Alexis Arguello, a famous lightweight boxer, was found shot to death at age 57. The HBO Legendary Nights special about his fights with Aaron Pryor was fantastic, as I recall.
Boy, that whole series was amazing. I oughtta see if they’re on Netflix.
What It Is: 6/15/09
What I’m reading: Finished Tatsumi’s Good-Bye
What I’m listening to: My iTunes library, on shuffle. I’ve been working at home a lot (keeping an eye on Rufus), so I haven’t been driving much. Hence, not much music.
What I’m watching: Adam’s Rib, Solaris (Soderbergh, not Tarkovsky), and Hellboy II: The Golden Army.
What I’m drinking: Miller’s & Q Tonic, and Bardolino Chiaretto 2007 rosé.
What Rufus is up to: Recovering faster than we could’ve hoped, and back to his full (1- to 1.5-mile) walks! If he gets his endurance up by next weekend, we’ll take him out for a Sunday grey-hike!
Where I’m going: Nowhere. It’s a thrilling life, I tellsya.
What I’m happy about: That my wife, half-watching this trailer on Robert Wilonsky’s Ultimate Trailer Show (which really should have its own website), perked up after a few seconds and said, “Oh, it’s the other guy from that Peter Riegert movie!” Which would be Local Hero. Which would be yet another reason why I love her so.
Also, we took one look at this movie —
— and she said, “It’s your boyfriend, Sam Rockwell!” Oh, and she took care of Rufus for a few hours on Saturday while I went out, ran some errands, and had a little time alone.
What I’m sad about: That Timoleon had to let his friends kill his brother Timophanes. (Seriously: Plutarch’s story of his life is just amazing, especially when he gets to the segment about Dionysus the younger’s post-tyrant life in Corinth.)
What I’m worried about: That I’ll go ever stir-crazier, working at home.
What I’m pondering: Whether Mickael Pietrus is lying about being French and is actually from Rapa Nui.
Motivize, Pulverize and Realize
Dear readers, I’m sorry I didn’t offer up any sorta NBA playoffs preview or predictions this year. I didn’t watch much hoops during the season, although a couple of the playoff series were pretty entertaining.
Anyway, to make up for it, I offer you a pair of basketball-specific links.
First, here’s J.A. Adande’s examination of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s signature shot, the Skyhook. It’s a pretty entertaining piece, once it gets past the iconic nature of the shot and gets into the mechanics of it and how Kareem refined it to the point where he was dropping in Skyhooks from 12-15 feet out.
I really enjoyed the video that accompanies the piece, especially because I noticed something I never picked up on when I watched Kareem as a kid (even in Airplane!): he always gathered up the ball in both hands around waist-level before taking the shot. Now I’m trying to figure out if:
a) he had small hands and couldn’t palm the ball off the dribble and go straight into the hook,
b) there was some benefit to using two hands to control the ball,
c) it was actually a vulnerability, rendering him susceptible to getting stripped of the ball (a vulnerability nullified by the fact that a second defender trying to get at the ball would literally have to be on the opposite side of the main defender).
Anyway, if you’re a hoops aficionado, I bet you’ll enjoy the article and the video. (And you’ll probably make fun of Kareem in the comments section of this post.)
* * *
And that brings me to . . . Leroy Smith.
For a few weeks now, I’ve been seeing bizarrely cheesy 80’s-looking tower ads about a motivational speaker named Leroy Smith on realgm.com. I never clicked through them until this week, when I realized that the big black guy with the funny balding pattern looked weirdly familiar.
I clicked on one of the ads, and discovered that Leroy Smith is . . . none other than the man who beat out Michael Jordan for the last spot on the varsity basketball team back in high school, inspiring Jordan to become the greatest basketball player of all time! (Okay, it’s actually Charlie Murphy, the man who beat Rick James’ ass multiple times.)
