Michael Olesker

Tough Times for American Newspapers, Even in Baltimore

by Michael Olesker | May 23, 2018 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

Michael Pakenham, the former book editor of the Baltimore Sun, died the other day, at 85. The Sunday book page, which he handled for years with wit and intelligence, preceded him into death by about a decade. So it goes in the newspaper business these forlorn days....

Could State-Sanctioned Gambling Impact Professional Sports at Large?

by Michael Olesker | May 21, 2018 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

Last week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling opening the door to state-sanctioned gambling on ballgames leaves many of us with a question: When it comes to sports, do we want to follow our money or our hearts? Sports are built on emotion, are they not? Those kids out on the...

Supreme Court Ruling Could Have Consequences for Pimlico

by Michael Olesker | May 16, 2018 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

Maybe it’s a long shot, and maybe it’s just “Preakness Fever” addling our brains, but some of us are wondering if this week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling on sports betting might turn out to be a late-hour death sentence reprieve for Pimlico Race Course. As...

Kamenetz Understood the Need for Building Bridges, Not Walls

by Michael Olesker | May 14, 2018 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

When the awful news arrived suddenly last week about Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, I immediately telephoned Ted Venetoulis to commiserate. The two men had a friendship, both personal and political. But now Kamenetz was gone, a fit, youthful 60, and...

The Orioles’ 2018 Season Appears to be Prematurely Over

by Michael Olesker | May 9, 2018 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

Are we all agreed that the Baltimore Orioles’ 2018 season seems to be over when it’s barely even begun? This is written the morning after Dylan Bundy – the great young hope, the wunderkind, the alleged ace of the Orioles’ starting pitching staff – becomes the...

Report on Black America is a Wake-Up Call

by Michael Olesker | May 7, 2018 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

In news that got scant national coverage since everyone’s so obsessed about the latest clunkers to come out of Rudy Giuliani’s mouth, the National Urban League last week issued a report called “The State of Black America” that ought to serve as a wake-up call but...

Diversity was the Real Education at City College Back in ’63

by Michael Olesker | May 2, 2018 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

Fifty-five years since the Baltimore City College class of June 1963 – my class – took its final leave from the place we called “the Castle on the Hill,” we’re set to gather this weekend, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Pikesville, to say hello again to old...

Will Pimlico Be Around for the Long Run?

by Michael Olesker | May 1, 2018 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

Sixty years ago this spring, when thoroughbred horse racing still called itself the “Sport of Kings” with a straight face, Preakness Day at Pimlico Race Course drew 35,000 spectators. They dressed up like movie stars and blew their money betting on the legendary...

Even Undertakers Can’t Keep Up with a Dying ‘Charm City’

by Michael Olesker | Apr 30, 2018 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker, Uncategorized

Eighteen months ago, I took a little trip down “Memory Lane” — otherwise known as lower Park Heights Avenue — from Garrison Avenue by the old Pimlico branch of the Pratt Library down to Park Circle, where we once found the delights of Carlin’s...

Selling Home is no Breeze for Baseball’s ‘Iron Man’

by Michael Olesker | Apr 25, 2018 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

I’m saving all of my pennies to purchase Cal Ripken Jr.’s old home park. Not Oriole Park, and certainly not the long-vanished Memorial Stadium, both of which Cal called home for so long, but the estate that resembles a national park, out there in Reisterstown, where...