btw, CW, do you ever read Mitch Albom's columns up there in Michigan.
I read them off of the detroit free press website, and he is a great writer. He doesn't write all the time like Marrioti, but he writes twice a week it seems, and the columns are always well written.
I have enjoyed reading him, ever since I read his biogrophy of Schembechler--Bo (though technically it is an autobio, Albom still wrote it)