Joe Bugel is too easy a target. He is the quintessential Bozo. He is a caricature of the simpleminded football coach. Unfortunately for Bugel, he was the man who was forced to face the television cameras last Sunday. It was Bugel’s job to explain why the Phoenix Cardinals had dropped…
Ernest Hemingway said that no one had ever written a truer account of battle than Stendahl in his re-creation of Waterloo in his classic novel The Red and the Black. “Once you have read it,” Hemingway wrote in Men at War, “you will have been at the battle of Waterloo…
There is nobody in the medical field in this state with a better reputation than Dr. John Eckstein at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale. Having been thoroughly confused by what everyone tells me about President Clinton’s health plan, I decided to seek out Dr. Eckstein the other day for his…
The neighbors from hell had left a message. I saw the huge potted palm that blocked the driveway at once. The wilted plant sat there in a 100-pound pot, ominously blocking the path to our new neighbors’ house. Do not come near me, was the obvious message. Since it was…
At the time, it seemed of no consequence. It happened on a night in Chicago while the Suns were playing in the championship series against the Bulls. The Suns had their backs to the wall after losing the first two games of the series here in America West Arena. And…
It seemed a flawless setting. Dennis DeConcini visualized this as his final great moment in Arizona politics. Such presumption was not surprising. Over the years, the senior senator’s opinion of himself has been inflated in direct correlation to the swelling of his bank account. He was fresh from a single…
TELLURIDE, Colorado–It’s the fourth and final day. The 20th annual Telluride Film Festival is almost history. Everyone’s getting ready to blow town. Each Labor Day weekend, this film festival draws film buffs from all over the country. They watch four or five films per day, and grow punchy from being…
Leo Damore was in a state of high dudgeon. At this moment, his fury knew no bounds. Damore’s blood had been stirred by reading an excerpt from Joe McGinniss’ latest book, The Last Brother, in the September issue of Vanity Fair magazine. Damore did not bother to pull punches, as…
I drove to the Arizona State Prison at Florence last week to watch the Board of Pardons and Paroles in action. Anyone who spends much time as a reporter will visit quite a few prisons and hear many inmates’ tales. I have talked to killers, gang leaders, bank robbers, drug…
As this matter unfolds, you will find that what happened to Mr. Jordan was the kind of random violence that all the public is concerned and afraid of. It could have been any of us. It could have been anybody who happened to get tired at that time. –Jim Coleman,…
We have to distrust each other. It’s our only defense against betrayal. –Tennessee Williams If I had never trusted Dennis DeConcini, things would never have gotten so bad. That’s why it’s so hard to be around him these days. You sense the aura of approaching doom. His eyes are set…
Too many of Joe Calo’s friends in the Italian-restaurant business and the drug trade here in Phoenix were being systematically murdered. Seven died in less than a year–June 1988 to February 1989. The cops figured this could not be written off to mere coincidence. Especially since in so many of…
I sat there watching Congressman Dan Rostenkowski proclaim his innocence of all wrongdoing. Everybody in Chicago calls him “Rosty.” Very few people now alive remember when Rosty wasn’t the congressman from the 8th Congressional District who lived in the family home in the 32nd Ward–the Polish ward. In Chicago, that’s…
The first letter I read upon coming back from vacation had this to say: “How come you wrote about the Suns the way you did? How dare you sell out to Colangelo like that?” Wonderful. Things are back to normal. Let’s get a few other things out of the way…
HORTON BAY, Michigan–The road is narrow. No traffic. I haven’t seen another car for a long time. I hoped it would be this way. It’s like a journey back in time. This is the little town in which Ernest Hemingway really grew up. Hemingway spent all the summers of his…
“Would you like to spend some time alone with him?” “Yes,” I said. The vet looked down at Ramble the Dog. He shook his head from side to side. I caught my breath. I realized I had committed myself to something irrevocable. Ramble was spread out on the floor of…
A moment frozen in time: The clock shows there are still 3.9 seconds to play. The Phoenix Suns trail the Chicago Bulls, 99 to 98. So near and yet so far. There are 19,023 Phoenix Suns fans on their feet in America West Arena. They are screaming . . …
The only difference is the good guys won this time. –Suns coach Paul Westphal The monkey has been removed from Kevin Johnson’s back for the moment. His performance in last Sunday’s triple-overtime victory over the Chicago Bulls restored the reputation tarnished by his inept performances in the first two games…
Michael Jordan is on the edge. His problem, like that of someone caught in the advanced stages of alcoholism, is that he no longer can recognize how much trouble he is in. Not only Jordan, but the entire leadership of the National Basketball Association is in a state of denial…
Strange. They are such public figures. Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley. They are quoted constantly. But we don’t really know them. For us they are defined by their latest television commercials. They are in black and white. The messages are grim. Barkley says he doesn’t want to be a role…
We remember so little. The playoffs move too fast. Yet they never seem to end. It is as though we’re all prisoners on a runaway train. There is no one who knows how to pull the emergency brake to stop this wild ride. Television only contributes to the confusion. Clearly,…
I see it now. The Suns are not going to win an NBA title this year. The task simply isn’t possible. The Suns are good. On some nights, very good. But they are not quite good enough. When you reach the playoffs, only nine men can play effectively. And the…
