One of my best friends and I are always debating our favorite topics, one of which is baseball. He knows far more than I do about it, but now and then I come across some arcane fact, statistic, or anecdote and I love to taunt him with it. For example, Mickey Mantle was my childhood sports hero and to this day the story of his life and career still mesmerizes me.

Anyway, I was cruising YouTube one day and happened across an old black-and-white video of The Mick hitting the home run that put him ahead of Jimmy Foxx on the all-time homer list. It was a considerable accomplishment and I was thrilled to find a video record of that moment. Detroit Tiger pitcher Denny McClain was sympathetic to Mantle's imposing late-career physical ailments and wanted to "help" him move ahead of Foxx. Here's one account of how that went:

Who says pitchers are heartless? Not Yankee Slugger Mickey Mantle. It was the top of the eighth one day last week, and Detroit Tiger Ace Denny McLain was coasting to his 31st victory on a five-run lead. Up stepped Mantle for perhaps his last time at bat in Tiger Stadium. Mickey took a called strike, fouled off two more pitches, and then signaled with his bat for Denny to put the ball belt-high, where he likes it. Denny served it up, and Mick lined the ball into the upper deck for his 535th home run. As he rounded the bases, he moved past Jimmy Foxx into third place in the alltime homer derby, behind Babe Ruth (714) and Willie Mays (585). “Be sure to tell Denny thanks," said Mantle afterward. “Thanks for what?" asked McLain when he got the message. Then he grinned broadly and added: “I make mistakes all the time."

Having read this, I related the story to my buddy, who promptly exclaimed, "That never happened!" So, I resorted to what may be one of my five all-time favorite lines: "Hey, look it up!"

My buddy then went to his go-to baseball forum and quickly found out that I was right! He sheepishly told me that he was wrong and that I was right and we had a good chuckle over it. Also, we both changed our opinions of Denny McClain, whom, up until that time, had regarded as a two-bit criminal for being sentenced to 23 years in prison on racketeering, extortion and drug-dealing charges. Hey, anyone who will serve one up to The Mick is okay in our book!

"Hey, Dave! What does this possibly have to do with college admissions? HUH?!"

Great question! Well, the keyword in all the above is "forum."

My buddy needed authoritative information fast, so he looked it up on a forum. Here's my question for you, then:

Where would you go if you needed fast, authoritative information about college admissions? Huh?

There's a simple answer to that: College Confidential's admissions forum.

And that's what I'd like to feature today.

There are a number of forums out there that address the world of college admissions, but none approaches the scope and depth of College Confidential's. Just take a look at the following list of topics, with their associated thread- and post-number counts, along with the latest post for that topic.

Pardon the long listing, but I want to give you an idea of the magnitude of the CC forum:

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Also, be sure to check the featured threads at the very top of the forum's home page.

If you have some free time -- about as much as my buddy and I had when we argued about Mickey Mantle and Denny McClain -- add up the total number of threads and posts that exist here.

I think that it would take someone the better part of several years to cover all that information, even if they were reading every day. If that person would actually take the time to do that, s/he would become one of the most knowledgable (and opinionated) people on the planet concerning the college and college admissions.

Care to take the challenge? Why not start today?

Or, if you're short on time but do have some college-related questions, just look it up! Now you know where!

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Be sure to check out all of Dave Berry's college-related articles at College Confidential.