A Farewell to Arms, Legs, and Jockstraps: A Sportswriter's Memoir

by Diane K. Shah

Overview

Strike fast, strike hard—whether it's scoring a homerun or front-page news, Diane K. Shah, former sports columnist, knows how to grab the best story.

In her memoir A Farewell to Arms, Legs, and Jockstraps, follow Diane's escapades, from interviews with a tipsy Mickey Mantle, to sneaking into off-limits Republican galas, dining with Frank Sinatra, flying a plane with Dennis Quaid, and countless other adventures where she wields her tape recorder and a tireless drive for more.

From skirting KGB agents while covering the Cold War Olympics to hunting down the three mechanical sharks starring in Jaws, Diane's experiences are filled with real heart and a tongue-in-cheek attitude. An insightful look into the difficulties of navigating a male-dominated profession, A Farewell to Arms, Legs, and Jockstraps offers rich retellings and behind-the-scenes details of stories of a trail-blazing career and the prejudices facing female sportswriters during the 60s and 70s.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684351152
Publisher:	Indiana University Press (Ips)
Publication date:	04/28/2020
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Diane K. Shah is a former journalist and the first female sports columnist for a major daily newspaper. During her career she has written for The New York Times, Newsweek, GQ, Playboy, and Esquire. She is the author of four mystery novels and author (with Daryl Gates) of Chief: My Life in the LAPD, a New York Times bestseller, and Relentless, photographer Neil Leifer's memoir. She lives in New York City.

Read an Excerpt

Call Me "Tolerated"
I was early, obviously.
Through the open ballroom doors, I could see a handful of men seated at round banquet tables covered with starched white cloths. I consulted my watch again. 6:03 p.m.
I had checked into the hotel maybe an hour before and, after dropping off my suitcase in my room, rode the elevator down to the second floor to pick up my credentials. There had been a bit of a fuss when I had phoned a week earlier to request them. The man I spoke to had put me on hold, presumably to consult a higher authority, then finally came back on the line and said, "hell, why not?"
Even so, I worried they might give me a hard time when I showed up. I was wrong. I was handed my credentials for the All-Star Game and told, with a chuckle, "Well, this is a first." The man then gave me a goody bag. I carried it to the lobby and sat down, hoping to see a familiar face, someone I could have dinner with. The thought of eating a room-service meal by myself was depressing.
I opened the goody bag and began pawing through it. The contents made me smile. A Gillette razor, a pack of razor blades, a tie-pin, men's deodorant, a pen and . . . wait, what was this? A square, sealed envelope.
I tore it open. Inside, was an invitation to a dinner that evening for sportswriters and the baseball players selected for the game to be played the next night. Salvation! No room-service meal after all, I thought I re-read the invitation. The dinner was called for 6 p.m.
I checked my watch. It was 5:45. I hurried back to my room and grabbed a reporter's notebook. This would be fun! I could chat with other sportswriters, meet some ballplayers and maybe extract a colorful quote or two. Pausing in front of the mirror, I ran a comb through my long, dark hair, applied pink lipstick and studied the navy cotton dress I had on; it was wrinkled, but it would have to do.
Now, as I was about to step into the ballroom, a man standing off to the left quickly intercepted me. He gave me an unwelcome look. "This is a private dinner," he announced. "Sorry."
I pasted on my best smile. "This is the Baseball Writers' dinner, right?"
"Yes. Obviously, you have the wrong ballroom."
"No, I have the right ballroom." I made a move to enter.
He moved with me. "I can't allow you in."
I put away my smile and pulled the invitation from my purse. "I'm invited."
He barely glanced at the invitation. "Clearly, there's been a mistake. This dinner is stag. Women are not allowed."
"I'm allowed. I'm a writer with The National Observer. I'm here for the All-Star Game and this invitation was given to me."
"It shouldn't have been."

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

1. Call Me "Tolerated"
2. Can't Hire a Girl for That!
3. I Didn't Fall Far from the Tree
4. This Was My . . . Hero?
5. Pots, Pans and Me
6. Taming the Green Monster
7. Back at the Ranch
8. My Seven-Dollar Formal Gown
9. Where Is That Damn Shark?
10. Ladies Home Journal, Miss?
11. A Hat and a Purple Note Card
12. "I Am My Arm"
13. Moving On
14. Into the Woods with Butch Cassidy
15. If I Ever See That Girl Again, I'll Spit in Her Face
16. I Wanna Make It Whichoo
17. Mickey Mantle (Again)
18. The Her-Ex
19. What Does a Columnist Do Again?
20. Hey, Kareem! I'm Talking to You!
21. Lunch with the Ladies
22. Georgia Out of Her Mind
23. Dueling with The New York Times
24. The Rednecks Come Calling
25. "What on Earth Is the Matter with the Men in This Town?"
26. Inside Enemy Territory
27. Angels in the Locker Room
28. "I Don't Need This Fucking Job"
29. Marcus, Slow Down!
30. Pass-Rushing Houseplants?
31. I Always Feel That . . . Somebody's Watching Me
32. The Accidental Invitation
33. Up Yours, Steve!
34. The Bully of Baseball
35. Breaking and Entering
36. Coach Fashionista
37. A Word about David Letterman
38. Wherefore Art?
39. The Dreaded Balcony
40. And Then I Was Gone
41. The Man Every Man Wants To Be
42. Quick! Hide Your Hand!
43. The Enigma
44. How to Fly an Airplane: Step 1
45. Newman Again, Really?
46. Lose Your Gun, Chief!
47. The KGB and Me
48. The Moscow Police and Me
49. Some Things Don't Change, Part I
50. Some Things Don't Change, Part II
51. Some Things Don't Change, Part III

