My wife -- then fiancee -- came with me to my 10th and we had an unexpectedly good time. My wife was happy she had come. She saved me from a few really boring conversations. She felt she had a much more nuanced understanding of me by having this small peak into my past from someone's perspective other than my own.

About the reunion, in general, in some ways it conformed to what one would expect, with all the same old cliches. A vapid overly made-up popular girl had become a vapid overly made-up trophy wife. A jock was sadly caulking windows with his dad still reliving the glory days. The fat shy girl had lost 100 pounds and was having the time of her life in a sexy little black dress.

In other ways though, it was completely unexpected. I was surprised at how grownup 90% of the people were. I was fascinated to meet the people that they had chosen to marry. I was interested in hearing how people were doing. And finally, if you pardon the narcissism, I was struck by what people remembered about me. It was really educational to see the disconnect between how I perceived myself and how others did.

To find out that things I had said in passing and which meant nothing to me had been remembered and had had an influence (both good and bad) on people I hadn't thought about in a decade was sobering.

Although I haven't seen anyone from my high school class since then, my reunion meant a lot to me and I am looking forward to the 20th (which is amazingly in 2 years).

When my wife was pregnant in 1970, I declared that our child would be named Willis in honor of Reed. When the baby came and it was a girl, it got pushed back to a middle name. Her name is Kimberly Willis [Name Witheld to Protect the Innocent].

As an American who has lived and worked in NZ, UK and Ireland, I tend to have pretty catholic tastes in sports. I firmly believe that any conversation that tries to convince one group of people that a given game is "better" or "just as good as" another is a dead-end.

All games are equal. We are drawn to some sports because we are raised with them or understand them better than others. What seems pointless and baffling in baseball to a cricket fan is what makes baseball miraculous to its devotees. There is no rational or objective way to distinguish the value of cricket vis-a-vis baseball or rugby union vis-a-vis American football (or Aussie Rules or Gaelic or soccer or rugby league).

Americans who don't like soccer are no less subtle thinkers or aesthetically challenged than Germans who can't appreciate the beauty of a no-hitter are. To the uninitiated, it seems like nothing is happening, when of course, everything is happening.

I've always found that watching a new sport with a group of native devotees but having it simultaneously explained by either an American or someone very familiar with American sports is the best way to get into a new sport.

Finally, thanks to my recent addition of the Setanta sports channel to my direcTV lineup, I am now inundated with world football in all of its variations. I was watching aussie rules the other day when my five year came in and asked what it was. I explained and she said, "It's sooooo beautiful." I couldn't have been prouder.

Bob: "That would be spelled Duane Wade"

Actually, I think it is spelled "Dwyane"

geesh, I almost forgot it was time, as a Yankee fan, to start systematically overwhelming the voting system for the all star game. Thanks for the reminder.

I agree with the earlier poster that Mariotti --and I will go further and include the entire Around the Horn exercise -- is representative of the worst of sportswriting and sports commentary in this country today. Thoughtless, loud and unwatchable/unreadable. Being "controversial" is the beginning, middle and end of their "journalism" (and I use that term very very loosely).

But I have a few question for King and King's subjects:

Does anyone know if Mariotti is gay or not?

Mariotti claims that he won't visit the lockerroom anymore because he has been threatened with violence. He wrote: "I might cede to Guillen's wishes, by the way, if Sox management through time had been more professional in controlling numerous incidents in which I was threatened physically in their clubhouse."

Threatened with violence? Shouldn't this be a big deal if it's true? It goes beyond the fact that he consequently has to write columns based on second hand evidence. If he were actually being prevented from doing his job properly because of a hostile environment, isn't that a legal issue? It was with Lisa Olsen and the Patriots.

Now, this is of course a HUGE leap, but if there was actually threatened violence, was it because Mariotti is, or was thought to be, gay? This might be one reason he hasn't pursued legal action to stop what would otherwise seem to be an unbearable professional handicap for a sportswriter.

It would also be an interesting story. But Mariotti, in additionto being an ass, is not a journalist. He's a celebrity. I don't his claim that he doesn't want to be the story.

Finally, who does his plastic surgery? the guy from the movie "Brazil"? Between his surgeon and Dan Patrick's hair colorist, ESPN is really getting ridiculous.