If architecture is, as is sometimes said, music set in concrete, then football and basketball may be said to be creativity embodied in team sports. – Michael Mandelbaum
In my experience, its not just that serious books get a hearing on comedy shows. But serious books get a serious hearing, as well as a funny one, on comedy shows. – Michael Mandelbaum
The cardinal sin in sports, what could really wreck it, is not cheating to win, which has gone on forever, but cheating to lose. That threatens a fundamental aspect of sports appeal, which is their spontaneity. If games are fixed, theyre no different from movies theyre scripted. – Michael Mandelbaum
After all, the past is our only real guide to the future, and historical analogies are instruments for distilling and organizing the past and converting it to a map by which we can navigate. – Michael Mandelbaum