What People are Saying About This

Ken Gurnick

"Diane's memoir is just like her columns – smart, funny, enlightening - just like her. Until reading it, I never really knew all the challenges she dealt with. She broke ground but never acted like it. I was lucky to work with the first female sports columnist in the country."

Dan Shaughnessy

"Diane Shah was a boots-on-the-ground female sports reporter in the Cro-Magnon 1970s and brings it all back in this hilarious, well-crafted book. We get Mickey Mantle, Larry Bird, even Cary Grant. I didn't want it to end. Hoping she writes Volume Two ASAP."

Peter Guber

"Even those of us working in Hollywood followed Diane's sports columns. Her clarity of vision, daft touch, and entertaining writing style always guaranteed the most enjoyable read. A Farewell to Arms, Legs and Jockstraps collects the best of her anecdotes and stories from throughout her distinguished career."

Charley Steiner

"For young journalists, (particularly women) this is how their paths were blazed. For the rest of us, an insight into how one of the great writers of her generation uniquely saw the world she covered with her gift of the written word."

Sally Jenkins

"Impossibly elegant, and the most fun ever. The only thing better than reading Diane K. Shah's memoir was, I suppose, living it."

Editorial Reviews

★ 02/17/2020

Former sportswriter Shah (Relentless) hilariously chronicles her experiences in the good old boys’ world of sports reporting beginning in the late 1960s with the National Observer. Sexism was rampant, she recalls, and overt racism par for the course. Shah shares colorful moments throughout her career, among them asking her hero, Mickey Mantle, what he liked to hunt, to which he replied, “pussy.” In 1981, she became the first female sports columnist in the country for a daily newspaper—the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. She recalls big interviews with legendary athletes such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but Shah makes clear that it’s not all fun and games: a feud with Paul Newman carried on for years after she reported on his son’s death (“The story may have been the nicest one I ever wrote. But it pleased no one”), and NBA star Larry Bird, after Shaw wrote about his father’s suicide, said he’d spit in her face if he ever saw her again. Eventually, Shah became “just one of the guys” while blazing a trail for female sports reporters. Shah’s earnest and witty memoir serves as an astute look into the world of sports journalism. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"Impossibly elegant, and the most fun ever. The only thing better than reading Diane K. Shah's memoir was, I suppose, living it."—Sally Jenkins, columnist and feature writer, The Washington Post

"Diane Shah was a boots-on-the-ground female sports reporter in the Cro-Magnon 1970s and brings it all back in this hilarious, well-crafted book. We get Mickey Mantle, Larry Bird, even Cary Grant. I didn't want it to end. Hoping she writes Volume Two ASAP."—Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe sports columnist and New York Times bestselling author.

"Even those of us working in Hollywood followed Diane's sports columns. Her clarity of vision, deft touch, and entertaining writing style always guaranteed the most enjoyable read. A Farewell to Arms, Legs and Jockstraps collects the best of her anecdotes and stories from throughout her distinguished career."—Peter Guber, Owner Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Dodgers, LAFC

"Diane's memoir is just like her columns – smart, funny, enlightening - just like her. Until reading it, I never really knew all the challenges she dealt with. She broke ground but never acted like it. I was lucky to work with the first female sports columnist in the country."—Ken Gurnick, LA Dodgers correspondent for MLB.com

"For young journalists, (particularly women) this is how their paths were blazed.  For the rest of us, an insight into how one of the great writers of her generation uniquely saw the world she covered with her gift of the written word."—Charley Steiner, Radio Voice/ Los Angeles Dodgers.

"Former sportswriter Shah hilariously chronicles her experiences in the good old boys' world of sports reporting beginning in the late 1960s with the National Observer....Eventually, Shah became "just one of the guys" while blazing a trail for female sports reporters. Shah's earnest and witty memoir serves as an astute look into the world of sports journalism."—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher