People You Should Know All right, tonight's "Turn of the Cards" special is put to bed and airs in just a few hours. (Shamless plug: 7-8 p.m. tonight, right here on KSDK.) I'm bleary-eyed, not quite sure what day it is, and kind of feel like a mole forced out into the light--a lot of late nights were spent in writing and deciding on the video to use to fill the hour. But now as I open up a yawn that would make the Grand Canyon look like a drainage ditch and stretch out the dormant muscle groups (geez, I hope nobody is looking), I need to mention a few other folks that had a hand in this.

Don Galloway and Tom Stasiak shot the video down in Jupiter, and they do great work. As I probably mentioned, Tom was the photog (oops--20th century job title. It's the 21st, so they answer to photojournalist now) when I went down to Florida, and he really busted his hind parts to get great angles and creative shots. Both of those guys made the video portion of tonight's show extra good.

Now I took those pictures and tried to put some words and reactions to them, and then handed off my vision to Jon King. (He's got a warehouse full of awards to prove his value as an editor, so he doesn't need my endorsement.) Jon and I work at opposite ends of the clock, so I didn't get to actually see how he interpreted my ideas until yesterday, and he did a fantastic job. (Shameless plug #2: Make sure you stick around to see how he closed the show out---let's just say it was a really creative way to put the end on how he began it.)

Next, I gave our graphic artist Rich Witzofsky a title and a rough outline for a concept, and then Rich did what he does best---he took the idea and conceived an animation that is light years above what I asked for. He is so creative---someone should take his brain after he's done with it and freeze it for generations after ours to study. (Rich, I did say AFTER you were done with it.)

After singling out these fine folks, it is worth mentioning that there are a lot of creatively gifted folks that I am blessed to work with. I am better at what I do because of them. And there are those who I know for a fact are undervalued for the contributions that they make here, but it goes without saying that without them, the KSDK juggernaut ceases to be.

So if you watch tonight's show and like it, think of and credit these fine folks I've mentioned. If you don't, blame me.

THOUGHTS CLOGGING MY BRAIN:

--Have you seen what the fine folks at Davidson have done for their student body? The trustees tapped a fund that paid for transportation (11 hours on a bus, each way), two nights' lodging, and a game ticket for any student who wanted to go to their team's Sweet Sixteen game tonight in Detroit. Roughly 20 percent of the 12-hundred or so students took advantage of the opportunity. Seems like a great deal, except I see that it costs $41,000 to attend Davidson. (OK, they do offer a free laundry service.) What, they couldn't have thrown in a game program and one of those foam hands?

--Why do people e-mail comments to us that are basically a chance for those who are frustrated in their own lives to take shots at the people they see on TV? You got a complaint, fine. You want to give your dog or cat a night off from being kicked around the house and write things to people that you would never have the guts to say to the person face-to-face, just because you didn't see what you wanted on a news broadcast? Really. Find another way to vent. More on that another time. (Whew, I feel better. OK, maybe not.)

--First Ted Williams, now the Gipper? (Not Ronald Reagan; the Gipper. You know, Notre Dame? Win one for him? Knute Rockne speech?) Seems they've exhumed George Gipp's body after nearly 90 years in the ground in order to determine if he fathered his girlfriend's child (DNA says he didn't), and accidentally dug up his sister's remains by accident along the way. And now descendants have sued over the unfortunate mistake. Are you kidding? Is there anything in this society that happens where someone's first thought isn't lawsuit!

--Is there any way UCLA and North Carolina aren't on a collision course to meet in the NCAA finals? They are the two best teams, by far, that I've seen to this point.

--Will Anthony Reyes ever get a fair shake? Granted, his overall spring body of work hasn't been stellar (yet a 3.32 ERA isn't bad), but he's been really good in his last two outings, and he's on the bubble between starting the season in the bullpen or in Triple-A? This untrained eye seems to think that you put Reyes in the rotation and see if he can build on those two outings, and have Brad Thompson (who is much better suited for long relief) available out of the bullpen. And if Reyes implodes again, then I'll throw up my hands and say Reyes has run out of chances.

--I really enjoyed Derrick Goold's article in the Post-Dispatch the other day on Bob Gibson's 1968 season. Gibby was one of my early heroes, and '68 was, quite simply, the Holy Grail of big league pitching. Derrick is a terrific writer, and I never miss a chance to read his stuff. (And by disclaimer, the fact that he's married to our 10 p.m. producer has absolutely nothing to do with it.)

--Are there any athletes any more classy than Isaac Bruce or Trent Green? I doubt it. It's great to have the Vianney product back in the organization, and hearing him say that it was Bruce, unceremoniously sent packing by the Rams, who told him that St. Louis was the place for him to go. That's a great story. More on that Sunday night on Sports Plus (shameless plug #3.).

Until next time.... ¶ 12:32 PM