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January 2026 The NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers went 0-14 in their debut 1976 season. During the campaign, a reporter asked Tampa Bay head coach John McKay about his team’s execution — in reply, he delivered this quick-witted quip: “I’m in favor of it.” Safe to say, the reporter was asking how the Bucs were executing the coach’s strategy. Instead, McKay answered based on another meaning of the term…

Is God solely to blame for evil and human suffering — or do we mere humans share the blame? And given the questions that our pain and tragedies raise, who has the answer — better yet, who IS the answer? Perhaps Allen Iverson​ aka AI ... or perhaps another MVP — this poem explores these profound yet simple questions.

February 2025 You know it’s so that You Are the answer — despite what Allen Iverson’s tattoo declares — if what the heavens say is true: Still, do you have an answer, oh Chancer, for every human question? Why cancer? Why AIDS? Why bubonic plague? Why bird flu? Why 9/11? And why World War II? You know how whys multiply, Cross-Dancer — yet whys also simplify and reduce: For if we so-called wise…

​January 2024Featuring names from across the world of sports • “What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness” ― John Steinbeck • “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: If we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome” — Anne Bradstreet • “Summer friends will melt away like summer snows, but winter friends are…

Have you ever tried to catch lightning — how about fireflies?

• ​November 2023 ​+++ Fireflies light mind-and-heart reminiscence,​ ​nightlife aglow with wonder at Grammy​ ​and Pop-Pop’s countryside abode — condense​ ​dazzling amazement in solitary​ ​sonnet? Impossible — yet let’s still tr​y: Chasing the lightning in one-acre yard,​ ​catching the bright mites by crook as they fly —​ ​place brilliant critters in punctured Ball jar​ ​to be luminous sentries…

Featuring names from across the world of sports • In the name of love — what more in the name of love? —Pride: In The Name Of Love — song by U2 • Deny thy father and refuse thy name … ’Tis but thy name that is my enemy … O, be some other name … What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet. … doff thy name and, for thy name, which is no part of thee, take all…

Can a Trip to the Bathroom Inspire a Poem?

CAN A TRIP TO THE BATHROOM inspire a poem — and is poetry intended only for English classes and so-called boring textbooks? To find out, you’re invited to read this newest post from A Slow Life in the FAST Lane: • Let’s get this clear — the best poetry isn’t meant for English-major types and literary elites, but rather for everyone — after all, I believe every human being is a living story and…

Birth-Celebrating + Birthday Poem #2 +++ Slightly less emphatically than her bro (As ounces go) she appeared gracefully In my still-broken life with angel’s glow Befitting a daughter’s birth on hotly Contested, oh-blazing-like-sages day For the ages. From cradle, sensitive As springtime sky and summer-wild bouquet And autumn sun. Ice-like competitive Too — revealed as she grew and played on…

FAST Sonnets in Cyberspace #1​5​

A Birth-Celebrating + Birthday Poem +++ He entered my still-broken world one bright Winter morn — ten pounds of emphatic boy, Wrapped sure in swaddling clothes of our delight, Incarnate miracle — tidings of joy! With newborn’s cries a symphony to start A trio, I held you — and your wailing Ceased as you rested close to your Dad’s heart. But memories of a father’s failing Sail along with newfound…

FAST Sonnets in Cyberspace #14

A Wedding Poem +++ “With this ring I wed thee,” we pledged that day When diamond-vow made moons before our sun Gave cause to rise — we gave our lives away, By holy stream and forest wise undone. Un-secure I felt, undone still — sunset Vision, a beauty framed in brilliant light Descends from virgin clouds — can I forget Memory’s haunting dreams of son-sad night? Oh, still my hope of home, like…

FAST Blast: Derek Redmond’s extraordinary Olympic story

THE FOLLOWING ESSAY launched this faith-and-sports blog in August 2012, during the London Olympics. Nine years later, we’ve entered a COVID-Olympic time warp — in apparently unprecedented fashion, the Olympic Games are occurring in an odd-numbered year. Welcome to the 2020 + 2021 Tokyo Olympics — and I hope you enjoy the new version of this embryonic classic from A Slow Life in the FAST Lane ……

FAST Blast: Reflecting on unprecedented virus

Posted — 31 January 2021 A year ago, when 2020 began, who could have predicted that a year later facemasks would be an ongoing medical fashion accessory in response to a global pandemic? This blog post is a revised version of an essay I first published in Today Magazine, the news vehicle I produce as publisher and editor-in-chief. Today Magazine covers the heart of Connecticut’s Farmington Valley…

FAST Sonnets in Cyberspace #13

A CHRISTMAS SONNET Ancient sages perceived emerging star, Sought King they knew not, souls ablaze — yearning For goal of heart’s wandering — babe from afar Found, night’s mute sky-speech lending true learning. Two thousand years, wisdom’s cry is the same: Bright starfields and warm earth-haven reveal Royal design and seal, speak sovereign name — Such a King comes calling, all wise men…

A Sonnet in Honor of George Floyd + Other Victims of Racial Injustice Across American History + Police Who Grieve Such Violence and Protect and Serve Citizens of All Races

A Sonnet in Honor of George Floyd + Other Victims of Racial Injustice Across American History + Police Who Grieve Such Horrifying Violence and Serve Citizens of All Races

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Does righteous rage burn and cleanse in the hearts Of all my Afri-friends? Forebears beckoned Here, captive cargo … see how hope departs From Africa on spectral ships — reckoned Three-fifths human by court’s supreme cruelty…

FAST Fiction: Fall Classic Dream State #11 — Once upon a couch, I was home watching the pregame show before Game 5 of the 2000 World Series ... but I fell asleep just before the first pitch, and soon I began to dream

“I still have a dream … I have a dream today.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

Here in my heart there’s a dream that’s unbroken And it gets in my way, but it won’t be denied. Oh, here in my heart, the door is still open Waiting for you to walk into my life. — Chicago • American rock band

• Fall Classic Dream State:  Part 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10

Once upon a couch, I was home watching the…

All-Name Teams — featuring names from across the world of sports • IN HONOR OF LEAP YEAR 2020: All-Time Team + All-Day Team

Featuring names from across the world of sports

IN HONOR OF LEAP YEAR 2020

February 29th: A birthday so awesome that the world can only handle it once every four years! — Internet meme

The seasons change their manners, as the year Had found some months asleep, and leapt them over. — William Shakespeare • Henry IV

That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. — Neil Armstrong

All-…