American Pharoah and the way we were(n’t)

June 14, 2015

Not long ago, I interviewed a woman who made our acquaintance difficult before and after. This woman worked with animals for a living and confided during the course of our official conversation that she got along better with them than with people.

Geez, who would’ve thought?, I felt like replying sarcastically.

I still think people who like animals more than people are control freaks setting themselves up for failure since control is basically an illusion. But after seeing the way America has taken to American Pharoah, I think I have a better understanding of this woman. ...

Novak Djokovic, California Chrome and the quest for transcendence

June 11, 2014

Well, I’m officially 0 for 3, having thought the Rangers would at least split in LA, picked California Chrome for the Belmont and the Triple Crown and thought that Nole would finally dethrone Rafa at Roland Garros. So much for my prognosticating skills.

But I’m more interested in one of my favorite obsessions, which is Why do some transcend while others don’t? Why didn’t Chrome join the 11 who’ve won the Triple Crown instead of the 12 who came up short in the third leg? Why did Nole, who, after all, has beaten Rafa in every match they’ve played since last year’s US Open, come up short at the French?

Was it nerves? (Nole appeared to vomit before the start of the fourth set...

The fault in our stars? More thoughts on California Chrome and the ‘unfairness’ of life

June 9, 2014

So Cinderella turned out to be just as unpalatable as her stepsisters. By that I mean that the world is a little less enamored of Steve Coburn since he started crying foul – repeatedly – after his horse, California Chrome, lost his Triple Crown bid at the Belmont Stakes to Tonalist, who didn’t run in the Kentucky Derby or Preakness.

I never thought Coburn and the partner were interesting. I mean, how classy can you be when you name your venture Dumb Ass Partners? No, what was fascinating, beautiful, a dream, was that bright as a penny of a horse with his blaze and four white socks and curiosity about us two-legged types and poise and smarts and heart and in the end, none of it was enough.

And that’s heartbreaking but such is life. I still agree with Coburn, though, that it isn’t fair to come into the Belmont all fresh as a daisy and play spoiler. And I see that plenty in the blogosphere were thinking what I was thinking: You have to play every round of the French Open to get to the final.

The end of a California (Chrome) dream

June 8, 2014

How is it that you can fall in love with someone you don’t know?

What if that someone were a horse?

Millions of us fell in love with California Chrome these past few weeks and millions of us got our hearts broken as he finished out of the money in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, which increasingly seems to be won by a horse you don’t care about. This year it was Tonalist, who didn’t run in the Kentucky Derby or the Preakness. He’s named for an art principle. (In more than 30 years covering the arts, I never once used the term tonalism. Let’s just admit it’s a pretentious name, and leave it at that, shall we?)

Anyway, CC’s more voluble owner, Steve Coburn, did Chromies no favors...