In the photograph at the top of this blog, I’m talking to one of my best friends, Vic Gaska. The picture was taken four summers ago at a softball game. Earlier this week, on Wednesday, Vic left work early, telling co-workers he didn’t feel well. He went home, he said, to “sleep it off.” After a nap, Vic called his best friend Mike to tell him he had decided not to go with him to the Celtics game that night. Mike was concerned – Vic never missed a game. But Vic insisted he was fine – just need some rest. A couple hours later, Vic’s wife found him sitting on the bed, leaning back against the headboard, motionless. Heart attack. Vic was 53.

At Heathrow, I faced a British customs agent, who inspected my passport. “What is your occupation?” he said.

Note: The William Hill Sports Book of the Year will be awarded in London on Tuesday. “Tiger Woods” by Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian is a finalist.

In my first year of law school, I wrote a book about athletes and violence against women. I had no intentions of being a writer. At the time, my career ambition was becoming a lawyer. But I loved telling stories. In my second year of law school I wrote another book. By the time I finished law school I had written three books. My passion became my profession.

In the summer of 1985 I was 19-years-old and about to embark on a two-year mission for the Mormon Church when I heard on the radio that there was going to be a concert called Live-Aid to raise money for famine-ravaged Africa. More than 50 performers from Mick Jagger to Paul McCartney to Bob Dylan to Madonna and U2 and The Who were set to perform in Philadelphia and London. Even Led Zeppelin had agreed to reunite for the event.