Author of Three Seconds in Munich and Lamar Hunt. Write about sports, business, travel and more. Former columnist for WSJ and NBCSports.com
MLB.com's Top Man Hopes To Turn Pitches Into Profits
NEW YORK -- Before Bob Bowman explains why he took the top job at Major League Baseball's new-media arm, the sound of a toilet flushing seeps through the cinder-block wall in his tiny office.
It's a long way from corporate behemoth ITT, where Mr. Bowman served as president -- and even enjoyed a private bathroom -- until the company's 1998 acquisition by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.
These NFL players are in a class by themselves
In front of Northwestern University professor Tim Calkins sit two dozen students, armed with three-ring binders and surrounded by bottled waters. Calkins eyes the class and asks them to describe a negative brand. The answers come quickly.
“Britney Spears!”
“Pit bulls!”
Zoom towns boom with rise of remote work
In 2019, the idea that a worker could leave a major city where his or her job existed, decamp to a bucolic spot and still be able to be employed in the same role was almost laughable. Not only did companies rarely allow such a move, believing in-office interaction was crucial to success; often they were not technologically equipped to support it.
But once the pandemic hit the United States in 2020, the whole concept of working in an office was upended.
How the U.S. got clocked in the controversial 1972 Olympic basketball final
This excerpt was adapted from Three Seconds in Munich: The Controversial 1972 Olympic Basketball Final by David A.F. Sweet by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. © 2019 by David A.F. Sweet. Available wherever books are sold or from the Univ. of Nebraska Press.
If anyone had told a knowledgeable basketball coach at the 1968 games that Doug Collins would be the most memorable name to come out of the next Olympics, the coach would have laughed or, perhaps, looked perplexed—or even as...
Turow takes law into own hands
Imagine being a best-selling novelist for more than a quarter of a century. Then, at age 65, you’re handed one of your earliest undertakings as a writer — that scourge of high-school seniors, the college essay.
How did Scott Turow react?
“It was the first time I thought I actually deserved to have gotten in,” recalls Turow.
Black Friday is the Super Bowl of shopping
As the kickoff to the season approaches, they pick out their running lanes. Having researched the competitors and concocted their strategies, they go over their plan of attack one more time. Unflinching in their desire to be first, they are willing to be bloodied to get what they want.
Players during National Football League games on Thanksgiving Day? Far from it. Rather, they’re shoppers on Black Friday.
Field of Dreams
Atlanta Braves' owner Bill Bartholomay made a major-league Impact on the game he loved.
Some Wonder Whether Merrill Has Truly Embraced the Web
Less than a year since Merrill Lynch made its first foray into online trading, analysts and investors are split as to whether the venerable firm has truly embraced the Web.
Lake Forest Native Sheds Light on Bernie Madoff in Powerful Netflix Documentary
By David A. F. Sweet
When Jim Campbell joined a Zoom call with Netflix true-crime director Joe Berlinger and his development team, the Lake Forest native who wrote Madoff Talks about the world’s biggest Ponzi scheme was expecting little interest in his book.
Teams Scoring with In-Seat Computer Screens
NEW YORK — Hungry for a chicken sandwich as the New York Knicks battled on the court last week, Betty Ellen Berlamino touched a computer screen in front of her seat at Madison Square Garden. The food arrived in minutes.
"You don't have to get up, wait in line," says Berlamino, ensconced in one of the 557 ChoiceSeats installed last fall.
A Baseball Owner Is Driven To Bring a Child Memories
Seems like most kids would envy the way Rebecca Veeck lives.
Her father, Mike, takes the 9-year-old on long trips anywhere she wants -- the Grand Canyon, Disney World. She wears sunglasses at school -- most kids would be sent home for such brashness.
The "Today" show asked to interview her a few years back. She declined. Why fly to New York when she can play in South Carolina with friends such as comedian Bill Murray?
In fact, just like her Uncle Billy, she's got a good sense of humor.