tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18421466683160444112011-12-28T12:16:24.422-05:00Michael WeinrebFitter, happier, more productiveMichael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.comBlogger2911100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-83784917363019664132011-06-23T15:31:00.000-04:002011-06-23T15:31:19.214-04:00On...In Case You Missed It...The top five and other assorted musings can be found over at Grantland.Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-19070389287534650022011-05-26T15:25:00.000-04:002011-05-26T15:25:11.775-04:00On The Week's Top Five1. Dirkness
There has been much lamentation in the mainstream hyper-socialist media about the demise of the sports nickname, but here is the truth: In this year's likely NBA finals matchup, the two best players are likely to have such distinctive first names that they do not require nicknames at all. In fact, I recently asked myself, who is the second-greatest basketball player named Dirk? In Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-66175428521681112052011-05-20T14:04:00.001-04:002011-05-20T14:05:53.021-04:00On the Week's Top Five1. Carmen's Complaint
I've read most of Philip Roth's oeuvre. I once took a class in which we read nothing but Roth novels. I will admit, I am not an unbiased observer when it comes to Roth, and how much of that has to do with the fact that I am also a cranky Jewish male, I cannot say; but anyone who says that Roth "doesn't rate" as a writer is clearly not worthy of commenting on his work at allMichael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-41711679671290702712011-05-13T14:03:00.000-04:002011-05-13T14:03:05.907-04:00On The Week's Top Five1. Spiking the Football
In 1965, a New York Giants wide receiver named Homer Jones, having crossed the end zone with a football in his hands, chose to slam said object to the grass in celebration. Hence the birth of the ostentatious gesture known as the "spike," which 46 years later, our commander-in-chief utilized in metaphorical language to discuss why he declined to release photographs of a Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-11774426105803950572011-05-03T15:20:00.000-04:002011-05-03T15:20:04.483-04:00On The Week's Top Five1. OBL, Part I
Here is the thing that may be forgotten: For approximately one hour after the president of the United States called a press conference on a Sunday night on the first day of May, no one seemed to know exactly what it was for. That in itself is almost as remarkable as the capture of the most-wanted terrorist in the world. We live in a world that is post-suspense, post-surprise; Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-33617367456371794122011-04-28T17:14:00.002-04:002011-04-28T17:14:57.446-04:00On A New Venture (Of Which I Am A Small Part)...You may peruse details here, if that kind of thing interests you.Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-78108929048970235832011-04-28T13:38:00.000-04:002011-04-28T13:38:06.183-04:00On The Week's Top Five1. Royalties
You know what upsets me far more than garish ceremonies celebrating a vestigial institution? It's people who utilize garish ceremonies celebrating a vestigial institution in order to engage in self-righteous condemnation. Let us say, for instance, that you are a sports fan, and you condemn the royal wedding largely because it is an exercise in garish symbolism. Does this mean that Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-46170932760677386692011-04-21T14:23:00.000-04:002011-04-21T14:23:36.176-04:00On The Week's Top Five1. Giant Heads and Talking Basketballs
Does the person who concocted the NBA's advertising campaigns have some sort of fetish with gigantism? I don't know when or how oversized craniums became the rage among America's youth--appearing on posters and in the stands at college basketball games and now in these bobblehead advertisements and talking basketball soliloquies narrated by Moe Szyslak thatMichael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-31354816792755341002011-04-15T15:04:00.000-04:002011-04-15T15:04:43.079-04:00On The Week's Top Five1. Trump
I do not profess to understand this phenomenon, or what it might mean for Republican politics. I do know that if Donald Trump runs for president, it will be incredibly entertaining, in the way Hank's Look-Around Cafe was entertaining. Here is what I know: Among other things, Donald Trump's rampant egotism once murdered a second-tier professional football league. If the Houston Gamblers Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-39484991090105798642011-04-11T12:18:00.000-04:002011-04-11T12:18:38.726-04:00On The Masters
I never really felt comfortable at the Masters. I covered it several times back in the late 1990s, back when mid-sized newspapers still had the budget and the inclination to send their writers to major sporting events, and it always felt like I was wandering into a '50s theme park, a conflation of blooming flowers and aging white men and especially low-priced pimento cheese sandwiches. There is Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-82994333596337752072011-04-04T15:12:00.000-04:002011-04-04T15:12:30.194-04:00On The Week's Top Five
1. A New Format
There are some things happening in my professional life (announcement coming soon) that may alter the already limited amount of time I have to dedicate to this blog. Therefore, I am at least temporarily resorting to the tactic that every blog resorts to when it realizes that writing coherent and complete thoughts is a far more difficult proposition than they realized: I will Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-39903860797782245032011-03-22T15:05:00.000-04:002011-03-22T15:05:08.767-04:00On "Disrespect": A Brief ObservationWe all know by now that the sports world is littered with perceived disrespect, but this weekend felt like mini-zenith in the Era of Self-Imposed Haters. Sixty-eight teams entered the NCAA tournament, and I have little doubt that sixty-eight coaches spent the weekend assuring their assembled squads that, in fact, no one believed they would get beyond this round, that everyone doubted their Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-72289092940715631582011-03-14T15:59:00.001-04:002011-03-15T02:15:28.403-04:00On The Long and Illustrious History of Penn State Basketball, Part IIIForgive me if this post is disjointed, but I'm a little frazzled. I've written before about my irrational loyalty to the perpetually lost cause known as Penn State basketball,* but every so often they reward my patience. Once every decade, a team emerges from out of nowhere, like this one did, and just when you think they're going to fall away into the historical oblivion of the NIT they pull Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-52554284198953731552011-03-08T15:09:00.001-05:002011-03-08T15:09:48.488-05:00On R.E.M.: A Personal HistoryI. State College, Pennsylvania, Spring '91: Document
His name is not relevant. He was never really a friend. For three months, he was a pledge brother at my fraternity, which meant we scrubbed floors and cleaned toilets and went on beer runs until one day, a few weeks from our initiation, he abruptly disappeared and never returned. It did not matter why; if I am being honest, I was not Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-18903696028883981232011-03-03T15:28:00.002-05:002011-03-08T15:26:37.292-05:00On Jim McMahon and "Honor Codes"
So the Brigham Young basketball team has dimissed one of its top players for a violation of the school's "honor code." This is nothing new--either the honor code or the dismissal of an athlete for violating it, and no one is really arguing that athletes who attend BYU should be required to adhere to said code, ridiculous as it may seem to those of us who reside in someplace other than Victorian Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-1588701057328820232011-03-01T15:27:00.000-05:002011-03-01T15:27:50.038-05:00On Cinema, Sports and PredictabilityI think we can all agree that this year's Oscar ceremony was particularly terrible. What we might not agree on is the reason why it was terrible. You may single out James Franco's blank pseudo-stoner visage, or Anne Hathaway's array of cheerleading yodels, or that horribly uncomfortable moment when Spartacus nearly toppled off the stage, or when one of the characters from Strange Brew was hired Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-55228114282470317712011-02-25T15:17:00.002-05:002011-03-21T18:59:11.556-04:00On The Best Picture
I haven't seen The King's Speech. I'm sure it's a perfectly fine film, with a perfectly fine cast and a perfectly fine message about life. I'm sure I will see it and think, "This is a perfectly fine moviegoing experience," and then I will go home and forget all about it.
