He's got a Billy Bass in one examining room. His assistant thoughtfully "lost" the batteries. I've known my GP for more than 20 years -- and I hope he takes me fishing one day for REAL bass (whatever they are).

I gotta ask him his take on three physician-to-be's profiled recently in the media.

There's Tracy Burns at UC David Med School who, the Sac Bee says, is an Oakland Raider cheerleader in her offhours and is featured in Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue. (If you Google her story, there's nothing tawdry or flighty about her take on life.)

Then there's the NY Times which profiled Thomas Hocker and Meena Singh, married, parents of two and soon-to-be Harvard Med School grads who're hunting for a gem -- to be jointly accepted in a dermatology medical residency program.

(If you Google the story, you'll see how residency programs for dematology and plastic surgery pick the brightest of the lot. And, in the end, they make crateloads of money, work decent hours and don't usually have waiting rooms full of poor folks. Oh yeah, and Singh was a contestant on the MTV reality show, "Sorority Life," but got dumped for being too book-wormy.)

Which brings me back to my GP. I can't imagine Mike flashing pom-poms on the Raiders sideline or posing in a Speedo. But the eagle-eye, off-hours fly-fisherman detected skin cancer early on in my wife. He hooked her up with a skillful plastic surgeon. And, so far so good.

We need all kinds of docs, just more of them -- the "them" being the really good ones whether they occasionally wear bikinis or waders.