The NFL Draft is astonishingly popular during this age of instant gratification. Fans have to wait several months for the rookies to wear pads and actually play football. It goes against what is largely appealing about sport: That a game reaches an outcome within a few hours and doesn’t drag on like the search for […]
Arts & Entertainment
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Taking one for the team
People rip Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, and Gary Sheffield for allegedly cheating by using performance-enhancing drugs. But I think they’ve got it all wrong. If that’s what they did, then those guys are warriors. They’re doing whatever it takes to go out there and compete. We should be grateful. They’re no different than Buffalo […]
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Genius never sleeps
Whether it’s gangly arms, gawky lips, thick middles, or thin limbs, it’s not a certain type of body that makes a successful comic. It’s what the comic is willing to do with that body. Usually you’re not aware of it when it’s happening. It’s only later, when you’re trying to describe the hilarity of […]
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A ticket out of the minors
It would be nice if PaeTecPark attracts Major League Soccer and makes Rochester a major-league city. Unfortunately, US soccer will probably never be “major league.” MLS won’t draw much more national interest than the Rhinos, and its long-term viability is uncertain. Our real ticket out of the minor leagues is NCAA Division I athletics. […]
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When sports journalism goes bad
Veteran Sports Illustrated pro football writer Paul Zimmerman, known as Dr. Z, once caused a problem for the Bills’ media relations staff during training camp at St. John Fisher. He ventured from the media-designated sideline to watch a drill on the opposite sideline, which was empty enough to have comfortably fit the state of Rhode […]
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Buyer beware: art on the internet
Two weeks ago, William Yager, owner of Roselawn Galleries in Pittsford, was arrested and charged with selling counterfeit art online. I was instantly curious, of course, about the details. What kind of counterfeit are we talking about? Fakes? Copies? Is there a difference? At least in principle, a work of art has always been […]
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Rochester gives Australia its Jordan
There were just two-and-a-half minutes remaining. Australia’s 1992 National Basketball League championship was at stake. The South-East Melbourne Magic trailed the Melbourne Tigers by three before a demanding, delirious home crowd of 15,000. Rob Rose, a 1982 Cardinal Mooney graduate, helped lead the Magic. The 27-year-old, 6’5″, 212-pound guard was an in-season Continental Basketball […]
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Saying goodbye to the Bills’ king of candor
National Football League free agency means teams usually don’t spend much time at the top or bottom. It also means many top players don’t spend much time in one place. So when they’re free agents after three to five years and they choose to sign elsewhere, their careers with their old teams — usually the […]
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Infiltrating the ranks of the rich and famous
There really was a clever young con man who pretended to be Sidney Poitier’s son and insinuated himself into the homes of wealthy New Yorkers, whom he charmed and robbed. Playwright John Guare heard the story from friends who were victims of that fraud. For his play Six Degrees of Separation Guare used that […]
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Wasting time like a pro
The US Labor Department might soon have to create a public service announcement for pro sports. It would warn of the disastrous economic impact that could occur when teams purposely play a procrastinating, chew-up-the-clock style of offense. The ad would be based on the 1980s drug-prevention PSA of a father confronting his pot-smoking son. […]
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Contemplating American beauty
Does art have to have meaning? Does it need to be spiritually uplifting, morally challenging, and politically provocative? Does art have to have a purpose? It’s an age-old debate, but a new exhibition at the Memorial Art Gallery, highlighting the work of American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, offers a response to the schism between beautiful purpose […]
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A phony American dream
Most people who see Arthur Miller’s masterpiece Death of A Salesman feel that they know a Willy Loman in real life, though each knows a different Willy Loman. That great character is so richly conceived that he seems painfully real and right, even in completely varied castings. Originally, two very different actors brilliantly played […]
