Tuesday, February 12, 2008

I am sitting here in my room at The Chicago Hilton, blogging, trying not to order a Reuben sandwich from Kitty O’Shea’s, and deciding which movie I want to watch while napping. Usually if I rent a movie in a hotel room it puts me right to sleep. I think I’m going to go with Michael Clayton, although I just Googled it and it’s a thriller, so maybe I’ll go with Charlie Wilson’s War. I'm just trying to stay away form the porn. I have seen most of the other movies that are "just in”or“Hollywood Hits", so maybe I'll go porn.  I just want to say that I am really having a hard time not ordering that Reuben, but it seems like that’s not the thing I want to eat before a big live awards broadcast.

When I got to the Hilton, I met with Mike Leiderman and the Comcast SportsNet Sports Awards director, and they were having lunch in Kitty O’Shea’s. As you might have heard me say on the air, Mike Leiderman likes his lunch. Every time we have a meeting he tries to make it a lunch meeting. One day I had him come up to my office for a meeting specifically so I wouldn’t have to go to lunch, and after the meeting he said, “Want to go to lunch?” The guy just loves lunch, and can you really fault him for that? I like lunch too, but it always makes me want to take a nap. Hey, wait a minute-- lunch always makes me want to take a nap. Why didn’t I think of that before?

As I write this, I am still trying to figure out exactly how I got myself into this situation. By nature, I am not a public do-gooder. I don’t mind a little do-gooding, but I like to keep it off of the airwaves, know what I mean? I have had several missteps at formal gatherings when I am asked to speak or host. I have “Serious Occasion Turrets Syndrome” (SOTS), or at the very least, a death wish. Of course, most of that was back when I was drinking, but I did mess up Roy Leonard’s farewell tribute at the Oriental Theater when I was totally sober. I won’t go into the details; it was embarrassing and not even funny. Fortunately, Roy has forgiven me. I hope The March Of dimes will too.