I don’t consider myself a target for viral ads, but this has to be one of the funniest campaigns ever. Hoops fan or not, you NEED to go to this site, watch the videos, and experience the full splendor of Leroy Smith and his Motivizing tools. I’ve even signed his petition — he wants to get into the Basketball Hall of Fame alongside Jordan — and downloaded his iMotivator app for my iPhone.
Daddy wants his keys back!
Family Affair
This piece by baseball player Doug Glanville on how little players know about their teammates’ lives reminded me of the story about how Michael Jordan was shocked to discover that his teammate Steve Kerr’s father had been shot to death, albeit under much different circumstances than Jordan’s dad’s shooting death (PLO vs. two of the dumbest criminals ever).
I can’t recall if Jordan learned about that common bond before or after punching Kerr in the face during practice for guarding him too tightly.
Unrequired Reading: May 29, 2009
As promised: a Rufus-free link-fest! Just click “more”!
Continue reading “Unrequired Reading: May 29, 2009”
What It Is: 5/25/09
What I’m reading: Plutarch’s Lives
What I’m listening to: Good News for People Who Like Bad News
What I’m watching: Burn After Reading, Doc Hollywood, Helvetica, and Local Hero (which really should get remastered/reissued on DVD). We moved my 24″ iMac downstairs (along with our guest bed), so it’s just been selective DVD viewing down in our rec room / library.
What I’m drinking: River Horse lager, picked up on a whim at Whole Foods.
What Rufus is up to: Recovering from surgery to repair the damage inflicted by a neighbor’s Akita, which took 2 chunks out of Ru’s right rear leg. He’s spending most of his days & nights in his crate. It’s a good thing he spent the first 2 years or so of his life crated, otherwise he might really object to being there. As is, he gets antsy if he doesn’t have access to it (when we get back inside after a bathroom break and I have to change the dressing over his wounds).
Where I’m going: Nowhere. I had to cancel my participation in an overnight PR junket in NYC this week, because of my poor boy’s condition.
What I’m happy about: Barring complications (read: infection), Rufus has a good chance of being “back to normal” in about 6 weeks. Oh, and my pals Ian & Jess are visiting next weekend! And the day before Rufus was attacked, I had a great visit with my grad school pals Joy & Miguel and their kids, who live about 15 minutes away from the hotel I was staying in in downtown Atlanta. Also, I’m happy that I went out with some client-pals on Wednesday to a Braves game. They knew all about my troubles/stresses with Rufus and were hoping to take my mind off things. Go look at some pictures.
What I’m sad about: All the anxiety and stress about Ru, as well as my assumption that “none of this would have happened if I’d been here.” I got over that self-centered guilt soon after getting home from BIO on Thursday night, faced with the immediacy of Ru’s situation (and not mine). And I’m sad that I missed the fancy dinner I was going to have in Atlanta, because I got the news about Rufus about 2 hours earlier. My coworkers and work-pals enjoyed themselves, so that’s good.
What I’m worried about: That the Animal Control dept. will fail to do its duty regarding the offending Akita, which attacked another dog 3 weeks earlier.
What I’m pondering: How to TASE a dog without risking “back-zap.” Just in case.
Unrequired Reading: May 8, 2009
I’m heading off to Toronto this morning, so I’m trusting you not to break anything. I’ll try to bring back some Tim Horton’s.
Oh, you’re looking for some Unrequired Reading? Just click “more”!
Continue reading “Unrequired Reading: May 8, 2009”
This Week in Oh, No, He Di’n’t!
Last week, I goofed on Sports Illustrated for ignoring ongoing sports in favor of a Tolstoy-length profile of a guy who surfs.
This week’s “SI:WTF?” moment comes in the form of a Dan Patrick interview with Tony Dungy, former head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. Football season is, um, around five months away and Mr. Dungy is retired, so who better to interview?(?!)
Mr. Patrick asked Mr. Dungy about the latter’s plans to visit Michael Vick in prison. Let’s join in progress:
DP: What do you hope to accomplish?
