For whatever reason, parents seem to take a college's choice of commencement speaker very seriously. I can imagine that it has something to do with parents getting bombarded for four years by mailings and phone calls asking for even more money to support the remarkable work being done on the campus...where their kid is skipping class, dodging STD's and hovering around the GPA Mendoza Line.

The whole business of securing a commencement speaker is a racket. You need to know someone that personally knows the speakers. You need to meet their asking price. You need to provide transportation and accommodations. And you need to beat out all the other schools that are angling for that speaker. It's basically like free agency in baseball.

Which must be part of the reason that Iona College picked former Yankees centerfield Bernie Williams to deliver their stirring commencement address.

Bernie, who has some time on his hands, crafted a powerful eight minute commencement address. Eight minutes may not seem like a lot of time for a commencement address but it's important to note that Bernie had a serious handicap- he was without his trusted guitar.

I'm sure Bernie packed a lot of his valuable life lessons into those eight minutes though.

"If you want to be successful in life, get signed by the Yankees when you're 16, play major league baseball baseball for 17 years, make millions of dollars, win a bunch of World Series, play a little jazz guitar and then just sit around for the next 40 years, living off of your investments and underwriting your wife's plastic surgery. If you can do that, and if I could it, I know you can, then you will be happy. All it takes is freakish natural ability, which you all no doubt have since you've spent the last four years in a classroom, angling for an entry level job after graduation, and someday you'll find yourself in centerfield at Yankees Stadium. Believe in yourself and follow your dreams. Thank you and Go Yankees!"