I have seen The Social Network. I have mixed feelings about Aaron Sorkin, but I thought his script was hard-edged and Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-46035914404091998922011-02-23T15:22:00.001-05:002011-02-23T15:23:33.383-05:00On Inconsequential Things That Matter To Me1. I understand the Nets are taking a risk by trading for Deron Williams without (as far as we know) any real knowledge of whether or not they can re-sign him, but two things seem relatively obvious: A.) If I had to choose between a pure scorer like Carmelo Anthony and a dynamic point guard like Deron Williams, I will choose the point guard every time, and B.) If anything, people are probably Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-23635901159422603992011-02-22T14:39:00.001-05:002011-02-22T14:43:23.471-05:00On Carmelo: A Rough Notebook of IdeasI. I cannot recall ever knowing more details about a trade in which I had no real rooting interest--and not even a great deal of interest, period--than this Carmelo Anthony deal. There are several reasons for this. First, the team acquiring Anthony, the New York Knicks, has degenerated into one of the more dysfunctional franchises in professional sports, and happens to be based in the largest Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-5891223650524678492011-02-17T16:28:00.000-05:002011-02-17T16:28:31.915-05:00On Inconsequential Things (and One Consequential Thing) That Matter To Me
1. I wrote a couple of short pieces for GQ's new NBA package, one of which--on the NBA's new villains--can be found here. But you should check out the whole thing, if only because that Oklahoma City Thunder illustration is hyperawesome.
2. I was going to write something about this mind-boggling piece* on the Huffington Post, but then Stephen Colbert said everything that needed to be said Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-40898954187921718402011-02-16T16:47:00.000-05:002011-02-16T16:47:26.838-05:00On the Grammys, Jethro Tull, and Those Freaking Canadians
"...no matter how dominant and predictable something might be in your world, it is still a weird, marginal thing to most everyone else."--Nitsuh Abebe, Vulture
A confession: I have trouble letting go of my cultural predilections. I will continue to watch a television show long after it has gone sour,* and I will continue to consume the discography of a decaying rock band if only to complete myMichael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-23116485215672521942011-02-15T13:33:00.000-05:002011-02-15T13:33:01.716-05:00On Inconsequential Things That Matter to Me (Thoughts While Ill Edition)1. Every time I contract a cold or a sore throat or something resembling the flu, I'm reminded that Michael Jordan's flu game has to be the greatest single performance in the history of modern sports. I mean, Jordan was 34 years old during that game; I'm now 38, and I find it hard to imagine departing from my sofa when my temperature creeps past 99. I hate being sick. I hate being sick so much Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-19831362568953501062011-02-07T20:06:00.002-05:002011-02-08T10:35:29.803-05:00On Super Bowl XLV, The Day After: XXV Random Thoughts
I. I agree with Joe--if Rodgers doesn't make that third down throw, the Steelers probably win. Then again, if Mendenhall doesn't fumble, the Steelers probably win. And if Roethlisberger doesn't throw that pick-six, the Steelers probably win.
II. And yet there was never a moment where it felt like the Steelers were going to win.
III. The most surprising thing about the final drive is not that Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-16967057414478909392011-02-04T12:24:00.000-05:002011-02-04T12:24:42.265-05:00On The Super Bowl and the Return of the Great American Bacchanalia
Part II of my GQ.com Super Bowl week "series." You can find several pieces I've written about football here.
Of the hundreds of empirical measurements used to determine the health of the national economy, none speak in such a quintessentially American way as a stripper shortage. That's what Dallas is experiencing this week, according to the exotica experts at TMZ, who breathlessly reported Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-36564884270063357362011-02-03T14:56:00.000-05:002011-02-03T14:56:20.554-05:00On Inconsequential Things That Matter To Me (Quickish edition)
1. Books
I'll be reading (briefly) with an all-star cast of sportswriting characters this evening in Manhattan, at Gelf's fifth annual Varsity Letters event. You can read the interview with me--and with all the others--here. And I highly recommend Dan Shanoff's new site, Quickish--it's like a hybrid of a sports blog and a well-curated Twitter feed, without all the peripheral nonsense.
2. Bo
Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-63537402736931387162011-02-02T11:15:00.000-05:002011-02-02T11:15:14.301-05:00On The One Super Bowl Week That Wasn't a Bore
I wrote this piece for GQ.com.