TD: I want to go out there as a friend. I met Michael when we played [the Falcons] in Japan, and we’d always talked about going fishing together. I’m just going out there to talk about life and what he’s going to face. Most people are going to be against him, and he’s got to understand that. I’m going to talk to him like I would talk to my son.
At this point, there were three ways Mr. Patrick could have proceeded:
- “You do recall that one of your sons killed himself right before Christmas in 2005, right?”
- “Are you planning on bringing Andy Reid as support?”
- “If you were still coaching, would you take a chance on him?”
Unfortunately, Mr. Patrick chose “3”.
I’m very glad that this blog has such small readership that I can actually make a joke about the suicide of an 18-year-old and not feel like I’m going to get vilified too harshly.
But if you think I’m bad, Mr. Patrick is the one who seems to think Vick deserves a “second chance” because . . . guys with DUI manslaughter convictions are given second chances?
Just to prove I’m not making this up, here’s another excerpt:
DP: You could kill somebody and have a better chance of coming back [than Michael Vick, who bred dogs to fight to the death and, if the dogs didn’t “show enough fight,” killed them by “various methods, including hanging, drowning and slamming at least one dog’s body to the ground.“] . . .
TD: I’ve said that. I agree with you. We’ve seen it. It’s happened.
DP: [Rams defensive end] Leonard Little killed somebody with a DUI, and it’s not brought up. But Michael Vick killed dogs, therefore he doesn’t deserve another chance. [I DID NOT ALTER THIS LINE IN THE SLIGHTEST]
TD: Some people say, “That could have been me; I drink a little bit. So I can have empathy for that, because that could have been me. But I could never kill a dog, so we shouldn’t give this guy a second chance.” It’s a strange mentality. But that’s what Michael is going to be facing. And that’s what I want to speak to him about.
I have no idea what Mr. Patrick’s point about DUI is. If he’s angry that people aren’t complaining that Mr. Little killed someone while DUI, then he should probably get out and protest the opening of every Matthew Broderick movie (as though they could have worse box office). If he thinks that DUI in general is as serious as death, then he oughtta ban Charles Barkley from his radio show.
If he doesn’t have any coherent point, and just believes that athletes should be out on the field, regardless of their legal transgressions, then . . . he’s your standard idiot sportscaster, I guess.
But I’m more interested in Mr. Dungy’s response. See, he thinks it’s a “strange mentality” we have, not allowing a guy to make millions in the NFL just because he spent his money building a dogfighting syndicate and, in his spare time, killing his dogs in brutal ways. I find it interesting that Mr. Dungy strips all the conspiracy, the brutality, the ugliness of Mr. Vick’s actions and replaces it all with “killing a dog.” It’s amazing how far people will relax their standards when a star quarterback is involved.
ANYWAY: all of this brings me to a thought experiment about Michael Vick. A little earlier in this post, I linked to his indictment, which included graphic details of how Vick & his pals brutally killed some of their dogs.
Here’s my hypothetical: How would your opinion of Vick’s case change if they had killed those dogs with the same care and practice that a veterinarian uses when putting a dog down?
That is, how would you feel about Vick if his guys had gently euthanized their rejected dogs with an injection, rather than killing them by hand? Would it make any difference in how “forgivable” his actions are?
(Note: Do not read this heartbreaking SI cover article on the fate of Mr. Vick’s surviving dogs until after you’ve thought about that hypothetical, because this’ll likely redouble your rage.)
What It Is: 5/4/09
What I’m reading: I didn’t read much this week, but I did manage to read Plutarch’s lives of Themistocles and Camillus.
What I’m listening to: The Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack
What I’m watching: The Bulls-Celtics series. Game 7 didn’t live up to the previous 6 (well, 5, if you discount that blowout in game 3), but it was some entertaining basketball. I think this is more of a function of the dumbness of the coaches and some of the players than of the high level of play. The most rewarding part for me was the discovery that Stephon Marbury is now afraid to play basketball.
What I’m drinking: Not much.
What Rufus is up to: Getting affection from everyone he meets, including the local policeman who stopped us on our walk one morning to ask me about a neighborhood dog’s aggression. Oh, and taking another Sunday hike in Wawayanda.
