There’s a scene early in the film, Jerry Maguire, about a sports agent, that ultimately causes the central character to pivot from sales B.S. to honest concern. It happens when the fast-talking Maguire learns that his hockey-player client is sent to the hospital after yet another punishing concussion. The agent arrives in the room just as the doctor is checking...

Climbing is a great game; great not in spite of the demands it makes, but because of them. Great because it will not let us give half of ourselves, it demands all of us. It demands our best. – Royal Robbins If the 60s and 70s are consider the Golden Age of rock climbing then Yosemite Valley was the place...

Since the announcement of his death last week (Sept. 25), lots of photos have been posted of golf legend Arnold Palmer. However, this is how I remember him – the total professional standing off to the side, cool, collected, waiting to wallop that little white ball straight down the fairway. (I went out and bought a golf sweater just like...

The Will Smith movie, Concussion, is about the brutal reality the National Football League continues to ignore. It’s also the story of one man’s ethically courageous attempt to bring critical attention to what he uncovered and what is now called C.T.E. – Chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Boston University’s C.T.E. Center defines the condition as “a progressive degenerative disease of the brain...

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.  – Mahatma Gandhi Olympic athletes train for years for events that, in some cases, are over in a matter of minutes. New Zealand’s Nikki Jane Hamblin is a middle distance runner who specializes in...

“What Kaepernick did was totally uncalled for and disrespectful, but America gives him the right to do it. I am tired of all of these multi million-dollar athletes and celebrities who do nothing to improve conditions putting down the country that has given them the opportunity to get to where they are.” “Congratulations to Colin Kaepernick for making a statement...

Before leaving on summer recess at the end of the month, here is an assortment to read and ponder. Ginsburg Guff – Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had the temerity to exercise her First Amendment right of free speech by calling out Donald Trump as a “Faker.” As The New York Times reported (July 10), “I can’t imagine what this place...

“I am the Greatest. I said that even before I knew I was.”   – Muhammad Ali Since his death last Friday in Arizona, words of praise for the life of Muhammad Ali have been making their way around the media. “He was arguably the greatest fighter of all time,” Ali biographer Thomas Hauser said. But Hauser was quick to add...

We’ll get to the “Shocking Details” in our “bombshell” in a moment, but first, a little housekeeping. Deflated Brady – First, football’s “greatest quarterback of all time,” Tom Brady is suspended for four games for being “generally aware” of a scheme to deflate – and thus make the ball easier to control – footballs in the 2015 A.F.C. championship game....

I’ve been a tennis fan since early childhood. Each year, I look forward to following the pros – men and women – compete in big 4 events known as the Grand Slam: Australian, French, British and U.S. Open. Which is why it came as both a shock and disappointment to watch a press conference where Maria Sharapova, the highest-paid female...