Come on down, one last time

TV Legend Bob Barker passed away over the weekend at 99. As many, many people have pointed out, it’s a sweet gracenote that he made it as close as possible to 100 without going over.

There’s an old joke that the definition of Generation X is anyone who could have seen Star Wars in the theatre as a kid, and while that holds, I think a better definition is if you watched the Price is Right while home sick from elementary school. Based on the reactions over the web the last few days, I’m not the only one that thinks so.

Like most of us, I always enjoyed Barker’s style very much. It must have influenced me more than I thought; In high school I was voted “most likely to host the price is right.” My career went in a slightly different direction, obviously.

A pair of fun links from the weekend’s memorial roundup:

Bob Baker on Letterman (Via Gruber)

The Washington Post describing how that cameo in Happy Gilmore happaned (via Kafasis)

Remember to spay and neuter your pets.