Remembering the eloquence of Jack Whitaker

Jack Whitaker / 1924-2019

I spent some quiet time Monday morning reflecting upon the life of legendary sports broadcaster Jack Whitaker, known for his eloquent commentaries, who passed away Sunday at age 95. What a wonderful life Whitaker lived crafting broadcast essays about sports, inspired by writers he admired like Alastair Cooke and Heywood Hale Broun. You have to be of a certain age to remember these masters of the writing craft – and I am of that certain age.

Born and raised in Philadelphia, where he got his broadcasting start after graduating from St. Joseph’s College, Whitaker was a decorated veteran of World War II, fighting in the Normandy Campaign and was wounded by an artillery strike. He went on to a career as a sportscaster with both CBS and ABC.

Whitaker was regarded as “The Talking Head” of sports – long before David Byrne ran with the moniker and named his American rock band The Talking Heads. He broadcast football, golf and horse racing, among many sports. “I know that I’m regarded as The Talking Head,” he once told Sports Illustrated during a 1977 interview. “I’d like to be exactly that and say something that people will remember or get excited about. I’d like to bring sports into the thinking process.”

Jack Whitaker

On the eve of the Kentucky Derby horse race one year, Whitaker waxed poetically about the mood and feeling of one of America’s most iconic sporting events: “America never looks better than on a spring afternoon at the horse farms around Lexington.

“The bluegrass fields and limestone-permeated water has given strength to 81 Derby winners. Just up the road is Churchill Downs in the city of Louisville. In Louisville, America thrives. It was here that Americans discovered how to blend golden corn, barley, malt and rye into bourbon whiskey. It was here that baseball’s National League was founded and where they still make the famous Louisville sluggers. And it was in Louisville that the Kentucky Derby thrived and grew into something beyond a horse race.”

In perusing Whitaker’s obituary in Monday’s print edition of The New York Times, I learned that he “reserved his greatest passion for golf,“ and loved to weave historical imagery into his accounts. 

For instance, in commenting about the British Open at Troon, Scotland, for ABC’s World News Tonight in 1982, he spoke: 

“Through all the years, the British Open has changed very little. The biggest addition has been the tented city, looking like Henry V’s camp at the Battle of Agincourt. Here you can buy among other things lawn mowers, cashmere sweaters and Champagne, which is replacing tea as Britain’s national beverage. But basically the British Open is the same as it was in 1860 when they first played it down the road at Prestwick. Playing in the British Open is like reading American history at Independence Hall or studying opera at La Scala. It’s golf at its most simple, its most pure, its most magnificent.“

Rest in peace, Jack Whitaker. You shared a marvelous passion for sports with us for many years. I’ll remember what you said once about the sport of golf that you loved so much: “Golf accommodates itself anywhere. It travels better than Beaujolais. Golf is the most moveable feast of all.”

World Cup: Tennis stars in touch with the beautiful game

The 21st World Cup of football – the international variety not the American kind – is one of the biggest quadrennial sporting events in the entire world. It began last week in Russia and it's set to distract sports fans across Planet Earth through Sunday, July 15, which happens to be the same day as the gentlemen's singles final at Wimbledon.

Speaking of tennis, it's not a surprise that many of the world's best tennis professionals are showing an avid interest  – an emotional involvement, if you will – in the World Cup tournament. After all, it's probably the pipe dream of many players that if they weren't carving out a nice career on tennis courts while globe trekking around the world, they would be sporting their skills playing the "beautiful game" on grassy pitches and in front of thousands of die-hard football fans.

When it comes to the World Cup, I've learned, it's okay for players to become emotionally involved and to have a sense of fighting spirit – not only for their team, but for everyone in the entire country.

Last Sunday, after he won the MercedesCup tournament in Stuttgart, Germany, for his 98th career title, Roger Federer tweeted a photo of himself driving home to Basel, Switzerland via the German autobahn. His tweet read: "Made it back home on time to watch Switzerland vs. Brazil. Great effort team Switzerland, good luck Brazil for the rest of the way."

Roger Federer/Driving on the German autobahn.

Elena Vesnina of Russia, ranked No. 1 in the world in doubles with her partner Ekaterina Makarova, was in attendance for the World Cup opener between host Russia and Saudi Arabia in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium on June 14. She produced live content for the WTA's Instagram feed.

