Rome, Yes I Want To

Not the city, but yes, I want to do that again sometime too. I'm talking here about Jim Rome, the host of the well-known sports talk radio show, The Jim Rome Show, a.k.a. The Jungle. For the past couple of weeks, I've been listening to him on my way into work. Part of it is I really want to get his take on the Chargers' miraculous entry into the playoffs. (BTW, today he said L.T. probably isn't playing next week, and that's a problem. For Pittsburgh.)

The other part is I just can't get enough of this guy's witticisms. He's talking about LSU, Ohio State, Texas, blah, blah, blah, stuff I could care less about. I'm really not that much of a sports fan. But he could seriously be talking about styrofoam and I'd probably be hanging on his every word. So smart, so articulate, and just a really good voice. I'm a total sucker for voices. And check this out, I did a little internet research, and the looks almost match the voice!

And now for a funny story. As it happens, Rome isn't a total stranger to me. Back in high school, my brother, Josh, really wanted to weigh in with Rome on some issue concerning the Cubs. Something about their fans being "whiny little bitches," or some such thing. (I apologize to any Cubs fans. The view expressed in that last sentence is not my own. And it's about 20 years old.)

Anyway, seeing that it's a sports show, guys call in by the dozens. Not so with the ladies. So guess what. When a girl calls in, she's automatically bumped to the front of the line. As we discovered firsthand when Josh handed me a script, I adopted the pseudonym "Jessica," and about two minutes after dialing his number, I was on the air talking to Rome. He asked me more questions than I was prepared for, though, so I ended up having to, gulp, ad-lib. Not my forte. Especially when I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about. I went off script with some asinine comment about wanting to put all of the Cubs fans in a bus and drive it off a cliff. I distinctly remember Rome asking me in genuine surprise, "You want to drive all of the Cubs fans off of a cliff?" I froze as the violence of that act sunk in, and that's where I got cut off. Rome had taken all he could of scary, crazy Jessica. But I can't seem to get enough of him. His show. You know what I mean. Go Chargers!