Dan Fogelberg: 1951-2007

A tribute to Dan Fogelberg: "Leader of the Band"



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'Chance of a lifetime in a lifetime of chance,
so it's high time you joined in the dance'

Dan Fogelberg died Sunday (Dec. 16). It wasn't huge news; USA Today had a story on page D2.

It was, however, a huge loss for music lovers.

Most people remember Fogelberg for his touching -- some say sappy -- ballads of the 1970s and '80s, but I'll always remember him as a great live performer and one of the poet laureates of my generation.

I saw him and his band perform at the long-gone Richfield Coliseum near Cleveland years ago, and it was an electric night, literally and figuratively. It was a rock concert in the true sense -- hard, driving electric music; strong, rollicking lead vocals; and great electricity in the crowd. We sat a row in front of Eric Carmen -- another great rocker known more for love songs -- and he and his mates were on their feet applauding Fogelberg along with the rest of us.

It was a memorable night, because it showed off all of Fogelberg's talents.

But remember him we will, too, for the hits. Links to a couple are above and below.

I think of him whenever I see my Dad, because "Leader of the Band" is the best song ever written by a son for a father.

I'll think of him on every first Saturday in May, because "Run for the Roses" is the new theme song for the Kentucky Derby.

I'll think of him when "the snow was falling Christmas Eve," and every New Year's Eve when the radio plays "Same Old Lang Syne."

Godspeed, Dan.

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"Run for the Roses" (here as a tribute to Barbaro)



"Same Old Lang Syne" (live)

'You Can't Do That' -- The Beatles best song?

For my money, this is John Lennon's finest performance -- "I told you be-fo!" -- and The Beatles best song:

Time to change Cleveland's team name

Not only is 'Indians' racist, it's stupid;
it's time to sacrifice money for dignity

I'm a lifelong Cleveland Indians fan. I had a big Chief Wahoo flag hanging on the front of my house for their run in the playoffs. I wore logo lapel pins and stickers. I wore the hat, and shorts.

I felt bad doing it.

I made a presentation to my department colleagues last Thursday, the day of Game 5 versus the Red Sox. Mostly English professors, they are a liberal leaning bunch. (One scolded me when I was about to drop a newspaper in the trash can -- "Recycle!" she yelled.) Before the meeting, I decided to take off the Chief Wahoo sticker I had been wearing around campus all day.

I realized I was embarrassed by it.

If I owned the team, the first thing I would do is change the name. Something generic, like the "Cleveland Clubs," with the globally recognizable playing card symbol as the logo.

Or maybe something blatantly corporate, like the "Cleveland Clydesdales." Need I suggest who the primary sponsor would be?

Indians is a racist name, and a stupid name. Chief Wahoo is an offensive caricature.

One argument against changing the name and logo is tradition. The name is nearly 100 years old.

It’s still racist and stupid.

The team’s name has changed several times. They were once the Spiders, the Forest Citys, the Broncos.

Change it again.

Another argument is business driven -- Indians hats are among the biggest sellers worldwide. In the MasterCard commercial running on TBS and Fox, little kids are playing baseball in the streets in Japan, and one is wearing a Chief Wahoo hat. They’re popular, but they're still offensive. (How would those kids feel if the team name was the "Cleveland Japs?" . . . Wait, didn't Ohio governor Rhodes suggest that once?)

The team and Major League Baseball need to sacrifice a little money for some dignity.

Have any ideas for a new name? Leave them as comments!

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More ideas (alliteration division):

Cleveland Clowns
Cleveland Clockers
Cleveland Clubs
Cleveland Classics (tuxedo-like uniforms?)
Cleveland Clydesdales
Cleveland Clamor (don't you hate those kind of nicknames -- Magic, Fire, Surge, etc.)

