Ray Ratto's Weird Mug

San Francisco Chronicle sports columnist Ray Ratto is a talented writer — he'll never appear in our feature Why Your Hometown Columnist Sucks, for instance. (We're pretty sure. Unless he does). A former contributor to ESPN.com, he recently shifted over to CBS Sportsline. But with that move came the trip to the photo studio for the new column mug, where things obviously went horribly wrong.

What look were they trying to perfect? Frightened gerbil? Eating tiny corn on the cob? Cowardly Lion?. Ratto, whom we know is an avowed Three Stooges fan, reminds us here of Joe Besser ("Put 'em up, put 'em up!). We suggest a do-over — this picture actually frightened our dog.

Well, at least he's not like every other columnist over there; he's not wearing a backwards hat.

Ray Ratto Archive [CBS Sportsline]