Speaking of which, an Instagram video posted by the WTA has drawn a lot of position attention. The WTA tweeted: "The #FIFAWorldCup is here! #WTA stars will be watching ... Will you?"

The one-minute video shows a variety of WTA stars, including Vesnina, Simona Halep of Romania, Caroline Garcia of France, Karolina Pliskova and Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, Daria Kasatkina of Russia, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, Anastasija Sevastova and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, Johanna Konta of Great Britain, Madison Keys of the United States, and Julia Goerges of Germany. Each is shown trying their skills at dribbling and passing a football. Clearly, their talent has no limits, does it?

Meanwhile, Germany's Andrea Petkovic tweeted a list of things that she likes about the World Cup: "1. No more awkward silences in elevators with strangers. 2. Always something to watch on TV. 3. Iceland and their chiseled chins. 4. Hair fashion."

Last weekend, Kristina Mladenovic of France tweeted, "ALLEZ LES BLEUS" in support of her country's entry in the World Cup. France beat Australia in its opener.

Among the men, Rafael Nadal, long a fan of Real Madrid in the Spanish League, is leading the cheers for Spain – of course – and Novak Djokovic has a vested interest in Serbia. Also, Tunisia's Malek Jaziri, a long-time football fan, is cheering for his home country's team from afar while competing in Halle, Germany this week at the Gerry Weber Open.

According to David Law of BBC5 Live and co-host of "The Tennis Podcast," of all of the Fever-Tree Championships player lounge World Cup player goal celebrations so far, those of Novak Djokovic and his team "are the most ecstatic by far. Basically, he did a lap of the entire room."

Djokovic has built up a good relationship with several of the Serbia World Cup team and often picks their brains about different ways to improve his training regime. In a press conference on Sunday before the start of the Fever-Tree Championships at Queen's Club in London, Djokovic, who is an avid fan of the Serbian national team that won its opener over Costa Rica, insists he would happily miss a first appearance for Serbia in the World Cup final if it means he is back in the Wimbledon men's title match.

Fortunately, it appears the World Cup final match has a later kick off time than the start for the Wimbledon men's singles final, but only by a couple of hours. Otherwise ...

"Really? I didn't know that. Wow," said Djokovic. "Ive been fortunate to win Wimbledon three times and play well there. If that happens I would obviously be very happy to miss the World Cup final."

Cover photo: Courtesy of TennisTV Twitter feed.
Roger Federer photo: Courtesy of Roger Federer Twitter feed.

Men in Blazers: Offbeat and quirky, they love their football

Downtown Abbey meets Men in Blazers / Michael Davies (L) and
 Roger Bennett (R) share a visit from "Mr. Barrow", Rob James-Collier
during this week's show.

Michael Davies and Roger Bennett like to discuss football -- the "beautiful game" not the American gladiator version played in the NFL -- and they wear blazers. Usually at the same time. Their little media empire "Men in Blazers", which includes a podcast, a website, a Facebook page, a Twitter feed (@MeninBlazers) and a weekly TV show on NBC Sports Network, is driven by the belief that "soccer is America's sport of the future. As it has been since 1972."

Very simply, Davies and Bennett, both balding English blokes -- the former (nicknamed "Davo") is an American TV game show producer while the latter is a bespectacled-but-serious documentary journalist -- are funny and articulate. And, thanks to their small but passionate following with "Men in Blazers", they are taking advantage of a growing American fascination with international football, specifically the English Premier League. It's the kind of show you can equally enjoy with your choice of morning stimulant, be it a cup of coffee or a pint of Guinness.

Beginning in 2011, "Men in Blazers" started as a weekly podcast on Grantland.com, the ESPN-owned sports and pop culture website, and Davies and Bennett offered their quirky and off-beat analysis of recent Premier League matches as well as coverage of the UEFA Champions League and other international fixtures. Davies roots for Chelsea while Bennett holds a dear spot for Everton. The popularity of their podcast has carried over nicely to television, where the British duo were regularly featured on ESPN's coverage of the FIFA World Cup tournament from Brazil last summer. In September, "Men in Blazers" became a lovely complement to NBCSN's weekly Premier League coverage and the show originates from cozy confines in New York City.

According to their website, the aim of "Men in Blazers" is "nothing less than to enlighten the masses to the wildly entertaining world of soccer and the English Premier League in particular. Immersed in the high and low culture of the beautiful game, the program mixes analysis and guest appearances in equal measure, with the aim of providing an intelligent yet often humorous, and always passionate, soccer broadcast."

