Opening day for old Guy Football

It’s opening Sunday for the National Football League, and even better, I survived the first game of the year in the long-running “old guy” touch football game that’s been playing in Princeton since the mid-1990s. In my mid-60s, I was a rookie last season. Now I’m hoping to avoid the sophomore jinx, although I’ll settle […]

The phenom(onology) of MLB Draft League baseball

If a line drive falls into left field and no one’s in the stands, does it make a sound? That question came to mind as I cycled away from Sonny Pittaro Field this evening after watching several innings of an MLB Draft League game between West Virginia and Trenton. Pittaro Field is at Rider University […]

Throwing the game (golf)

With my Brewers cap on my head and baseball on my mind, I headed out the back door this morning intent on walking the golf course adjoining our lot. But a funny thing happened along the fairway. On the first hole, I picked up a stray range ball nestled up against a tree. I planned […]

Phillies fans are a passionate lot

As I put my purchase onto the checkout counter at the sporting goods store, the clerk looked me in the eye and said bluntly, “Why did you take Hunter Pence from us?” In a split second, I realized that this young man was a Phillies fan and had noticed my San Francisco Giants cap. “I […]

What exit? Yes, It’s the Jersey Turnpike World Series!

1985: The Cardinals and the Royals meet in an all-Missouri matchup, and it’s the I-70 World Series. 1989: The Giants and Athletics endure an earthquake to play in the Bay Bridge Series. 2000: The Bronx Bombers rumble with the Metropolitans of Queens in an all-NYC Subway Series. This is 2009, Yankees versus Phillies, and there’s only one possible […]

The Associated Press in the Internet era

Five years ago today, I quit my job at The Associated Press. After 23 years of assignments from California to New York, I turned in the keys to my company car, said farewell to my staff and walked to the train station in Trenton for a long ride home. Over the next few days, nearly […]

Saluting the Devils’ Martin Brodeur

This is a great day for the Irish — and for hockey. On this St. Patrick’s Day, Martin Brodeur of the New Jeresey Devils will will try to become the winningest goalie in National Hockey League history. Brodeur, who spent much of the season off ice with an injury, has been almost superhuman since his […]

Keeping my head about me, thanks to a Giants’ batting helmet

While dangling Christmas lights from the tree on our front lawn this morning, I was reminded of how a few years back my giveaway plastic San Francisco Giants batting helmet saved my head. I had to trim a branch from a tree in our backyard in New Jersey, and I stuck the batting helmet on […]

Juxtaposition: New Jersey and Yosemite National Park

What possessed me to take my “Weird N.J.” cap to Yosemite National Park? I guess my subconscious mind was trying to make a statement about the breadth of the American natural experience. Whatever the motivation, I wore the cap yesterday on an absolutely gorgeous fall day. This was my third trip to Yosemite, and the […]

My goofy Holy Cross College cap

One of the oddest caps in my collection isn’t a baseball cap but this circular, beanie-like cap. I bought it at the Holy Cross College bookstore while I was in school there in the mid 1970s. I rarely wore the thing, which my friends routinely referred to as my “douche cap.” I once asked why. […]