Why I’m crazy about March Madness;
The Worm of the Big Apple and The Death of a Newspaper

Full-Court TV
Why I’m crazy about March Madness

While on Wall Street they march madly
in their own Doomsday parade,
there’s another kind of crazy
for which I would rather trade.

It’s a lunacy I bank on
in this grim economy.
It’s a March that’s been coined madness.
Also called full-Court TV.

It’s collegiate Deal or No-Deal
played with balls like Howie’s head.
It’s a mental health diversion,
an emotional retread.

Somehow workspace walls with brackets
serve as windows for the soul.
Office pools are so refreshing
Winter blahs can take a toll.

It’s TV that’s worth the effort
(unlike 24 or Lost).
When I watch I know what’s happ’ning
from the op’ning midcourt toss.

So let’s hear it for March Madness.
Go ahead. Call me insane.
Sneakers squeaking on the hardwoods?
Love that sound. I love this game.

The Worm of the Big Apple
Lessons from Bernie Madoff’s lust for more

He made off with a ton of bucks
and now his future really sucks.
Old Bernie’s hoping prison fare
is better than he’s heard.

From Penthouse rich to big house poor,
this scoundrel’s rotten to the core.
The great big apple found its worm
and Bernie was his name.

And now that greedy slimy worm
won’t do much more than crawl and squirm.
Who duped the trusting now will pay,
but not the ones he owes.

So, what’s to learn from one like him?
Primarily that greed is sin.
A lust for more results in less
than that for which we long.

The Death of a Newspaper *
Is the P-I’s Demise a Sign of the Times?

Yes it’s true. The P-I’s folded.
It’s a sign too of the Times.
As that giant globe stops spinning,
we’d best read between the lines.

Journalism as we’ve known it
(home delivery and newsstands)
can’t survive the online revol.
Ink on newsprint has few fans.

Hearst is hurting. So’s the Tribune.
What was king is now a page.
Soon that page will be a jester.
That’s the bad news of our age.

P-I paper? Morning coffee?
Sad to say the first has died.
Once a marriage made in heaven.
Now it’s over. Have you cried?

• Having grown up in the Seattle area, I was exposed to both the morning Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the afternoon Seattle Times. The shut down of the P – I is like the death of a family member. From the time I was in elementary school, I remember paperboys on street corners and at sporting events shouting out “P – I paper!” But, alas, after more than 140 years of publishing a morning newspaper, the Post-Intelligencer is no more.