Want an Opinion? Here’s Mine.

Everyone’s entitled to an opinion. Here are some of mine. My 2 cents:* A New York public relations guru and film producer, Dan Klores, has made a fine documentary about the 1962 boxing match in which Emile Griffth beat Benny Paret in a fight that nearly led to the death of boxing. Griffith is an old warrior who has lived with the ghost of Benny Paret for more than 40 years. Maybe he will finally find some peace within.* Isn’t it bad enough that people who smoke have to pay upward of $7 a pack – people my age remember when you could get an entire carton for slightly more than two bucks – and that they are going to give themselves cancer? Apparently not for Mayor Bloomberg who, in trying to close some budget holes, is going after people who found a way to buy cheaper smokes over the Internet. Smokers have a lot more to worry about, and besides, it’s a pittance compared to a lot of the wasteful spending in city government and the schools – kind of like telling a fat person to lose weight by eating one less french fry.* I love Katie Couric, but I’m not a fan of the notion that she should succeed Dan Rather in the anchor chair. It’s certainly not that a woman couldn’t do that job; Ms. Couric just doesn’t seem like a good fit. Diane Sawyer or Jane Pauley might be better for that job. And, if it’s another man, what about Brit Hume or Wolf Blitzer, or trying to drag Bernard Shaw out of retirement?* The president of Harvard University, Lawrence Summers, said the other day that women lack “natural ability” in some fields. Was he talking about football or weight lifting? Nope, it was science and math. Next thing you know, he’ll say they can’t swim, either.* I know three otherwise serious and sober women ranging in age from 30 to a grandmother in her late 60s who are absolutely ga-ga over celebrity magazines. Brad and Jen. Ben and Jen (a different Jen). Brad and Angelina (the same Brad). It’s hard to keep track of them all, even for someone who does some work for one of the glossies and enjoys every minute of it. “It’s my secret pleasure,” says the 60-something granny. “Of course, I’d never admit it to any of my serious-minded friends.”* Brooklyn truly is becoming the new Manhattan. A basketball arena for the Nets. A landing slip and promenade for a fancy cruise ship. And a $29 million spruce up for the Coney Island Aquarium. As long as we don’t have to start paying Manhattan prices for a bottle of soda or a cup of coffee.* News Flash! A 66-year-old Romanian woman has just given birth. News Flash! She will likely be dead before her new daughter is a teenager. Then what? News Flash! Denny Farrell is going to be a father at 73…* Mayor Bloomberg compared Al Sharpton to Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King the other day. It’s truly amazing how The Rev has transformed himself from charlatan, FBI informant, and chief accuser in the Tawana Brawley case into a mainstream pol. But unlike King and Ms. Parks, Mr. Sharpton’s favorite color is still green.* Wynton Marsalis’s performance at Jack Newfield’s funeral was truly inspiring. I’d love to have him play at my funeral. Heck, I’d settle for Sam the Bugler from Aqueduct.* I wonder how Guy Velella is doing in Rikers.* Hilary Swank deserved her Golden Globe for “Million Dollar Baby,” and Hector Roca and the boxers at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn deserved the mention in her gracious acceptance speech.* Richard Hatch, the first winner of CBS’s “Survivor” series, was busted for tax evasion on his $1 million winnings. What do you expect from a fat survivalist who likes to run around naked in the woods?* Governor Pataki wants to cut health benefits for people on Medicaid and spend gazillions on a football stadium on the West Side. Aren’t those priorities a little mixed up?* When Tony Ciulla was fixing horse races in New Jersey 25 to 30 years ago, one of the nags he used was named Spread the Word. Seems appropriate.

Want an Opinion? Here’s Mine.

Want an Opinion? Here’s Mine.

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