Total Pageviews

Monday, August 14, 2017

The Writer's Life 8/14 - All's Well That Ends Well

RIP Frank Broyles, 92, legendary football coach of the University of Arkansas. He was at the helm 19 seasons, from 1958-1976, and was the school’s athletic director from 1974-2007. Including his one season at Missouri, Broyles finished with a 149-62-6 record. The Razorbacks won the Southwest Conference title seven times during his tenure, including 1964 when the team went 11-0 and was named national champs in the days long before the playoffs. As a collegiate QB at Georgia Tech, he led the Yellow Jackets to four bowl appearance and was the SEC Player of the Year in 1944. Broyles was also an enthusiastic presence in the broadcast booth for ABC, working as an analyst from 1977 to 1985. I vividly recall him citing, in his wonderful southern drawl: "One of the most violent collisions I have ever seen." Friends and I tried in vain to imitate that wonderful inflection through our Brooklyn accents. Well done, sir.

With eight holes remaining in the season’s final major, the PGA Championship, five men stood tied atop the leader-board: Italy's Francesco Molinari, Justin Thomas, Japan's Hideki Matsuyama, Chris Stroud and Kevin Kisner. At the end it was Thomas, 24, who prevailed, buoyed by a supernatural putt on the 10th hole, when his ball hung on the lip for ten seconds before dropping. He also had a birdie at the par three 17th during the tough three-hole stretch the players dub The Green Mile at the beautiful Quail Hollow course in Charlotte, NC. It was his third victory of 2017, his first major championship. Not only does his get his name engraved on the coveted Wanamaker Trophy, he pocketed $1,890,000. He weighs all of 145 pounds. Kudos, kid.



Good things come to those who wait. I wanted to take the floating book shop to a different location today. There were no parking spaces available beside the Sheepshead Bay concourse, so I headed for Park Slope. The long stretch in front of John Jay H.S. was occupied by vehicles of crew members paving 4th Street, and there were no spots available in front of the public school two blocks away. That sent me back to Bay Parkway. It looked like it was going to be a disappointing session. The only sale for the first 2:40 was to a young man who bought John Grisham's The Chamber. In the last 20 minutes people suddenly started buying. A young Asian woman purchased Emily Giffin's Love the One You're With, immediately followed by a middle age one who bought a novelization of ET. Then a young man bought yet another Danielle Steel novel, Pegasus, for his mom, Jack of Chase chose four thrillers, and Bad News Billy scooped up the four opera CD's I had on display. And, just as I'd stowed the remaining wares in the old Hyundai, the sweet Russian grandma, who is amassing a library for her grand-daughter Sasha, showed. I pulled out the box that contained the classics, from which she selected a large anthology, John Steinbeck's The Pearl, Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, and Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. My thanks to all these kind folks. I didn't earn a trophy, but it's still nice to win.
Vic's Sixth novel: http://tinyurl.com/zpuhucj 
Vic's Short Works: http://tinyurl.com/jy55pzc
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)