In commemoration of the most ostentatious and overhyped seven days in American sports, let us hearken back precisely twenty-five years, to a time that was both more and less innocent, to a moment when, thanks to one man, Super Bowl week overcame its stultifying reputation and became, ever so briefly, a tabloid bonanza. Let us recall the apostate known as the Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-17409577957692775732011-01-28T11:07:00.001-05:002011-01-28T18:14:31.619-05:00On The Space Shuttle, 25 Years Later
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I. It is time we come to some sort of cultural consensus that Deion Sanders is not a trustworthy source about anything.
II. It is hypocritical, if you believe that head injuries are a serious problem in the NFL, to judge someone's fitness for play based on outward appearances. Many people who have concussions don't look like they've had concussions, but this doesn't mean they should be sent Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-72148404294476008182011-01-21T12:11:00.000-05:002011-01-21T12:11:39.598-05:00On Inconsequential Things That Matter To Me (Media Criticism Edition)
1. Local Radio Advertisements
It's not that I think "Let the Good Times Roll" is one of the Cars' better efforts, but it does confound me that I still associate it with an advertisement for Taps, a now-defunct bar in State College, Pennsylvania that co-opted the song for its own purposes. Why is it that I cannot eliminate this jingle from my memory? What potentially more useful information is Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-43036953621836992962011-01-20T16:40:00.004-05:002011-01-24T10:52:18.896-05:00On The Long and Illustrious History of Penn State Basketball, Part II
I don't have children, and I don't know that I ever will have children, but if I did, I would wish one thing upon them: That they not be born into royalty. I am speaking metaphorically, of course, unless you happen to be a member of the British royal family, in which case you probably do not seek advice on child-rearing from obscure blogspot outposts. I am speaking of sports*, and specifically, Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-26548857863221329192011-01-17T14:54:00.000-05:002011-01-17T14:54:52.068-05:00On the Power of Nostalgia, Punky/Non-Punky QBs, and the 2010 Jets
"It's incredible. If we said words back when I was playing, we'd have to stand up in front of the team and take about a one-minute berating from the coach. Now, it's coming from the coaches.''
-- CBS NFL analyst Phil Simms, on the volume coming from teams critical of other teams in football these days. (via Peter King)
I cannot blame Phil Simms for engaging in revisionist history. I do it. WeMichael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-55043210375214489902011-01-14T15:33:00.000-05:002011-01-14T15:33:28.737-05:00On Ten Jarringly Specific Predictions For This Weekend's Games
1. Ben Roethlisberger throws for 256 yards and two touchdowns and bleeds from at least two (2) orifices before the fourth quarter is complete.
2. Ray Lewis and/or Ed Reed perform at least one act of violence which would be considered illegal in at least eight states.
3. After breaking two limbs and sending Joe Flacco to the hospital, Troy Polamalu punctuates the Steelers' 17-14 win by Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-88061736806657613902011-01-11T18:59:00.000-05:002011-01-11T18:59:32.707-05:00On That What-The-Hell Happened Moment
Dyer's run was a what-the-hell-happened moment that symbolized this what-the-hell-happened season. The national title was decided on a play in which everyone stood still and stopped playing.--Pat Forde, ESPN
And now, of course, there is controversy, because there is always controversy, because a play like that could not precipitate a pushback by the losing side and by those obsessive freaks Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-67668042516338895072011-01-10T14:59:00.000-05:002011-01-10T14:59:16.866-05:00On Wildcard Weekend (and BCS Monday)
1. I don't think the Jets will defeat the Patriots, and I don't think the Steelers will defeat the Ravens, but I have to admit: About these playoffs, I don't think I would presume anything anymore. A week ago, I actually said that if I had a first-born child, I would immediately bet him/her on New Orleans, which is as good a reason as any to argue against me ever procreating*. I also did not Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-12561347703629667902011-01-04T14:29:00.000-05:002011-01-04T14:29:46.941-05:00On Inconsequential Things That Matter To Me
1. Driving
I spend my Christmases in Chicago, residing temporarily with the beings who created my future wife. Normally, it is no big deal--they have an airport in Chicago (in fact, I hear, they even have two airports), and so my trip generally involves stepping onto a flying machine, stepping off, shuttling to suburbia, consuming carbohydrates for three days, and returning home on a separate Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-35850388766342286382011-01-03T15:00:00.001-05:002011-01-03T15:01:16.012-05:00On An Anniversary Worth NotingYesterday marked 24 years since the most overtly theatrical and baldly dramatic game in college football history.* Unfortunately, Penn State marked this anniversary by enduring (potentially) one of the program's most ignominious weekends in recent memory.
I prefer to remember the good times.
Two decades later, and the real world has been kind to the quarterback, even if no one can rememberMichael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-90101983842357267962010-12-30T15:04:00.002-05:002010-12-31T13:18:10.839-05:00On The Most 2010 Show of 2010
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“There’s always a why. You just don’t understand it.”—Will Travers, Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-67162248354165598152010-12-20T15:31:00.000-05:002010-12-20T15:31:54.318-05:00On Football, Giants, Punters and Accountability
I have a non-popular take on Coughlin-Dodge situation. Good for the coach for holding accountable the player, who flat didn't do his job.--SI's Dominic Bonvissuto, via Twitter
A week ago, the Washington Redskins cut their starting punter. This would have been unremarkable except for the fact that the Redskins cut Hunter Smith because he botched the hold on a game-tying extra point. Smith was Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-63123892861077777752010-12-14T16:24:00.001-05:002010-12-14T16:40:57.659-05:00On The Top Twenty-Nine of Everything, 2010 (An Arbitary and Undefinitive List)SIn no particular order.
1. Michael Raymond-James on "Terriers," as that guy we've all known.
2. The claustrophobic office sets on "Rubicon."
3. The Marc Maron-Louis CK podcast.
4. Bully.
5. Michael Stuhlbarg, Michael Shannon and Michael Pitt on Boardwalk Empire.
6. Abed.
7. The Hunger Games scenes from the first book of the trilogy.
8. This quote, from David Foster Wallace, in David Lipsky's Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-19006854944448423852010-12-08T12:01:00.000-05:002010-12-08T12:01:32.430-05:00On Ben Roethlisberger, Dandy Don, North Dallas Forty, and Primal Urges
I wrote this piece for GQ.com.
