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David Spates Albom not just for I feel like I'm letting you in on the secret
that everyone already knows. Oh well, this is for you folks who
don't know - yet. I like to watch ESPN's "The Sports Reporters"
on Sunday mornings. It's an interesting show featuring, you guessed
it, sports reporters. The nation's most renowned and best sports
writers sit with sports journalism icon Dick Schaap to discuss
and give their opinions on a variety of sports topics. It's a
wonderful way to spend 30 minutes on a Sunday morning, but if
you aren't interested in the opinions of the men and women who
cover athletics, don't bother. "The Sports Reporters" is not the
secret I'm here to let you in (actually, this feline has been
out of the paper or plastic for about 148 weeks). I was disappointed
last Sunday because Mitch Albom wasn't a guest on the show. Albom
has been a frequent guest reporter of Schaap's for years, and
I always enjoyed his insight. After I read Tuesdays With Morrie, however,
I have found that I enjoy Albom even more. That's the secret I wanted to pass along.
If you are among the two dozen or so people left in North America
who haven't read Tuesdays With Morrie, allow me the following
few column inches of newspaper space to insist that you do so
immediately. I don't often recommend things to my readers,
and I especially don't recommend things that are already popular.
In the case of Tuesdays With Morrie, however, I am making an
exception in that policy. The book is that good. Here's to whom I'd recommend Albom's book: Subtitled An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's
Greatest Lesson, Tuesdays With Morrie is about the relationship
Albom rekindles with his former college professor, Morrie Schwartz. Although the book has gotten rave reviews
and has enjoyed tremendous popular appeal during its 148-week
(that's nearly three years to you and me, Rusty) run on the New
York Times Bestseller List, some reviewers have panned the ideas
and lessons Albom and his collegiate mentor discuss as being
too simplistic. Schwartz makes bold, unwavering statements like,
"Love always wins" and "Money is not a substitute
for tenderness." Although some people may view these messages
as ideals that should be apparent to everyone, I look at the
world today and submit that these messages are by no means obvious
to everyone. In fact, some of insights addressed in the book
are "common knowledge" that has become all too uncommon
in our culture. Is Tuesdays With Morrie going to transform
you? Probably not. No one undergoes a radical change in their
psyche after reading 192 pages of text. What it will do is act
as a reminder of what's important in life. Sure, you can get
those reminders from a variety of sources, but Tuesdays With
Morrie is simply a good read with a good message. Plus, it makes listening to Albom discuss
Tiger's march, the Cornhuskers' kismet and David Wells' beer
gut all that more enjoyable as you eat your waffles and watch
"The Sports Reporters" on those Sunday morns. |