It is damn near impossible now to get quality time with athletes as a journalist, the enemy banished outside upon the arrival of Covid—never again to be afforded intimate access. I knew Kobe Bryant, adored him, disliked him, laughed, and yelled and all in the same interview. He was human, and I came to understand that. Even Kevin Brown was human, although I could argue the alternative. I’m not sure I could function today in…
Podcast Magazine has honored Billy O’Connor, “the Mick” of A Mick A Mook and A Mic, as one of the Top 40 over 40 Podcasters in America. The Bronx native was honored for his eclectic lifestyle, freewheeling jargon, and for his phoenix-like transformation later in life. Billy was a Vietnam Vet, a 20-year member of the FDNY, and was present front and center for the “big dig” after 9/11. The Irish-born O’Connor has outpaced alcoholism,…
When I was a 5-year old child, growing up on Long Island, playing stick ball on the street with the unrestrained joy of, well, a 5-year old, I started to hear about the Dodgers. Then I heard the Dodgers on a big radio in my mom’s very small kitchen. The sound of the crowd. The crack of the bat. And the voice. The over-arching voice of 25-year old Vin Scully. I was the RCA Victor…
There’s so much darkness in the news. Murder. Frightening truths about a corrupt and vindictive former president. Hard economic times. A bloody war in Ukraine. Sadness seems to be everywhere. It’s actually hard for me to watch the news and stay informed. I’d like this morning instead to remember a good and decent man who left us 41 years ago this week in a tragic car wreck on the Long Island Expressway. His name was…
This is from memory, so the year will come to me later. My late partner Frank Shaw and I had written a Bill Cosby Special. We were taping it at NBC in Burbank. One of the guest stars was Burgess Meredith, glowing in his newfound fame as The Penguin on the Batman series. I didn’t care. To me Burgess Meredith was Ernie Pyle in The Story of G.I. Joe, George in Of Mice and Men,…
Going home is almost always wonderful, except when it’s to grieve a loss of a loved one. Recently, I went back to my home town, Miami Beach, for my High School reunion, and it was a very joyous time, but there was some, brief, grieving. At my age, many of the people I knew and loved start to pass, and the list of those who left us gets longer with time. We remembered them fondly…
I met Peter in the days of our golden youth, on the playing fields of the Sepulveda Basin where we were teammates on the ‘Ten Guys From Italy’ softball team. I was still an occasionally working actor with a number of failed pilots and series behind me and one spec script written in my peripatetic journey to a career, and Peter was ridiculously successful. On the diamond, Peter was just a sweetheart of a guy…
Summary: As the world has been turned into disarray during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ultimate Fighting Championship took the lead in returning to action and provided a reprieve from the doldrums, with stars such as Israel Adesanya, Jorge Masvidal, Amanda Nunes, Dustin Poirier, Kamaru Usman and Conor McGregor leading the way. Nearly 28 years ago, UFC 1 “The Beginning” took place. Roughly 16 years ago, The Ultimate Fighter aired its first season and mixed martial…