"Two years ago in the snow in Pittsburgh, he threw two touchdowns in the fourth period to win by a single point. That night he checked into the hospital with a fractured jaw. There wasn't a pass he couldn't throw, a team he couldn't beat, a pain he couldn't endure, or a woman he couldn't fuck, given the right time and combination of pieces."—Peter Gent, NorthMichael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-10557411413295025282010-12-07T15:54:00.001-05:002010-12-11T12:20:53.779-05:00On Terriers and Presidents: A Semi-Political Screed
"I don't know if subtlety is something the American public is buying in droves."
I.
In case you missed it--and you probably did--one of the best new shows of the television season got canceled the other day. It was called Terriers, and it was a private eye show with an inappropriate name and a lackluster marketing campaign; it also happened to be quirky and compelling and funny, and its two Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-44755343467268749912010-12-01T15:58:00.000-05:002010-12-01T15:58:26.651-05:00On He Who Shall Not Be Named, Jeffrey Dahmer, and HamburgersI don't know what will happen in Cleveland on Thursday night. I'd like to think nothing out of the ordinary will take place. I'd like to think that some people will jeer, and some people will laugh, and LeBron James will pour in 46 points and we will move on to the next overscrutinized twist in Miami's Season of Overkill. But since we have arrived at this crossroads, and since there is much Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-87114087500039544162010-11-30T14:46:00.000-05:002010-11-30T14:46:18.089-05:00On Several Things I Pondered Over The Thanksgiving Respite1. I understand why the question must be asked, but I'd like to think there's a dividing line between those of us who temper our irrational affinity for sports with a certain amount of perspective and sanity, and those who actually believe laughing in the midst of defeat is some sort of capital offense, and are probably the same the people who bother to phone death threats to college sports Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-81248188739802960512010-11-22T14:31:00.000-05:002010-11-22T14:31:53.368-05:00On Four Things Worth Reading About Three Controversial Cultural Figures
1. Kanye. "Nobody halfway sane could have made this album," writes Rob Sheffield, and that sounds about right. The point is this: Art is an inherently self-conscious pursuit, and so when an artist is able to create something that seems entirely devoid of self-consciousness, it is generally worth paying attention to. This album is the musical equivalent of Usain Bolt running a 9.69 while preeningMichael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-34931414218379991862010-11-18T14:44:00.000-05:002010-11-18T14:44:29.040-05:00On Blair Thomas, Greg Oden, and Level of BustitudeHe stopped short, dropping his arms. "I..." he said, gasping a little, though his condition was fine and the run hadn't winded him. "I--once I played here."
--Irwin Shaw, The Eighty Yard Run
In my mind, Blair Thomas is not a punchline. In my mind, Blair Thomas is not a bust. In my mind, Blair Thomas is the running back in this video, the running back who, at the 6:25 mark, propels himself Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-4248807778391397952010-11-17T13:33:00.001-05:002010-11-17T13:38:27.800-05:00On Cam Newton: A Kind Of Anarchistic Viewpoint
The good people at The War Eagle Reader, a fun/hipsterish Auburn-centric website, asked me to write something about the Cam Newton saga. So of course I wound up writing about Penn State...
Let me begin with this: I grew up a fan of Penn State football, and so you may assume that everything I say is couched in a certain amount of stodgy Northeastern academic elitism. At Penn State, they Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-18294081557405431552010-11-15T14:38:00.000-05:002010-11-15T14:38:45.128-05:00On Glycerine, Battleships, and Thinking FastI accept it as a fact of life that I no longer have an attention span. I am constantly distracted from my life's work by the stiff breeze of a Twitter post about grizzly bears, or a Facebook update about a particularly popular brunch spot in a town I never plan on visiting. This is the way the world works nowadays; there is nothing I can do to prevent it short of sailing to a mysterious island Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-16160758440096868842010-11-09T16:45:00.000-05:002010-11-09T16:45:12.412-05:00On 400Shortly after Joe Paterno won the four hundredth game of his career, the scores of each of his victories began scrolling across the Jumbotron at Beaver Stadium. There were so many, rendered in such small type, that it was nearly impossible to read them from afar. And even then, it seemed like it might never end, like Paterno might not make it until the end of his own C.V. before bedtime.
