WAY TO GO RYNO: Happened to tune into Ryne Sandberg's Hall of Fame induction speech while pounding away on an elliptical machine at our health club. Wow. One of the great speeches I've ever heard. A touch sanctimonious, a ton ambitious, and incredibly inspiring. Interesting to me that, in the past 24 hours, I've been deeply inspired by 1) an indie filmmaker who made a post-cool film about an uncool Idaho kid and 2) an ever-balding big-leaguer who just made a speech about character and respect. Unlikely bedmates, eh? Maybe I'm just very receptive to inspiration right now...?

A quick GoogleNews search revealed precious little written yet about Ryno's speech, but I have to believe that's gonna change tomorrow. When the sports hacks and cultural critics come back to their laptops, they've gotta weigh in on the Sandberg speech. It was a biggie, a "goosebumper" as my dad would say.