Bill Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar... You'd have thought that would make him smart enough not to diddle an intern in his office, but you'd be wrong.

Maybe Whizzer is smarter after all.

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If a guy posts on a bulletin board service, and nobody reads it, did he have anything to say?

Yes, the straw man fallacy conclusively proves that recepients of the world's most prestigious academic scholarship aren't all that...

Nevertheless, until Rolle does something as an adult, Whizzer has no competition.

Back on topic (somewhat): Pittsburgh sports radio sucks - I couldn't make it through the audio clip. Bouchette sounds like a head trauma victim and the other guy should go back to his life's work calling bingo at the old age home.

You yinzers deserve better.

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Crescat scientia; vita excolatur

There have been 112 SCOTUS justices ever. There were 83 Rhodes Scholars last year. Rhodes scholarship is based on many things, including athletics. Rolle is very smart. But White was in a much more select company. JDs -- especially at Yale Law School -- are much more demanding than BAs or I would imagine MScs.

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"You seem angry, Drama."
"I've always been, Billy. Only now, I'm drunk too."

Prestigious academic scholars do not necessarily become men of character... Wall Street and other streets are littered with prestigious academic honors bestowed on complete assholes who would literally shit in your mother's mouth if they thought it would make them a buck or two.

I didn't mind Clinton as a president anyway, and thought the brouhaha about dipping his wick was more of the typical and cynical politics that dominate DC... Personally, I could give a shit.

If Rolle becomes a starter, well, he's in uniform now and I route for people in the B&G (even when they suck). As to his character and life accomplishments in uniform and out of it, call back when he's 35...

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If a guy posts on a bulletin board service, and nobody reads it, did he have anything to say?

That's what happens on The Fan. When you put zero work into the production quality, the talent you put on the air, and the people who work behind the scenes that's the product you put out.

It's just a shame that the average Pittsburgher doesn't realize what they're listening to.

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And then you take a good look around and they stole your rock n roll
And once it's gone you'll never get it back

Not to belabor the point SJ, but I thought the fun, but ultimately silly comparison of Whizzer and Rolle was about brains, and not character. In that case, Bill Clinton is probably smarter than either. I agree that neither prestigious scholarship (nor priesthood for that matter) will cure a lustful soul.

Further belaboring the topic, I have to disagree with the notion that Wall Street has elite academic minds...that is a relatively modern romantic myth in a similar spirit as calling CEO's "Captains of Industry" - that is, inferring they have some sort of heroic leadership ability similar to great military leaders. Wall Street certainly isn't brimming with Rhodes Scholars...Wall Street's best minds are mathematicians and applied scientists who took the money, but weren't Fields or Nobel Medal contenders by a LONG shot. They are akin to low level college prospects who end up in the CFL. The truly brilliant have far more options than Wall Street or cushy consulting jobs...to them, that is low class fallback compared to making world changing discoveries.

When the best and brightest ARE tempted, most I've known can only stand it short-term because the finance and McKinsey-type consulting jobs are so freaking boring to their agile minds. But, to some extent, that plays to your point - they only went for the money... for the greed. Thankfully, the majority of elite brain power remains in academia, non-profit, or corporate/military research.

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Crescat scientia; vita excolatur

That may not be far off the mark, but there certainly are some brilliant people who DO choose the money, and the challenges. There are also some very highly regarded academics who've gotten involved....Fama has had a big hand in DFA, and I believe still sits on the board. Of course Scholes, Miller and some others were part of the LTCM debacle. And, in fact, a good number of top academics in their field rake it in doing high value consulting on the side. For a lot of finance and econ PhD's, Wall Street and the markets IS their lab.

I could also argue the reverse, and indeed it's also true to an extent, that some of the lesser PhD's choose the relative security and "low pressure" environment of teaching and going down the tenured path.

And if you take a step back, business people tend to be/need to be more well-rounded than academics. In that regard, there's no doubt that some of the best business minds are going to Wall Street , Consulting, PE and Hedge Funds (although you could rightly debate how well-rounded many of them are). Vs. you typical corporate jobs/F500 those guys are just on another level.

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Sorry my life is so much more bitchin' than yours. I planned it that way.

It's not exactly full of AA degrees from JC's, is it? I wonder what percentage of the Wall Street finance industry is comprised of grads from Ivy League schools, they are "elite academic institutions" are they not?

And when I say Wall Street, please DO include the law firms that cater to it... LOL.

If you mean "ivory tower" types, then I have to concur. But then you go back to the old saw "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach."

The best economists don't actually work on Wall Street. And the biggest financial statement I've ever had the pleasure of working with is a professor from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley... So I'll concede that from a certain POV, you are right on that one.

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If a guy posts on a bulletin board service, and nobody reads it, did he have anything to say?

As far as economics & finance is concerned (otherwise it's apples and oranges)...and, there are only a handful of positions at top tier business schools and PhD programs, literally only a few teaching positions available each year to recent PhD grads (and, incidentally, U of C's Finance PhD is a 6-yr program I believe and gradaute like 2 people a year)...Working for the Fed is a pretty elite opportunity, but most do it for the experience and then hope to go either to Wall Street/Hedge Funds or get one of the elite teaching positions.

Also, Bill Gross could hold his own with any academic or economist. And if you want to compare the best of Wall Street with the best of academia, guys like Gross, Buffet, Paulson, Griffin, Izzy, Simons, Soros...And we can go on and on for both sides. The better comparison is probably National vs. American League.

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Sorry my life is so much more bitchin' than yours. I planned it that way.