Game, Set, Match, Life

Why is she making a tennis reference, you are asking yourself.

If you've been reading Crime Pays for a while, you know that more than anything, I value good writing.  And the late Bud Collins was one of the best.  Who didn't enjoy perusing his sizzling columns, full of onomatopoeia and what my daughter's third-grade teacher would call spicy words, brimming with energy and enthusiasm and just plain life?  Even those completely ignorant of tennis could come away with an appreciation of the sport and the personalities therein.  I'll miss the pants, but I miss the columns even more.

There's been a lot written about Bud since his passing last week, absolutely all of it laudatory - was there ever an individual more beloved in his or her field?  But I liked today's letters to the editor in the Boston Globe the best.  They haven't put them on the regular website, but if you go here you can read them.  The Latin teacher who started every class with Bud's column?  Now that's a tribute.