Monthly Archives: October 2008

Nicole Sanchez, Maui photographer extraordinaire, e-mailed me some shots from my day of stand-up paddling with the Fabulous Maui Surfer Girls. She’s clearly a fantastic lenswoman, because she made me look like a pro …

First, I had the honor of taking a lesson from Maria Souza, who runs her own paddle surfing school in Maui and is one of the badass chicks surfing Jaws I mentioned in my last post. (And who considers a 40-mile paddle “fun.”) We start by warming up our shoulders (and our balance!) on the beach …

They say when you spend too much time in Hawaii, you start to suffer from the effects of “Hawaiian time”. Meaning, nothing seems too pressing or important when there are more important things, like surfing or barbecuing, on the agenda. I will use this as my excuse for not writing a blog since returning from Maui.

I was in Maui to spend time with Clay Marzo, a fascinating 19-year-old surfer we will be featuring in the magazine soon. This is, without a doubt, one of the most interesting stories I’ve worked on, and I feel privileged to get to tell his story. Hopefully this will be the first of many pieces I write on Clay. Stay tuned.

Last night, I made my first trip to Dodger stadium to watch game 3 of the NLCS. I immediately fell in love with the 46-year-old ballpark (now the third-oldest in MLB). It is intimate, friendly … and has palm trees. (My favorite form of foliage.)

The fans were another story. I know playoff baseball can get ugly, but I quickly tired of witnessing the mistreatment of the few dedicated Phillies fans who showed up sporting their red and white. Two drunk men in Dodgers gear picked out Jamie Moyer’s sons and harassed them all the way back to their seats. A Phils fan in the right field seats had his hat stolen and thrown into left field … twice. The ump had to stop play to walk over, pick it up and return it to the stands. (The LA fans thought Manny might want it as a souvenir.)

When I meet new people and tell them what I do for a living, most times I am asked this question within the first few minutes: “Have you always been into sports?” It’s usually women who ask the question, and most often it is women who are not big sports fans themselves. I think they find it unusual that a girl (me) who seems so much like them has a passion for something totally off their radar. When I reply that yes, I have always been into sports, both as an athlete and as a fan, I’m usually hit with this follow-up: So, your dad was a big sports fan?