The players trot out onto the field, suited up and whooping it up and ready for battle.  The fans cheer their hometown heroes, boo the visiting villains.  The countdown clock on the scoreboard ticks off the time: fifteen minutes till kickoff. Another NFL game? A big-time college clash, featuring two of the top teams in the land? Nope.  We are, instead–my wife and I–moments away from a game in the brand-spanking-new Fall Experimental Football League, or FXFL, we're at MCU Park in Brooklyn's … [Read more...]

We are at MCU Park* in Coney Island, my wife and daughter and I, where the hottest days turn into the coolest nights thanks to the breeze drifting in from the sea. The hometown Brooklyn Cyclones--named after the landmark Coney Island roller-coaster--are playing their inter-borough rivals, the Staten Island Yankees.  We sit far down the left field line, past third base, only a couple of rows from the field. So close that when a ball is hit our way, I'm tempted to reach out and snag it myself. … [Read more...]

Fifteen years ago -- June 29, 1997 -- the New York Liberty, the flagship team of the brand-new Women's National Basketball Association, or WNBA, played their very first home game, a 65-57 victory over the Phoenix Mercury. (In THE first game in WNBA history, the Liberty had already defeated the Los Angeles Sparks out west.) . My wife was with me that day at Madison Square Garden, so that we could watch the Liberty make history together. We were both pretty excited, but Julie -- she couldn't … [Read more...]