Salon.com > Mark Miller

Julie Krone

Tue, 19 Dec 2000 20:00:00 +0000

In 1968, Kathy Kusner went to court to become a jockey in America. That same year, Penny Ann Early was ignored when she tried to get a mount at Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby. Jockey Barbara Jo Rubin's trailer was stoned in 1969. In those days most female riders became regulars at small tracks and never made a mark on big-time racing. Trainers and horse owners didn't think the "gentler sex" could handle the brutal, 1,200-pound beasts.

Then Julie Krone came along. At 4-foot-10 and 100 pounds, tiny even for a jockey (average size: 5-foot-3 and 110 pounds), the energetic blond with the high-pitched voice became the world's winningest female jockey and the only woman ever inducted into thoroughbred racing's Hall of Fame.

In a career that spanned 18 years Krone won 3,545 races and more than $81 million in purses. By the time she retired in 1999, she had put 17 percent of her mounts into the winner's circle. Kusner, Early and Rubin had paved the way for all the firsts in Krone's career, including first woman to ride in the Belmont Stakes and first woman to win a jockey championship at a major racetrack, among other distinctions.

Ted Williams

Tue, 24 Oct 2000 19:56:00 +0000

At 1999's All-Star Game at Fenway Park in Boston, Major League Baseball showcased its All-Century team. It was expected to be a sweet history lesson for baseball fans, a reminder of the names and stats of yesteryear. But it turned into an almost religious experience the second Ted Williams rolled onto the field in a golf cart.

Today's baseball biggies -- Ken Griffey Jr., Cal Ripken Jr., Mark McGwire -- gathered around Williams, basking in their hero's glow. Each wanted his own special moment with the last man ever to bat .400, and many, including Williams, were moved to tears. No one wanted to leave the field.

"It was kind of funny," Boston shortstop Nomar Garciaparra told the Associated Press. "When the announcer asked everybody to go back to the dugout, everybody said no. It didn't matter. What time was the first pitch? Nobody cared."

Why did Williams -- more than Yogi Berra, Sandy Koufax or Mike Schmidt, who were also on the field that night -- inspire such an emotional tribute? Look to his full-throttle energy, his stated dedication to being "the greatest hitter who ever lived" and the clear drive he had to make it so; his absolute refusal to bow to media pressure and the fact that when Williams makes a promise -- to himself or others -- you better believe he's going to follow through on it. And don't forget his nearly mythic status as one of the game's wildest characters.

Ka-ching! The World Monopoly Championship

Fri, 20 Oct 2000 13:34:00 +0000

Forget the Olympic Games. The most inclusive international quadrennial competition is the World Monopoly Championship. After all, more than 500 million people worldwide have played the game -- a tad more than are involved in, say, competitive trampoline. Toronto hosts the 11th such event this weekend.

America's chances rest with 21-year-old national champ Matt Gissel, a laid-back university student majoring in biochemistry. The United States hasn't had a world titlist since 1973. Starting Saturday, Gissel goes up against the current world champion, 40-year-old Christopher Woo, a teacher from Hong Kong, and more than 30 other national champions. The youngest is a 14-year-old from Trinidad and Tobago and the oldest is a 53-year-old father of three from Spain.

Monopoly, invented in 1933, came to fame during the Depression as American families lived vicariously through the world of Uncle Milton Pennybags, the game's mascot (who, according to game manufacturer Hasbro, collects pennies, avoids the luxury tax and enjoys strolling on Boardwalk).

Tommy Lasorda

Tue, 17 Oct 2000 19:37:00 +0000

It's a wonder Tommy Lasorda didn't spontaneously combust while he was in Sydney guiding the U.S. baseball team to its first gold medal in three attempts.

"I have tasted it all! Manager of the year! Sixty-three playoff games! Two world championships! The Hall of Fame! And there's nothing bigger than this! Nothing!" Lasorda crowed, even before Team Tommy had won the big one. "This is bigger than the World Series! This is bigger than the Dodgers! This is bigger than Major League Baseball!"

Bigger than the league you've given most of your 73 years to? Bigger than the team you've spent nearly a half-century with as a player, scout, coach, manager and now VP of Whatever You Want To Do? Don't even try to stop the Tommy train: Moments after trouncing the Cubans 4-0 in the gold-medal game, he proclaimed, "When the Dodgers win a championship, the Dodgers fans were happy. Today, the United States of America is happy!"

What he didn't know, of course, was that most Americans hadn't bothered to tune in to the 27th Olympiad, so they probably had no idea that he was even involved in another one of his huge upset victories.

A conversation with Rickie Lee Jones

Mon, 16 Oct 2000 17:16:00 +0000

Rickie Lee Jones doesn't like the telephone. And she's not a big fan of interviews either. She finds the process "very unrealistic, superficial" and trying. "Doing interviews about ME-ME-ME," she says, "is not what I consider part of my job." So you can imagine how she feels about phone interviews.

Jones is, however, cool with e-mail. She likes its unobtrusive, literary quality. "I can get my thoughts across," she says, "with relative ease." And since she's also fond of communication and experimentation, she agrees to have a conversation with me via e-mail -- with one caveat: no clichid questions.

Jones has never run with the pack. In 1979, when her eponymous debut disc hit record stores with its jazzy, stripped-down folk, the airwaves were busy getting down to quite a different sound: "YMCA," "Ring My Bell," "We Are Family." Still, she scored a No. 4 hit with "Chuck E.'s in Love," her most well-known song to date. Critics hailed her as a pop heroine, and she snagged the best new artist Grammy that year, beating out the Knack, the Blues Brothers, Dire Straits and comedian Robin Williams.