Paul's Voyage of Discovery & Etc.

May 23, 2014 · 12:53 pm

President Obama Shreds the Pundits.

President Obama made the following remarks at a recent fundraiser, calling out the false equivalency narratives spun by the insufferable, Beltway-blinkered poobahs of the pundit class. He should continue to say these things publicly and emphatically – just like Harry Truman would have – all the way up to the mid-term elections.

“You’ll hear if you watch the nightly news or you read the newspapers that, well, there’s gridlock, Congress is broken, approval ratings for Congress are terrible. And there’s a tendency to say, a plague on both your houses.

“But the truth of the matter is that the problem in Congress is very specific.

“We have a group of folks in the Republican Party who have taken over who are so ideologically rigid, who are so committed to an economic theory that says if folks at the top do very well then everybody else is somehow going to do well; who deny the science of climate change; who don’t think making investments in early childhood education makes sense; who have repeatedly blocked raising a minimum wage so if you work full-time in this country you’re not living in poverty; who scoff at the notion that we might have a problem with women not getting paid for doing the same work that men are doing.

“They, so far, at least, have refused to budge on bipartisan legislation to fix our immigration system, despite the fact that every economist who’s looked at it says it’s going to improve our economy, cut our deficits, help spawn entrepreneurship, and alleviate great pain from millions of families all across the country.

“So the problem…is not that the Democrats are overly ideological — because the truth of the matter is, is that the Democrats in Congress have consistently been willing to compromise and reach out to the other side.

“There are no radical proposals coming out from the left. When we talk about climate change, we talk about how do we incentivize through the market greater investment in clean energy. When we talk about immigration reform there’s no wild-eyed romanticism. We say we’re going to be tough on the borders, but let’s also make sure that the system works to allow families to stay together…

“When we talk about taxes we don’t say we’re going to have rates in the 70 percent or 90 percent when it comes to income like existed here 50, 60 years ago. We say let’s just make sure that those of us who have been incredibly blessed by this country are giving back to kids so that they’re getting a good start in life, so that they get early childhood education…

“Health care — we didn’t suddenly impose some wild, crazy system. All we said was let’s make sure everybody has insurance. And this made the other side go nuts — the simple idea that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, nobody should go bankrupt because somebody in their family gets sick, working within a private system.

“So when you hear a false equivalence that somehow, well, Congress is just broken, it’s not true. What’s broken right now is a Republican Party that repeatedly says no to proven, time-tested strategies to grow the economy, create more jobs, ensure fairness, open up opportunity to all people.”

Now, I wish the mainstream Democratic Party position on climate change was more radical – and I don’t like hearing President Obama extolling an “all of the above” strategy, especially if that means we all get “fracked” in the process.

But, let there be no doubt. Progressives must get out the vote this fall. The only answer to our broken Congress is a Senate controlled by Democrats – and a House of Representatives in which Nancy Pelosi once again holds the gavel. Important issues like climate change, immigration reform, raising the minimum wage, Wall Street reform and income inequality will never be addressed while Republicans are in a position to obstruct positive change.

Then, in 2016, we must work to keep a Democrat in the White House – because our endangered democracy can’t afford another religiously biased, corporate stooge conservative on The Supreme Court.

But first – we’ve got to get that oversized gavel out of John Boehner’s hands.

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Filed under History, Politics, Truth

Tagged as climate change, Congress, Democrats, false equivalency, GOP, John Boehner, mid term elections, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi, Obama, Paul Ryan, President Obama, pundits, Republican Party, Washington

May 19, 2014 · 11:57 am

This Week: An Emilia Comedy Trifecta!

For the first couple of decades that my wife and I lived in Los Angeles we rarely went to nightclubs because we were raising children. We rarely went over the Santa Monica mountains to enjoy the nightlife in Hollywood – or all the way to Silver Lake.

However, now that the kids we raised are (somehow) all performing in nightclubs, we find ourselves going out to all those entertaining spots we missed while hovering over our babies.

This week, we’ll be hitting the clubs three times to see our very funny daughter Emilia work the crowds with her standup comedy act.

On Monday May 19 at 8:00 PM, Emilia will perform in “The Comedy Madness Show” in the Main Room at the famous Comedy Store on the Sunset Strip.

You can’t get tickets online for this one – so you’ll just have to get in line behind me and get them at the club.