More ideas (general division):

Cleveland Plain Dealers
Cleveland Polka Kings
Cleveland Rocks (just big hunks of stone, scattered all over town)
Cleveland Lakers (quick -- name a lake in Los Angeles)
Cleveland "At Least We're Not Columbus"
Cleveland Spiders
Cleveland Barons (steal it)

Books just keep on comin'

Group reading projects take off,
at church, at home, at Valencia

It's a good thing I have a couple weeks off until the start of the fall semester -- I need time to catch up on all my reading!

* Our pastor at Grace Fellowship, Mike Adkins, challenged the congregation to spend a month getting closer to God by reading the "One Minute Bible: For Starters," over 30 days (Aug. 6 through Sept. 3). He plans to blog about the journey (click here), and I plan to participate in the discussion by commenting along the way.

Debbie will be joining me as we spend a little time each day detaching ourselves from the world and attaching ourselves to the Father.

* I threw out the idea about "The Big Read" (see entry below) to the librarians at Valencia's West campus, and it morphed into a full-blown community reading program. The school will purchase 1,000 copies of "The Kite Runner," by Khaled Hosseini, and many professors will be assigning the book to their students.

The object will be to read the book prior to the release of the movie Nov. 2. There will be campus discussion groups, special events, etc., and we're working on a private screening of the film for those who participate.

* My new nightstand companion is "Into The Wild," by Jon Krakauer. That movie opens Sept. 21, so I have to hustle. (It's only 203 pages, so it shouldn't be a problem!)

Time for some summer reading

'The Big Read' program inspires
a jump into several new books

The National Endowment for the Arts sponsors a program called “The Big Read,” which encourages community organizations to choose one book to promote. The object is to get as many people as possible to read, and talk about, that one selection.

Here is a list of the titles offered by “The Big Read:”

“Bless Me, Ultima,” by Rudolfo Anaya
“Fahrenheit 451,” by Ray Bradbury
“My Antonia,” by Willa Cather
“The Great Gatsby,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
“A Lesson Before Dying,” by Ernest Gaines
“The Maltese Falcon,” by Dashiell Hammett
“A Farewell to Arms,” by Ernest Hemingway
“Their Eyes Were Watching God,” by Zora Neale Hurston
“To Kill a Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee
“The Call of the Wild,” by Jack London
“The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter,” by Carson McCullers
“The Shawl,” by Cynthia Ozick
“The Grapes of Wrath,” by John Steinbeck
“The Joy Luck Club,” by Amy Tan
“The Death of Ivan Ilyich,” by Leo Tolstoy
“The Age of Innocence,” by Edith Wharton

How many have you read? Sadly, I’ve read just “The Call of the Wild,” and that was last year, listening to an audiobook on my iPod.

I am working with the librarians at Valencia Community College to get the college involved in “The Big Read,” and I plan to assign the students in all of my classes this fall to read “Their Eyes Were Watching God.”

Zora Neale Hurston lived for many years in Eatonville outside of Orlando, and there is an annual festival there celebrating her life and career. Seems like a good first choice. I’ll assign a different title every semester until I’ve read all 15!

Want to join in the fun? “Their Eyes Were Watching God” was available at my local Sam’s Club for $9.97, so if you see it, buy a copy and get in on the discussion.

And by all means, promote reading with your kids, your friends, your colleagues. If we don’t keep the tradition alive, Ray Bradbury’s world with no books – the scenario in “Fahrenheit 451” – could become a reality.

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You might notice that the “What I’m Reading” section to the right has been updated. I just finished “The Tender Bar,” J.R. Moehringer’s excellent memoir about coming of age with the help of a ragtag cast of characters in a local pub. It was well written, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, often touching, and always entertaining. It was my “nightstander” for months, so at 4-5 pages before dozing off it took me a while to finish it, but a dedicated beach reader could knock it off in a weekend.

• “Made to Stick” is a book offered through a reading circle at Valencia, and we’ll have a campus-wide discussion of it July 19. I’ll have to get on the stick, pun intended.

• “The Assault on Reason” is my current drive-time audiobook selection. Will Patton – a coach in “Remember the Titans” and the bad guy in “No Way Out” – is the narrator.

Finally, on my 6,011-mile road trip in May, I listened to “Mary Mary” by James Patterson, “The Hard Way” by Lee Chill, “Shadow Man” by Cody McFadyen, “At Risk” by Patricia Cornwell, “The Interpretation of Murder” by Jed Rubenfeld, and “Winston Churchill: Man of the Century” by John Ramsden.

That works out to one book every 1,000 miles! I think I could be a cross-country truck driver as long as the iPod is working!

Message in a bottle? Guzzle this one ...

Americans spend $15 billion on bottled water,
despite the fact we can simply turn on the tap

The other day I bought six cases of bottled water at Sam’s Club, planning to restock the home and office refrigerators.

I actually stood there and debated whether to buy the Nestlé PureLife “purified water” for $4.24 a case (32, 16.9 ounce bottles), or the
Zephyrhills “natural spring water,” which was premium priced at $4.46 a case.

I decided “natural” had to be better than “purified,” so I sprang for the spring water, splurging an extra 22 cents a case.

At $4.46 for 32 bottles, that works out to a fraction under 14 cents a bottle. (By comparison, a 32-can case of Diet Coke at Sam’s Club runs about $7 — or 22 cents per 12-ouncer.)

As I pushed the very heavy flat-bed cart to the cash register — I’ve since learned that water weighs 8-1/3 pounds per gallon, so I was about to load 221-1/4 pounds of water into my car — I wondered, “How the heck do they make money on this water?”

There are 32 plastic bottles with screw caps in each case. Each one has a printed paper label on it. Each case consists of a sturdy cardboard bottom that is shrink-wrapped with printed plastic. Of course, there’s water in each bottle.

The water provider has to make money, the bottler has to make money, the bottlemaker and the label/shrink-wrap printers have to make money, the shipper/distributor has to make money, and Sam’s Club has to make money ... otherwise, no one would undertake the job of making a case of water available to me for $4.46 — 14 cents per bottle.

How do they chop up that 14 cents? How can there be any profit margin in a 14-cent bottle of water?

There is an answer. Fast Company magazine this month has a fascinating story about the bottled-water industry. It’s long, but it’s incredibly interesting. Here are few sips from it to wet your whistle:

• Americans spent more money last year on bottled water than on iPods or movie tickets: $15 billion. It’ll be $16 billion this year.

• In Fiji, a state-of-the-art factory spins out more than a million bottles a day of the hippest bottled water on the U.S. market, while more than half the people in Fiji do not have safe, reliable drinking water. Which means it is easier for the typical American in Beverly Hills or Baltimore to get a drink of safe, pure, refreshing Fiji water than it is for most people in Fiji.

• In San Francisco, the municipal water comes from inside Yosemite National Park. It's so good the EPA doesn't require San Francisco to filter it. If you bought and drank a bottle of Evian ($1.35 at retail), you could refill that 16.9-ounce bottle once a day for 10 years, 5 months, and 21 days with San Francisco tap water before that water would cost $1.35. Put another way, if the water we use at home cost what even cheap bottled water costs, our monthly water bills would run $9,000.

To drink up the whole story, click here

Will iBuy the iPhone? iDon't think so!

For once I'll resist temptation,
wait for likely improvements

Hi, my name is Ken, and I'm an Appleholic.

That's why it was hard for me to get through Friday, when the iPhone went on sale and hundreds of thousands -- maybe a million? -- people finally got their mitts on the most anticipated gadget in the history of, well, gadgetry.

They'll be showing off their iPhones to family and friends. I'll be sulking in a dark, lonely place, going through withdrawal.

As much as iWant an iPhone, iWon't buy one. iMust resist.

How serious is my affliction?

