*I'm sure Donald Christian will be a fine interim president at SUNY New Paltz, but I sure would have liked to see Gerry Benjamin get the nod. Gerry has risen through the ranks over many years at New Paltz. He knows the terrain and his expertise on state government has made him the go-to guy for many big-time media outlets, thus increasing the college's visibility. An appointment as interim president would have been a fitting cap to his academic career.

*It's not just the media and umpires like Joe West who think Yankees-Red Sox games are too long. It's many everyday fans like me (it's been years since I was a sportswriter), who can't sit through four-hour marathons such as last night's (into early this morning) game. Other than added TV commercial time and its impact on lengthening games, baseball is the same as when Whitey Ford and Bob Gibson would start and finish in about 2:10. Once a big league baseball game exceeds three hours, something's wrong.

*No question the tea party movement is shaking things up in politics. But I'm not ready to say it had much to do with the Pennsylvania Democratic Senate primary, in which Arlen Specter's career came to an end. Specter's party switch and age (80) were the big turnoffs in his unsuccessful race with a little known congressman.