June 22, 2017
Minor League Season Begins—Again
People asked Ron Shelton, again and again, if he was going to write a sequel to Bull Durham. He couldn’t bring himself to do it, and I’m glad he didn’t. […]
December 17, 2015
A Last-Minute Shopper’s Guide to Children’s Poetry
Before my son was born, I memorized a poem. I know how this must sound to parents and non-parents: another hopelessly sentimental exercise that’s more about the papa than the […]
November 16, 2015
Crash Davis, Soul Man
Bull Durham (1988) begins with grainy black and white stills of Willie Mays, Pete Rose, Babe Ruth, a ball club of women in three quarter sleeves and skirts, a woman […]
September 30, 2015
Gods on Earth: Sports Heroes and Human Limits
Apparently, running a four minute mile is still pretty hard. The other day I ran a mile as fast as I could in order to find my baseline. I won’t […]
August 26, 2013
This Is Your Writing On Drugs
Many writers would love to use words the way Alex Rodriguez plays baseball. And many have availed themselves of “performance-enhancing drugs” (PEDs), but writers’ culture is such that there will […]
September 5, 2011
An Interview with Alex Lemon
I don’t remember how Alex Lemon and I got to be friends–I think we were email introduced at some point–but I met him only having like one reason to love […]