I was wondering if the rest of the world is as insane about sports as we are. They must be, or we wouldn’t have the Olympics and soccer.

I am constantly amazed at our adoration of sports stars. How on earth is it possible that a man hitting a ball into a hole with a stick can become the highest paid athlete in history? (Until he let his Wonder Weeny pull him off a cliff.) The man made millions and millions and millions of bucks just by strolling around on lawns in front of silent worshippers waiting to swoon as he smacked a tiny white ball with a stick. Read More→

The last member of the Carwright clan died this week. Pernell Roberts, who starred as Adam Cartwright on NBC-TV’s mega-hit “Bonanza,” was 81 years old.

“Bonanza” was born because RCA, which owned NBC, wanted to sell a few million of their new color television sets — but there were damned few decent color shows for the potenial customers to watch, so they decided to create big, beautiful hour-long western to be shown “In Living Color.”

As the publicity agent on the show I got to know the stars well. None had been famous before “Bonanza.” Lorne Greene, who starred as the father, Ben Cartwright, had been a TV news anchorman in his native Canada, but that great, deep voice drew him to Hollywood.  Pernell had tried to make it as a stage star, but wasn’t having much luck.  Dan Blocker, as Hoss Cartwright, was a former high-school teacher.  Michael had done a few TV-movie things, but didn’t become nationally known until “Bonanza.” Read More→

More and more I wish there was a real Uncle Sam so I could grab him by the lapels and demand, “Where the hell are we Going? Are you paying any attention?” Our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan worry the hell out of me, so I have been reading many books about how we got there and what is going on. I’d liked to discuss two of those books today.

“The Forever War,” by New York Times award winner Dexter Filkins, and “The Good Solidiers,”  by Pulitzer Prize winner David Finkel. Read More→