No cultural theme would be complete without a quote from Kurt Andersen, the author and commentator. Here he is, heroically shoring up a column about Sammy Sosa, Martha Stewart, Howell Raines, and the fall of the modern icon. ''What's interesting about Sosa and Stewart, is that neither really needed to do what they did. Stewart still has millions of dollars. Sosa hits home runs anyway. The superfluousness of what they did helps us enjoy the spectacle even more — and to my mind makes what happened with Raines the fuller tragedy. Because whatever kind of martinet he was as a manager, Raines was genuinely trying to make the Times a good newspaper.... It wasn't about personal gain.''
How the mighty have fallen [Boston Globe]