On Thursday May 22 at 8:00 PM, she’ll be knocking them dead at the Leche Lounge in the Malo Cantina on Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake.

If you come to the gig at the Leche Lounge you’ll want to come early enough to enjoy the food at Malo Cantina. It’s tasty, spicy Mexican cuisine that will fortify you for the night of laughter ahead.

And on Friday May 23 at 10:00, she’ll be back at The Comedy Store, appearing on the bill in The Belly Room.

So, come on out and enjoy my daughter Emilia’s unique brand of comedy.

I’ll be there. I’ll be that guy laughing and having fun with a glass of wine in my hand who no longer needs to hire a babysitter in order to go to a nightclub.

Because my baby is on the bill.

3 Comments

Filed under Art, Comedy, Improvisation

Tagged as Belly Room, Comedy Store, Emilia, Emilia Barrosse, Hollywood, Leche Lounhe, Malo Cantina, nightclub, Silver Lake, standup comedy, The Comedy Store

May 14, 2014 · 11:22 am

Eva & David at Molly Malone’s

GET YOUR TIX FOR THE GIG THIS FRIDAY!

My daughter Eva Barrosse and her guitar-playing partner David Miller are playing their coolest gig yet at Molly Malone’s this Friday May 16 at 8:00 PM. Molly Malone’s has a 25-year tradition of showcasing the finest musical talent in the Los Angeles area – and the beat goes on…

If you haven’t seen Eva & David yet, don’t miss this chance to enjoy their hip, jazzy, bluesy mix of original songs and tunes from the Great American Songbook. It’s a 21+ venue, so leave the kids at home – and come for an evening of adult fun.

Tickets are $15 – and can be purchased via Email at: evadavidmusic@gmail.com

(If clicking on the above link doesn’t work, just copy the Email address into your mailbox.) Email with the number of guests – and your tickets will be waiting for you at door.

Victoria and I will be waiting to join you inside Molly Malone’s.

For directions to Molly Malone’s  at 575 South Fairfax Ave , click here.

1 Comment

Filed under Art, Beauty, Music

Tagged as David MIller, Eva, Eva Barrosse, Molly Malone, Molly Malone's

May 4, 2014 · 2:32 pm

A Childhood Memory of Kent State, May 4, 1970.

(I first posted this article in 2012.)

On May 4^th, we should pause to remember the price of freedom, paid in blood by patriots – like the young people who died at Kent State.

On this day 42 years ago at Kent State University, Ohio National Guardsmen fired 67 shots into a group of students protesting the American invasion of Cambodia — killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom was permanently paralyzed.

The small college town of Kent is about 40 miles southeast of Cleveland, where on Monday, May 4, 1970 I was an elementary school student at St. Rocco’s School. The shooting on the Kent State campus began at 12:24 pm – and by the time we were getting out of school at 3:00 pm, the news had reached Cleveland. But the news was by word of mouth when I first heard it. And it was wrong.

The first thing I heard when I walked out of school along with my 6^th grade classmates was that “some hippies had shot some National Guardsmen.”

That’s what I heard from one of the parents waiting to pick up their kids.

When we got home and turned on our black and white television sets, Walter Cronkite set us straight.

Later, Crosby, Still, Nash & Young captured the moment, the sorrow, the sacrifice — and the defiance.

“Ohio”

Written by Neil Young

Tin soldiers and Nixon’s coming,

We’re finally on our own.

This summer I hear the drumming,

Four dead in Ohio.

Gotta get down to it

Soldiers are gunning us down

Should have been done long ago.

What if you knew her

And found her dead on the ground

How can you run when you know?

Tin soldiers and Nixon’s coming,

We’re finally on our own.

This summer I hear the drumming,

Four dead in Ohio.

Four dead in Ohio

Four dead in Ohio.

1 Comment

Filed under History, Truth

Tagged as Cleveland, Crosby Stills Nash, Kent State, Kent State Massacre, Kent State University, Neil Young, Ohio National Guard, Ohio National Guardsmen, tin soldiers and Nixon coming, Walter Cronkite

May 2, 2014 · 10:57 pm

Available Adventure: Big Santa Anita Canyon

I’ve said it in this space before, but one of the great advantages of life in Southern California – and there are many – is the opportunity to embark on a myriad variety of grand adventures within an hour or two of your home.

