So I had a fun and occasionally weird experience Friday. Thanks to a very fortunate assist from my good buddy Jeff Pearlman, I was asked by CNN.com to write a column about the recent Tim Tebow Super Bowl ad controversy.
Usually on freelance pieces, you have a week, or a month, something like that. On this one, I had about 24 hours. And usually they pay you, too, but this one, not so much. Hey, the exposure of a site with 40 million page hits a month is payment enough. (Plus, even for one day, I was psyched to work for CNN.)
Anyway, it was a great experience. I had a great editor at CNN, who sharpened the story, made it better, and have gotten some great support from family and friends.
Still, there were a couple of odd things about the column. First, I get comments and emails on my stories for the News-Journal all the time, but all of those people know me, or are familiar with my work, at least. This was one of the few times where I was exposed to a national audience, and a totally new group of readers.
The comments section cracked me up. In a huge compliment, one guy thought I was the other Michael Lewis, he of the best-selling books. I guess that guy didn’t wonder why if I was him, CNN wouldn’t have mentioned Moneyball or The Blind Side in the bio part. A few took the time to write thoughtful emails about the topic, which I appreciated.
Several others suggested I was in fact a homosexual, which I found amusing. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m way too sloppy of a dresser to be a true gay man, though, I do have a love of Barbra, and Barry Manilow.
Brief fame is a strange thing, and of course I’m not famous. For a few minutes in 2007, I was on MSNBC and that was exciting. Then, for a few minutes Friday, I got to be on the CNN.com home page. I don’t think I’ll ever be famous, but I have to say it’s kind of a thrill to experience a dash of it.
Anyway, I figure by Andy Warhol’s logic, I’ve got about seven of my 15 minutes left. Can’t wait to see how it’ll play out.
**And, since I’m clearly in an “Almost Famous” mood, here’s one of the many classic scenes from that classic film, in my all-time Top 10:
Wide World of Stuff 