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Where it all started for him: Novak Djokovic defeats Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semifinals at Wimbledon in 2011 to capture the number one ranking for the first time en route to winning his first Wimbledon championship.

Olé, Nole

July 15, 2019

The Wimbledon fortnight ended in bizarrely glorious fashion as Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-6(4), 4-6, 13-12(3) for the men’s singles championship. Federer, the far-and-away fan favorite, ostensibly took the match on paper, winning more points and games. https://deadspin.com/novak-djokovic-is-a-fortress-1836369554 But, as anyone will tell you, matches aren’t won on paper. They’re won by coming up big in the big moments, which is what Djokovic – the number one-ranked player but always an underdog in these situations – did to conquer both Federer and the pro-Fed crowd.

That's why they call it a horse race

May 18, 2019

Perhaps the commercial that used a subtle version of Fleetwood Mac’s great “Go Your Own Way” was a harbinger, but the 144th Preakness Stakes was as nutty as the Kentucky Derby. We can only wonder what the Belmont Stakes will bring in three weeks.

Justify after winning the Preakness Stakes on his way to becoming the 13th Triple Crown winner. (That’s trainer Bob Baffert in the red tie.) With no Triple Crown on the line this season, the action remains centered on the fallout from Maximum Securi… — Justify after winning the Preakness Stakes on his way to becoming the 13th Triple Crown winner. (That’s trainer Bob Baffert in the red tie.) With no Triple Crown on the line this season, the action remains centered on the fallout from Maximum Security’s disqualification at the Kentucky Derby. Photograph courtesy Maryland Governor’s Office.

Maximum insecurity

May 17, 2019

April is the cruelest month,” T.S. Eliot began his poem “The Waste Land.” But T.S. — we hesitate to be overly familiar and call him Tom — what about May?

Threats to and from Iran, the continuing abortion divide, tariff wars, the stock market bouncing around like a knuckleball again: The only thing that is certain these days is, of course, uncertainty, making us all uneasy.

In the past, culture — specifically, arts and entertainment and sports — has provided stability in a destabilized world. But the real world keeps intruding on these parallel worlds that are framed differently by time and space.

“Sleeping Hermaphroditus,” a second century Roman copy of a Hellenistic work, marble. Musée du Louvre. The mythical figure, child of the Greek gods Hermes and Aphrodite, was said to be both male and female.

Caster Semenya and the complexity of gender

May 8, 2019

The Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, has ruled that elite South African runner and Olympic champion Caster Semenya cannot compete with other women in endurance races, because her body naturally produces too much testosterone, giving her an “unfair” advantage.

Whirlaway — the only Triple Crown winner to win the Travers Stakes — had a tendency to veer toward the middle of the track in races.

A Whirl(away) of a Kentucky Derby

May 6, 2019

The fallout continues from Maximum Security’s DQ in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby. Co-owner Gary West filed an appeal that was quickly shot down and will not run the horse in two weeks in the Preakness Stakes. That’s a shame because it could’ve been a kind of redemption and Maximum Security could’ve joined Man o’ War and Native Dancer as one of the greatest horses to never win the Derby. (Man o’ War’s owner, August Belmont Jr. — the Belmont Stakes was named after his father — thought his colt too young for the Derby. And the Dancer lost the 1953 Derby to Dark Star in a race in which his jockey, Eric Guerin, was criticized for taking “that colt everywhere around the track except the ladies’ room”.) It was the only race that the Dancer ever lost.

The Kentucky Derby, the Run for the Roses, still features Stephen Foster’s poignant “My Old Kentucky Home” albeit with some changes to the lyrics. Courtesy kentuckytourism.com.

Against political correctness (with a caveat)

April 27, 2019

My cousin-hosts served up an intense political discussion along with delicious herb-crusted lamb chops for Easter dinner. As with most American families, mine is made up of Democrats and Republicans, Trumpettes and never-Trumpers. Me, I’m a moderate-independent, although I caucus with the Dems, so to speak.

About the only thing we all agree on is that we’re lifelong Yankee fans. So what did I, they wondered, think of the New York Yankees banning Kate Smith’s rendition of “God Bless America” because she sang a song about “darkies” that Paul Robeson, the great African-American actor-singer, also sang?

End of a quarterback, birth of an icon, as captured by AP.

The endgame of Colin Kaepernick

February 17, 2019

Colin Kaepernick’s collusion case against the NFL is now one for the record books, though no numbers have been reported. Such is the way with private settlements. My uncle said he probably got $40 million. I think he got at least twice that. The NFL isn’t merely buying his silence in a suit that he may well have won. They’re saying adios to an activist player.

Greetings!
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