Buzz And Me: An FAQ

Those foolish enough to miss the season premiere of "Project Runway" — and those not "connected" enough for ESPY tickets — might have stumbled across the newest episode of "Costas Now" last night. It was entirely about baseball. Hey, I love baseball! That didn't make the show any less dull; that is, until Willie Mays and Hank Aaron showed up and chatted for an hour like a couple guys on the porch. Anyway, I was invited to sit in the audience and take part in a dopey little gimmick with my old pal Buzz Bissinger. So I did.

I'm really not sure that many people care about this anymore, but AJ saw it last night, sent me some mocking text messages and asked if I'd write about it. So, to answer all your nonexistent questions:

Whose idea was this? Costas'. He called me late last week and asked if I'd be down with it. I said sure, why not. This came 30 seconds before Bob crowed about how much he had helped my career, a claim I found specious, and said so. I'm not sure he listened. Anyway. Bob just said, "You should sit next to Buzz during the show, and drink beer together, and I'll make a joke about how baseball can bring anyone together." I happen to agree with this sentiment 100 percent, and, whatever, free beer.

Buzz was OK with this? He was, though, when I contacted him beforehand about it over email, he wanted to do something overly complicated, like hold up a sign that said "I still think you're full of shit" or something. This might have been funny, but needlessly difficult for a cameo that would last about five seconds.

So how was Buzz? Did you guys talk during the show? He was nice, actually. We're not gonna be best pals or anything, but I think he recognizes the PR value of putting this whole thing to bed and, frankly, so do I. During the show, we talked about:

a: The wretchedness of the hot dogs. (Honestly, those things had to have been four days old.) b: Whether Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame. (Both of us say no.) c: How much of an idiot I would be if I spilled my beer on Bob Gibson, who was sitting on the other side of me. (And complimented my hat.)

Honestly, though, it was just a fun little stunt; it's hard to make too large of a deal out of anything so silly when Willie Mays and Hank Aaron are in the room.

In the words of Gabe Roth, "Can I go? Is this over?" Please do.