It's true, the Olympics bring out a weird, latent interest in sports in me. Not sure why.
I know why I eagerly followed the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, a city I adore and to which I feel connected; a place where I have family and friends. But why do the summer games in Beijing interest someone who really loves only baseball and soccer and rarely even watches those sports on TV?
Maybe it's the spectacle, maybe it's the fact that during the Olympics we see the absolute international masters of the respective sports. There's excitement, there's drama and there's always top-notch performances. Maybe it's just that "Olympic fever" is infectious.
Whatever the reason, for the last week, I've watched the Americans wallop all comers in women's beach volleyball and I've watched more swim races than perhaps in 40 years previous. I've even seen a little cycling. I've seen gymnastics with women and men doing the most amazing and unlikely things. My son needed to see just five minutes of the gymnastics to spend the following week tumbling and jumping, "like the girls on TV."
Perhaps due to my TV-viewing schedule and my lack of cable -- and likely also due to the schedule of the games -- I haven't seen a real wide variety of sports, but I know they're playing soccer, basketball, fencing, archery, table tennis, table-less tennis, shooting, weightlifting, horse-riding and other events, too. If they appear on my screen some night in the next couple weeks, I'll probably watch them, too.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
