Roger Answers Your Question, Arthur

Arthur @ AmeriNZ, that blogger and podcaster from New Zealand via Illinois asked:

Oddly enough, recently I bought “This is the Moody Blues” on iTunes (to replace the vinyl copy I had), and this was one of the songs. I still love it.

A question? Well, by way of preface, there’s an Australian talk show host called Rove McManus (the show is called “Rove Live”) who ends every celebrity interview with the same question: “Who would you turn gay for?” The current Prime Minster of New Zealand answered Brad Pitt, though he as asked by some one not quite the stature of Rove.

So, in my best imitation Australian accent, I ask, who would Roger turn gay for?

When I was in high school, I had this conversation among some of my male friends. I suggested one of the guys from our high school swim team. Interestingly, at least three of that group of friends turned out to be gay, though they were in the closet at the time, at least to me.

I suppose if you had asked me 25 years ago, I might have said Tom Selleck. This in spite of the fact that I almost never actually watched Magnum, P.I. In fact, the only time I specifically remember watching the show is when it had a crossover with Murder, She Wrote, a show I’ll admit to watching fairly religiously. Cabot Cove, Maine: highest per capita murder rate in the WORLD. But Selleck’s politics, I’ve discovered are rather right-wing, so not him.

I suppose George Clooney. He’s rich, handsome, talented, and his politics don’t suck. Incidentally, it was never Brad Pitt for me, even in his Thelma and Louise days.
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No one asked me, but I do have rooting interests on this last weekend of the regular season of the NFL:

The New York (New Jersey) Jets: I’d like them to beat Miami, which COULD go from being the #3 seed to out of the playoffs. So, I’m also rooting for Buffalo to get to 8-8 and beat New England. For good measure I think I want Jacksonville to beat Baltimore, but it ain’t gonna happen.

The Philadelphia Eagles: this for Greg. Not only must the Eagles beat the Cowboys (I ALWAYS root against the Cowboys), but Oakland should beat Tampa Bay AND Houston must beat Chicago. Yeesh.

The Carolina Panthers: my mom, one sister, one niece live in Charlotte. They’ll probably still be in the playoffs, but it’d do them well to beat the Saints.

The San Diego Chargers: the other sister and one niece live in the San Diego area. So if the Chargers beat the Broncos, they’ll be in the playoffs! At 8-8. Yuck.

ROG

Pigskin musings

I try not to follow football until the baseball season’s over. There are pennant races to follow – boy, I hope the Phillies aren’t the wild card and end up playing the Mets in the playoffs, because they seem to have the Mets’ number – and milestones to reach – last night, Jim Thome is the third person THIS SEASON, after Alex Rodriguez and Frank Thomas, to reach 500 career home runs.

Still, I can’t help but notice that, after two weeks, the three NY/NJ NFL teams are a combined 0-6, losing by an average of double digits, while the former dregs of the league, the Detroit Lions and the Houston Oilers, I mean, Texans, are each 2-0. Even the lowly Arizona Cardinals have managed to win a game. It’s gonna be a LOOOONG season.

But there were three stories that caught my attention, all involving teams in the AFC East, sorta. One was the New England coach Bill Belichick spying story. I think I was more annoyed by the “It’s over, and we’re moving on” comment than the actual cheating. “Moving on”, without acknowledging responsibility, is hollow. The one silly thing that came from this is this video that someone found called Leave Belichick Alone. It’s based on Leave Britney Alone. (And if you haven’t seen THAT classic, or its many imitators, go to YouTube and search Leave Britney Alone (or Leave Brittany Alone – spelling doesn’t seem to matter.)

The second is the continuing saga of former Buffalo Bills running back Orenthal James Simpson, accused of stealing sports memorabilia that may or may not have been his. Someone commented, “You know, if he’s convicted, it’ll be a first offense.” That boggled my mind, but as far as I know, the only judgments against him so far are of the civil, not criminal, variety.

The final story is that ultimately heartwarming story of current Bills running back Kevin Everett, who suffered a potentially life-threatening spine fracture in a game last week. But thanks to innovative treatment involving the cooling of the body temperature, Everett, doctors are encouraged that, instead of being a paraplegic, he may actually actually walk again. Damn, I love this story.
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The New York Times will stop charging for access to parts of its Web site, effective at midnight tonight.

ROG

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