In 1984, I drove 166 miles from Cleveland to the University of Michigan to be among the first Macintosh computer owners in the country. That machine -- with its blazing 8MHz processor, 128k of RAM and 9-inch black and white screen -- got me through college, and I've been a Mac user ever since. A heavy user.

I've always been an Apple early-adopter, buying five different computers as soon as they were introduced. Always, I'd find myself regretting that I didn't wait a few months for a second- or third-generation product. (For example, my iMac has no built-in camera, and doesn't run on an Intel chip. Those came out seven months after I bought mine, and at a lower price. I have the sweats.)

With four Macs (one desktop, three laptops . . . don't ask) and two iPods (one regular, one video) I surely qualify as an Apple nut, but this time I'm going to wait.

The first wave of reviews has been overwhelmingly positive, but mentions of clunky functionality and missing features on the iPhone, and critical comments about the AT&T data network, are enough to give me pause.

In a few months Apple will make improvements, AT&T will get its act together, third-party developers will add lots of widgets and Web apps, and the price will come down.

And, I won't have to wait in line!

(I'm trying to convince myself I'm doing the right thing. iMust resist.)

As it turns out, I'm in the market for a new mobile phone; my previous contract has expired, and I switched to a prepaid plan so I'd have the flexibility to grab an iPhone.

But $499 or $599 is a lot of dough for a gadget. Tack on taxes and a two-year plan from AT&T, and you could be looking at $2,365 -- nearly $100 a month -- to make phone calls, check your e-mail, send text messages, take pictures, surf the Web, listen to music and watch videos.

Instead, I'll use one of my four Apple computers for the Internet functions, use one of the two iPods for my entertainment needs -- and pay 10 cents a minute for my calls and texts on a little phone that doesn't even have a camera.

I might as well save money, since I've already lost a bundle. Back in early March, I told some friends that we needed to buy as much Apple stock as we could. Mortgage the houses, I said. The price that day was $88 a share. Lately, Apple shares have been trading around $120. That's a $32 bump in four months. Of course, I bought zero shares.

So, good luck, iPhone pioneers! Give Apple lots of feedback so we interlopers get something better -- when the tremors wear off.

OK, it's settled — The Players is a major

Stop the debate and silly arguments,
PGA Tour's crown jewel is deserving

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Since no one else will step up, I guess I’ll just have to say it.

The Players is a major championship.

There. How hard was that?

Who’s to say what is or isn’t a major? By whose authority does a golf
tournament earn that distinction? No one’s authority. There is no czar of golf. Old Tom Morris did not pass down some engraved tablets to Francis Ouimet spelling out the requirements for a major.

So, let’s stop all the veiled questions and nonsensical arguments.

The Players is a major championship.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem was asked Wednesday, “Is it a major? Isn’t it a major?”

“You know, I don’t have an answer for that,” Finchem said. “I mean, I’ve been answering this question for 13 years, and I think I’ve been consistent in that we’re not – we don’t put ourselves in the middle of the debate.”

In the middle of the debate? Tim, you’re the commissioner of the PGA Tour, arguably the most powerful golf organization in the world. You’re not in a debate – you’re in a position to end any debate.

Just make the call. The Players is a major. Who can debate you on that?

Finchem instead continued to waffle.

“If at some point our players felt strongly or the golfing public felt strongly that there needed to be some adjustment to the stated hierarchy of tournaments,” Finchem said, “I suppose we would address that. I don’t sense the need to do that now.”

Stated hierarchy of tournaments? Finchem can’t even say the word! Major … major … major!

Tim, unbutton the button-downs and loosen your ever-present tie. Take a deep breath and repeat after me:

The Players is a major championship.

In defense of the tournament that offers the biggest purse, the richest winner’s share, and the deepest field in golf, here are nine more reasons why …

The Players is a major championship.

