I don’t remember where I first came across Michael Chabon‘s debut novel The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. The book came out in 1988 when I was finishing my sophomore year of college just about 90 miles north of Pittsburgh. The superficial connection drew me into the novel, which described a world I did not inhabit. I […]
The previous post shows the unbridled joy which people experienced after the U.S. scored to beat Algeria yesterday. People don’t often get that excited about soccer in the U.S., but the nature of the World Cup means that new fans will watch the action because of what’s at stake. With the U.S. headed to the […]
I recently found myself in a bit of a reading rut. I have managed to stay ahead of the pace I hoped for – I like to read at least 12 books a year – but have had problems with some of the things I read. I found myself under whelmed with back-to-back novels. The […]
I wrote this for last week’s column, but forgot to post it. I intended to blog a lot during the World Cup, but have just been too distracted. Hopefully I will be better this week. If you see me over the next month or so and I look a little more distracted than usual, I […]
For some reason, the topic of soccer’s popularity draws some people into entrenched opinions more than Sarah Palin, especially those who want to focus on the negative. Soccer fans like me hear how the sport isn’t popular and never will be and ESPN is shoving the World Cup down the throats of an unwilling public […]
The World Cup started yesterday. Most people probably know that. If you’re not into it, that’s OK. Believe it or not, most soccer fans don’t care about your negative opinion of the sport. Just let us enjoy the games, OK? But today is different. Today isn’t about whether you like soccer or not. We play […]
The other day, an item from one of my local TV stations popped up on my Facebook page. Let’s start off by getting a simple fact out of the way – I’m not a big fan of TV news. I have worked in newspapers all my professional life, either on staff or as a freelancer, […]
Sometimes, I have very complex philosophical views, especially when it comes to technology and business. You could say I’m almost the opposite of Amish. You see, I think we have been given the kind of knowledge and imagination that we possess as a species in order to stretch the limits of what we can do. […]
I feel lost. Completely lost. Not lost with a capital letter at the beginning because I don’t watch that show. But that’s part of the reason I feel so lost. TV season has ended. How will we carry on for the next few months? For some reason, the whole thing snuck up on me. When […]