I had this whole thing ready to go in my head. Think Hellboy meets Mayberry. I am pretty sure it would have been funny too. But, as I was standing on the corner waiting for the light to change, I noticed a young man, maybe 15 years old, reading over my shoulder. Since he was neither rude nor obtrusive, I let him.

The light changed, and changed again. It was an odd moment. Me standing there with the paper folded open to Mariotti’s column*. Him reading over my shoulder carefully. But, in my life I have learned to cherish the odd moments that arise, so I let this one develop.

After he finished he looked up and asked, with a light accent, “Is there something wrong with him?”

I asked who he meant.

He pointed to Mariotti’s picture and said “Him. There is something seriously wrong about this guy.”

I laughed and then asked what he found so wrong.

He pointed out that he was an honors English student and a Sophomore in our public school system. He went on to say that irrelevant tangents, tortured themes and so on would get him an “F”. He also asked, honestly, what the column* was supposed to be about.

I said that the author* wanted the Chicago Bulls to adopt a run and gun offense and hire this coach. The kid looked up at me for a second, his eyes grew wide and he said “Is he f***ing nuts? In the East? They’ll get killed.”

As I walked while happily humming the remaining mile to work, I thought that there is hope for the future after all. Anyway, TomD has already started at thread, so CLICK HERE AND JOIN THE FUN!