1) There are no amateurs or club pros in The Players. In all of the other so-called major tournaments, a significant portion of the field has no chance to make the cut, let alone win the tournament. The Club Pro champion hasn’t made the cut at the PGA Championship since 1983. The U.S. Amateur champion has made the cut in eight of the past 20 Masters, and eight of the past 19 U.S. Opens. (Quick – Can you name the reigning U.S. Am champ? Answer below.)

2) The Players has a 156-man field. The Masters, which is not much more than a big member-guest outing with good TV coverage, routinely has fewer than 100 real competitors, not counting the amateurs and septuagenarians who clutter up the proceedings.

3) Many major champions have also won The Players. There have been 33 victories distributed among 27 different men at The Players, and 19 of them have also won at least one of the other four majors. So adjust Jack Nicklaus’ major total to 21, Tiger Woods’ to 13 and let’s go play.

4) The Players is played in Florida. Florida has more golf courses than any other state. Florida is home to the PGA Tour, the LPGA Tour, the Duramed Futures Tour, the PGA of America, the World Golf Village, the World Golf Hall of Fame and The First Tee program. The best golf state deserves a major championship, and since the U.S. Open and PGA Championship are played in midsummer – as if Tulsa, Okla., is any cooler than Orlando in August -- and the British Open will go to Dubai or China before it ever comes here, The Players is the choice.

5) The Players has the history and the tradition. Deane Beman’s brainchild has spanned the generations – Sam Snead (born 1912), Julius Boros (1920), Arnold Palmer (1929), Billy Casper (1931), Gary Player (1935) and Tom Watson (1949) played in it. Boros and son Guy played in it, Jack Nicklaus and son Gary played in it, Al Geiberger and son Brent played in it, Dave Stockton and Dave Jr. played in it. This year marks the 34th renewal of The Players, and anything contested in four different decades qualifies as traditional.

6) The most famous hole in golf often decides The Players. Love it or hate it, No. 17 on the Stadium Course is the single most recognizable hole in the game. Mention “the island green,” and every golf fan instantly knows what you’re talking about. It’s also offers the best spectator viewing area, where the average fans sit in front of the skyboxes. Now, name the signature hole at Oakmont Country Club, host of this year’s U.S. Open? In this year’s PGA, which of the 18 will be the most dramatic hole at Southern Hills Country Club? Not even the members can say for sure.

7) The PGA Tour deserves at least one major. Why should the United States Golf Association, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews (Scotland), the PGA of America and Augusta National Golf Club have dibs on the majors when they stage just one event a year? The PGA Tour is the entity that has changed the game, and the Tour is made up of its players. The Players is a major championship, for the players.

8) International stars build their schedules around The Players. Especially now that the tournament dates have been changed, the world’s top golfers can plan their preparation for The Masters in April, The Players in May, the U.S. Open in June, the British Open in July and the PGA in August. Beautiful synergy.

9) The golf course is great. Once decried as “tricked up,” and even ridiculed for its spectator-friendly design, the Stadium Course has evolved into an outstanding track that the players love. Some of Pete “Diabolical” Dye’s hard-edged design has softened over the years, but the course remains a very solid test of shotmaking, from the first tee to the 18th green.

Do you need more reasons why The Players is a major championship? There’s the front nine, you come up with the back nine.

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Answer: Scotland’s Richie Ramsay won the 2006 U.S. Amateur Championship – and missed the cut at The Masters. Good luck at Oakmont, Richie.

Give a listen to "This Just In"

Bob Schieffer's reading
brings memoir to life

If you watch TV news at all, you've probably seen Bob Schieffer more than you realize. He's been a fixture at CBS for so long, and in so many roles, that many of us take him for granted.

I just finished "reading" Schieffer's memoir, "This Just In: What I Couldn't Tell You on TV," and I have a new-found appreciation for the veteran journalist.

"Reading" is in quotes, because I really listened to the recorded book. Schieffer read his book to me, through the miracle of audio CDs and the iPod.

Can you get any more personal than that? Having an author read a book to you? Not since my days of storyhour at Miles Park Library have I had so much fun listening!

