Category: Nonfiction

Washington Weekend in Review

David A. F. SweetLeave a comment

Thoughts about traveling to Washington, D.C. on a warm weekend in May:

–Southwest Airlines is quite efficient at getting you to your destination on time, but then it’s usually a 20-minute wait for your bag.

–Metro still has the same flashing lights on the ground to announce incoming trains as it did 40 years ago.

–Fun to find out D.C. museums on the whole — from the National Gallery of Art to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History — are free. And interesting to learn that James Smithson, whose munificence created the Smithsonian buildings, never visited the United States but left his fortune to the country.

–The Tabard Inn is still as cozy and charming as always. I lived there 40 years ago for two weeks while working for a Congressman, and I’ve always had a special fondness for it.

What I Discovered While Traveling to New York City

David A. F. SweetLeave a comment

By David A. F. Sweet

Random thoughts as the pandemic ends and travel returns to normal in April 2022:

— Though American Airlines no longer requires masks, mask wearers comprised about half of the travelers in my unscientific survey at an American Airlines gate at O’Hare Airport.

— Chided myself for forgetting to charge my laptop, but with the help of a fellow passenger with better vision, found an outlet in front of us.

— American Airlines coffee is strong; tastes better than Southwest Airlines joe.

— La Guardia Terminal B is amazing – looks like a museum.

— Love the Sloan all-in-one sink, with soap, water and a hand dryer.

— The Warwick Hotel in Manhattan has Old World charm at reasonable prices. A bellhop will push your elevator button for you in the lobby

— Speaking of elevators, wearing a Cubs’ shirt in a New York hotel elevator is a good way to meet people.

— The Statue of Liberty doubles as a lighthouse.

Refusing the Silver Medal

David A. F. SweetLeave a comment

Kenny Davis and his teammates will never accept the basketball silver medal after corruption marred the Olympic gold-medal game. Read more from Louisville’s Courier-Journal below and in my book Three Seconds in Munich. https://www.courier-journal.com/story/sports/2021/07/23/kenny-davis-still-refuses-silver-medal-from-1972-olympics/8004177002/

The Knicks Were Hopeless — in 2007

David A. F. SweetLeave a comment

Amid all of the end-of-the-decade rumblings about the NBA, everyone talks about how bad the New York Knicks were from 2010-2019. Well, let me take you back to a previous decade, where things may have even been worse.
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/22207474/ns/business-sports_biz/t/mismanagement-once-mighty-knicks/#.XgtZB0dKiF4

Three Seconds in Munich

David A. F. SweetLeave a comment

My second book will be published Sept. 1. What’s it about? The most controversial finish in the history of sports.

The U.S. basketball team had won 63 games in a row in the Olympics. In 1972, against its Cold War rival, the Soviet Union, the United States won the gold medal game two times. But each time the head of international basketball defied the rules and ordered that 3 seconds be put on the clock to give the Soviets a chance.

The U.S. lost by a point on the final play, and the players became the only Olympic athletes ever to reject their medals – and they have continued to reject them nearly 50 years later.

E-mail me at dafsweet@aol.com if you would like a signed copy shipped to you. Or you can order a copy here:
https://lnkd.in/epqY5AB