One of life’s recurring pleasures is coming upon a book I wasn’t looking for—then being powerless to look away. Three weeks ago, with a few minutes to spare before heading to a nearby meeting, that scene played out at a local library. There, prominently displayed along with other new releases, was a book whose cover […]
Category Archives: Journalism
A few weeks ago, a funny thought occurred to me: maybe President Trump is the perfect leader for our times. Now, don’t get me wrong–I don’t mean funny in the “ha-ha” sense, since the closest Trump’s administration can be linked to humor is that it has been one protracted punch line in an utterly, outrageously cosmic […]
What? Who? When? Where? Why? How? In simple terms, those questions drive story-telling. Beyond the “what?”–which obviously covers a lot of essential ground–the most vital question to answer is “why?” Tackling the “why” of something that has happened or is happening requires expertise and insight and nuance and, yes, even sticking out your neck with […]
The brilliantly stupid film Zoolander…ESPN’s Mike Greenberg…and the topic of vandalism—all make cameos in a sprawling chat that I had last week with Mark Bazer of The Interview Show. As I mentioned to Mark in my opening remarks, he was on my list of candidates in part because he has blazed the trail so well for interview shows […]
In my 40-plus years as a basketball player, coach, referee and all-around zealot, I have found that there’s no reliable metric when off-the-charts talent meets out-of-your-mind poor judgment. A standout player can make what appears to be the worst decision, and somehow make it right. This is especially true when that out-sized talent is rivaled […]
I began inhaling Sports Illustrated cover-to-cover when I was 10 years old, after my dad hooked me up with a subscription for my historic double-digit birthday. It was summer on the South Shore of Boston, my beloved Red Sox were miles ahead in the American League East, and the cover of my inaugural issue featured a […]
In my latest installment of “As the Jussie Smollett Debacle Turns,” I closed with this thought: If there is sufficient evidence to convict Smollett of these charges, then his sentence should be stiff enough to deter others from trying anything similar. That was one humongous “IF,” as it turns out. Hot on the heels of […]
A little over three weeks ago, I had never heard of Jussie Smollett. Same goes for most people, since he was a secondary character in Empire, the Fox series that is filmed in Chicago. That relative obscurity changed in late January, after he alleged that he was the victim of a heinous hate crime in […]
Do you have the gift of gab? It’s actually a trick question–because it’s not a gift at all, but a series of choices. The biggest one is to choose to put your focus on others rather than yourself. Professional, ethical, effective journalists cannot write with long gazes into their navels. They must seek input from other […]
The list of Chicago mayoral candidates is only slightly longer than the list of those same hopefuls who are so quick to distract and deflect when faced with evidence of their dubious decisions or dealings. (Looking at you, especially, Bill Daley and Toni Preckwinkle.) The latest twist is another candidate, Amara Enyia, who overstated her […]