I was Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-289054092960863522010-11-04T13:03:00.001-04:002010-11-04T13:03:59.642-04:00On Inconsequential Things That Matter To Me
1. The Value of Insults
Here's my question about the Kevin Garnett-Charlie Villanueva dust-up: Isn't it worse if Garnett was actually attempting to call Villanueva a cancer to his team and to the NBA? If Garnett did call Villanueva a "cancer patient," it is undeniably stupid and insulting, but it's a juvenile taunt born of anger and spontanaiety, as Tommy Craggs ably points out. But Garnett Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-39391199946918421352010-11-02T15:25:00.000-04:002010-11-02T15:25:28.547-04:00On Randy MossRandy Moss is the greatest football player I've ever seen in person. Back in 1997, I lived in Northeast Ohio, and a friend and I drove over to Kent State to watch Moss and Chad Pennington when they both played for Marshall. I'd never seen anything like it--Moss could break open whenever he wanted; he leapt over people, ran past them, and then ran around them. It was the closest thing I'd ever Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-23349596379722589512010-10-27T15:25:00.000-04:002010-10-27T15:25:30.880-04:00On LeBron, Nike, and the Deconstruction of America
You've probably never heard of Jim Riswold,* but I could make a case that he's one of the most influential figures in modern sports. Riswold is an ad-man--or at least, he was; now he's a really clever pop artist--and in the 1980s, he worked at Wieden and Kennedy, the Portland firm outsourced by Nike to devise its ad campaigns. It was Riswold who came up with the idea to marry Spike Lee and Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-84550355758387353632010-10-21T18:56:00.001-04:002011-03-23T13:01:29.894-04:00On Pain, Injury, Violence and Why This Conversation Needs To Be HadI don't know if this is the week the inescapable issue of NFL violence reaches its tipping point. I don't know if we all just obsess over it for a few days and then allow it to recede into the background, as Drew Magary so coarsely espouses here. I don't think we will, because there will be other hits on other days, and as a fan with something resembling a conscience, this is the first thing thatMichael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-89111284694778192292010-10-19T14:50:00.000-04:002010-10-19T14:50:14.823-04:00On FacemasksSo in the past three days we've reinforced a pair of truisms: 1.) Football (even terrible football, involving quarterbacks who once mocked me at pizza parlors while I was visibly drunk on Sambuca in college)* is the most popular sport in America, and 2.) Football is at a serious crossroads. "Isn't hitting hard part of football?" asks the Baltimore Sun's Kevin Van Valkenberg, in a blog post Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-85437021748124649682010-10-15T14:03:00.000-04:002010-10-15T14:03:02.674-04:00On Insightful Critiques of Terrible Ideas
I've already expressed my regard for Dan Wetzel's ability as a columnist on this forum, and I had a chance to read an advance copy of his new book, written with two talented Yahoo colleagues: Josh Peter, who wrote a book about professional bull riding that I've been meaning to read for years, and Jeff Passan, who regularly manages to craft the kind of baseball stories that someone like me, who'sMichael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-77555195030584860272010-10-14T15:25:00.001-04:002010-10-14T15:26:17.251-04:00On Inconsequential Things That Matter To Me1. Promotional Notes
ESPN Chicago ran an excerpt of Bigger Than the Game, as part of their '85 Bears commemoration. Also, Daniel Brown of the San Jose Mercury News quoted my book in evoking comparisons between the Alex Smith-Singletary confrontation and the back and forth between Ditka and Jim McMahon (see Chap. I, Section II, which you can read online or on a Kindle for free).
2. Knee-Jerk Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-42950869550875921682010-10-11T17:04:00.000-04:002010-10-11T17:04:12.722-04:00On the Backup QuarterbackMy first intimate experience with the allure of the backup quarterback came in the Fall of 1979. The starter for Penn State that year was Dayle Tate, a promising prospect who stepped into the role at the worst possible moment--the season before, Penn State had lost the national championship game to Alabama, 14-7, on New Year's Day, on a goal-line stand that would hang over the program for severalMichael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-22062930721266072672010-10-07T14:09:00.000-04:002010-10-07T14:09:29.397-04:00On Performance-Enhancing Musburgers
I think Brent Musburger has said more controversial things about hippies stationed in trees than what he said about steroids. I get it already; it's cheating. That much has been established. But it seems rather obvious at this point that the only way we'll ever have an honest conversation about steroid usage--the only way to prevent every cyclist in the world from cramming his refrigerator with Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-85519408112121835202010-10-05T16:19:00.001-04:002010-10-05T16:20:18.665-04:00On Old Friends and New RealitiesPeople ask me sometimes how I came across ideas, and I never really know how to answer. Often, it's just good fortune. In 2004, I was working at Newsday, covering high school and college (and occasionally professional) sports, and I came across a press release, which had been faxed by a chess coach at a school I'd never actually heard of. I'd never heard of Edward R. Murrow High School because itMichael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-34194796297467675412010-10-01T13:42:00.000-04:002010-10-01T13:42:03.534-04:00On LeBron and Manufacturing DissentA couple of thoughts:
1. In a country where 24 percent of the people think the president is a Muslim, and the same number believe he wasn't born in America, I don't see anything controversial with one of the three most famous athletes in this country responding to a direct question by stating that race, "at times," may have affected the judgment of certain people regarding him from afar. And youMichael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-54350647970645440012010-09-30T15:43:00.000-04:002010-09-30T15:43:38.777-04:00On Reviewing Periodicals for Fun and (Non)Profit
Justin over at the Sports, Crackle Pop blog (who interviewed me a couple of months back) asked me to "review" this week's edition of Sports Illustrated for his site while he attends some sort of mating ritual. So I did. It was fun.Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-32631809539072502002010-09-28T15:21:00.000-04:002010-09-28T15:21:36.313-04:00On Video Games and Goal-Line Stands
I don't know if anyone outside of televangelists and Luddites still claim that video games warp the human brain. But in a way, all that fear-mongering of the 1980s was correct: Video games have warped my brain, because they've completely changed the way I think about sports. Today's example: The goal-line stand.
Sunday night, Jets-Dolphins: Rex Ryan's squad of drunkards and clowns has the ball Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-72712792281109022202010-09-27T17:47:00.001-04:002010-09-27T17:56:05.533-04:00On Braylon Edwards
So some people I've done interviews with in recent weeks have asked me, since I wrote a book about the 1980s, whether I think that was the moment when athletes became overly entitled, spoiled, insufferable bozos. I don't pretend to believe it's that simple. I think we often overreact, especially when athletes engage in harmless acts of self-aggrandizement. I think it's too easy to fall back on Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-5555237863209661302010-09-22T14:12:00.000-04:002010-09-22T14:12:34.176-04:00On Changing One's Mind
This is Andy Reid’s finest moment. His critics come off as disingenuous and/or obtuse. We beg for powerful, prideful and wealthy men to demonstrate the courage to admit their mistakes and quickly correct them.--Jason Whitlock
I've always thought the signature moment of the Bush era was that press conference during which the president struggled to come up a single mistake he'd made. In the Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-22088158502684994132010-09-21T15:00:00.000-04:002010-09-21T15:00:46.251-04:00On Choosing the Wrong Guy
A little over a decade ago, I wrote a story that seems particularly embarrassing in retrospect: I was working in Cleveland, and the Browns had the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft, and they were deliberating between Ricky Williams and Tim Couch. Well, I went to Kentucky and wrote a profile of Couch, who was something of a local legend. And I am not an expert on anything, let alone quarterback play, Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-85742516612042869662010-09-15T15:04:00.000-04:002010-09-15T15:04:30.910-04:00On Inconsequential Things That Matter To Me
1. J-E-T-S
Listen: I think Rex Ryan is a fascinating personality, and I think it would be an outstanding story if a coach who preaches positive reinforcement could actually prove successful in the National Football League*,** but this season could be a train wreck. What if Mark Sanchez doesn't just look like Vincent Chase? What if Mark Sanchez is Vincent Chase, and this season is his Medellin?*Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-80887925787862144072010-09-13T15:19:00.001-04:002010-09-13T15:21:39.820-04:00On the Impending Demise of the NFL. Or Not.
