What’s in an age?

With the upcoming election pitting “old man” McCain vs. “inexperienced” Obama, people have been focusing a lot on the ages of candidates. Maybe a little more than they should. After all, shouldn’t the election be about the issues, not the number of wrinkles on someone’s face, or the ability to blow out all of the birthday candles on your cake? Especially if they are those trick candles that you can never blow out. Those aren’t even fair.

So I’ve decided that in order to take the edge off this age debate, I’m going to feed into it even more! Without any more introduction and throwing all reasoning out the window, let’s not just compare the candidates based on their ages, let’s compare other famous people that share the candidate’s ages.

Starting with…. Sports figures.

Wayne Gretzky (January 26, 1961) vs. Clay Counsil (71 years, birth date not readily available)

Here’s a tough match up for sure. Take someone once called “the greatest player of all time,” and pit him against an old dude who never played pro ball and what do you get? It’s not as clear-cut as you think. Who didn’t get the chills watching the Homerun Derby last week while Counsil pitched to Josh Hamilton as he shattered records and hit 28 homeruns in the first round of the competition? Everyone got chills. Unless they aren’t human. Or didn’t watch. Or were under a extremely warm blanket.

Fact is – sure Gretzky’s great, but Counsil showed last week that despite age, people can always inspire. And get things done.

Sorry Obama. This round goes to age. Because I am throwing athletic strength out the window and leveling the playing field. People of any age can get the job done and inspire people. Which is exactly what Counsil did.

Round one goes to : The Geezers


Next round….Musicians.

Billy Ray Cyrus (August 25, 1961) vs. Buddy Guy (July 30, 1936)

Okay, here’s a tough one. We’ve got one of the greats of the blues and rock, who’s won five Grammys and inspired such acts as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaghan pitted against the man who’s given us Hannah Montana.

Of course, that’s not all Billy Ray Cyrus has contributed to the music world. There’s always Achy Breaky Heart, and he’s had eight top-ten singles on the Billboard country music charts.

But it may be silly that I’m even still trying to compare these two. Although Miley Cyrus has given us some real hot pop culture tracks lately, no one can deny that Buddy Guy has been more influential on American music as we know it. And since Billy Ray can’t even get his daughter to stop posting trashy pics of herself on the Internet, round two’s winner is quite clear.

Round two goes to: The Geezers

So far it looks like age doesn’t detract from someone’s greatness, in fact as we’ve seen so far, age may just make people better.

Now let’s look into a different type of entertainment – Acting.

George Clooney (May 6, 1961) vs. Robert Redford (August 18, 1936)


The battle against these two stars could be a whole post in itself. First I’d like to take a moment and say how surprised I was to find out that Robert Redford is 71. When I was researching for this intelligent post, at first I thought this was some sort of mistake. But yes, it’s true, Redford is old.

So both these men are very accomplished actors, as well as directors and producers. They are also both what I would consider to be real Hollywood men. Big names, big budgets, but also smart guys. They don’t just act, they think.

But when it comes down to it, I think we must give Clooney the edge here. Sure Redford is iconic and has truly done a lot, including winning an Academy Award, but Clooney has also won an Oscar, as well as a Golden Globe. And we all know that the only thing that really matters in an actor’s life is the number of shiny trophies they have to polish (or if you’re Rosie O’Donnell, let your kids paint all over).

Clooney also does a lot of advocacy work, even named in January 2008 as “a Messenger of peace” by the United Nations. That’s big time shit. Almost up there with Angelina. Maybe he’ll get there someday.

And, truth be told, if you think about it, Clooney deserves to win this round merely because he is the epitome of a Hollywood star. Like old school Hollywood star. And I think if you put a 46 year old next to a 71 year old and can honestly say the younger of the two is more of a classic American star than the elder, then youth trumps age.

So round three goes to: The Youngins

Let’s move onto Round 4 – Directors
Peter Jackson (October 31, 1961) vs. Philip Kaufman (October 23, 1936)

Great directors, like great presidents, need to have a vision to be successful. So this is an especially important round in this very important comparison piece. Peter Jackson has definitely proved his vision with films like Lord of the Rings and King Kong. He doesn’t mess around with his vision, and is very well respected in the industry.

Philip Kaufman, though less known to this generation, is still influential in the field of directing films. His directorial debut, Goldstein, won some French-named prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Acclaimed French director Jean Renoir called it the best American film in 20 years. Pretty impressive.

But since we are Americans, we don’t care what French people have to say. Instead, let’s focus on something Kaufman did that we all can relate to—helped write the story for Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. This was a pretty important feat.

Kaufman is also still working today. His next project will be a film for HBO about the life of Ernest Hemingway with James Gandolfini.

But when it comes down to it, it seems that the more influential director at this time is Peter Jackson. Many statues, several incredible movies that drastically influenced a culture, and an imagination and attention to detail that is renowned among Hollywood directors.

Round four goes to – The Youngins.


Let’s take a look at the leaderboard after four rounds:



Seems to be a 2-2 tie at the moment, and the Geezers, despite their age, do not look like they are losing steam. More 71 year olds include Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy, beloved actress Mary Tyler Moore, and James D. Sinegal, the CEO of wholesale giant Costco. The 46’s aren’t lacking in talent either, with mover and shaker Michael J. Fox, fashion designer Issac Mizrahi, as well as Bob Woodruff, journalist with World News Tonight.

But there isn’t enough time in a day to write about all these aged rivalries. The point is, people can achieve great things when they’re young (Elian Gonzalez), or old (the entire cast of the Golden Girls). We need to put the wrinkle debates aside for the next few months and focus on the real issues of this election…like who has the prettier wife.

Stay tuned for my next post:
People who share middle names with the Presidential candidates and what effect this has on their chance of victory.