We must stand tall

 Let tall people rule sports, like we rule the world

 With their combined height, Yao Ming and his new wife Ye Li should be able to dominate the world, according to a Princeton study. AP Did you see Yao Ming got married not long ago? Well, if you were there in Shanghai you couldn't miss it. After all, he's 7-foot-6, and his petite bride, Ye Li, is 6-2.

But then, this is telling. Americans are getting shorter. Well, we're not getting shorter, it's just that Yao Ming and Ye Li and lots of other people around the world are getting taller. Good grief, Dutchmen now average -- average -- more than 6-feet. However, for about the last 50 years, our guys have been stuck at around 5-foot-9-and-change. No wonder we don't win basketball games against other countries much any more. How can this be? The very image of the American was of that long-legged, rangy, rawbone type. Tall in the saddle, hombre. Now our most popular sport, which is, significantly, known as "American" football, features some fat 300-pounders. Maybe the American century was really just the tall century. Why shouldn't we have ruled the world? After all, studies have shown, the long and the short of it, that tall men do better in life. They win the best jobs and the best-looking women. The ultimate for a fellow is to be "tall, dark and handsome." Right? And in this triad, tall even comes first.

 And a study at Princeton reveals tall men are, simply, smarter than the wee ones. Me being 6-4, I accepted this news with the height of smugness. Our two greatest American leaders, Washington and Lincoln, were exceptionally tall, and right up until the end of the American century -- the tall century -- it was unusual for the shorter presidential candidate ever to win. Indeed, given what a mess of things the shorter choice -- George W. Bush -- has made of his presidency in the fat century, Hilary Clinton's main obstacle may not be that she's a woman, but that she's shorter than most men. We gotta stand tall again.