What's brown and sticky?

The folks at the National Toy Hall of Fame ran out of ideas back in 2005 when they inducted the cardboard box. They did it again this year:

A magic wand, a fishing rod or a royal scepter?

The lowly stick, a universal plaything powered by a child's imagination, landed in the National Toy Hall of Fame on Thursday along with the Baby Doll and the skateboard.

The three were chosen to join the Strong National Museum of Play's lineup of 38 classics ranging from the bicycle, the kite and Mr. Potato Head to Crayola crayons, marbles and the Atari 2600 video game system.

Curators said the stick was a special addition in the spirit of a 2005 inductee, the cardboard box. They praised its all-purpose, no-cost, recreational qualities, noting its ability to serve either as raw material or an appendage transformed in myriad ways by a child's creativity.

 I have a suggestion for next year -- the rock. It can be anything from a baseball to a hand grenade. Heck, a few years ago, it was even sold as a pet. Anyway, here's "Dear Santa" from the "Bob & Tom Show," which celebrates, among other things, the value of the lowly stick.