On the air, the "Men in Blazers" analysis is filled with similes, World War I poetry and lots of pop culture references and inside jokes -- so listen and watch with a keen ear and eye. They love to answer fan e-mail and acknowledge their favorite fan Tweets on placards. And, they're obsessed by PBS Masterpiece Theater's "Downton Abbey". So, it's not surprising that they invited Rob James-Collier, who plays Mr. Barrow, the reviled "Downton Abbey" character everyone loves to loathe from the wildly-popular British drama, to be a guest on a recent show. Needless to say, it was highly-entertaining television.

"We've tried to revel in the narrative of football, which for us, is like an elite athletic competition fused with the storylines of a telenovela," Bennett told Rolling Stone in a recent interview. "Albert Camus had a great quote, 'Everything I know about morality and the obligations of men, I owe it to football.' We agree with that. For us, football is life, like it was for Camus, I guess. Never met the bloke. Would've loved him to come on the show."

Note: The "Men in Blazers" TV show airs on select Mondays during the English Premier Leaague season on NBC Sports Network.

Photo: Courtesy of Men in Blazers website.

Relishing our wide world of sport

The beautiful game / Relishing our wide world of sport.

What a week it's been to be an international sports fan.

Let's see: Between the FIFA World Cup in football, the Stanley Cup in ice hockey, the NBA Finals in American professional basketball, and the U.S. Open golf championship, which crowned its champion on Father's Day, there's been something for every sports fan to enjoy during the month of June. Add to the mix, Major League Baseball with its pennant races taking shape here in the U.S., and there's just not enough hours in the day to watch everything being shown on TV or now made available for viewing via our mobiles.

It's a beautiful game.

• Thanks to the worldwide interest in international football (known to American audiences as soccer), the quadrennial World Cup tournament in Brazil has become must-see viewing around the globe. Here in the U.S., ESPN (and its sister networks) is broadcasting all 64 matches in this year's tournament, which continues through July 13.

There's new "made for TV" drama unfolding with each match and curiosity is building day by day. It will be interesting to see if the Netherlands can continue its dominance after the Clockwork Oranje dealt Spain a shocking World Cup defeat last Friday with a 5-1 annihilation of La Furia Roja. Also, the Nationalmannschaft of Germany looked very solid as Thomas Müller scored a hat trick during a 4-0 shutout of the Ronaldo-led Portugal on Monday. And, three cheers for the Stars and Stripes as Clint Dempsey scored the fastest goal in U.S. World Cup history (29 seconds) and the Americans beat Ghana 2-1. Of course, host Brazil plays the sport dubbed the beautiful game oh so beautifully, and the Canarinho are a sentimental favorite of many worldwide fans.

• On Friday night in Los Angeles, the Kings became king of ice hockey as they skated to a 3-2 overtime victory over the New York Rangers to capture the NHL Stanley Cup for the second time in three years. It's always a thrill to see the players of the winning team kissing Lord Stanley's Cup and hoisting it proudly above their heads as they jubilantly skate around the rink in celebration. It's an experience every hockey player wants to enjoy at least once in their career.

The Spurs' Parker, Duncan, Ginobili.

• On Sunday night, the San Antonio Spurs showed that it's cool to be a team -- again -- and to play like a team, too. The Spurs beat the star-studded Miami Heat 104-87 to win their fifth NBA Finals championship, thanks to a total team effort from an eclectic roster filled with international flavor, including: Tim Duncan of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Tony Parker of France, Manu Ginobili of Argentina, Patty Mills of Australia, Tiago Splitter of Brazil, Cory Joseph of Canada and Kahwi Leonard of the U.S.

• With the weather heating up across America, the Major League Baseball pennant races are heating up, too. Here in the Bay Area, thanks to San Francisco Giants and Oakland A's compiling the best records in their respective leagues, interest in the Summer Game is filling ballparks on both sides of the Bay nearly every night.

• Lest we forget: The United States Open golf championship crowned a new champion Sunday in Pinehurst, N.C. as Martin Kaymer, a 29-year-old German, won an historic eight-stroke victory in a what many described as a totally dominating performance.

• Finally: The Wimbledon Championships fortnight start next Monday in London SW19 as Scotland's Andy Murray defends his gentlemen's singles title against the likes of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in the world's premier grass-court tennis event. Break out the strawberries and cream.

