While in Boston this week, I went to see the Red Sox clinch a spot in the playoffs last night against the Cleveland Indians.  Protecting a one run lead in the eighth and ninth inning, Jonathan Papelbon, the Sox go-to closer, closed the door on the Indians with consecutive 96-mile-an-hour fastballs. I’ve been to Fenway on previous visits and have...

Will Rogers was America’s first, genuine, political humorist.  Bill Maher is Will Rogers on Red Bull. Maher’s HBO show “Real Time,” skewers all kinds of political, religious and pop culture absurdity.  One segment, entitled “New Rules,” demonstrates the need for all of us to stop taking ourselves so seriously and change some of our latest, ridiculous conventions.  Example – “New...

The Olympics is always celebrated with a great deal of pageantry, nationalism and achievement. For all its talk of “sporting excellence,” the media tends to distill everything down to the medal count.  (The New York Times’ Olympics 2008 website carries an updated count by country at the top of its page.) In one of the first events held Saturday in...

It’s 1938 and the darling of the British stage, Julia Lambert, has just finished another sterling performance.  The next morning, she throws another sterling tantrum. I was thinking about the Annette Bening movie, “Being Julia” when I read that the Boston Red Sox had traded their “sterling” left field slugger, Manny Ramírez to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The last several...

“I know Big Brown or any of our horses do not need this stuff to win.  I’m not worried about an uneven playing field, either.” In a brief but significant statement, Michael Iavarone, co-president of International Equine Acquisitions Holdings just raised the bar for the rest of horse racing. Not only would more than 50 horses owned by his stable...

USA TODAY – May 10, 2008 – Manny Burriss went 3-for-4 with a two-run triple Friday versus the Phillies. John McCarthy teaches kids the skills they need both on and off the field – focus, persistence, generosity, and humor. He’s more interested in teamwork than batting averages, and more concerned with effort than talent. Ultimately, he wants them to understand...

Colman McCarthy, peace activist, and former columnist for the Washington Post wrote a provocative Op-ed (Sanctimony’s Turn at Bat) on Roger Clemens’ appearance last February before a House Committee.  The purpose of the hearing was to discuss Clemens alleged steroid use as outlined in the Mitchell Report. “This is the second time members of Congress have posed as drug-busters cleaning...

John McCarthy is a former knuckleball pitcher in the Baltimore Orioles organization who, in 1992, started his Home Run Baseball Camp for kids in Washington, DC.  John teaches that“Talent is what you have; effort is what you give,” and there’s no room for drugs in striving to be your best. We had a conversation about baseball’s steroid scandal shortly after the...

Okay class, let’s all bow our heads in a moment of silence for the retirement of Robert Montgomery “Bobby” Knight, “the winningest coach in Division I men’s college basketball.” Moment over. I’m now going to say something that will more than likely be anathema to most college basketball fans on the planet:  I’m glad.  Thank God!  FINALLY!! After years of enduring...

February 8, 2008 Mr. Roger Clemens c/o The Washington Hilton Hotel and Towers Washington, DC Re: Testifying before Congress Dear Roger, In the past week you’ve been seen going from door to door visiting members of congress trying to drum up support to counter the negative statements about your alleged steroid use in the Mitchell Report. Don’t do it. You’ve been...