Author Archives: Pete Martin

Seven years ago today? No one in my family died. My home wasn’t destroyed. Nothing happened to me. Others weren’t so lucky. There was a time I was ashamed to recount my experience on September 11, 2001. I felt I had nothing to share. I was a blessed bystander at the site of astonishing suffering »

There was a time when the world was normal. When people and things and events existed in regular shapes, sizes and manners. No more. Sports fans around the world got to see a summer of extremes. Athletic greatness, which has been redefined so many times in recent years, soared even higher this summer alongside the »

We’re at the end of the year, and I’m at the end of my time in this space. I’m grateful for the opportunity I had to write here and for the responses I received from readers all year. In this final column, I want to answer two readers who took the time to share their »

This has been a tough year for Yale. In trying times, sports are enjoyable entertainment and valuable diversions. And the lighter side of sports is even more refreshing when relief is so welcome. This year alone has seen death threats that forced a student off campus, several tragic car accidents, multiple instances of offensive graffiti »

See the Pope at second base! No joke, the Yankee Stadium crowd and millions watching on TV will get to see his Holiness take the infield this Sunday. But he’s not displacing the second baseman — he’s celebrating Mass. The Pontiff is doing the ballpark tour I’ve always wanted to do. The next week he’ll »

With the world scheduled to arrive in Beijing for the Olympics in a few months, China’s abuses of human rights cannot go ignored. Other countries and their citizens must figure out how to voice concerns about the host country, and we at Yale should raise questions about the University’s friendship with China in the run-up »

As Yale accepted another class of students this week, I thought back to when I was an applicant, and to my college essay. I remembered again that I’m here thanks to 500 words I wrote about baseball statistics. In my essay, I detailed how my appreciation for statistical analysis had helped me grow and what »

My governor resigned over spring break after The New York Times revealed that he had slept with a prostitute. Within days, his replacement admitted to affairs and cocaine use. Although the scandal shocked the political world and dominated the news for a week, I remembered that political scandals are rarely as scandalous as those in »

New Haven is no man’s land — a misnomer, maybe, but still the best term we have for a city caught in the middle of a heated border dispute. In fact, all of Connecticut is a battleground. The dominant power to the south and the challenger to the north fight constantly for control over the »

When I was five or six and it was time to learn to ride my bicycle without training wheels, my grandfather held the seat of my bike and steadied me as I pedaled around the cul-de-sac in front of his house. I have a vague memory of the moment I pulled away from him and »

Two years ago this week, a neighbor stopped me on our block and pulled out a piece of paper, on which was printed a quotation: “It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the »

There’s a great soap opera story unfolding this week. It’s got friendship and betrayal, crime and lies, and now even spouses are involved. It’s being broadcast on TV, but the characters are real people. You can catch the proceedings on C-SPAN, since it’s taking place in the halls of the United States Congress. When it’s »