*Congratulations to Freeman sportswriter Mike Stribl, whose work was recognized in the Local Media Association's nationwide competition. If memory serves me, Mike has been here since I was sports editor (a position I left in 1983), which means one of us is getting old.

*Rarely do I get as annoyed with the end of a TV show as I did after the final episode of "Luck" on HBO. The horseracing saga led by Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte was superbly acted and featured a startling accurate portrayal of the game and its characters. Unfortunately, ratings were weak, which made it easy for HBO to cave in to pressure from animal rights activists who blamed the producers for the death of three horses during filming just as production for a second season was launched.

*The Freeman debuted its new story commenting platform the other day. It has all the bells and whistles of the system it replaced and a lot more, including the ability to post comments from various other platforms. Give our Ivan Lajara (ilajara@freemanonline.com) a holler if you have questions or concerns.

*Fascinating, disturbing, funny and deadly serious are words that apply to "Shameless" on Showtime cable. William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum head a wonderful cast.

*It's easy to take for granted the work of local doctors, nurses and support personnel ... until you rely on them, as I have with some level of regularity over the last three years.

*Rick Santorum won't win the GOP nomination this year and it's hard to see Mitt Romney selecting him as a running mate, given all the nasty things they've been saying about each other. So I'm left to presume that if Romney loses to Barack Obama, Santorum will claim he's next in line when it's time to tee it up again in 2016. That would explain why he isn't bowing out and helping the Republicans close ranks around the presumptive nominee.

*Programs to watch: "Community" on NBC, "American Dad" on Fox, "Shake It Up" and "Austin and Ally" on Disney. Familial reasons. ... and they're entertaining, too.