Q: How many egos does it take to screw things up? A:  In the case LeBron James’ recent decision to leave theCleveland Cavaliers and play for the Miami Heat, three: James, Cavs owner Dan Gilbert and Reverend Jesse Jackson. After The Decision, it didn’t take long for majority owner Gilbert to post an open-letter addressed to “Cleveland Fans” regarding James’ choice: “As you now know,  » Read more about: Stupid...

Is there a national championship collegiate athletic program anywhere in the country that can truthfully say all of its recruiting was done entirely within the official guidelines? That’s how Roger Ebert began his review of the 1994 Nick Nolte film Blue Chips. It’s a question that inhabits practically every frame of the film; a film that, sadly, bears too much resemblance...

Basketball Coach John Wooden died last week. While Wooden was remembered for his spectacular coaching career at UCLA, what I remember most is his letter to me in 1999 for my book, What Do You Stand For? I had asked Wooden and others to respond to this questionnaire:  What do you stand for; what principles have you lived by?  Describe a ‘moment of...

Perfection doesn’t happen every day, but last Wednesday, June 2nd, we saw a splendid example. Detroit’s Tiger Stadium, bottom of the ninth, two outs, and Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga was facing Cleveland Indians’ Jason Donald. He was also facing one of the most elusive of baseball’s achievements – A Perfect Game: 27 batters up, 27 down, no hits, no walks;...

There’s a right way to handle misconduct and… there’s the other way. Former New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor was arrested on charges of rape and soliciting prostitution involving a 16-year-old girl.  One of the NFL’s greatest defensive players, Taylor denied the charges and was released after posting a $75,000 bond. This isn’t the first time Taylor’s been in trouble.  His thirteen-year...

When Hieronymus Bosch painted The Conjurer, in the 1500s, I’m sure he never imagined that the cups and balls routine he rendered would morph into a variety of schemes, scandals and shell games. Here’s just a few that make this month’s list. The Eric Massa mess – Among the newly uncovered allegations: “Beginning in March 2009,” the New York Times reports, “male staffers...

“Within yourself, deliverance must be searched for, because each man makes his own prison.”– Edwin Arnold, English poet Take a look at this picture.  It’s a point of view directly behind Tiger Woods on his first day at The U.S. The Masters, golf’s golden crown. Imagine the pressure. Look at the background, the crowd, the cameras, the media – most of which...

During the 1920s, Americans enjoyed sports like never before, and why not when they could enjoy the likes of baseball’s Babe Ruth, boxing’s Jack Dempsey, football’s Red Grange, and tennis champ Bill Tilden. However, none exemplified the truest principles of sportsmanship better than Robert Tyre “Bobby” Jones, Jr. During the 1925 U.S. Open, Jones’s ball ended up in the rough...

The Hurt Locker opens with a quote that sums up the ideology of its central character. “The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug.” With few modifications, the quote could easily apply to some Hollywood producers that express a win-at-any-cost attitude. Maybe some politicians, too. If director Kathryn Bigelow’s suberb 2009 film The Hurt Locker wins...

This was the picture that started it for me. I was in a sporting goods store looking for a pair of hiking boots when I noticed a bunch of equipment in one corner: ropes and boots, pitons and carabineers (pins and ‘beeners are what climbers called them back then).  I picked up my first copy of Climbing magazine. Inside was a picture...