From where we live in Woodland Hills, nestled in the southwest edge of the San Fernando Valley, my wife and I can arrive on a Pacific Ocean beach within 20 minutes, begin an ascent into the Santa Monica Mountains in less than 15 minutes, visit the high desert in a half-hour – and drive less than an hour into a world as rough-hewn and glorious as Big Santa Anita Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains.

It’s hard to imagine that Victoria and I have lived in Southern California since 1991 and it took us 22 years to discover Big Santa Anita Canyon. We’ve often hiked Malibu Creek State Park, Topanga State Park and many of the wonderful trails winding through the valleys and along the crest of the Santa Monica Mountains. But it wasn’t until the summer of 2013 that we trekked eastward above the town of Arcadia into the fascinating valley at the foot of Mt. Wilson, below Chantry Flat in the San Gabriels.

Victoria at the trailhead, ready for adventure.

Victoria and I first descended into Big Santa Anita Canyon on a day hike. And it’s a steep descent. The walk down from the Chantry Flat trailhead to the valley floor begins at the parking lot and plunges 400 feet over 8 tenths of a mile. As relaxing as it is to start a hike with a long downhill stroll, veteran hikers know it only means a tortuous uphill slog on the finish.

Once on the valley floor, we followed the wide, shady trail along Santa Anita Creek leading to the popular 50-foot Sturtevant Falls.

We hiked about 7 miles that day, enjoying the canyon’s unique, rocky, riparian landscape and the midsummer trickle that dripped down the otherwise impressive Sturtevant Falls.

Sturtevant Falls, Photo by Andy Serrano

We especially enjoyed the sight of all the funky old creekside cabins, built back in the 1920’s and 30’s, when the U.S. Forest Service promoted recreational residence in the canyon. There are over 80 of these privately owned cabins, which have no electricity or running water — and they’re not available for rental. But they look cool. The whole scene reminded me of a So Cal version of Middle Earth. (Indeed one of the cabins was dubbed Bombadil’s Castle: a clear J.R.R. Tolkien reference.)

After surviving that last, brutally hot, 8^th of a mile, uphill endurance test to climb back to the trailhead — Victoria and I decided to return as soon as possible for an overnight stay at valley’s historic Sturtevant’s Camp.

Sturtevant’s Camp is the oldest resort in the San Gabriel Mountains, built in 1892 by Wilbur M. Sturtevant during the “Great Hiking Era”(1880’s through the early 1930’s) when thousands of tourists hiked into the local mountains, covering long distances over crude trails to encounter the natural beauty of their Southern California home.

Today, it’s hard to imagine many So Cal families abandoning their SUVs, highways and fast food stops to hike with a pack mule train along the strenuous 4.5 mile trail from Chantry Flat to Sturtevant’s Camp, climbing about 1,800 feet along the way. But it was a challenge Victoria and I eagerly embraced.

Incredibly, those pack mule trains still operate today. One of the coolest things about Chantry Flat is that it’s home to the last pack station in Southern California: the last operation where they actually use pack mules to haul supplies into the valley. Alas, Vic and I were too late to use the mule team service, so we had to carry two day’s worth of supplies on our own backs.

On our return visit to Big Santa Anita we blew off another look at Sturtevant Falls. After all, it hadn’t rained during the intervening two weeks. Instead, we took the trail leading up the valley to Sturtevant’s Camp. This trail wound along the rising cliffs above Sturtevant Falls, providing us with a new perspective on the falls — and some dramatic photo ops.

We made good time climbing up the trail and arrived at Sturtevant’s Camp much earlier than we expected — and too early to rendezvous with our camp host.

We needed our host. He was the guy who would open our cabin and turn the gas on. Without him, all we could do was peek in our cabin window and look around at the dowdy yet charming remains of what was once considered a resort destination.

There was a time when Sturtevant’s Camp one of five resorts in the canyon back in the 1930s. That’s not the case today. Now, it’s the only “resort” left – and its chief characteristics are a rundown, historic appeal and a basic utility. It’s a comfortable and clean enough place to rest your head (and feet) after a hard day of hiking.

But there was no rest for us yet. An enthusiastic (and annoyingly unexhausted) group of 20-somethings arrived at the camp: a matched set of three boys and three girls. We were pleased to know that we wouldn’t be alone at the camp – but we weren’t ready to get social yet. And since our camp host had yet to arrive, we made a bold decision: to climb 5,710-foot Mt. Wilson.