Where I’m going: Toronto for a long weekend with friends, family, and cartoonists!
What I’m happy about: Getting away for the aforementioned long weekend.
What I’m sad about: Having to leave Rufus with people who haven’t taken care of him previously. Because I’m a neurotic mess.
What I’m worried about: The short timeframe for my June ish, which I’ll somehow need to finish while I’m in Atlanta in 2 weeks. Also, I’m worried that I’ll never get around to writing up the rest of my Las Vegas trip notes. Grr.
What I’m pondering: How I managed to amass an iTunes library of more than 43,000 tracks but not manage to have any songs by Barry Manilow.
Surf’s down
The new issue of Sports Illustrated arrived yesterday in the mail. This morning, I flipped through it, looking for coverage of the fantastically competitive first-round NBA playoff series between the Bulls and the Celtics. There it was! Five full pages! Three of which were photos! (Well, after subtracting long pull-quotes and inset photography, at least there were 1.75 pages or so of writing about the series.)
Sure, much of it was about the absence of Celtics forward Kevin Garnett, but at least the Bulls’ loss of Luol Deng got mentioned, too (in the second-to-last paragraph). And the writer even managed to shoehorn in his required reference to Twitter! Awesome! Even if it was a complete non sequitur!
Still, I was a bit disappointed there was no other playoff coverage, in what’s been a weirdly compelling first round. Sure, the loss of Garnett is big for the Celtics, but the Spurs just got knocked out in the first round because they were missing Manu Ginobili. The Orlando Magic, seeded third in the east, can’t separate from a poorly assembled Sixers team with an interim coach. LeBron James & the Cavs just put the last nail in the Detroit Pistons’ coffin. Chauncey Billups has managed to get the year’s biggest collection of (playoff-level) knuckleheads to keep its collective head together long enough to reach the second round.
The only other NBA item in the ish was a two-page spread of Dikembe Mutombo lying in a crumpled heap on court — it would’ve been fantastic if he waved off assistance by wagging his index finger — and a one-third-page item on . . . Dikembe Mutombo’s career-ending injury.
So what was in this 78-page issue, that kept the editors from covering — or even making mention of — the rest of the NBA playoffs? Well, as far as features go, there was the NFL draft, which warranted 4 pages of coverage (including pix & sidebar), the 4-page cover story on rejuvenated pitcher Zack Greinke (including 2-page photo-spread), and a 3-page feature on twin brothers who play for some tea called the Canucks in a sport that seems to involve ice.
Oh, and there’s a TEN-PAGE PROFILE ON PROFESSIONAL SURFER KELLY SLATER.
I’m not making that up. It’s a TEN-PAGE FEATURE on a 37-year-old guy who surfs. (Okay, it’s slightly smaller than 10 pages, because of the one-third page ad on the final page. And if you subtract the pictures and pull-quotes, it only adds up to about SEVEN PAGES OF COPY, compared to the 1.75 pages given to the Bulls-Celtics story.) So 13% of the issue is devoted to A SINGLE ARTICLE ON SURFING.
I guess you have to chase the ad dollars. Oh, wait! There’s no advertising in the article, except for a one-pager for the InterContinental Hotels Group and the aforementioned one-third-page, which refers to a facing page ad for Rockport Shoes. (Not surfwear. Just dress shoes.)
So the editors ran a TEN-PAGE PROFILE ABOUT A SURFER WITH A GIRL’S NAME (okay, that’s a cheap shot) with no related advertising.
I’m not going to make some wild claim about how “this illustrates everything that’s wrong with print and why all newspapers and magazines are going out of business.” Frankly, this editorial decision is so staggeringly bizarre that I don’t know what it means.
I do know that, if you go to SI’s website this morning, you can look over the entire front page and find no reference to surfing anywhere.
I also know that, in my world, we have a term for articles that are too long for an issue that doesn’t have enough ads. We call them “Part 1 of 2.”