All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

I confess: I don't follow golf. The closest I've come to mastering the game is teeing up with a bright red ball on a green plastic carpet just off the boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland.

But this morning a friend called to alert me to a remarkable golf story that unfolded over the weekend, the noble rise and fall of Sean O'Hair. While Phil Mickelson grabbed the glory, the 24-year-old O'Hair displayed something remarkable in the world of sports -- or the world at large -- guts and grace.

He may be poorer today than he had planned, but wealth isn't always measured in money.

My dad really likes watching Katie. The only complaint he's ever had came one Wednesday when she wore her hair up. He told me, "Tell that pretty girl not to EVER do that again." It really bothered him. I got less guff when I crashed his '73 Maverick.

My mom also likes to comment on Katie's appearance. In fact, before Katie even started, my mom was on a rant: "Only reason CBS hired her was so they can show off her legs on the set," she insisted. I assured my mother that CBS had no intention of "showing off" Katie's legs -- but mom wasn't buying it. She bet me 5 dollars that the new anchor desk would be "see-through." Of course, it isn't. I won the bet. Although, I'm still waiting to collect.

I'm writing all this not to "out" my dad as sexist or my mom as a welch, but to make the point that we've all put too much emphasis on Katie's appearance over these last few months. Even me. When I sit next to Katie on Fridays I always look to see what shoes she's wearing. I even write a little critique in my head. I never did that with Dan Rather. Dan could've had a club foot for all I knew.

I can only imagine how frustrating this must be for Katie. As a male, and not a very striking one at that, I'm rarely boiled down to my looks. But I recently got a small taste of what it must feel like -- and the feeling isn't good.

It all started on February 9th. Now, I'll be the first to admit it wasn't a very good hair day for me. In hindsight, I let my mop grow a little too long and probably went a little too heavy on the product that morning. Taking a nap certainly didn't help matters either. Regardless, by airtime, my "do" was unkempt enough to motivate my senior producer to whisper condescendingly in my ear, "Have you seen your hair?" Katie noticed it too. She often performs last-minute touch-ups on my hair (she can be quite maternal like that). But normally it's just a matter of corralling one or two strays. This time, however, it looked like she was trying to round up a litter of frisky kittens. As soon as she'd put one in its place another would jump out. And all this is was happening critically close to air time. Katie called her hair person to the set. Mela is probably the best in the business, but even she couldn't do a thing with it. Finally, in desperation, Mela and Katie just shellacked it down with some sort of hair epoxy. (You can see the result in the picture on the right.) We did the segment, and I pretty much forgot about the whole incident. Until a few days later...

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Katie's hair style last night prompted some e-mails this morning.

Some, like these two, loved it:

OK, I know that men don't have to go through this, but such is life. Your hair-do tonight is just right. You look sleek, svelte and like you chose the 'do' yourself because it seems so comfortable on you. Stick with it, please. It is a do that is easy and ready for any event. You look great.

Love the new hairstyle! Sounding and looking superbly as ever.

But then there were those who consider it less a hair-do than a hair-don't:

We think you are a great newsperson and a good role model for women but...Please, dear God up in heaven, lose the hair-do you had tonight (pulled back tightly). You are very attractive, but this hair-do makes you look like a Soviet prison matron.

But the pithiest comment was probably this one:

Granny from the "Beverly Hillbillies" called. She wants her bun back.

Sigh. TGIF.

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