Since the camp sits at about 3,500 feet above sea level, our ascent of Mt. Wilson covered three miles and 2,200 feet of elevation. That’s a lot of “up”.

It’s a good thing that Victoria and I had been hiking regularly for several months before we attempted the summit of Mt. Wilson. And thank goodness we brought just enough water. The late afternoon sun was merciless, and there were several treeless stretches with little or no cover along the winding, narrow, rocky, dusty trail up to the famous observatory.

Even before we gained the summit our hard work was well rewarded by stunning views of the L.A. basin spreading out before us to the south. It was a clear day – and even Catalina Island was in view.

Okay, so you can’t see Catalina. Blame my damn iPhone camera!

At the summit, we still weren’t finished hiking. The concrete roads wound past the white domes of the observatory and a series of other telescopes. Finally, we arrived at the Cosmic Café, which is open from April to October.

The Cosmic Café is not fine dining, but we were happy to indulge in a hot dog, Diet Coke and more water as we rested before our descent back to the camp.

When we got back to the camp our host was waiting for us. He opened our cabin – and, exhausted but feeling victorious, we moved in for a rustic but comfortable night’s stay. The next day, we’d be hiking for another 7 rugged miles on our way back to Chantry Flat. But first, it was a delightful evening of sipping Chardonnay and enjoying the quaint, spare luxuries of Sturtevant’s Camp.

What follows are some photos of our cabin – and scenes from our hike back to Chantry Flat.

Our cabin.

Inside our cabin.

The kitchen in which we cooked chicken breasts for dinner.

Our somewhat comfortable bed: more than serviceable after our trek up Mt. Wilson

The pleasant sylvan view from our window.

A view from the upper trail back to Chantry Flat.

It’s scenes like these that keep us coming back to the mountains of Southern California.

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Filed under Adventure, Beauty, History, Travel

Tagged as Arcadia, Big Santa Anita Canyon, Chantry Flat, hike, hiking, Mt. Wilson, Mt. Wilson Observatory, pack station, San Gabriel Mountains, San Gabriels, Santa Monica Mountains, Southern California, Sturtevant Falls, Sturtevant's Camp

April 30, 2014 · 2:52 pm

A Funny Girl @ Grauman’s on Friday!

My daughter Emilia’s rising standup comedy career continues this Friday, May 2 at the Inside Jokes Comedy Club on the third floor of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre at 8:00 pm.

The show is called “Women Who Kill.”

That’s “kill” in the “knock ‘em dead” sense of the word.

Please note, in a bit of unintended comedy, Emilia’s last name is misspelled as “Barrossetta” – which may be the all-time record for misspelling and mispronunciation of our somewhat complicated, unique surname.

I’m told that you can get on the guest list (a free ticket) by Emailing lisa@prettyfunnywomen.com and letting her know you’re a friend of Emilia.

Otherwise, if you’d like to support the arts, $15 tickets can be ordered here:

Indoor parking is just $2 with validation.

According to the Inside Jokes website, “at Inside Jokes you get a hip and contemporary comedy club experience. A theater styled seating plan, a custom built stage directly in front a state of the art screen that serves as an artistic backdrop. We’re not your ordinary comedy club! When you come to Inside Jokes you’re experiencing a night on the town.

After the show guests of the club are invited to exit the theater and head for the Inside Jokes Lounge where you can mingle, meet the performers, grab a cocktail and enjoy some good music without having to leave the building.”

I say, “Come for the comedy. Stay for the footprints.”

3 Comments

Filed under Art, Beauty, Comedy, Truth

Tagged as comedy club, Emilia Barrosse, Grauman's Chinese, Grauman's Theatre, Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, Inside Jokes, Inside Jokes Comedy Club, Lisa Sundstedt, standup comedy, standup comedy career, Women Who Kill

April 23, 2014 · 6:13 pm

Eva & David Perform this Friday at the House of Blues!

My sweet-singing daughter Eva Barrosse and guitarist extraordinaire David Miller are playing The House of Blues again this Friday, April 25 at 8:00 in the Voodoo Lounge. Their first appearance at the House of Blues was a big hit – and this show will be better than ever.

More info on the gig can be found by clicking here.

Eva and David will be playing a 45 minute set – and here’s a taste of what you’ll enjoy if you head down to 8430 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood and plunk down your $10 for a ticket.

