St. Louis manager Tony La Russa, right, and pitching coach coach Dave Duncan turn their attention to baseball after helping pick the new pope earlier this spring. Well, they are cardinals, after all. See Item No. 1/APhoto.

First, you should know that Shelly Monahan/KHQ and her family are devoted fans of the late Pope John Paul II and of baseball. Now, let’s proceed to her North Idaho College commencement address May 20. Toward the end, she mentioned how upset she’d been with the pope’s death on her birthday, April 2. She was in her kitchen peeling potatoes and mourning after hearing the bad news when her 9-year-old daughter approached with words of comfort. And a question. How would the Catholics pick the next pope? Responded Shelly: The cardinals will pick the next pope. At that remark, her daughter put her hands on her hips defiantly and challenged: "Why does a baseball team get to pick the new pope?” (Bonus question: Do the Padres pick the next one?)

Sensitive Men
Blogger Amy Crooks/That's Life/ had her hands full with a fussy teething baby last Monday when she turned to Huckleberries Online for advice (pick up her thread at 7:41 p.m. And the male commenters stopped arguing politics long enough to aid the distressed mother. One urged her to give the baby a warm bath. Another advised her to give her 5-month-old a capped, baby oil bottle to chew on. Still another: “Stick your finger in some whiskey then stick it in the baby’s mouth” – advice which touched off online debate. Finally, Phil Corless/A Family Runs Through It offered: “Warm up some baby oil and give that baby a leisurely massage. Back, legs, arms, head. She’ll loooooove it and be asleep within ten minutes.” Phil’s trick worked. Amy posted this later: “I will report that the warm bubble was not only calming but we had fun.” Huckleberries – meeting your needs one flustered young mother at a time.

Quotable Quote
“I look at it today, I think that parents can play one of the most critical roles in the development of their own children, and be there for them, their cheerleaders, and be parents. And I believe that is my first and highest priority. So while I’ve contemplated it and I think it would be exciting, this is still more important to me,” -- Sandy Patano of Idaho U.S. Sen. Larry Craig’s office telling Betsy Russell/Eye on Boise why she prefers to be with her teen rather that run for Congress.

Poet’s Corner
“For hours on end/I searched my cranium/to find a rhyme/for his geranium” – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Ode to Mr. Hagadone’s Favorite Flower”) … “Up to my TV I sidled/I wanted a program that’s vital;/Could be anything,/Long as I don’t hear ’em sing/On that idiotic "AMERICAN IDOL" – The Warped World of CDADave … “Gambling with your heart is the highest risk and highest stake game of all, and nobody knows the odds” – Bob Salsbury/Random Shallow Thoughts.

Huckleberries
As he walked into his favorite java place, CDA’s Dave Holmes was struck by similarity of “Chai tea, listed on the chalk board menu, and Tai Chi, the martial arts exercise regimen. So, wondered Dave, would a special drink for an Oriental master be called Tai Chi Chai Tea? … Seventy-eight-point-5 percent of the respondents answered “yes” to that online Olympian poll Saturday: “Should Spokane Mayor Jim West resign after allegations of decades-old child molestation” … Bumpersnicker (on a green Dodge on Spokane’s Monroe Street Wednesday): “My kids drive me crazy and I drive them everywhere else" … Indeed, there is a DC softball team consisting mostly of ex-Idahoans (Lucky Spuds) playing in the 90-team US Senate Softball League, where they’re 2-1 this year after beating Sen. Pete Domenici’s (R-NM) office 9-0, and fulfilling the preseason expectation of making new enemies.

Parting Shot
Congrats to Hecla’s Lucky Friday Mine and Coeur Silver Valley for coming in two-three on the Environmental Protection Agency’s top Idaho polluters list for 2003, the latest year surveyed. Inappropriately named U.S. Ecology (formerly Envirosafe) was Numero Uno.

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