John Feinstein's latest book, Moment of Glory

Today I enjoyed my mother's day gift, with Brad, at the Hay-Adams Hotel Rooftop Terrace. It was an outstanding lunch of cold cucumber soup, followed by linguine, steamed green beans, carrot and baby turnips and fresh Halibut. A perfectly paired white wine (so wish I would have taken pictures of the food and wine, drives Brad a little crazy but well worth it in moments like this, ha ha). The dessert was a pistachio strawberry tart that Brad said he would have licked the plate had we not been in public, (me too). So, after a great lunch like that and a view like this;


we get Mr. Tony Kornheiser himself, introducing John Feinstein. I thought it was a good introduction. I had always wanted to see Tony up close, and yes, indeed, he is tall. But the introduction, for as long as he and John had been friends was kind of personal and yet not personal. I love listening to him on the radio every day and thoroughly enjoy him with Wilbon on PTI; I feel like he connects on those mediums, but in person it was not like I had always expected. (Don't get me wrong, had I been given the chance to meet him and shake his hand I would have gotten all giggly, but not like when I meet a pro football player -stay tuned for that report later this summer at the Pro Football HOF Induction).

So, I thought I was jazzed for the 'Mr. Tony experience' since I know John Feinstein from masters swimming. But in the end it was really the author and his new book, Moment of Glory, that had the WOW factor and was outstanding. John wove a tale of his experience writing Season on the Brink, his first book about Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers, the golf books from Q School to Tom Watson's best friend and caddy, Bruce Edwards, and his time writing about tennis and the prima donnas that play it. He finished by talking about the 'shiver moment' which is what the four winners of four golf majors had in 2003 in his new book. Listening to him talk about those moments reminded me of mine, when I knew as I made the last turn in the 200 free at World Masters Games in 2002 that I was going to win my first world championship. It reminded me of why I love to compete and why I love to win and how it feels. I can't wait to start this new book he wrote.

He finished by talking about another of his first books, The Civil War, about the midshipmen and cadets of the US Naval Academy and West Point and their traditional football game. He is a true historian of sports and his memory of the people he meets along the way is amazing. John Feinstein wrote another great book, I hope you take the time to read it. More importantly it reminded me that swimmers, in general, are really interesting and fun people with a lot of different talents. It was just a really fun afternoon with Brad and a wonderful opportunity to see John again, share a few words, meet his fiance and remind me how many great people there are from the world of swimming. Do I hope he writes a book on swimming some day? Of course! I think it would be interesting to see if he could do it weaving a tale of masters swimmers and how they got to the point in their lives that they wanted and needed to get back in the pool to complete unfinished business and start a new chapter in their career as athletes. Or maybe he can find a way to write about that hottie Ryan Lochte.
Here is John and me at the luncheon: