Columnist Scott Dickensheets: Happy anniversary to me

Scott Dickensheets

Tuesday, March 3, 1998 | 10:25 a.m.

FORGIVE THE champagne-soaked confetti littering the place today; it's a special occasion -- my 50th column! Reaching the 49th-column milestone felt remarkable, but I don't mind saying it was nothing compared to this.

I began this column with a surprising lack of fanfare on Oct. 21, 1997. I still remember yanking that issue off the presses and skipping excitedly to the boss's office. As I stood there, trembling on this new career pinnacle, I think my eyes moistened a little as I said to him, "Why do the Movie Guys get better play than I do?"

From that humble beginning I've gone on to pen a column frequently praised as "words down the left-hand side of the page." And in doing so I've taken my own humble place in that pantheon of 50-column greats, among such names as Mike Royko, George Will, Mikhail Gorbachev and Hillary Clinton.

With that in mind, let's review a few highlights: