Loss of perspective.

After Connecticut won its semi-final game on Saturday, wordsmith Greg Gumbel proclaimed, "They're celebrating in U-Conn land." Um, Greg - I think that's Connecticut. There really isn't a place called U-Conn. It's made-up. Geez. He's a professional broadcaster.

In today's Philadelphia Inqirer, their automotive "critic" (I don't know what else to call him) Al Haas wrote about the new Mazda MX-5 thusly:

It's cute and sporty, lets you blow-dry your hair on I-95, handles magnificently, and doesn't make you really dollar up to buy it, gas it and insure it.

I responded via the luxury of e-mail.

For the record, the car they tested costs $27,020 (including shipping) and gets EPA estimates of 21 mpg city and 28 mpg highway. EPA estimates.

I'd like to know what part of the world he comes from that says you wouldn't have to "dollar up" to buy a $27,000 2-seater or gas a small car that gets 25 miles-per-gallon. To call a $27,000 2-seat convertible car affordable is an insult to those of us who work for a living. I can't speak for the insurance part of the cost, but my gut instinct is that it isn't nearly as cheap to insure as a Ford Focus or other car of similar size, handling efficiencies notwithstanding.

The time has come to stop embracing these ridiculous sports cars as somehow being practical. The MX-5 may still be, as you say, "evolving," but in my view it has more evolution in front of it than behind it.

There is a need to think before they write such things in a newspaper that is intended for public circulation.