Indeed, it's a time for relishing the spirit and passion of a truly wide world of sport.

Photographs courtesy of Google Images.

A love of American team sports: At what price?

The rest of the sporting world is catching up to America.

In his weekly sports commentary this morning on National Public Radio, commentator Frank Deford opined about how America's love of team sports comes at a price.

I have a deep admiration for Deford, an author and writer whose reporting and commentary includes: senior contributing writer for Sports Illustrated, commentator for NPR and correspondent for HBO's monthly sports magazine 'Real Sports'. Today, Deford said: "I've always thought that one of the best things about American sport is that we aren't dominated by one team game, as so much of the rest of the world is soccer-centric. That's why we can have our own American dream.  The dream of most other countries is simply to have their national soccer team do well." (Note to my friends around the world: What you call football, in the U.S. we call it soccer.)

Deford is absolutely right.  In America, we've always focused our devotion to team sports ~ baseball, American-style football, basketball and ice hockey come to mind ~ and we've turned college sports into a big multi-million-dollar business. Can high school sports be fare behind?

Looking up at No. 1 /
Vamos Rafa!

Meanwhile, I have found through many friendships I've made on Facebook that in other nations, their sports affection and devotion are monogamous.  For instance, my friends either root for Rafa Nadal or Novak Djokovic, but not for both. It's either "Vamos Rafa" or "Ajdee Nole". Switzerland's Roger Federer, like his native country, is a neutral presence. And, on the football pitch, the line is clearly drawn between fans rooting for either Real Madrid or Barcelona. For Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi. You see, there's no waffling among my international friends when it comes to showing one's rooting interest.  It is pinned to their heart or worn on their sleeve for everyone to see ~ and I've grown to appreciate this.

Here in the U.S., Deford refers to American sports fans as "serial team fans". What this means is simple: You're either for the Yankees or the Mets if you live in New York, but dare not root for both. And, if you live in Chicago, you're either a Cubs fan ~ especially if you live on the North Side ~ or a White Sox fan if you're from the South Side. But you can't be a true Chicago baseball fan and root for both teams.

In a topsy turvy week that began with deadly tornadoes whipping through Alabama and beyond in the U.S., then continued with the splendid Will and Kate's Royal Wedding in London, and, finally, concluded Sunday night with President Obama announcing to the nation and the world the killing of Osama bin Laden, the U.S. has shown it has become less of a power in individual sports like tennis.

From the hard courts of Melbourne and Flushing Meadows to the red clay of Roland Garros to the pristine grass of Wimbledon, all of the reigning Grand Slam champions, except for Serena Williams at Wimbledon, are foreigners.  Sure, the Williams sisters have mostly been injured on and off for the past year. But, even if they were healthy, who's to say the outcome of any of the Grand Slam tournaments would have been any different? Still, it's a far cry from the days when John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Chris Evert were part of a dominating American presence in the Grand Slams.

Roger Federer/
In search of his 17th
Grand Slam singles title.

Now that the tennis calendar has shifted to the European clay court season in the lead up to this month's French Open, the focus is clearly on rest of the world.  The top four men's seeds at this week's Mutua Madrid Open ~ Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray ~ are from Spain, Serbia, Switzerland and Great Britain, respectively. After the first day of competition, all of the Americans except one had lost.  The lone exception, John Isner, had to defeat another American, Mardy Fish, to advance to the second round.   And, it was yet another clay-court disappointment for America's best player, Andy Roddick. The red clay that is a universal playing surface for much of the rest of the world, is still so very foreign to the American players.  It seems they can't wait to get to Wimbledon so they can play on grass, or to return home to America for the summer hard-court season leading up to the U.S. Open in August.

Yes, it is painfully obvious that the rest of the world has caught up with America in sports as it has in many other respects. And, as Deford concluded his commentary this morning, he said: "The cliche is that there's no 'I' in team. But more and more, when it comes to tennis and golf, there's no 'U.S' in world champion."

I couldn't agree more.

The Beautiful Game

The Beautiful Game is synonymous with soccer, a sport blending both artistry and athleticism.  And, no other sporting event captures the world stage quite like the quadrennial World Cup.

What Americans commonly refer to as soccer is known throughout the rest of the sporting world as football, not to be confused with our NFL-style football.  The World Cup of football serves as an ultimate geography lesson, teaching us about the culture and language of the 32 participating nations as well as about team nicknames, national flags and national anthems. Yet, why stop there?  Let's extend it to culinary treats and add a bit of international musical flavor to the mix ... well, you've got endless possibilities.  Who knew international sport could be so much fun while also being educational?

