An overdue apology

You know ... some roomates just aren't that bad

I would like to apologize today to a guy named Ross O'Loughlin, my first college roommate. I was not a good roommate, Ross. I was dirty and you were neat. I was late night and you were early morning. I objected when you turned on the radio at 6 a.m. and danced around in your BVDs. I'm sorry. I should have kept my mouth shut.

Thank you for not taping me to a plastic chair, hitting me on the head with a whiskey bottle, burning me with a lit cigarette and stabbing me in the leg. I know now that I could have done much worse for a roommate.

I could have wound up with someone like Donald Little.

Perhaps you read about Mr. Little, Ross. He's 6-foot-11, a junior, the center for the University of Cincinnati basketball team. He's accused by his roommate of doing all of those nasty things, plus ordering his friends to kill the roommate and "dump his body in Columbus." If all this is true, well, Mr. Little is the worst roommate this side of Hannibal Lecter. Even Hannibal wouldn't have been THIS upset at being ousted from the NCAAs in the second round.

It's scary when you think about it, this roommate business. Every athlete out there who went to college -- guys like Kyle Turley, like Shaq, like Rasheed Wallace, like Tony Siragusa -- must have been somebody's roommate. What do you do when you're 19 years old and locked into a room with a giant?

Thank you, Ross. Hope you're still dancing. In those BVDs.

Leigh Montville's commentaries appear regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated.

 

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