Rest Well Ed
11/12/2006 7:57 PM
Its not often that I comment on deaths in the celebrity world but I make an exception today. You look at the world today and you don't see reporters/journalists like the old days. Talent and journalism that I look at with white hot envy. Someone who reports as much of themselves in a story as the story. When I was growing up a staple on Sunday nights was 60 minutes. At first I relished it because it was a way I could delay my weekend bath. That was my first exposure to Ed Bradley. I picked up on his coolness immediately. What I loved was his non verbal way of calling bullshit when he heard it...the forehead rub. The hand on chin thoughtful turn of the head. I was 13 and I was knocked out by his style. These days newsman are showman. Ed knew when to push and when to let the story come to him. In watching the retrospectives I have he was even better than I had expected. He stepped from reporter to human on so many occasions. Reaching to a dying child. Wowed by standing in the Khyber Pass or dropping his mic to help Vietnam refugees land. He was the embodiment of what I wanted to be. He lived. Damn he lived. Teacher. Radio man. Musician. He got his ear pierced when he was a major name on 60 Minutes. Lets see any other of those tight asses do that. Like most of the things in life...I didn't appreciate him until after he was gone.

Take a second and read about him...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Bradley