There are times when the National Football League scares me a little.
Don't get me wrong. I will watch any football game, anywhere, at any time of day. And while my preference tends toward college football, I am a heterosexual American male between the ages of 18 and 64, and therefore understand it is my civic duty to spend Sunday afternoons in the fall obsessively checking the Jacksonville Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-87720959038834059222010-09-07T18:57:00.001-04:002010-09-07T19:03:19.887-04:00On Penn State vs. Alabama
It's not my first memory, but in some ways, it might as well be. New Year's Day, 1978: I'm five years old, and Penn State is playing Alabama for the national championship. I recall the room and its fireplace and its unsightly brown carpet, and I recall the faltering RCA television, and I recall the tumult among the adults inside when Penn State fails to convert on four downs from the goal line, Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-64389241198808881612010-09-02T14:46:00.001-04:002010-09-08T12:15:52.061-04:00On 15 Jarringly Specific Predictions For This College Football Season
1. Penn State's true freshman quarterback, Robert Bolden, will throw two touchdown passes and run for one more in a win over Youngstown State, prompting ESPN's Craig James to pick Penn State to defeat Alabama while expanding at length on his relationship with Nittany Lion cornerback D'Anton Lynn.
2. Alabama will defeat Penn State 27-6.
3. Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore will throw for 252Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-17712049050902436852010-09-01T11:40:00.000-04:002010-09-01T11:40:42.134-04:00On Boise State, TCU and Democracy in America
I wrote this piece for GQ.com.
In late 1969, one Richard Milhous Nixon, whose most prominent gridiron accomplishment involved having his front teeth separated from his jaw, declared the University of Texas the champions of college football. What gave Nixon the right to do this, no one really knew. Years later, Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, whose team went undefeated that same Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-17665680493493021192010-08-31T15:41:00.002-04:002010-08-31T15:56:31.550-04:00On Inconsequential Things That Matter To Me
1. In case you're in the vicinity: I'll be reading/signing on Thursday evening at the excellent Varsity Letters Reading Series in Brooklyn, along with Dave Zirin and Dan Epstein. I also did an interview with Gelf, which you can find here.
2. I also did an interview with the War Eagle Reader, an awesomely eccentric, hipsterish Auburn-centric site, in which I discussed all things Bo.
3. I had Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-53059586586728901332010-08-28T12:53:00.000-04:002010-08-28T12:53:36.006-04:00On Famously Picky Critics
Jonathan Yardley of the Washington Post, who once panned Salinger's "execrable prose" in Catcher in the Rye, reviews Bigger Than the Game. It's not the friendliest review I've ever gotten, but Yardley is kind of a legend, so I suppose he's earned the right to call me whatever he wants.*
*Though I should note, the photo above is of my copy of Murray Sperber's College Sports, Inc., which Yardley,Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-57285911003570058412010-08-27T11:41:00.000-04:002010-08-27T11:41:40.769-04:00On Hometown PapersMy first actual job in journalism was at my hometown newspaper, The Centre Daily Times in State College, Pennsylvania. I worked on the Metro desk, making phone calls about the local calendar and rewording press releases about gypsy moth spraying. The CDT (or Seedy T, because every newspaper has a derogatory alternate title utilized by the locals*) is a small paper, focused largely on Penn State Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-11982268856304374022010-08-24T15:41:00.002-04:002010-08-24T19:19:38.165-04:00On the Modern Sportswriter
Warning: Disjointed rant about sportswriting ahead.
1. I'm not sure if I ever heard Jim Murray speak, unless you count the time I sat behind him on a media bus at the Super Bowl. For a generation, Murray was the most well-respected sportswriter in America. He earned this position based entirely on words, on phrasing, on the careful construction of an 800-word column in the Los Angeles Times. Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-38322836903109215892010-08-19T16:59:00.001-04:002010-08-19T17:02:36.394-04:00On Inconsequential Things That Matter To Me
1. Only a Game
I just recorded an interview for NPR's most excellent sports show Only a Game, which runs on more than 200 public radio stations (list here). It should be airing this weekend.
2. Louie Louie You're Gonna Die
Are you watching Louie? Because let me tell you, if you're not watching Louie, you should be watching Louie. You may find it disconcerting; if so, I completely understandMichael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-84516641695672428542010-08-17T15:03:00.001-04:002010-08-17T20:46:19.408-04:00On Self-Promotion, Mingled With Random Thoughts
1. I'll be on Marketplace this afternoon, talking to host Kai Ryssdal, who has one of the greatest voices in the modern history of National Public Radio. Local stations and further information here. (Update: Here's the interview.)
2. F this. Seriously, I have no reason to believe that Tony Dungy isn't a far better human being than me, but he's a football coach, and in football, men bleed and Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-52046538426376677862010-08-13T11:16:00.000-04:002010-08-13T11:16:23.700-04:00On Ships and SinkingMy friends at GQ.com excerpt a section of Bigger Than the Game about the decline of the inimitable Micheal Ray Richardson--the chapter itself is about the proliferation of cocaine among pro athletes in the early-to-mid '80s, and Richardson, unfortunately, became the prototypical "problem child." He is most famous for that, and for this.
Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-44441463965237373542010-08-11T17:12:00.002-04:002010-08-17T13:41:06.247-04:00On LeBatard, LeBron and the MediaDan LeBatard has always struck me as a smart guy, and an excellent writer. I even enjoy his loopy persona on Pardon the Interruption. I appreciate his general tendency toward contrarianism in the face of the journalistic orthodoxy. That said, this column is a bit of a scattered mess. First off, what's been real about Barry Bonds since, say, 1991? Second, the reason Chad Ochocinco forms "his own Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-72666818236978169202010-08-09T15:20:00.000-04:002010-08-09T15:20:16.593-04:00On Bigger Than the Game: The Deadspin ExcerptDeadspin was kind enough to run an excerpt of my book this afternoon, between jokes about Brett Favre's anatomy. It is--what else?--a depiction of Jim McMahon's outrageous behavior during the week of Super Bowl XX.Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-4943379529784034292010-08-06T15:13:00.000-04:002010-08-06T15:13:57.936-04:00On Inconsequential Things That Matter To Me1. Tebow Knows
This is sheer blasphemy. There is only one true Lord and Savior, and his name is Bo. The mere fact that this T-shirt exists should condemn Tebow to an eternity in the Ninth Circle, forced to endure extended lectures about his throwing motion from Jon Gruden while being ruthleesly mocked by a cabal of sports bloggers wielding photos of well-endowed women.
2. Brettfavre
So...I Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-29146199809397545832010-08-05T01:22:00.001-04:002010-08-05T15:07:58.541-04:00On Today's Radio ScheduleAs of this morning, Bigger Than the Game officially exists. And in case you're in one of these places, here's where I'll be stuttering away...
10 a.m. ET...FOX Sports AM 1340, Farmington, NM
4:05 p.m. ET...WHTK AM 1280 Rochester, NY
5 p.m. ET...WANI AM 1400 Auburn, AL
7:05 p.m. ET...KFXX AM 1080 Portland, OR
8:20 p.m. ET...KCKK AM 1510 Denver, CO
8:40 p.m. ET...WCCO AM 830 Minneapolis, MN(Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-91749871053675279202010-08-04T11:07:00.001-04:002010-08-04T11:17:24.602-04:00On The Boz (and Other Self-Promotional Notes)
1. I wrote a piece for the Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy blog about Brian Bosworth and his relationship to the '80s hair-metal phenomenon.
2. You can sign up to win a free copy of Bigger Than the Game over at The Pigskin Doctors website.
3. I'll be making an appearance on the Scott Ferrall show on Sirius satellite radio tonight around 9 p.m. (Speaking of which, if you haven't seen Big Fan, IMichael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-33211707108960863772010-08-03T17:44:00.001-04:002010-08-03T18:37:41.912-04:00On JoePa, and How Coaches SpeakI guess you could say the first "real" event I ever covered in my journalism career was the Big Ten football media preview. We were in college, working for our school newspaper, and five of us would pile into a barely functional company car in early August, sweating McNuggets residue, and drive twelve hours from central Pennsylvania to Chicago, only to spend a couple of days listening to Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-45271098800277751512010-08-03T15:11:00.001-04:002010-08-03T18:40:30.137-04:00On Me (Again? Enough Already!)I did an interview with the Sports Crackle Pop blog, in case you're interested in such things.
(Also, here's my interview with the good folks at KGOW in Houston, in case you'd like to hear me stutter and say "sort of" a lot.)Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-88701016512642382692010-08-02T17:55:00.002-04:002010-08-04T16:45:05.560-04:00On BoI've started doing interviews for the book, and one of the prime topics, unsurprisingly, is Bo Jackson. Everybody wants to know about Bo, about the sheer impossibility of his accomplishments, about the marketing and the myth and the man himself. I was fortunate enough to spend a day with him a couple of years ago, and I'm not going to lie--it was one of the most intriguing experiences of career. Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-25235201059982397242010-07-30T16:02:00.000-04:002010-07-30T16:02:03.452-04:00On One-Hit WondersI was driving on a two-lane road in South Carolina, listening to a football game on the radio. It was February 3, 2008, and that game happened to the Super Bowl, the first one of my lifetime that I didn't see on television. I was on my way to watch Len Bias's mother speak to a group of high-school students when David Tyree made the last catch of his pro career; I specifically remember, despite Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-19468573631588286842010-07-29T14:45:00.000-04:002010-07-29T14:45:51.094-04:00On Bigger Than the Game: The First 759 WordsI've shown you the first draft of the introduction to Bigger Than the Game. So here, without further ado, is the final draft (with perhaps a few last-minute edits excluded) of the first five paragraphs. It goes on from there for a little while longer. And there are pictures (like the one below, courtesy of my old school newspaper, The Daily Collegian) in the middle!
