America’s son – Peyton Manning

March 6, 2016

When I was a child, I used to envy star athletes. They would retire young – having already accrued a lifetime of fame, wealth and accomplishment – and life would now be an open road on which they could do whatever they wished, being rich enough to do it and young enough to enjoy it.

But what if the open road were a vast wasteland? Who knows if athletes see delicious anticipation and opportunity or dread in retirement?

We can only imagine what’s going through Peyton Manning’s mind as he prepares to call it a day after 18 years of throwing a football with commanding accuracy. ...

Brain freeze: The NFL and concussions

November 25, 2015

Every time I despair of the psychological truth and realism of “The Penalty for Holding” – the second novel in my series “The Games Men Play” – I’m given a sign from the universe.

There’s a crucial moment in the story in which Quinn Novak, star quarterback of the New York Templars, chooses to play on despite sustaining a sub-concussion. I agonized over this plot point because of the new protocols in place that pull players who’ve sustained such injuries immediately from the game. It didn’t seem authentic not to reflect this in my book.

But truth really is stranger than fiction. In the St. Louis Rams’ 16-13 loss to the Baltimore Ravens Sunday, Rams’ QB Case Keenum sustained a concussion and continued to play. ...

Deflategate – of waistlines, frown lines and men

May 15, 2015

Deflategate gets curiouser and curiouser and curiouser. Now the New England Patriots would have you believe that it wasn’t about deflated balls but inflated bladders and waistlines.

In an attempt to seize control of the narrative, the Pats now contend that the time equipment manager Jim McNally spent in the bathroom before the AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts wasn’t about emptying balls of their air but emptying his bladder. And his “Deflator” nickname referred to his trying to lose weight.

You know that when men start talking about their waistlines and their bladders it’s a sure sign they’re desperate.

I think, in the end, however, that we shall discover that this is less a story about waistlines than frown lines and perhaps being a step slower and seeing the young guns who idolize you making their way up the ranks, standing across the field where you once were.

Tom Brady has it all except for one thing – youth. Turning 38 on Aug. 3, he’s actually a middle-aged man. (The life expectancy for an American man is 76.4 years. What’s two times 38? Oh.) ...

The ‘I’ in all things

April 15, 2015

San Francisco 49ers’ wide receiver Anquan Boldin stirred the drink recently when he said embattled Niners’ running quarterback Colin Kaepernick – who trained during the offseason to become more of a classic pocket passer – just needs to be himself.

“…I think he just has to block out everything else around him, stop listening to what people want, what people have to say about you, stop listening to what people want to see you do and just be yourself," Boldin told SiriusXM NFL Radio, via CSN Bay Area, on April 9.

"I think sometimes when you try to go off the suggestions of other people and try to please other people, you forget who you are and what got you there,” Boldin added. “I think if he just goes out and (is) himself, he'll be just fine. And that's the thing I try to tell him. 'Go out and be Kap. Don't try to go out and be anybody else, because that isn't what got you to this point.”

Wise words about identity, a much misunderstood subject that’s a crucial theme in “The Penalty for Holding,” the upcoming second novel in my series “The Games Men Play.” Like Colin, my hero, Quinn Novak, is a quarterback at the crossroads trying to balance pleasing others and remaining true to himself. It isn’t easy in our selfie world, which often spurs a 180-degree reaction. In his April 12th column “The Moral Bucket List,” The New York Times’ David Brooks wrote:

“Commencement speakers are always telling young people to follow their passions. Be true to yourself. This is a vision of life that begins with self and ends with self. But people on the road to inner light do not find their vocations by asking, what do I want from life? They ask, what is life asking of me? How can I match my intrinsic talent with one of the world’s deep needs?” ...

Tom Brady, the Roger Federer of football (in more ways than one)

March 2, 2015

It’s football’s off-season. Let the games begin.

First, it was something called “Aaron Rodgers Week” on the NFL Network. (Is that like “Rita Hayworth Week” on Movies.com?). So this engendered an article on whether Tom Brady or Andrew Luck is a better quarterback than Rodgers.

Really, I’m no fan of Brady, but you have to give it to him for leading the New England Patriots to four Super Bowl titles. He’s the greatest quarterback in the game today, just as Roger Federer’s 17 Grand Slam titles make him the greatest tennis player today. Yes, there are other measures of an athlete, and anyone can beat the best on any given day. But it’s hard to argue with the Super Bowl and the Slams as the measures of the players in football and tennis respectively. ...

The “I” of the (championship) storm

January 20, 2015

So it’s to be the Seahawks and the Patriots, two self-satisfied teams that I loathe.

Really, the only thing worse for me would be watching the Boston Red Sox play the Boston Red Sox in the World Series. Or perhaps Roger Federer playing Roger Federer for the Wimbledon title.

It’s hard to say which was more painful – the Green Bay Packers’ collapse against Seattle, or the Patriots’ mauling of the Indianapolis Colts.

Both Aaron Rodgers and Andrew Luck, the Packers’ and Colts’ respective, put-upon QBs, talked about the importance of teamwork before their games. And the role of teamwork, or lack thereof, was especially key to yesterday’s losses. They reminded us that while stars can win games, teams win championships. While their paths to defeat were different, in the end neither Rodgers nor Luck had the guns.

That’s why there’s no “I” in team. Although that’s usually meant as an admonition – the “I” as ego.

But the “I” also stands for the individual. In my upcoming novel “The Penalty for Holding,” New York Templars’ head coach Pat Smalley – a gridiron Capt. Bligh if there ever was one – likes to remind his headstrong, long-suffering quarterback, Quinn Novak, that there’s no “I” in “team.” ...

The closer: Aaron Rodgers

January 13, 2015

So many story lines in this past weekend’s playoff games:

*The Seattle Seahawks’ Russell Wilson and the Indianapolis Colts’ Andrew Luck emerging as the class of their generation. This is not a rap against the Washington Redskins’ Robert Griffin III, the Carolina Panthers’ Cam Newton and, my favorite, the San Francisco 49ers’ Colin Kaepernick. But they seem at this point to lack a poise, a maturity that Luck and Wilson have, which may be why Wilson and his team are moving on to the NFC championship game while Luck and his go on to the AFC game.

*Luck, of course, found himself involved in another storyline as the Colts defeated Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos, 24-13. Manning was once the Colts’ man. They let him go when Luck came aboard. So you had the past/present going up against the present/future, and the present/future won. Whither Peyton? He might come back next year. But he and his team looked almost as flat-footed as they did in last year’s disastrous Super Bowl appearance. Meanwhile, the Colts will take on Tom Brady and the New England Patriots next weekend. Though I hate to admit, Brady – Manning’s contemporary – appears to be aging better in the job. Go Colts. ...