Random thoughts and perspectives for a May day

In a world of too much information, there are many things I would rather not know.

For example, I'd rather not know ...

Down the stretch

... that Donald Trump thinks the horse that crossed the finish line first at the Kentucky Derby was disqualified because of political correctness.

... that when comic books started being called graphic novels 25-30 years ago, people who read real novels let them get away with it.

,,, how long it will be before I can stream the latest "Avengers" movie. I certainly don't want to go to a theater to see it.


... why people keep pretending wealth inequality isn't out of control. A study by the Federal Reserve says that net wealth of Americans is nearly $100 trillion. The top 10 percent of Americans own 70 percent of that, and the top 1 percent own 31 percent.

Zion

... the perspective of basketball pundits who are saying Duke's one-and-doner Zion Williamson might be the greatest college basketball player of all time. I guess they never heard of UCLA's Lew Alcindor, aka Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

... how Trump is able to get away with attacking Joe Biden's law school grades when he has threatened all sorts of lawsuits if anybody dares to make his academic records public.

... that the New Orleans Times-Picayune was sold to a competitor who promptly said all 161 staff members would be laid off in 60 days. Yes, newspapers really are dying.

***

Nolan Ryan

It's odd the different perspectives we have as far as age. Until I was 44, there was always at least one baseball player older than me.

Then Nolan Ryan retired at the age of 46.

That was 25 years ago, and pretty much the only office I can think of where everyone holding it in my lifetime is older than me is the Holy Father.

Pope Francis will celebrate his 83rd birthday six days after I turn 70.

There has been a president younger than me (Barack Obama) and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Roberts, is five years younger than I am.

Mad Max

One person who surprises me in the way I look at his age is Washington pitcher Max Scherzer, maybe one of my two or three favorite pitchers ever. When I look at Max, I see a grizzled veteran, but he was born on July 27, 1984, in the St. Louis metropolitan area.

The great irony is that he was born when I was 34, working the first of my three summers for ... wait for it ... the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

But Max is no oldster. He'll be 34 for the next three months, which essentially makes him the same age as my son Virgile.

Virgile hasn't won three Cy Young awards, but he's a pretty great athlete on his own. He does Ironman Triathlons, and just before starting his three year tour in Paraguay, he did well enough to qualify to compete in the World Championships in Maui.