Will and Grace

I've noted several times that as much as I disagree with George Will politically, I do respect him. And when he writes about baseball, I downright love him. He has great knowledge of the game's history, rules and arcana, and he's a fantastic writer.

He has a terrific piece in today's WaPo about umpires, which I can't recommend highly enough.

The whole thing is great but this particular bit is priceless.

"Sport -- strenuous exertion structured and restrained by rules -- replicates the challenges of political freedom. Umpires, baseball's judicial branch, embody what any society always needs and what America, in its current financial disarray, craves -- regulated striving that, by preventing ordered competition from descending into chaos, enables excellence to prevail."

I'm swooning. Enjoy.