(Recently I've also had the pleasure of sitting down with Thomas Harris as he read "Hannibal Rising" to me. The book might not have been well received by critics and readers, but as a listener I was enthralled.)

Schieffer's book presents a glimpse into a reporter's notebooks, covering news from the Kennedy assassination to 9/11, with lots of funny stuff and insider information thrown in for good measure. I particularly enjoyed Schieffer's recollection of eating Argentinean steaks in Buenos Aires while covering the Falklands "war," and sharing the dinner table with Jimmy Carter in a double-wide barbeque trailer in Plains, Ga.

And the best part is it was all free! I got Schieffer’s audiobook from the public library, which remains the greatest invention in the history of civilization!

Johnson wins 'worst Masters ever'

Journeyman shoots lowest score,
highest winning number in history

Congratulations, Zach Johnson, you just won the worst Masters Tournament ever played.

Not to take anything away from the 31-year-old journeyman, but his victory won’t be remembered for stellar play, or miracle shots, or even
gutty determination. Anyone who recalls the 71st Masters at all beyond, say, September, will think only about the boring week of generally awful golf.

How bad was it? Consider:

* Johnson’s score of 1-over 289 matched the highest-ever winning number, posted by Sam Snead in 1954 and Jack Burke in 1956. That’s more than 50 years ago, folks. That’s pre-metalwood, pre-graphite shafts, pre-Pro V1x, pre-Jack Nicklaus, pre-Tiger Woods, pre-Golf Channel, pre-HDTV, heck pre-television!

* 11 players from the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking missed the cut, while three players from the over-50 Official Geezer Golf Ranking made the cut. (Sergio Garcia, you’ve got some ’splainin’ to do!)

* 75-year-old Arnold Palmer, who struck the ceremonial opening tee shot Thursday, hit as many fairways — one — as contender Justin Rose hit on the 17th hole Sunday. Problem is, the fairway Rose hit was on No. 15. (Double bogey, thanks for coming.)

* Woods tied for second without breaking par in any round. He played the par-5s on the “second nine” in 6-under, but twice went bogey-bogey on Nos. 17 and 18. Nicklaus’ record for major championships is still comfortable.

* Retief Goosen made the cut on the number, thanks to the 10-shot rule, then shot 5-under on the weekend and didn’t win. Then again, Brett Wetterrich (83-77), Arron Oberholser (84-76), and Billy Mayfair (83-77) shot 16-over on Saturday and Sunday, and they didn’t win, either. Fuzzy Zoeller — one of the geezers — finished with 17-over (79-82) and promptly went in search of a gin and tonic.

* Two guys named Singh played together on Sunday. One shot 73 and was mad — as always. The other shot 79 and was just happy to be there. Millions of other Singhs the world over didn’t care one way or the other.

* An Augusta favorite son was in contention for most of the week, except it was Vaughn Taylor — lesser known than Johnson — and not Charles Howell III.

* Two former teammates from golf powerhouse Brigham Young University played together on Sunday. One is a righty, the other left-handed. Neither won. You figure it out.

* The defending champion spent more time in the bushes than the original nurserymen on the property. Phil Mickelson never shot par in four days.

* Davis Love III finished tied for 27. Oh, wait, that happens every year.

* U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy jumped into contention with an eagle on No. 13 Saturday. U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy fell out of contention with a quadruple-bogey 9 on No. 15 Saturday. G’day, mate.

* Some guy named Yong-Eun Yang was in the field. How is that even possible?

* None of the four amateurs made the cut. Oh, wait, that happens every year, too. (When will that charade end? Please spare us!)

So, Zach Johnson, way to go. You’re a nice guy, a good player, and now a Masters champion. Welcome to the club that includes Henry Picard, Herman Keiser, Doug Ford, Art Wall and Larry Mize.

Not the Masters' "Who's Who." Just the list of, "Who?"

