America has long excelled in producing baritones.

But the kinds of applications that the new set-top boxes will make possible are the sort at which Sony has long excelled.

North Dakota, a state that stamps a buffalo on its license plate, has long excelled at exploiting national sentimentality over North America's largest mammal.

Wachovia, based in Charlotte, N.C., has long excelled at retail banking but has shunned doing one of Wall Street's enormous deals to expand its institutional business.

New York's major medical research institutions have long excelled at producing medical breakthroughs.

Mr. Piano has long excelled as a poet of circulation.

But there, in a work in which Mr. Previn has long excelled, no allowances were needed.

The track and field competition of the Goodwill Games ended tonight with the United States and the Soviet Union winning events in which they have long excelled.

Now many wish to assume a new identity, mostly as crafts-persons engaged in cane-work in which they have long excelled.

Computers have long excelled at categorizing, storing and analyzing information that can be organized in columns and rows.