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The Big Four’s ‘special relationship’

February 6, 2015

The big news out of the Aussie Open is that the Big Four is back.

Andy Murray’s magnificent run – until he collapsed against Novak Djokovic in the final – has returned him to the No. 4 spot behind Nole (No. 1), Roger Federer (No. 2) and Rafael Nadal (No. 3).

Andy’s return has got some fans comparing the Big Four to the Fab Four. (Andy, they say, would be Ringo.) I guess that would make Fed, John; Rafa, Paul; and Nole, George.

As with the Fab Four, there’s been some tension within the Big Four. Nole has said that he’s going to reach out to Andy, who was reportedly upset at possible Nole gamesmanship in the Australian Open final. Nole has denied faking an injury in their final, a taut affair early on.

“If there is a chance, if he’s willing to talk, I’ll talk, no problem,” Nole told Eurosport.com. “I have nothing to hide. I’m not the sort of guy who is pretending, who is trying to do something behind anyone’s back or is saying bad things about anybody, especially about someone I have known for a long time. I have respect for him.”

Perhaps the opportunity will come Feb. 15-28 at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. (Gee, how can we tell Dubai is the shopping capital of the world?) There Nole and Andy will be reunited with Fed, but no Rafa.

Though they’re all rivals now, Nole says, “I do look at (Andy), Rafa and Roger as my friends, honestly, because I see them so much, more than my parents and sometimes more than my wife. ...

The Seahawks’ karmic comeuppance

February 2, 2015

Wow, karma’s a bitch, ain’t it?

The Seattle Seahawks – whose vaunted defense has been the graveyard of rival quarterbacks – lost Super Bowl XLIX 28-24 when their own preternaturally poised quarterback, Russell Wilson, was intercepted, at the one-yard line no less.

As was pointed out a zillion times by the experts, the Hawks could’ve handed off the ball to Marshawn Lynch (the guy who won’t talk to the press and grabs his crouch after scoring a touchdown). Indeed, they seemed on the brink of back-to-back SB titles after experiencing a sort of miraculous catch of David Tyree proportions. ...

Belichick for the defense

January 26, 2015

Boy, you gotta hand it to Bill Belichick. Operating under an assumption that guides many coaches – that the best defense is a good offense – the Terse One held an impromptu news conference to reveal that the New England Patriots had conducted their own investigation into Deflate-gate, no doubt in an attempt to seize control of the narrative.

And guess what? The Pats have found that when you leave footballs on the field in cold, wet weather, yep, they deflate.

There you have it – an act of God, who has yet to hold his press conference or inform us of the results of his own investigation.

Good attempt to cut us off at the pass, Bill. But no first down.

If atmospheric conditions during the A.F.C. Championship game were the cause, then why didn’t the Colts’ balls deflate as well?

Belichick opined that he is no scientist or expert on footballs. But, he added, "at no time was there any intent whatsoever to try to compromise the integrity of the game.”

OK, let’s pause for a pet peeve – the misuse of the word “integrity.” ...

Aaron Rodgers – soul brother

January 17, 2015

Today’s tempest in a teapot is brought to you courtesy of Earl Thomas, All-Pro Safety of the Seattle Seahawks – my, how they love to stir the pot – who said he’s not buying the notion that Aaron Rodgers’ calf is injured. (Translation: The Hawks have to prepare as if the Green Bay Packers quarterback were healthy, because he’s that good.)

But wait, that’s not what got everyone riled up. Thomas went on to say of Rodgers, whom the Hawks will face Sunday for the NFC championship: “I just respect him as a football player in general. You can tell that he knows the game. He has a lot of confidence back there. You don't really see a lot of quarterbacks of his skin color with soul like that, and I like it."

Uh-oh. You can imagine the Hurricane Sandy that kicked up. Reaction was swift and predictable...

Just say “No More”

January 5, 2015

The NFL, deep into playoffs after a regular season of scandal, is also deep into its commitment to public service announcements against domestic violence and sexual assault.

The P.S.A.s feature current and former stars like the New York Football Giants’ quarterback and good guy Eli Manning saying “No More” – to such dangerous platitudes as “But he’s such a nice guy,” “She was asking for it,” “He just has a temper” or “We don’t talk about that.”

