In Between Angry Tweets, Buzz Bissinger Wrote a Book

Father’s Day shows another side of Philly’s crankiest writer.

Buzz Bissinger can be a major lout. It’s a funny thing to say about the best writer in the city, but few who know him would disagree. It’s doubtful even he’d object. I once criticized something he wrote for the Daily News that struck me as beneath his formidable talent. He shot me an email that said: “ … what you wrote was a gratuitous cheap shot that you tried to mitigate with faint praise. Maybe the best writer in the city? Gee thanks. Such a big honor.”

Daily News Sportswriter Mark Kram’s New Book Draws on Philly Experience

The People’s Paper shaped the way Kram wrote and reported the heartbreaking story of an injured high school quarterback.

Mark Kram, Jr., who writes about sports as his day job, has a new book, his first. It’s called Like Any Normal Day. It’s nonfiction, a story he first reported for his newspaper, and though sports provide the context it’s really about the cruel twist of fate. It’s a story so rife with moments of heartbreak you want to take a knee.

Hot Chicks in Underpants

What kind of stories drives traffic? Wanna bet this is one?

I just watched a video of a woman showing off her apartment in her underpants. It was titled “Me and My Place.” It was handsomely shot and cleverly edited. Music by Spiritualized played in the background. I like the music of Spiritualized. The woman in the underpants was Carly Craig. She’s an actress. She’s in that new Three Stooges movie.

Doug Collins’s Fall From Glory

This time last year, Philadelphia magazine called him the "Sixers Savior." Oops.

A year ago, almost to the day, I profiled Doug Collins for Philadelphia magazine. The story was titled “Doug Collins, Sixer Savior.” The subhead asked: “How did he turn around the most wretched sports franchise in town?” Love. Honestly. Love was the answer.

20th Street’s Good Samaritan

Next time you run out of gas in Center City, look for the man with the reindeer.

My car went suddenly dead as I turned the corner at Chestnut onto 20^th. It was rush hour. I turned the ignition. It wanted to start, it sounded like it would, but it just wouldn’t. I tried again. Nothing. And again.

Bring Back the Draft

Stop the war in Afghanistan.

How you feeling about that war in Afghanistan these days? Ready to sign up for duty? Afghanistan is the war no one covers much, the war that rarely comes up in presidential debates, the war being fought in the rural hills and mountains of a country with a corrupt government a bazillion miles from here, the war with an enemy that specializes in sleight of hand, the war where nothing is ever as it seems or like anything we’ve ever seen.

10 Reasons Why the New York Times Is Worth the Dough

For quality journalism, 35 bucks a month is chump change.

Yesterday the New York Times announced that it will cut back the number of articles it allows nonsubscribers to read free, from 20 a month to 10. After 10 reads, the site will prompt the reader to sign up for a subscription. I know what you’re thinking. There will be ways to sneak around, under and over the NYT wall. Right you are, Sherlock.

What the Heck Is Happening to the Daily News?

Two teenagers are killed by automatic weapons and People’s Paper leads with naked yoga.

This past Tuesday, the Daily News put a picture of a woman on their front page. The woman was wearing a big smile and nothing else.

Gingrich and Santorum Don’t Represent Real Catholics

Don’t let two famous extremists degrade your opinion of Catholicism.

No Catholic I know, whatever their feelings about the canon of righteousness they were imbued with as a kid, is in any mood to stand up for the wonders of Catholicism these days. You can thank widespread perversion, a pervasive cover-up and the arrogance of Church power for that. You probably heard tell of it.