A Writer on Sports and More
To my new readers: Welcome. To people who know me from my day job, radio guest spots or previous blogs: Welcome back. What you’ve stumbled across is my latest, most polished foray into the blogosphere. A decade’s worth of my best work collected on a single site. A place to highlight my newest, most noteworthy pieces as they … Read more
Cinco de Mayweather: Preview to the Previews
Ha llegado el Cinco de Mayo, an annual holiday that for me means a hard morning workout followed by diet-destroying gluttony at places like La Mexicana or Tacos el Asador. Days like this I treat the menu like Williams treated the escorts in Enter the Dragon. Waitress: Sir, would you like the pulled pork soft tacos … Read more
The Fallacy of Effective Aggression, and other thoughts on Rigondeaux-Donaire
Even those of us who thought Guillermo “El Chacal” Rigondeaux would defeat Nonito Donaire in Saturday’s hotly anticipated 122-pound title unification bout couldn’t have foreseen a whitewash. And lets not kid ourselves. If you gave Donaire more than two rounds on Saturday you either work for Top Rank, or you might as well. Yes, I … Read more
Floyd Mayweather vs. Andre Ward vs.The Real Son of God
Six weeks ahead of his return to the ring against Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero, boxing’s top biggest name and cash king, Floyd Mayweather, used an interview with fighthype.com to fire a series of verbal jabs… at 168-pound champ Andre Ward. Apparently Ward, the best boxer on the planet not named Mayweather, is a long-time friend … Read more
Aquille Carr, Overseas Pros and Major League Basketball
If you’re surprised Aquille Carr is skipping college to play pro basketball overseas, you shouldn’t be. Reports that an Italian club had offered him $750,000 first surfaced in 2011, not long after the 5-foot-6 dynamo used a dazzling array of crossovers, stutter-steps, blind passes and dunks (yes, dunks!) to become a viral video sensation and … Read more
Glen Johnson and My Stringer & Avon Moment
Fans of The Wire will remember the scene toward the end of season three, when Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell take a brief break from plotting each other’s downfall to meet on a rooftoop and talk about the old days while gazing out over Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. When Stringer laments the real estate deals he … Read more
Venezuelan Baseball’s Two Strikes
Original published Nov. 25 2012 in the Toronto Star. Morgan Campbell Business Reporter MARACAY, VENEZUELA—Angel Guillen turns 16 in January, but his fresh face and braces make him look younger. He’s 6-foot-2 and long-limbed, thin as a praying mantis. On the pitcher’s mound, however, he wields his right arm like a whip, unspooling fastballs that … Read more
Jeff Demps: Back on Track and 21 Forever
Really gloomy times in my profession, but Olympic silver medallist and New England Patriots kick returner Jeff Demps just brightened my day by announcing he intends to return to the track this spring and summer. This is big news for a track nerds like me, and for anybody else who wonders whether the U.S. track … Read more
Nate Thayer and The Shame of Page View Journalism
Take a second and click on the link below, which details award-winning writer Nate Thayer’s dealings with The Atlantic, which was looking to re-publish a story he had written about basketball diplomacy, and Dennis Rodman’s highly publicized trip to North Korea. Read it all. A Day in the Life of a Freelance Journalist—2013. Two quick … Read more
Floyd Mayweather 2.0? A Motor City Postscript
Back in Canada and still recovering from 24 hours in Detroit, where the drinks are stiff (the young lady tending bar at Cutters promised her Jameson with a splash of Faygo ginger ale would put hair on my chest), and where rebirth has been a running theme for nearly four decades. On the banks of … Read more
Floyd Mayweather to Showtime: He’s Boxing’s Albert Pujols
Thinking of words to describe Tuesday’s announcement that boxing’s current pound-for-pound king, Floyd “Money” Mayweather, had dumped cable network and pay-per-view partner HBO in favour of rival broadcaster Showtime. “Seismic” works. Mayweather’s movement tilts the pay-per-view landscape, instantly transforming Showtime from a big-time suburb to the centre of attention and action, and maybe not just … Read more
