Yesterday I got a call from someone looking for an article from the Orange County Register. Now, I have to admit I get a little annoyed with that, but, hey, many readers don’t really understand the competitive nature of our relationship with the Register. All they know is they’re trying to track down some article and they call a “newspaperman” to help them. I’m pretty much a sap when it comes to helping people anyway so I put aside my ultra-competitive nature when they call. For some odd reason, though, I’ve noticed that more people are calling us for the sort of information folks used to call a library’s reference desk for.

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Maybe it’s because he’s a Loyola University alum like me.

Or because he’s a South Sider, like I was when I grew up in Chicago.

Or it’s my impulse as a Catholic to stand ready to offer forgiveness, especially when the sinner asks for it.

But I can’t help but defend Father Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina parish in Chicago. He’s quite well known in Chicago after years of righteous crusades against tobacco, alcohol and gun companies and obnoxious media personalities like Howard Stern and Jerry Springer, but, speaking of obnoxious, he came to prominence with this unfortunate YouTube video.

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Remember that corny sign-off to Robin Leach’s “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” in the ’80s?

I sure do. It was one of those shows that I loved to hate. Frequently, I watched it with my brother and we’d scoff mightily at the D-list actors strolling through their “palatial estates” to show Robin and the world a glimpse of the high life. My brother and I are pretty good mimics so naturally it wasn’t hard to pick up Leach’s distinct cockney accent. In fact, for our friends a round of “dueling Robin Leaches” was often a must. It was cockney in stereo as we endlessly riffed on the cheesiness of that show, which represented to us all of the excesses of the ’80s that disgusted us. I was pretty serious about it . Sadly, I have to admit I came across a button in college that advertised that stupid Budweiser commercial from back then that featured Robin Leach and the beer company mascot “Spuds Mackenzie” and I took it apart so I could draw an international ban sign around ol’ Spuds. My girlfriend at the time thought that was hysterical.

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