Shaunti Feldhahn

Jun 16

Written by: Shaunti Feldhahn
6/16/2008 1:18 PM

Okay, this was an embarrassing morning. I’m going to have to brush up on my professional sports knowledge, so I don’t humiliate myself on live TV and radio again! FamilyNet has a new news-talk show called “Mornings” with Lorri Allen – carried both on FamilyNet television and Sirrius Radio, live. A few days ago my friend Randy Singer was asked to co-host and to help arrange a few guests, and asked if I’d come on for half an hour, talk about my books, my columns, banter back and forth. No problem.

We had fun talking in snippets about the election, politics, Obama versus McCain, talked about 3 minutes about my books, and then they mischievously sprung this call-in game show on me where they jokingly asked “are you smarter than a Harvard grad?” (taking off on the Jeff Foxworthy show, “are you smarter than a 5th grader?”) They asked me for the name of the leading scorer on one of the teams in the NBA playoffs! Anyone who knows me knows that I know NOTHING about basketball! I’m turning bright red and all I could think of was Kobe Bryant – because I wrote a column about him years ago when he was being accused of assault! How lame is that? Of course, wrong team, not the top scorer. Ah, well. One round down. Then they move on to college football and I think, finally, I’m at least a BIT more on solid ground since my husband has indoctrinated me into loving college football -- primarily anything to do with his team the Michigan Wolverines. But the question was: name a Heisman Trophy winner from the University of Texas. ARGH. You’ve got to be kidding me! Brain completely blank. My husband would have known, like all the names, with years attached. Me, sorry. I could see the guys in the control booth thinking, this poor lady knows nothing about sports!

How I WISH they would have asked me something I could have talked about, to knock that pitying smile away. :) In my dreams, they would have asked, “Tell us about the 2007 Michigan season” and I would have said that I loved Michigan’s Mike Hart as a running back, QB Chad Henne coming back from his injuries and the Wolverines roaring back from their humiliating first few games being lost to Appalachian State and the Oregon Ducks. Or about the coach Lloyd Carr leaving and Rodriguez being hired away from West Virginia. Boy that would have been fun. But it wasn’t to be.

Don’t get me wrong. I still had fun. But I think I’m going to have to pay more attention, next time I see my husband watching the NBA playoffs….

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