The month-long, 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament, hosted by the Republic of South Africa ~ the first time the Cup has been played on the African continent ~ started last Friday in Johannesburg to great fanfare and buzz from the incessant drone of those pesky vuvuzelas.

After the first few days of group play, there's been plenty of excitement on the South African pitches, from Durbin to Port Elizabeth to Cape Town.  Among the highlights:

* Host Republic of South Africa's moral victory, a 1-1 draw with Mexico, in the opening match of the World Cup before 84,490 at Soccer City Stadium.  Bafana Bafana ("The Boys" as South Africa's team is known in its homeland) scored the tournament's first goal, a superb left-footed shot by Siphiwe Tshabalala.  He and four of his teammates celebrated with an impromptu theatrical chorus line dance.

* England's huge goalie gaffe, as Robert Green ("Hands of Clod" as he was vilified by the London tabloids) let an easy one dribble past him that enabled the U.S. squad to gain a 1-1 draw with the Brits.

* Germany's pin-point passing, which penetrated Australia's defense for four stunningly beautiful goals in their 4-0 victory over the Socceroos.

* The delightful enthusiasm shown by the Brazilians in their 2-1 victory over North Korea, and their impeccable passing skills, which set up the wonderfully choreographed goals by Maicon and Elano.

The World Cup tournament continues through July 11, with 32 countries competing in eight groups of four teams each.  Italy ("The Azzurri" for Sky Blues) is the defending World Cup champion.  Group play runs through June 25 before the knockout rounds commence ~ and the real fun begins.  ESPN (with assistance from ESPN2 and ABC) is broadcasting all of the World Cup matches live (in all U.S. time zones) ~ thankfully, there's no waiting around hours after a match has finished for an Olympics-style, tape-delayed prime time package like NBC regularly dishes out with the Olympics.

Match times are uniform each day during group play, which makes scheduling your day or programming your DVR simple ~ 7:30 a.m. ET/4:30 a.m. PT; 10 a.m. ET/7 a.m. PT, and 2:30 p.m. ET/11:30 a.m. PT ~ and matches are free of commercial interruptions during play, so you needn't worry about missing any goals.  Living in the Pacific Time zone, I've enjoyed tuning in for some of the first-week matches while eating breakfast and reading the newspaper, others during a midday lunch break.

Of particular interest, and not to be missed, is the pre-match ceremonies just minutes before kickoff, which include the starting lineups from both teams walking out onto the stadium pitch, hand-in-hand with local school kids dressed in soccer uniforms, then singing along to their respective national anthems ~ many of the players actually seem to know the lyrics to their anthems and always sing with proper enthusiasm.  Prior to playing Brazil, one North Korean player was shown visibly moved to tears during the playing of the "Aegukka".  After exchanging keepsakes and handshakes, the referee hands the Jabulani (the name of the soccer ball manufactured by Adidas and inscribed with the names of the two teams for each match) to the team kicking off, and before you know it, play is underway and the soap opera on grass begins.

The production values of the World Cup matches have been high-definition tremendous ~ including crisp, uncluttered graphics; running time clock; multiple replay angles, which capture the thrill and agony of each goal and near miss ~ and, to its credit, ESPN has put together an expert crew of play-by-play commentators and analysts, most with ties to English or European soccer, to dissect strategy and explain a lot of nuances of the sport ~ and, just as importantly, inflect the right amount of emotion and enthusiasm to maintain our interest and make us want to care about each match.

If you're unable to tune in to watch the matches, you can keep up with the World Cup with video highlights via ESPN's website at espn.com, as well as reading all about it online in the New York Times.  For a British take on things, try reading the Guardian online.

Whether you're rooting interest is with the Oranje of the Netherlands, La Furia Roja of Spain, the Three Lions of England, or Team USA, it's going to be an exciting month of play on the South African pitches, and with Wimbledon and the Tour de France overlapping, it's international sport at its pinnacle.

Now, if we can just get those colorful-but-crazy fans to put away their noisy vuvuzelas ~ those plastic trumpets that make a loud, buzzing sound ~ and, instead, get them to engage in some traditional English football-style singing and chanting, maybe a few choruses of "Ole', Ole', Ole'!"  Then, the Beautiful Game would truly be beautiful.