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Filed under Art, Beauty, Music

Tagged as blues, David MIller, Eva Barrosse, Gershwin, Hollywood, House of Blues, jazz, Voodoo Lounge

April 16, 2014 · 12:26 am

Farewell to Ray Shepardson, the Visionary Who Saved the Theatres

I honestly had no idea how to headline this tribute to the great Ray Shepardson, who died suddenly and shockingly in Aurora, Illinois late last night.

It sounds like a cliché to say that Ray was full of life and larger than life – but if you knew him as his friends and associates knew him, terms like “dynamo” and “whirlwind” and “passionate” and, yes, “madman” were all frequently employed in the fruitless struggle to capture Ray in mere words.

The man who saved dozens of great old theatres and movie palaces from the wrecking ball was a man of prodigious energy, drive, and “can do” creativity.

I was a teenager in Cleveland, Ohio when I first felt the vibration from the human shockwave that was Raymond K. Shepardson. And I wouldn’t have any idea who he was for another thirteen years.

In 1973, my mother took me to see a production of “Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris” that was staged in the lobby of the State Theatre in Cleveland’s downtrodden, downtown Playhouse Square district.

I was just 15 years old, but I knew that this long-running version of “Jacques Brel” was something special – and that there was a lot of excitement in my proud hometown about a surprisingly successful effort to save this group of old movie palaces and Broadway road houses in a city that had been on a long losing streak.

Inspirational young Ray waging the good fight at Playhouse Square.

At that time, I had no idea who Ray Shepardson was, or that he was the person behind the movement to preserve the theatrical and cultural glory of downtown Cleveland.

Tonight, four decades after I experienced “Jacques Brel” in the State Theatre lobby, the lights went out in Playhouse Square. The theatres that Ray saved dimmed their marquees in memory of the educator-turned-preservationist who inspired and orchestrated their revitalization.

“The thing that always baffled me,” said Ray, “is how anyone could walk into those buildings and think they weren’t worth saving.”

I met Ray thirteen years after “Jacques Brel”. Neither of us was living in Cleveland anymore. I had come to Chicago in 1976 to attend Northwestern, graduated in 1980, and in 1986, was performing with my future wife, Victoria Zielinski, in a comedy revue for my own theatrical enterprise, The Practical Theatre Company.

Our friend and fellow Northwestern alum, Drew McCoy had come to Chicago to work on the grand reopening of The Chicago Theatre: one of the finest old movie palaces on State Street in the Loop. Drew helped Victoria get a job selling seats in the luxury box level. And that brought us into orbit around the force of nature called Ray Shepardson.

He was a restless, relentless bear of man, hustling through the bowels of The Chicago Theatre with a towel around his neck, quick-witted and brimming with bravado. I’d played Professor Harold Hill in high school and I recognized “The Music Man” in Ray: the persuasive, undeterred, incorrigible charm and salesmanship.

But Ray’s accomplishments were far more legitimate than Harold Hills bogus “think system”. In the years after saving Cleveland’s Playhouse Square, Ray had wrought his restorative magic on The Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis (built in 1929) – where our friend Drew first worked with the great man.

Ray had also supervised the 1983 restoration and programming of The Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles (built in 1931).

Now, Ray was getting The Chicago Theatre (built in 1921) ready for a grand reopening featuring Frank Sinatra in concert. And, thanks to my girlfriend Victoria and my buddy Drew, I had a ringside seat.

When Ray and I finally made the Cleveland-“Jaques Brel”-Playhouse Square connection, we became fast friends. It was a friendship that, for the next 28 years, I could always pick up right where we had left off. Until yesterday.

But I’d rather go back to that glorious day when The Chicago Theatre reopened on September 10, 1986. My fellow Practical Theatre cast members and I were on the red carpet — opening the main doors wearing white gloves and tuxes. My future wife was prowling the luxury box level. My friend Drew was wearing a path from backstage to the box office. Frank Sinatra sang “My Kind of Town” – and Ray Shepardson was at the height of his powers.

In the years that followed, Ray was involved in more than 30 restoration projects across the country. He was the irrepressible, uncontrollable and iconoclastic savior of historic vaudeville and movie theatres across the country – taking dowdy old pleasure palaces and returning them to their original, gilded luster.

