Steve Rushin

“That's what Letterman did. He mocked everything and everyone in show business, even though he was at the top of show business. He was in it but not really of it, and that's one thing I came to love about him. I mean, you can't sit there and interview Cher and pretend you're not in show business, but he managed to pull it off somehow.”

“Solitary pursuits like playing video games and skateboarding can't compete with the thrill of mobbing a teammate as he scores the winning run - nor do they end with a postgame trip to Dairy Queen.”

“Once upon a time in America, people aspired to party like a rock star. Now, rock stars aspire to party like a football owner.”

“Everything gleamed or glinted on TV in the '70s, from the 'flavor crystals' in Folgers coffee to the yellow dentures dipped in Polident and instantly restored to pristine, piano-key whiteness.”

“Every era has its cartoon rich guys, but most of them are actual cartoons - Daddy Warbucks, Scrooge McDuck, C. Montgomery Burns.”

“My wife's name, Rebecca Lobo, is on sandwiches and street signs in New England. It adorns the arena rafters at the University of Connecticut, where she first became a basketball star. Her high school in Massachusetts is on Rebecca Lobo Way, a nice trump card to play at reunions.”

“As a kid, I always had my nose buried in the side of a cereal box.”

“Recording shows for later viewing is what TV types call 'time-shifting.' It's a beguiling idea.”

“Hurricane Irene's advance coverage was heavy on worst-case scenarios. Thank goodness they didn't pan out.”

“History is not just written by the winners; it's written about them.”

“Years ago, children helped my brother search for his lost ball at Jackson Park Golf Course in Chicago - and even offered to sell it back to him on the next tee. That entrepreneurial spirit, on the site of the 1893 World's Fair - which introduced Cracker Jacks to the United States - exemplifies America, to say nothing of American public golf.”

“Swish: A made basket. Swoosh: The Nike logo. Swish-swoosh, swish-swoosh, swish-swoosh: A thousand coaches in nylon tracksuits, walking through hotel lobbies at the Final Four.”

“I'm an unabashed sports photo fanboy, the kind of weirdo who seeks out the infinitesimal picture credits.”

“When you go on a road trip, the trip itself becomes part of the story.”

“The phrase 'NFL combine' always sounds redundant, because the league is a combine harvester, reaping and threshing everything in its path.”

“Baseball consists of a million threads of dullness, on a loom of ennui, woven into a tapestry of tedium.”

“In golf, a wedge issue means just that: You can't hit your sand wedge, or your lob wedge needs to be regrooved. In politics, a wedge issue is more serious still: It's one that splits the electorate, dividing voters along ideological fault lines.”

“I'd happily cover the British Open every year until St. Andrews slides into the sea or Scotland runs out of beer, whichever happens first.”

“As good as NFL Films is at making players human, it's even better at making players superhuman. No Hollywood studio has made movies that are more grand or gorgeous. Every meticulous shot of 'Hard Knocks' is a vision: every slow-motion spiral, every shaved head steaming like a Manhattan manhole cover.”

“Golf balls are sweet: dimpled and sometimes even smiling.”