It will be way cool to head up to Indiana University at Kokomo to speak. One of the weirder things that has happened since starting UTK is getting asked to speak. My first gig was at Wabash, an all-male college. All males. Figures. Great school though and one my family has a long history with. If there's any place I could have been comfortable with, that's it. So now, IU. That should be interesting, more so because I'll be talking about being a journalist, something that still doesn't sound quite right to me. The Pete Rose story really thrust it on me.

If you read my story "Kid in a Candystore" about my first time with a press pass, I kept expecting security to come tap me on the shoulder and escort me in a not-so-polite fashion to the nearest exit. Now, I get jaded when I have to sit in the cheap seats at a football game near obnoxious fans. Rough life, I know. Still, I think all new journalists go though the "imposter stage" where you just don't feel like you belong, like the pass was issued in error.

When you're on Sportscenter with your livelihood on the line, things change quickly. You'd better damn well know you belong or you can pick your ass up at the door as you leave.

Tomorrow, I'll talk some about Pete. Rather, the story about Pete than became a story in and of itself. MLB, I'm told, is sending someone. I know that Leroy's been watching me since mid-August when I cracked their case and I don't think it's that I did it that has them pissed off - it's that they're not sure who the hell I am and why they have no hold over me.

They won't find out tomorrow, but you, my friends, already know.

Details on my appearance on BP or at www.iuk.edu