For my money, JB is firmly in the ranks of the old salts who shaped my formative gunning years, Elmer and Jack. That coming from a guy who is over-educated for his own good and a dedicated reader/bibliophile. It would be a hard choice which of those three guys I would most want to spend an evening at a bar with. (Probably pick John because he's still alive. Talking with dead guys is a one-way conversation.)
