend who is an adventure writer, and thought “he’s a poor man’s Jon Krakauer.” Meaning […]
The Film Critics Hated it–So What!
According to a recent AP report, 11 movies so far this year haven’t been shown to critics–up from two in the same period last year. Forbes this week discussed how film critics are becoming almost obsolete. “For the folks who make their living reviewing films, this new tactic adds insult […]
The Glorious Silence of Yoga
Tonight I drove down to Northampton and joined dozens of others in a high-ceilinged room where we did yoga. Telling people you are going to yoga class is funny, there’s always a reaction, either what for? or how great! This was more than an exercise class, it was meditation, and […]
Terror in the Jordanian Desert–September 1970
In September of 1970, four planes were hijacked by Palestinian militants and flown to the Jordanian desert. Tonight on PBS, American Experience replayed the drama of hundreds of hostages left out in planes in the desert, and described how the event nearly toppled the reign of King Hussein, destablizing the […]
I’m In the Nude for Dancing
South London Press had a story last year about a new trend in clubbing–Naked dancing. Hundreds of clubbers are descending on the country’s only nude disco every Saturday night. The craze for letting it all hang out on the dancefloor is pulling in punters to South Central in Kennington Lane. […]
Sailing with the Sea Shepards in the South Ocean
Peter Heller is an old friend who just published an incredible article in National Geographic Adventure, about sailing with the Sea Shepards in the Antarctic, trying to sabotage Japanese whaling ships. “The Nisshin Maru was on our port side, and the two ships approached each other at an acute angle. […]
It’s Poker on Triple Espresso
Today’s NY Times included a story about a new Fox show: ” “Poker Dome” will encase a group of players in a soundproof, glass-walled stage, while viewers and a studio audience watch everything they do. Microphones will capture game chatter, and pulse monitors strapped to the gamblers will track their […]
There Used to be a Cafe There
This morning I drove down into the flats of Holyoke. There I found City Paper, where it felt like I was being transported back in time. Wooden floors, sad and tired party decorations, an older black women behind the counter, no customers in sight. I was there to find plastic […]
Max E. Churchill is Done for a While
I went to Greenfield on Wednesday morning, and was crossing the street when I saw two cops quickly approach in a cruiser. They looked excited, energized, and one gripped his holster as he ran toward the BankNorth on Federal Street. They were looking for somebody, and I didn’t know who. […]
Sob, Weep, Here Come the Builders & Inventors
ABC is becoming the Network of Weeping. On Sunday nights, the juggernaut show is Extreme Makeover, with Ty Pennington, who can draw raw emotions out of anything, including a trip to Sears. Then each of the craftsmen and designers gets a chance to wring tears out of the audience. Then […]