At the Titans game Sunday, the 16-year-old and I were impressed with the fans displaying jerseys celebrating former Titans. I shot photos of several displaying names from the 1999 season. While I got him a rookie season P. Jones (I was ahead of the curve) the 16 year-old still prefers his McNair #9.

Rafat and Staci (both) point out some helpful suggestions for those who want to launch a killer website. And by “killer,” I mean websites that are going to be killed by the early reviews.

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This morning, I was tagged by both Jeff Jarvis and Scott Karp to participate in the meme-of-the-moment: a revelatory post sharing five things most people wouldn’t know about me. I’m with Jeff, however, after six or so years of doing this, I’ve pretty much revealed more than anyone wants to know about me. That said, here goes:

1. Despite rumors to the contrary, I’m not a Republican. Never have been. I’ve voted for Republicans. But I’ve voted for a lot more Democrats than Republicans. I’m not a Democrat, either, however that won’t surprise anyone.

2. I live in Nashville, but I’m not a song writer. However, when I was in college, one of my most significant claims to fame was writing a couple of short comedy musical reviews that won some competitions.

3. This is a deep dark secret that I keep hidden from my family: I really hate Christmas music. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a big fan of Baby Jesus and sleigh bells. It’s just the music I can’t stand. It gets in my head and won’t go away. If I hear those barking dogs singing Jingle Bells, the next few days are blown.

4. Once I edited a magazine in which I also wrote a humor column using a pseudonym. The favorite letter I’ve ever received was from a writer who pitched me on why he should become the new humor columnist because the one we had was so bad. Sad thing is, he never knew that letter was the funniest thing he’d ever written.

5. I attended public school in Alabama during the period in which the schools in that town went from total segregation to being approximately 50% black and white. (Think ‘Remember the Titans’ era.) Participating in that transformation was something I felt — even then — was a special and historic privilege. My parents were not necessarily enlightened or progressive on issues of race, but they nevertheless instilled in me a sense of knowing that equality for all was something to be encouraged, not denied. Being actively involved in helping to lead a student body to peacefully and cooperatively embrace a positive and just cultural change was the most significant thing I’ve ever done.

I think I’m supposed to tag some others, but I’m heading out the door. You’re good for now.

I just noticed via his blog post that Steven Johnson wrote one of the articles in the Time person of the year package. I mention this only because I recently read his current book, The Ghost Map*. The book is great. While the topic sounds gross — the sanitation, demographic and economic conditions that led to a massive outbreak of cholera in London in 1852 — it is also a riveting detective story as it follows the work of some pioneering epidemiologists (before there were such) who solved the mystery of how cholera spreads. It’s not only an interesting book of general history — it’s also a great yarn.

*Note: The book link goes to my “affiliate” store at Amazon.com. An upcoming post will explain why I’m noting this.