Hey, Oprah-ize me!

Laura Vozzella
January 13, 2008

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Baltimore sports agent, attorney and author Ronald Shapiro has a new book out. He also knows Oprah Winfrey. Sound like a straight shot to the best-seller list?

But for this: Shapiro knows the talk queen from back in the days when she was with WJZ-TV and he represented station talent. A Chicago station had just come calling, but Winfrey wasn't sure she should go.

"Right now, you're earning $120,000," he recalls telling her. "You're so good, you're going to move from the Chicago stage to the national stage and earn $1 million a year."

"I was only $175 million off."

Laura Vozzella Laura Vozzella E-mail | Recent columns

Even though Shapiro low-balled Oprah's earnings potential, she still might lend her book-moving magic to Shapiro's Dare to Prepare, How to Win Before You Begin! The book was published by Crown last week.

O, The Oprah Magazine has been talking with Shapiro about featuring the book, which preaches the value of preparedness through profiles of successful people.

"They want me to Oprah-ize the book," Shapiro said. Which means putting a happiness-spirituality spin on the "win" concept. Not a huge stretch for a guy who, despite high-powered clients like Cal Ripken, seems to take the Land of Pleasant Living thing to heart.

Shapiro's previous books: The Power of Nice and Bullies, Tyrants & Impossible People: How to Beat Them Without Joining Them.

Win, lose, whatever
Shapiro profiles 38 people in his book, half of them Baltimoreans or Marylanders.

There are stars we all know: surgeon Ben Carson, wine guru Robert Parker and pianist Leon Fleisher.

And some we don't: Wegmans manager Wendy Webster. (Hey, you don't open a store with 650 kinds of cheese by winging it.)

Two of Shapiro's subjects have been known lately for failures: investor Bill Miller and Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti. (Shapiro advises the latter.)

"There are things in life we don't control," Shapiro said. "You still want to be prepared. So if you don't have success temporarily, you know you've done everything you can do."

You don't want fries with that
The day after a Baltimore City Council task force bemoaned childhood obesity, Sheila Dixon celebrated the reopening of a McDonald's in Station North.

But the mayor, a workout queen who gave up red meat decades ago, stayed true to her healthful ways, The Sun's John Fritze reports.

While allowing that "McDonald's has the best fries of anybody," she told the crowd that even her middle-schooler has wised up. When Joshua gets a chance to eat at the Golden Arches, Dixon said, he orders a side salad instead.

Watch the gun, the cat, the snake
Baltimore Police Chief Fred Bealefeld, making his case the other day for a proposed state law that would require people to report lost or stolen guns:

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Copyright © 2008, The Baltimore Sun

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