A Tennis-Ball-Shaped Anvil (and Other Things That Weigh on Us)
“It’s no accident, I think, that tennis uses the language of life. Advantage, service, fault, break, love, the basic elements of tennis are those of everyday existence, because every match is a life in miniature.” – Andre Agassi Stumbling across Andre Agassi’s autobiography Open was like overhearing a parishioner’s confession to a priest. It doesn’t […]
What Goes Up Must Come Down: the Top Five of 2009
All of the following have enjoyed the heights of success, but unfortunately have now felt the sting of reality. These are empirical proof that “all is vanity and a striving after wind” (Ecclesiastes 1:14). 5-Campaign WristbandsWhether it be WWJD, Livestrong, or Bono’s One bracelets, the popularity of this clever marketing gimmick has mostly passed. It […]
The Id of Agassi
“Why?” the sports pundits wail. “Why have you done this to us!” Andre Agassi’s recent admissions, in his book Open, that he took crystal meth for a year during his professional tennis career, lost matches on purpose, hated tennis, wore a wig during major tournaments, and, perhaps most importantly, didn’t wear underwear for the last […]
Another Week Ends: Kierkegaard, Suicidal Pastors, Andre Agassi, Rick Warren, Weezer, Julian C, BSG
1. A very interesting blog post over at the NY Times entitled, “Kierkegaard, Despair and Depression”, the final paragraph of which is really something (ht Jeff Dean): Each of us is subject to the weather of our own moods. Clearly, Kierkegaard thought that the darkling sky of his inner life was very much due to […]