And on a side note, the Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-91842232164002301792010-07-22T14:10:00.052-04:002010-07-22T14:10:00.422-04:00On Bigger Than the Game: The Deleted Scenes (Part 2)Just in case you aren't jacked enough about the impending release of my new book, I've decided to include some excised (and abandoned) material here. The following is an early draft of the prologue to my book; the final version touches on many of the same points, but in a much different manner. I apologize for any incoherence, as this is kind of a patchwork version pieced together from many, manyMichael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-3515245268342989802010-07-21T14:10:00.000-04:002010-07-21T14:10:18.504-04:00On Bigger Than the Game: The Deleted Scenes (Part 1)Just in case you aren't jacked enough about the impending release of my new book, I've decided to include some excised (and abandoned) material here. The following is a piece that I originally wrote for ESPN.com--for reasons to complex to explain, the story never ran. It was one of the first (and most popular) posts on this blog, and I always kind of assumed I'd find a place for it in the book. Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-31317442096509270722010-07-19T13:59:00.001-04:002011-03-23T13:01:55.227-04:00On Tiger (and Joe)
Let me state the obvious first: Joe Posnanski is an outstanding writer, and one of the nicest people I've met in this business, and I would say I agree with him at least 87 percent of the time. But yesterday Posnanski wrote a curious piece about Tiger Woods--headline "Writing Off Tiger"--and for once, I find his logic specious. His point was essentially that Tiger thrives on being overestimated Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-29984112618114607922010-07-14T13:48:00.002-04:002010-07-15T16:16:14.690-04:00On Self-Promotion and Self-Hatred
Donald Trump was on SportsCenter last night, talking about George Steinbrenner, and Trump was recounting a long-winded story about The Apprentice that had as much (or more) to do with his own ego than Steinbrenner's generosity, and I thought to myself, "Is this the apex of self-love? Could there be a more ego-weighted friendship in the history of American capitalism than that of Trump and Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-38683338268197281422010-07-13T16:13:00.000-04:002010-07-13T16:13:03.824-04:00On The Decision
1. I lived in Akron, Ohio for five years. And then I left. I was 22 when I arrived, and 27 when I departed, and I'm not going to lie: It was a bizarre place to be a young and single and unmoored. The first piece of advice I received from a co-worker when exploring places to live was that a certain township to the south of Akron had no property taxes; at that point, I didn't even know how Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-25013108917724460582010-06-30T18:53:00.001-04:002010-06-30T19:24:14.471-04:00On Unlikely Ends To the NBA Free-Agent Frenzy That While Take Place While I'm On Vacation1. LeBron James chooses to keep it "especially real," and, citing the counsel of Ron Artest, re-signs with Cleveland and accepts a part-time position at the Champs Sports at Chapel Hill Mall.
2. LeBron James signs with the New Jersey Nets, refers to team's owner as "that Grand Theft Auto dude."
3. LeBron James signs with the Knicks, claims the three free months of Showtime and Cinemax were the Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-67090742846975796102010-06-28T15:18:00.001-04:002011-01-24T16:19:03.619-05:00On Giorgio Chinaglia, Hipsters and The Growth of Soccer
Back when I was a kid, back when I didn't know any better, I used to watch soccer all the time. I was four years old, living in suburban New York,* and my father had control of the television set. My brother and I sat in front of him and changed the channels manually, according to my father's whim; when the volume blinked out on our old RCA, as it did approximately every thirty minutes, it Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-34575218741205997642010-06-24T15:48:00.002-04:002010-06-27T16:51:01.508-04:00On Inconsequential Things That Matter To Me
1. 6/17/94
In researching my latest book,* I spent several days in the basement of the University of Maryland library, watching raw footage of Len Bias. I watched documentaries, I watched game tape, and--most fascinating of all--I watched several hours of spliced-together news footage depicting the aftermath of Len Bias' death. This was a revelatory moment; on those tapes, you can actually Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-54978275840616281402010-06-23T16:57:00.000-04:002010-06-23T16:57:05.681-04:00On Rooting for the Tie
My friend and I have kind of a standing agreement about close games in which we have no personal stake*--we always root for the tie. When the Mets played that extra innings game a few weeks back, we were rooting for the tie. When Syracuse and Connecticut played that six-overtime game in the Big East tournament a couple of years ago, we were rooting for the tie. When a college football game goes Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-19013300550671294492010-06-22T11:39:00.000-04:002010-06-22T11:39:15.533-04:00On the Second ReviewPublishers Weekly:
Bigger Than the Game: Bo, Boz, the Punky QB, and How the '80s Created the Modern Athlete
Michael Weinreb, Gotham, $26 (288 pp) ISBN 978-1-592-40559-6
The mid-1980s introduced an unapologetic athlete archetype that captured headlines and airtime, taking advantage of a 24-hour news cycle and America's newfound appreciation of flashy, independent-minded heroes both Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-44228133318342542922010-06-16T15:09:00.000-04:002010-06-16T15:09:17.214-04:00On Tom Izzo, Journalism, and the Race To Be First
A bit of free-form journalism-related rambling ahead...
I. Here's a little pet peeve of mine: I hate when people use the term "media." In this day and age, it is a nebulous vocabulary word. It has been robbed of definition. The media can refer to Hollywood. The media can refer to the Huffington Post, or to the Washington Post, or to MSNBC, or to Fox News, or to conservative talk-radio. Most ofMichael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-66974821433074640302010-06-15T14:09:00.002-04:002010-06-15T17:45:36.425-04:00On Inconsequential Things That Matter To Me
1. Killer Bees
So, let me make sure I've got this straight: Vuvuzelas are not even twenty years old (a weak case for preserving a "tradition," unless you consider steroid use a tradition), they may cause hearing loss, they are derived from bicycle horns, they are almost universally reviled by anyone who dislikes obnoxiousness, and they drown out the best and most interesting part of the World Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-66492790768911583942010-06-11T11:52:00.002-04:002010-06-11T15:08:30.234-04:00On Chess-Related FabricationsA while back, I was asked to write a short piece for an anthology of chess-related fiction. Well, that collection has finally been released, and is available now, if this is your kind of deal. I should note two things: A.) All the proceeds from this collection go to selected chess schools and clubs, and B.) There are number of impressive writers of fiction* who contributed, including Wells Tower,Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1842146668316044411.post-13369439218841468052010-06-10T14:16:00.000-04:002010-06-10T14:16:35.266-04:00On Penn State vs. Nebraska
It's still the greatest finish I've ever witnessed in person, even though I didn't actually see the ending, even though I was shielded by a mass of body parts, even though I've since covered Masters and World Series and Final Fours, even though I was there the day John Elway pirouetted above a gaggle of Green Bay Packers. And maybe it was just the timing--I was nine years old, a kid growing up Michael Weinrebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14856182879950398533noreply@blogger.com0