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I'm blaming the steroids.

After a fabulous weekend and a pretty good start to my Monday, I began to feel a little funny on Monday afternoon. The side effects listed for the ear medicine I had been taking included "suppression of the immune system", and I'm thinking that's what happened. Usually, I laugh at the common cold (ha ha HA!); my robust antibodies swarm all over invading viruses like sequins on Liberace. People sneeze right in my face and I respond by throwing on my gym shorts and going for another workout. As long as I'm not under a doctor's "care", my general health seems to make me impervious to germs.

But they gave me drugs. I took them. Now I am sick. And the worst part is that the medicine didn't even cure my phantom ear noises. Now I'm hearing things...AND spewing snot all over the place. Ugh.

I went home a little early on Monday and went straight to bed. I spent all day Tuesday moaning and groaning, and wondering how this cold would affect my ability to swim this weekend. On one hand, spending an entire day recumbent on the sofa might provide a perfect taper. On the other, having a head full of fungus doesn't generally translate into high-quality meet performance. I do feel better this morning, but will have to wait and see whether my immune system is functioning again, or if I will need additional time to recover.

Anyway, the photos at the top of this post seemed topical. The people featured were all in a television show that relates to the biggest news in Denver this week. Any guesses?

Here's another hint: The guy in this photo wrote a song about the same topic back in 1970.

And not that this has anything to do with anything, but I'm curious: Which entertainers have you seen in person the most times? I think I've seen Blue Öyster Cult live probably 6 times (including 3 concerts in a 3-day period...but that's a story for another time), Maynard Ferguson at least thrice, and Alice Cooper a couple of times. I've seen Tanner's bands probably 15 times...but they've changed names so frequently that I've probably never seen any single incarnation more than 3 times. (L.I.E., From the Mouth of Cthulhu, Wasabi in Your Neck, Dome Cube, Abstract Collective, Telescope, etc. You may want to write those names down someplace -- it'll probably be an answer to a trivia contest once he becomes really famous. You know...it's like how you're supposed to know that Lennon & McCartney were in "The Quarrymen" before they became the Beatles, and that "Soft White Underbelly" was the original name of BÖC.)

You may also have noticed another relationship between a couple of the guys in the top photo. This picture is the same two fellows in the identical role. Ryan and Tatum O'Neal were in the movie version of "Paper Moon", while Christopher Connelly and Jodie Foster portrayed the same characters in the TV series of the same name.

Today's totally useless trivia fact is that Christopher Connelly grew up in Wichita, KS (same as me). When I was working at Boeing, I actually sat next to the guy whose dad ran over Mr. Connelly's dog. (We shall keep his identity confidential, for obvious reasons.)

Anyway, yes, the answer to today's question is "Peyton Manning." The actors pictured at the top of the post (Mia Farrow, Ryan O'Neal, Tim O'Connor, and Christopher Connelly) were all stars of the TV Show "Peyton Place", and Alice Cooper's song "Eighteen" represents Manning's jersey number. As I'm sure you've heard in the nonstop news coverage of this "story of the century"...Frank Tripucka's jersey number had been retired by the Broncos, but has been resurrected for Mr. Manning. I am sure that the news media will be hammering on that for the next few weeks. And I guess there's some other uproar about what they'll do with the guy who was the Broncos QB until Manning arrived. I can't remember his name right off the top of my head -- Kyle Orton, maybe? Jake Plummer? Jay Cutler? Bubby Briscoe County, Jr.? Somebody like that.

Whatever. The point is that things can change in a hurry. I was feeling on top of the world on Sunday, and at the bottom of the compost heap on Tuesday. The Broncos started the season at 2-6 last year, and are now a stone-cold lock to win the SuperBowl in 2013. It boggles the mind and clogs the sinuses, it does.

I hope to be back to normal by Friday. I would really like to swim well this weekend, and I don't need no stinking cold to interfere with those plans. But we'll have to wait and see, drink plenty of fluids, etc. In the meantime, I leave you with a video clip that demonstrates a compelling argument on a key point of law. (I was looking for the "Brrrppp-Blapp!" clip from the same movie that describes how one can crash after an energetic high...but I couldn't find that one. It's OK, though -- this one still features some good food for thought.)

Enjoy it, and have a great day!