http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/05/us/obit-andy-rooney/index.html?hpt=hp_t1http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/us/andy-rooney-mainstay-on-60-minutes-dead-at-92.html?_r=1&hpThere can't be many Americans of my generation or close to it who never saw Andy Rooney on TV. For years and years his commentaries concluded "60 Minutes," the wildly popular "news magazine of the air" on CBS every Sunday evening. He was your gruff but compassionate and funny uncle. His voice and attitude were easily imitated -- "soap on a rope, what's the deal with THAT?" -- but his spirit was not. He saw everyday things most of us look right past. As often as possible he found humor in them. This may be a weird association but in that ability he reminds me of the comedian George Carlin, only George was a thousand times more acidic.
He lived to the ripe old age of 92, as people like him should. I had a feeling the end was coming a week or so ago when it was announced he had been rehospitalized with complications after minor surgery. I wonder what he would have to say about that ;-)