In a promotional video for Ray’s Majestic Theatre restoration project in San Antonio in 1989, the great songstress Rosemary Clooney said that, “Ray is the one who always comes through. He has wonderful taste. He has the dedication that can make it happen, and I’m a big fan of his.”

More than two decades later, Ray helped make it happen for Victoria and me when we wanted to take our comedy revue, “The Vic & Paul Show” on the road. Not only did Ray help us beat the drum and get the press to our 2011 run at Mayne Stage in Chicago – he was instrumental in helping us make a theatrical return to my hometown in the summer of 2012. With Ray in our corner, our booking at the 14^th Street Theatre in Playhouse Square was a great success.

And why not? Ray Shepardson, success and Playhouse Square will always be synonymous.

Sadly, today, the same Playhouse Square marquees that heralded our show in lights…

…marked Ray’s tragic passing.

Kathleen Crowther of the Cleveland Restoration Society said that Ray “had the courage to go against the grain. I’m not sure he’s ever been properly recognized.”

How do you properly recognize a force of nature?

I’ve tried to do that, to some paltry degree, with this post.

But mostly I want to say thank you, Ray. I dearly wish I had a chance to do as much for you as you’ve done for me.

I’ll close with the words Victoria wrote today (quoting the English language’s greatest poet who, like Ray, loved the theatre)…

And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest, dear Ray Shepardson. We miss you.

Rest in peace, friend.

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Filed under Art, Beauty, History, Truth

Tagged as 14th Street Theatre, Chicago, Chicago Theatre, Cleveland, Cleveland Playhouse Square, Playhouse Square, Ray, Ray Shepardson, Raymond K. Shepardson, The Chicago Theater, The Fabulous Fox Theatre, The Practical Theatre, The Wiltern Theater, Vic & Paul Show

April 7, 2014 · 9:50 pm

One & Dumped: Championship Edition

Call me an old fogey, but I’m delighted that Kentucky’s five much-hyped, “one-and-done” freshmen were defeated 60-54 in the NCAA Tournament Championship game by the University of Connecticut Huskies. And I’m especially thrilled that UConn led from start to finish.

This wasn’t a battle of David vs. Goliath – and there was no Cinderella team. Both teams had recent championship experience. UConn won an NCAA crown in 2011 and Kentucky won in 2012. Coach John Calipari’s Kentucky 2012 title-winning squad started 3 freshman and 2 sophomores.

But it was still an unlikely matchup. Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats were an 8-seed and Kevin Ollie’s UConn Huskies were a 7-seed. It was the first time a #7 team and a #8 team faced off for the championship: the lowest combined seed in NCAA history.

Connecticut was the first 7-seed to reach the title game – but that’s not what made it such a compelling game for me – and for millions of college sports fans across the nation.

8-seeds like Kentucky have made it to the NCAA title game before: the last to do so was Butler in 2011. But, ironically, Butler lost to UConn. Before that, the Huskies beat Kentucky in the Final Four. That this year’s Connecticut team returned two veterans — now seniors — from that 2011 championship team proved the difference in the 2014 NCCA Final.

UConn head coach Kevin Ollie faced John Calipari’s “one-and-done” starting freshmen five with a balanced and experienced squad of true student-athletes: Phillip Nolan (Sophomore), DeAndre Daniels (Junior), Shabazz Napier (Senior), Niels Giffey (Senior) and Ryan Boatright (Junior).

In fact, last year Napier chose to return to UConn for his senior year because he wanted to get his degree and return to the NCAA Tournament with his teammates.

All that the unfazed, well-prepared senior Napier did in tonight’s pressure-filled game was score a game high 22 points with 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. (NBA general managers, are you paying attention?) To get to the title game, the cold-blooded, been-there, done-that Napier helped his team beat #1 Florida by scoring 26 points, including a last-second jump shot that clinched the game by a single point.

There’s a reason that no college team has ever won a national title while starting five freshmen. Michigan’s legendary Fab Five couldn’t do it in 1992 – and neither could Calipari’s Kentucky mercenaries this year.

There were no McDonald’s All-Americans on UConn’s championship roster. On the other hand, Kentucky had seven McDonald’s All-Americans — six of whom were freshmen – on the losing team.

I’m going to go to Fatburger (not McDonald’s) tomorrow.

I’ll order a bacon double cheeseburger with ketchup only – and while I’m wolfing it down, I’ll re-read the box score from tonight’s NCAA Championship Game.