
1.
A Sport and a Pastime is considered – by Americans – to be an American classic. My first question, upon finishing the book, is, ‘What makes something a classic? What makes it ‘feel’ like one?’
Continue reading1.
A Sport and a Pastime is considered – by Americans – to be an American classic. My first question, upon finishing the book, is, ‘What makes something a classic? What makes it ‘feel’ like one?’
Continue reading2.
There are some novels you read that make you think, ‘Why can’t all books be like this one?’ Continue reading
I am currently traveling in Europe, and news reached me that Australia has had a sudden change of prime ministers. Eager to share in the good news, I googled The Age Newspaper Online.
In addition to reports on the change of leadership, I discovered there was an article about the press conference for UFC 193, due to be held in Melbourne on November 15. Continue reading
2.
I feel responsible. I feel that I must do something like Flanagan, or Tolstoy. Anything less is a waste of everyone’s time – both yours, and mine. If I think about it too much, there’s not even time enough to go to work. Continue reading
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The last twelve to eighteen months have taught me that if you put something on the internet, everybody will see it. People rarely comment on-line, but I seem to get all kinds of bizarre responses when I see them in public, ranging from facial expressions that look like they’ve swallowed a bullfrog (and are struggling to keep it down) to, ‘What’s with all the leather gear?’ Or even, ‘Are you a Satanist?’ Continue reading
“Young men love war and old men love it in them.”
-Cormac McCarthy,
The Crossing.
Phil Rothfield recently published an editorial in The Daily Telegraph that has gone viral across the Facebook pages of many of the people I know. It’s a pretty inflammatory screed, and I’m surprised any credible newspaper would publish it; the comment about ‘allowing’ women to fight on the card alongside men must have left feminists, along with fight-fans, scratching their heads. Continue reading
“Boxing and bullfighting are elevated above other sports because of the blood that is in them.”
– Ernest Hemingway (paraphrased from Death in the Afternoon).
I have posted a few love letters on here over time. I was taken with the idea when I heard about ‘The Love Letters of Great Men’, courtesy of Carrie Bradshaw in ‘Sex and the City’. Let’s face it; we watch for blood. It’s not just ghoulish curiosity; it’s also for catharsis. And if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that I don’t give a fuck about anything that isn’t bloody.
The following is presented for your delectation. Continue reading