Jet takes flight in St. Pete

Australia's raw rock band dazzles
in 80-minute set at Jannus Landing

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The runway has been cleared, and the best new rock 'n' roll band in the world is ready for takeoff.

Jet, a quintet from Australia, has taken up the torch -- passed down
through the years from the likes of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Guess Who, Foghat, Kiss, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, AC/DC, INXS, etc., etc. -- and with it lit a fuse under about 400 fans at Jannus Landing on March 26.

It was stuff of legend.

This was, quite simply, one of the best small-venue concerts I've ever seen ... and I once saw Bon Jovi at Peabody's Downunder in the Flats in Cleveland.

The next time Jet comes through Central Florida, expect to see them at the Citrus Bowl or Raymond James Stadium. They're that good. Make that great!

* * *

Give a listen and let me know what you think: click here

Visit the band's page on MySpace: click here. Or go on iTunes and sample everything from the band's two albums, "Get Born" and "Shine On."

Is listening to a "book" reading?

Without the printed word
definitions can get fuzzy

Along the right side of this page, you'll notice that a new "What I'm Listening To" section has been added under "What I'm Reading."

"Listening" lists music that I've purchased recently — all downloaded from Apple's iTunes.

But it doesn't show the audio versions of two "books" that I'm currently "reading." Sometimes I just listen to "Wild at Heart," by John Eldredge, and sometimes I read along with the sound, holding the book and turning the pages, while hearing the narrator. The same with "Hannibal Rising," by Thomas Harris.

When I've only listened to a book, have I read it? It doesn't really matter, I guess ... but it's awkward to say, "I just read (insert book name)" when you've only listened to it.

Confusing? A little.

(Notice "Casino Royale" and "The Dante Club" are off the reading list — I finished them in November and December, respectively. I enjoyed both.)

Godspeed, Barbaro

Are there horses in heaven?
If so, a champion runs free

Without intending to open a theological debate, I have to believe all of God's creatures make it to heaven — after all, He created them before He created us.

So, I look forward to watching the great champion Barbaro running
with the likes of Secretariat, and fighting for the affections of fillies like Go For Wand and Ruffian.

Maybe I'm a sap, but I think there is something majestic about watching a horse run. A particularly stirring race will bring a tear to my eye — and not because I'm holding a losing tote ticket (which is usually the case).

(Watch undefeated Barbaro win the 2006 Kentucky Derby: click here)

I've often said, "There's never been a bad movie made about a horse," and one of my favorites is "The Electric Horseman." Most people think the story is about fading rodeo rider Sonny Steele (Robert Redford), but it's really about Rising Star, the thoroughbred that corporate America turns into a billboard.

If you don't get misty-eyed when Rising Star is let loose and immediately challenges another stallion for a mob of mares, then you don't have a soul.

Godspeed, Barbaro. Speed with God, Barbaro.

Charles Murray: Giftedness vs. humility

From The Wall Street Journal

After writing about Americans with below-average intelligence, and those with higher IQs who are wasting time and money in college, Charles Murray turns his analysis toward the highly gifted.

He says too little is being done to nurture and challenge those with IQs in the highest percentiles — and that the most intelligent among us also need to learn how to be humble about their gifts.

Read the final column in his three-part series on education in the United States, from the Wall Street Journal (Jan. 18): click here.

Charles Murray: Challenging the college myth

From The Wall Street Journal

For years I've said the two biggest boondoggle industries in America are weddings and colleges.

Nowhere else is so much money wasted with so little return on investment.

Finally, I've found a scholar who agrees with me — at least about colleges: Charles Murray.

Read the second of his three-part series on education, from the Wall Street Journal (Jan. 17): click here.

Charles Murray: Intelligence in the classroom

From The Wall Street Journal

Wow! I've never met this guy, Charles Murray, but I sure do like his style!

Read the first of his three-part series on education in America, from the Wall Street Journal (Jan. 16): click here.