How Trump Destroyed a Football League

An oral history of the rise and fall of the USFL. [View in Browser]( [Esquire Sunday Reads]( [How Donald Trump Destroyed a Football League]( How Donald Trump Destroyed a Football League Before barreling through what he dismisses as his loser, low-energy, blood-coming-out-of-their-whatever opposition and shaking up politics as usual, Donald Trump was trying to shake the high holy shit out of professional football. He was just 37—a budding rogue rich guy with flyaway sandy (not yet orange) hair and a trophy first wife named Ivana. He'd just built a 68-story glass tower in the middle of Manhattan and, to make sure people noticed, put his name on it. In bronze. He'd soon open his first Atlantic City casino, slapping his name on that, too. Even back then, Trump wanted what he still wants most: more. So in 1983 he bought a football team, joining a confederacy of other rich rogues who had just completed their first season of the United States Football League. The business plan: compete with the NFL—sport's one true, grim superpower, whom USFL owners mocked as the No Fun League—but not directly against it. [Read the Full Story]( [MORE FROM ESQUIRE]( [49 Romantic Gifts For Women on Valentine's Day (or Any Day)]( 49 Romantic Gifts For Women on Valentine's Day (or Any Day) When it comes to Valentine's Day, you're bringing out all the stops. The biggest of them all? The gift. You've got to prove you’re the romantic maestro who knows your wife or girlfriend better than you know yourself—because giving a romantic gift must stem from knowing your partner. If you've been married for 30 years, you probably (or had better) know them pretty damn well; but you might find it near impossible to surprise them year after year with yet another gift. The truth is, your wife knows your pattern pretty damn well, too. And if you've been dating for only three months, you have a lot to learn, including what kind of gift will strike the right chord without being overly corny. Therefore, before each holiday of love, a moment of mental gymnastics is required for choosing the right gift, regardless of whether your relationship is brand spanking new or in its golden years; whether you’ve resolved to stay within a budget or make a splurge of a lifetime. Should you really want to woo her on Valentine's Day, allow us to help you crush that gift-giving occasion with the following 49 ideas. From creative takes to classic options, thoughtful keepsakes to intimate suggestions, each will show your love in the most romantic of ways. [Read the Full Story]( [Meet Your New Robot Co-Writer]( Meet Your New Robot Co-Writer Creative literary art forms, particularly fiction and poetry, are inherently solitary pursuits. There is nary a legacy of prosperous partnerships, and almost no tradition at all of enterprises with more than two authors. There are—of course—exceptions (some of which we’ll get to), but think of it this way: How many classic novels are written by more than one writer? How many collaborative novels have you read? How many are taught in schools? How many can you even name? I ask these questions because of the publication of Fourteen Days, a novel written by 36 authors ranging from John Grisham and Erica Jong to Tommy Orange and Nafissa Thompson-Spires. The project was overseen by Margaret Atwood and Douglas Preston, who both also contributed. Supported by the Authors Guild Foundation, Fourteen Days tells the story of a new superintendent of an apartment building on Rivington Street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. In the boredom and isolation of quarantine, the tenants begin to connect with each other by telling stories. [Read the Full Story]( [They Don't Make Them Like Austin Butler Anymore]( They Don't Make Them Like Austin Butler Anymore I'm sure you're wondering about the voice. Here's what you need to know: It’s hot. Low and unhurried. Rough at the edges. Gravelly. The adopted twang has finally been shed. Sentences begin or end with ummms and hmmms. Everything in between is intentional. Considered. That space between words and phrases, almost unnatural in its breadth, insists that its audience lean forward, willing the next word to land. Butler has been asked about his voice a lot since Elvis. In interviews. On red carpets. Not all of it has been unfair. He did, after all, pop up during press for the movie, eighteen months after filming had wrapped, sounding, well, a lot like Elvis. Butler has answered graciously each time. He does it again today. “There’s no denying you create habits,” he says, beginning a version of a line I’ve heard and read many times before. “I had been practicing one way of using the muscles in my mouth for a long time, so it was a process of trying to unlearn those. That was Masters of the Air.” [Read the Full Story]( [The Best Early Presidents' Day 2024 Deals to Shop on Amazon]( The Best Early Presidents' Day 2024 Deals to Shop on Amazon After the holiday season, we can guess you're a bit over sales. Everything is on fucking sale, all the time. We know. It's annoying. But, we have to mention that February brings us Presidents’ Day sales and it's a welcome pick-me-up for saving a few bucks. While the “official” sales don’t technically start until the long weekend of February 19, several retailers are offering early deals. Naturally, at the top of this list is Amazon. You know Bezos always gives us a reason to shop. Sure, you can pick up a thoughtful gift for a loved one—but equally, this is the time to shop for yourself. A little self-care is what we like to call it, within budgetary reason, because we’re not looking to pay full price. We've got deals to find, dear reader. [Read the Full Story]( [Why I Gave Up Fine Dining for the Perfect Bowl of Pasta]( Why I Gave Up Fine Dining for the Perfect Bowl of Pasta When I finally opened Che Fico I realized that It took the same amount of attention to detail to do “casual” food at that level as it did to make fine dining food. In fact, it was harder to be the superlative version of something so many people had experienced before. My fine dining training kicked in and so did my demands for excellence at any cost. In the early days, I rolled every sheet of pasta used for our tagliatelle al ragu myself. It was the iconic dish that spoke to our authenticity and rigorous standards more than any other. It gave me the validation I had sought out in the fine dining Michelin-starred temples of dining and I truly loved it. I loved how it tasted like history in a bowl. I loved how the nuances could take the dish from mundane to spectacular. More than anything, I loved that the skill of rolling pasta by hand was so rare. Italian restaurants were a dime a dozen but, restaurants that could make pasta on that level were few and far in between. It gave me purpose. [Read the Full Story]( [LiveIntent Logo]( [AdChoices Logo]( [How satisfied are you with the content of this newsletter?]( Follow Us [Unsubscribe]( | [Privacy Notice]( | [CA Notice at Collection]( Esquire is a publication of Hearst Magazines. ©2024 Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This email was sent by Hearst Magazines, 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019-3779