BROADCASTS.com

I've been sitting here in my big, manly, black leather poppa chair in my living room, watching ESPN. They just showed a video of New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey on one of the rare times he got shelled in the third inning, and Terry Collins, the manager came out, took the ball, and sent him to the showers. Matt's looking down, and walking sadly off the field. \n\tPitchers and other professional athletes do not like to be sent to the showers. I have always loved taking a shower. I was only an amateur athlete. I was a pretty successful competitive swimmer in school...I did the butterfly. That's a particularly painful kind of swimming stroke that requires you to pull your arms out of their sockets and up over your head over and over again for at least 100 yards. Although the whole competition was done in the water, I loved taking a shower after it. \n\tFor one thing it kept the pool's chlorine from eating me alive. And for another thing, I just loved taking a shower. I take a shower every night. I love taking showers. In fact I am hoping to take my favorite kind of shower tonight. I'll tell you about that later. I always had to take a bath when I was a little kid. I wasn't allowed to take a shower till I was around 7. It was kind of a rite of pre-puberty passage. I guess that's why taking a shower...even now makes me feel like a grown up. I realize that's an immature reaction, but I am an immature grown up, so it's ok. \n\tBig Louie has an important warning about growing up in my book Staying Happy Healthy And Hot. He says, "You can't help growing up, but you do NOT have to mature, so don't. Maturity is a trap." If you've been listening to this podcast for a while, you realize that I have carefully followed Louie's warning all my life.