Around lunchtime Saturday, I was walking home from a branch library.

I had earphones in and was listening to the radio. It was an "On the Media" discussion of how NPR can defend itself against charges that it has a liberal agenda. Pretty interesting.

I met show host Bob Garfield once, but that's another story.

Anyway, I'm walking along and a guy doing some sort of yard work hails me in a friendly way. I take one earphone out so I can hear him.

"Are you listening to the Cougar game?"

This put me in a bit of a spot. I didn't want to sound like I was calling him an uninformed idiot. But there was really no choice.

"They played last night," I said.

But sticking with the charade that he actually gave a damn, I brightly added, "They won."

I have a hunch I could have said, "Yes, they are leading Oregon 30 to nothing," and that guy would have been none the wiser. But he was just trying to be friendly. No need to punish him.

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