Boston Globe
by Ellen Goodman

09/23/05

I've never been a big fan of sports metaphors. I don't slam. I don't dunk. I don't hit it out of the park. And I cannot give a proper baseball analysis of John G. Roberts, the man soon to become the chief ''umpire' of the Supreme Court. The one sports commentary I can offer is the tune I've been humming from 'Damn Yankees,' the baseball musical of my youth: 'You've gotta have heart/ Miles 'n' miles 'n' miles of heart. ...' The need for heart was a constant refrain during the senators' failed search for Roberts, the man. During the hearings, one uneasy senator after another, from Charles Schumer to Arlen Specter, from Dianne Feinstein to Dick Durbin, openly asked (1) if Roberts had a heart, (2) what was in it, (3) how full it was. The concern about his cardio-compassionate fitness for office prompted the Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid, to come out against Roberts, saying, 'I'm not too sure if his heart is as big as his head'...

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Informant: Thomas L. Knapp