Acapulco, 1984
Having achieved a measure of stability in my life—a steady job, a car (a blue Volkswagen), the beginnings of a journalism career and a UT grad student named Lulu as my main squeeze—it seemed that taking a vacation would not be...
I admit it—I favor cute stewardesses
This piece has to begin with a significant mea culpa. Like most people, deep down inside I am a hypocrite, two-faced and desirous of having my cake and eating it, too. I like to have it both ways. So what you read here will be evidence...
The time I almost drowned
Texas is number 1! So we often said when I lived there (essentially 1952-2007). But in some fields, it is better to be last rather than first—for example, child drownings. The sad truth is that more than 70 kids in Texas die by drowning...
Kim Yuna’s Greatest Performance
She was the six-time (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2013 and 2014) South Korean national champion, three-time (2007, 2008 and 2010) Grand Prix final champion, two-time (2009 and 2013) world champion, Olympic gold medal winner (2010) and silver medal...
A fervent prayer for the Christians of the Middle East
I met Bill Gibson as part of the Austin road racing scene in the mid-1980s. I like and respect him a lot. For one thing, he could run faster than me. Smart and highly informed about current events, Bill is a dyed-in-the-wool liberal. As such...
I Nominate Abner Haynes for the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame
We have drought in much of the western United States, girls being subjected to genital mutilation in Africa, rampant corruption in Russia, a hopelessly failed state on the north end of the Korean peninsula, wars in Afghanistan, Syria and South...
Becky Lapsley and her illustrious great-grandfather
At a recent gathering of some alumni of the 1971 class at Bryan Adams High School, Becky Lapsley’s name came up. I confess to having completely forgotten her. After all, we went to such a big school (3,300 students back then), and it was...
Calling BS on the Harlem Globetrotters and Their Foils
Even when I was a tow-headed little boy in Dallas, I had my doubts about the Harlem Globetrotters and the form of "basketball" they played. Sure, I knew it was more entertainment than actual competition, more burlesque than sports. I...
We hurry past Tiananmen Square
I saw and did a lot during a package tour of Beijing in the summer of 2010—the Gate of Heavenly Peace, the Marco Polo Bridge, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Great Wall and more. On the second-to-last day of our trip, the...
Nine months of happiness in the Bluegrass
I arrived in Lexington, Kentucky in April 1977 determined to make it home, at least for a while. The weather was cold and rainy the first two weeks, but that did not deter me. I found a small apartment near the University of Kentucky campus...
Marion Ford’s meeting with Ed Price in 1956
The 1956 football season was a terrible one in University of Texas annals. The Longhorns were en route to a 1-9 record, their only victory coming by one point against lowly Tulane. Southern California had beaten UT 44-20 in the season opener...
Jackie Robinson was not the first
The Jim Crow system of racial segregation held sway in the United States for roughly 90 years—from the mid-1870s until passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Intended to oppress and humiliate non-European-Americans, it has ironically...