You may remember similar spots featuring actors Amy Poehler and Courtney Cox and fashion guru Tim Gunn. They’re the brainchild of No More, a five-year-old coalition against domestic violence and sexual assault working with actor Mariska Hargitay’s Joyful Heart organization. ...

New Year’s wisdom from RFK – and ‘the awful grace of God’

December 31, 2014

Spent a magical few days with my family – always too short of a good time – in suburban D.C. for Christmas and had the pleasure and privilege of visiting Arlington National Cemetery.

I hadn’t been there since I was a girl but as with anything that is ingrained, I found it washing over me, moving me as it did in the old days – the rows of crystalline marble headstones; the deep-veined names etched on them; the commanding views of the city that crown the serpentine climb to the Federal-style Arlington House, a.k.a. The Robert E. Lee Memorial, once the home of the gallant Confederate general and President George Washington’s descendants.

As I made the climb, I was struck by the grave markers, some containing a brief record of the departed’s military and civilian achievements, others containing nothing but a last name, the bearer’s deeds lost in time.

Along the way, I paused at the eternal flame that lights the graves of President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, flanked by the graves of their first and last children, an unnamed baby daughter and son Patrick.

On the path to the left are the graves of JFK brothers Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., a World War II bomber pilot, and Sen. Edward Moore Kennedy, marked by simple white crosses – as is perhaps the most moving of the brothers’ graves, that of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

His faces a low gray wall that contains some of the words he spoke extemporaneously in Indianapolis the night of April 4, 1968 amid his presidential bid after he learned the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated. Kennedy had been cautioned by police and aides against addressing those who had gathered, many of whom would be hearing about King’s death for the first time. But he decided to persevere, in one of the great, from-the-heart speeches – acknowledging the black crowd’s understandable anger toward King’s white assassin, James Earl Ray, and his own toward his brother John’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.

That was vintage Bobby, and the reason you either loved or hated him but couldn’t sit on the sidelines and be dispassionate. He wasn’t afraid of raw emotions, afraid to say what everyone was thinking.

Nor did he deem it imprudent to quote Aeschylus to the throng. The ancient Greek poet-playwright of “The Oresteia” – recommended by his bookish sister-in-law, Jackie – became a favorite in the aftermath of JFK’s assassination. ...

An ‘Interview’ you can skip

December 26, 2014

On Christmas Day, some Americans did what they felt was their civic duty and went to see the controversial new film “The Interview,” which Sony decided to release in select independent theaters and online after being chastised by both liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans – led by President Barack Obama – for initially caving to North Korea and pulling the plug on the Seth Rogin-James Franco starrer, which makes copious fun of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.

You’ll recall that Sony even had embarrassing emails hacked by cyber-terrorists, and North Korea, professing shock – shock, I tell you – that the U.S. would accuse it of such a crime, offered to conduct a joint investigation of the incident.

Which is a bit like O.J. Simpson saying he was going to search for ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman’s killer.

Uh-huh. Moving on, I was among those Americans who spent part of Christmas Day watching the movie with my family at home – thanks to the technical wizardry of my nephew James, take a bow – and may I say that it was two hours of my life that I will never have back.

It’s not that “The Interview” is a terrible movie. It’s just that it’s a terribly mediocre movie that belongs to a long line of turkeys about bumbling Americans mixed up in international intrigue. (“Ishtar,” anyone?) It’s also a road picture and a bro picture, which means there’s lots of 12-year-old-boy humor about urinating, defecating, anal sex, private parts, hot girls, gays, homophobia, drugs, vomiting, breaking wind, margaritas and Katy Perry. I think Kim Jong-un, American pop culture junkie, should screen it, because really he has nothing to worry about. It’s the Columbia J School that should be offended.

At its heart, “The Interview” is the story of the twisted, symbiotic relationship that exists between the celebrated and those who chase them, the so-called journalists. Franco, playing with type, is Dave Skylark, the airheaded host of a magazine show like “Entertainment Tonight” and “Access Hollywood.” It’s a measure of the filmmakers’ real fears that while Rogin and co-director Evan Goldberg apparently never worried enough about Kim Jong-un’s response to change his name or his country, they were quick to fictionalize Franco’s character and show so as not to offend the very programs they’d be using to hawk their pix.