Frank Deford is one of those insidious writers and commentators who has that evil power to make you care about his subjects by virtue of his wiley prose.

I rarely care about sports. I mean, I like to watch football and basketball, but don't get into the playoffs or religiously follow a team, and don't really care about other sports at all.

But Deford's insightful commentaries on NPR, not to mention his speaking style, lure me in, like some tiger trap filled with baseballs and olympic medals, and I find myself listening, and horror of horrors, thinking and caring about his topics.

I don't know how he does it. But he gets my attention, not through real interest in the subject, or through the typical confrontational style of much of talk radio. And I find myself pondering the issues he discusses for much of the day.

It's a special ability to make people interested in your topics. And a unique talent to make people interested in a whole subject they'd otherwise turn away from.

Mr. Deford, stop it! :)