Category: Friendships

The Los Angeles Lakers vs. the Boston Celtics. Magic vs. Bird. The glitz of Hollywood vs. a working-class city. East vs. West. An intensely private figure against one admired and revered for his warmth. Despite countless factors, the friendship between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird shows how opposite personalities can become good friends.  This next post in my series, New Year; New Types of Friends is another example of a friendship in sports; this time from a team sport of basketball. In most cases, teammates need to blend well, think like each other, and work well in tandem. In many cases, opposite personalities will blend together easily. Sometimes, they will clash. Occasionally –though not always, they fit together to bring tremendous success to a team. In the case of Magic and Larry, these two polar opposites found a common bond which led to a great friendship long after their playing

This current subset in my series, New Year; New Types of Friends is about friendships from the world of sports. This next post is about boxers, Joe Louis and Max Schmeling. Similar to The Unlikely Friendship of Jesse Owens and Luz Long, the matches between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling symbolized racial and political differences. But their rivalry never came between their friendship. As you will read later in the post, their friendship created both a paradox in sports economics and a paradox in a friendship. About Joe Louis Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981) was an African-American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed the “Brown Bomber,” Louis is one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. Louis had the longest single reign as champion of any boxer in history. He reigned as the world heavyweight champion from 1937 until his

As I began drafting the next post in my series, New Year; New Types of Friends, the 2020 Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Course was in full swing (pun intended!). During Thursday’s first round, the Golf Channel showed a three-part film titled, Arnie, about one of golf’s greatest icons: Arnold Palmer. It is a fitting tribute to Palmer’s life and legacy, along with the relationship with his legions of fans affectionately known as “Arnie’s Army.” The film reminded me that every man – not just a legendary golfer, needs an army of close buddies or what you might call his inner circle of friends.   Arnie: the Film The opening words set the direction of this film: “How do you tell the story of a life — that’s larger than life?” starts Tom Selleck, “Someday, years, even decades” — or centuries from now — “they’ll hear the name