OTHER TOP LEDE PARAGRAPHS

***In addition to a decent number of my full articles posted here, this is a smattering of ledes from a variety of my other writing works over the past several years:

     "Few people can deny that Bob Gibson's childhood set the tone for his fabulous baseball career.  He had to overcome the adversities of rickets, a heart murmur, pneumonia and the Omaha ghetto."

     "When in doubt, get a second opinion.  In _______'s case, that decision had far greater ramifications than simply accepting a friend's movie critique or a garage estimate for an auto repair."

     "Hitch your wagon to a star.  Highly celebrated 19th century poet and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson offered that advice to those among us who constantly strive to make their greatest aspirations a reality."

     "It's been nearly three weeks since Mardi Gras, but ______ hosted a two-hour extravaganza last Friday that was reminiscent of that New Orleans spectacle.  Instead of hurling trinkets from parade floats..."

     "In the movie classic, It's a Wonderful Life, George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart, is privy to discover what life would have been like for his loved ones if he had never been born.  Imagine how different things would have been for..."

     "The American Association of Variable Star Observers is for astronomy fanatics who help locate and study those stars that continually vary in magnitude, or brightness."

     "For years, The Reader's Digest has solicited contributions for its 'Laughter is the Best Medicine' section.  Thanks for her astuteness in the ..."

     "Back in 218 BC, Hannibal crossed the Alps to do battle with the Romans.  Due to the animal's remarkable agility and light-footedness, the Carthaginian general and his troops rode elephants on their mountain trek.  In Saturday's State 4A quarterfinal game, Hannibal High School was able to ruin _________' season without employing any massive animals..."

       "Thanks to his decision to 'kick the habit' three years ago, _________ was really smoking Sunday.  The ________ resident out-kicked and out-pedaled nearly the entire field in the St. Louis biathlon in Forest Park."

         "A century and a half ago, throngs of Seminole, Cherokee and other Indian tribes were driven out of Florida and forced to relocate.  On the way to Oklahoma on what became known as The Trail of Tears, Princess Otakian died near Cape Girardeau.  Last Sunday's VP Fair Run was equally tearful for three Southeast Missouri Otakian students.  But only tears of joy streamed from the eyes of that trio."

          "To many city dwellers, the thought of meandering through a forest might conjure up memories of Dorothy's ordeals in The Wizard of Oz or nightmares of an axe-wielding Jason from Friday the 13th.  But that's hardly the attitude assumed by San Francisco native ________.  The Clayton resident has become almost as much at home in the woods as Henry David Thoreau."

     "Harry Houdini has long been recognized as the undisputed king of escapes.  Although most noted for his 1912 extrication from the 'water torture cell,' he was also known for successfully challenging audiences from around the world to construct traps from which he could not escape."

        "Were it not for Roadside America, the Appalachian Trail hamlet of Shartlesville, PA would exist in virtual obscurity.  But that charming indoor display of indoor miniatures depicts what the United States has embodied since its pioneer days--the significance of small town America and the achievement of its citizens.  The same American dream that lured former President Harry S. Truman from his Lamar birthplace seems to be alive and well in the heart of fellow Missourian _________."

        "While the likelihood of a hurricane forming in February is extremely rare, the possibility of that same hurricane force storm striking Missouri simply does not exist...or so we thought..."

         "When the Australian team is present, fellow water skiers often think that they're in 'Neville Neville Land.'  The husband-wife duo of Mick and Karen Neville each captured an individual event at last Sunday's Michelob Dry Water Ski tour finals at Creve Coeur Lake."

          "There were ghastly groans and grimaces, and bulging biceps amid the struggle and strain.  Yes, the neck veins were popping last weekend in the Grande Concourse Ballroom of the Stouffer Concourse Hotel.  An appropriate T-shirt read, 'World's Strongest Athletes' as 80 competitors battled, lifted and sweated for individual titles in 11 weight classes at the Men's American Drug-Free Power Association's National championships."

     "_________ is living proof that small-town beginnings don't inhibit big-time success.  ________ spent the first 30 years of his life in the small towns of Keytesville, Fayette, Higbee and Salisbury.  The total population of those four towns added together is roughly 5,000.  On June 30th this year, the book will close on ________'s long career in education.  Those pages include 29 years with the Parkway School District--the largest suburban school district in Missouri with more than 6,500 students in its four high schools alone."

     "The world famous London Bridge, built in the 1830's, spanned Great Britain's Thames River until the late 1960's.  It was then purchased by an American, dismantled stone by stone, shipped to the United States, and reassembled in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.  That same bridge to the past could be symbolic to __________'s bridge to the future."