Joanne C. Gerstner

– I am happy to announce I am now writing for ESPNRISE.com. Here are the first two pieces: one on high schooler Conor Awick and another on high schooler Coco Perez. Both teens were honored for their amazing spirit and how they give back to their schools and communities in Chicago.
– Here’s my latest on Fox Sports Detroit, on new Pistons swingman Tracy McGrady.

– Here’s my latest story on mgoblue.com…

– Some other exciting things are brewing, and I will let everybody know as soon they’re solidified. In the meantime, happy fall, everybody!!!!! 🙂

That’s in the in the NY Times. The cool link between learning/teaching science and the NFL….

I don’t know if I believe in the old adage that things happen in threes. But I have some ancedotal proof, as three people I knew pretty well have died in the last 3 weeks. The first, Matt, died too young. The second, Morrie, died at 83. And the third, Mary, died at 102.

I am happy for Mary and Morrie, as they were ill and death was a welcome relief from their suffering. Both lived very interesting lives. Mary lived in back of me, and up until about two years ago, the most amazing smells came out of her house – homemade tomato sauce. She was a very sweet lady, somebody who took clear pride in having a beautiful garden. We’d talk over the fence, and share flowers. Last time I saw her, which was last summer, she asked her home care workers to help her over to the fence to speak to me. She was clearly very weak, but she still wanted to see me. She told me that she was done with this life, and she wanted to go home to her husband. She was ready. And I believed her. She was determined enough to live through 100 years, and now she was determined enough to say when she was done. RIP Mary.

Morrie was a character. He was a statistician for the Pistons and Red Wings. A curious fellow, clearly smart, but a little different. I only knew Morrie as a shuffling, old man. All he wanted was souvenirs for his collections – pins, hats, you name it. I remember when I returned from the 2000 Sydney Olympics, he was mad at me for not getting him some pins. Sorry Morrie.

And Matt. I’m still not totally processing that Matt is gone. I half expect to see him somewhere. But I know I won’t. I still pray for his family.

Sometimes you hear news that doesn’t even seem possible, much less true. I felt that way Saturday afternoon, when a friend called to let me know that longtime Pistons PR guy Matt Dobek had died. Only 51.

Last time I saw Matt, was at a Pistons game in April. That now seems like another lifetime. Since then, the team fired him (we can get into a whole debate about that one), and Matt apparently was not taking things well. He ended his life Saturday, and I really wish he had not done that.

His family is keeping their services for him private. I would love to tell them how sorry I am, and how I am praying for them and Matt. It’s all I can do to help them. If you have a spare moment, please do the same. Send them a thought and prayer.

And in the end, I hope Matt has the peace he was probably looking for. He paid a very high price for it.

But I hate when sports writers take a snippy and stupid stand just to be edgy, because that’s what is perceived to get them attention/buzz/fame these days.

It’s the whole evil “have a take” philosophy. How about do some research and then have a take? I’m all for opinion, as long as there is some thought behind it.

The thing that’s set me off is a fool on ESPN, who I will not give credence to by mentioning his famous name, saying that Roger Federer is washed up as a tennis player. And this was of course before he made the final of the Toronto Masters.

Oh really? Being No. 3 in the world is washed up?! If so, there are 500 players under Federer who would love to be as washed up. Yet, this same person thought Tiger Woods would win the PGA Championship this weekend. Why is Roger finished and Tiger not? I’d argue the evidence is much more on Tiger’s side that he’s closer to done than Federer.

Federer is reasonably healthy. His life is not in chaos. He is still respected. Can we still say all that is true for Tiger?

So have a thought, have a take. But first, have a brain.

What a fine rap spin on the classic.

I’m counting up how many laps I am swimming every day, and I will be very intrigued to see how many miles it adds up to by the end of the season. I have a friend doing something similiar with her bike, with the sadistic spin of using the mileage to calculate how many Dairy Queens she can visit in her town. (All in the imaginary sense, of course.)

A few tidbits of news:
– I am happy to announce I am now a contibutor to FOXSportsDetroit.com. It’s a nice website, run by the very talented Michael Happy, that hopes to become a real force in covering sports in Michigan. I’m happy to do all I can to help out. I’ll let you know when my first story hits the web.
– Here’s one of my latest stories on Michigan golferLion Kim winning the U.S. Amateur Public Links. It’s a big win for him and the Michigan program.
– My group, The Association for Women in Sports Media, is participating in Macy’s Shop for a Cause program. We’re selling shopping passes, good for 20 or 25 percent off (two different coupons) at the store all day on Oct. 16. The pass gives a discount for a lot of things at Macy’s, but if you need a new Kate Spade purse or some Vera Wang china, you may be out of luck. (but if you’re buying that lovely stuff, do you really coupon clip for it? just asking…) Anyways, the passes are $5 each, and 100 percent of all proceeds support AWSM’s fantastic scholarship program. So if you want one, two or more…shoot me an email or find me on Facebook. Shop for AWSM!

I hope everybody is having a great summer! I am, thanks to a lot of fun mini-trips to see family and friends. And you can’t beat the weather. I like it hot, much better than being teeth-chatteringly cold.

Here are some of the things I’ve been up to:
– Team USA, men’s slow pitch softball edition. These guys can hit.
– Team USA, women’s baseball edition.

I will have some exciting news to announce (hopefully) in the coming days about some new projects I am working on. My books are working through the publisher and I will let everybody know when they are on amazon.com

thanks for the support!

Hey everybody!

Hope you’re having a great summer. And to those complaining about the heat…we’ll be killing for this come January 🙂 I’ve been trying to swim a least a mile every day. I’ve even played one tennis match, a remarkable thing considering my right knee.

A few things:
– Thanks to Omar and the students at Columbia University for a great issue on women in sports. This article on women in sports journalism did a great job pointing out the shoddy hiring practices of Yahoo, ESPN, etc. in terms of their online sports operations. Very few women with a real voice on those popular websites. I’ll leave it up to you to conjecture why.
– LeBron mania may end up backfiring on him and ESPN. I’ve talked to more people today who are sick of the whole thing and don’t care. Which is good. We shouldn’t care. He’s just one player. Yes, a very good player, but he still needs 6-7 more around him to make a NBA championship-caliber team.

If it’s said that the Olympics can bring the world together for a few week…perhaps we can now ration that the World Cup will unite the planet in frustration over crappy refereeing.

There have been so many bad calls, so many unnecessary yellow cards. Makes you wonder what is going on? What kind of training are these guys getting? I know they are all FIFA-certified and such. But c’mon, a 7-year-old can make better calls than such as the red cards in the Brazil and Switzerland games. And don’t even start with what happened to the U.S. the other day. Defies all explanation.

In a way, I am happy people are so upset – especially here in the U.S. We care!

Maybe the vuvuzelas are scrambling the officials brains 🙂