First things first: Thanks to all the terrific students, teachers, coaches and parents at Park Hill High School, home of the Trojans. It was great to be with you last Friday morning on FirstNews for "Match-Up Mania!" (I know Erin Little had a blast at Ray-Pec High, as well.) Now, onto my Mr. Blackwell moment.

On Thursday of last week, FirstNews co-anchor Jere Gish urged people to bring wigs, crazy outfits and face-paint to the next day's pep rallies. The folks in the Northland heeded his powerful anchorman exhortations. (Sometimes anchors don't know their own power. I know everytime Larry Moore hiccups the stock market dips. When Walter Cronkite once sneezed on air, NASA cancelled a moon-shot. Then, there was the time Jim Flink accidentally burped during FirstNews. Nothing happened but it was pretty funny.) Before I knew it, I was wearing a Trojan Power Red Wig, face-paint, and half a cheerleader's uniform...the top half. They did indeed have the skirt portion of the uniform but I passed, trying to hold onto a little dignity, which is hard enough to accomplish while dressed like Bozo's less cultured cousin. Frankly, if you look up the word dignity in the dictionary, you do not see a picture of a TV weatherman, anyway.

If I had put on the skirt, it would not have been the first time I'd have worn a dress on TV. Years ago, while doing stories for PM Magazine in Madison, Wisconsin, I did one about a local costume company. Being the serious journalist I am, I knew I had to get involved in the story like a small-town version of Geraldo. So, I set aside my personal well-being and played dress-up. One of the outfits was that of the stereotypical "little old lady." After the story aired, our station's general manager informed me that dressing up like Granny Clampett probably did not help my credibility as a weatherman. I did, however, hear that I'd become a popular pin-up in the men's locker room at Maplewood Nursing Home.

I mentioned in an early blog, that my dad used to wear a white wig, white fluffy moustache and suspenders to portray his radio alter-ego, Ole Hanson. Usually, this was for a public appearance, but every now and then he'd actually dress up just to chat with himself...play checkers...occasionally a round of ping-pong. One of my brothers used to dress up like an old woman for most Halloweens. He was crushed when we told him Halloween only came once a year.

I mentioned earlier that a man of my advanced years needs to guard whatever last threads of respectability he may have left. While doing just that, one of the coaches for the cheerleader squad...an attractive young woman with a winning smile and charming enthusiasm...motioned for me to come over. She had something to tell me. Maybe how distinguished I am...or how great the top half of the cheerleader uniform looked on me...or what a great weatherman I am. No, what she wanted to tell me was that she had once been on Jellybeans. That was the kids' show I hosted on KMBC some time back. She said she was eight years old at the time and remembers having lots of fun. Mostly she loved Zap the Clown. Now, I knew she wasn't going to tell me that she and all her friends think I'm dreamy or anything, but, I will readily admit that it made me feel quite old and I told her so as she took my arm and helped me step up onto the curb. This is really nothing new. In our house, my wife has gone from trying to pass our kids off as younger than they are to get the childrens' discounts at theaters and museums to trying to get the senior citizen price break for me. She is far too often successful.

In retrospect, I should've worn the bottom half of the cheerleader's uniform. From the thighs up I am aging rapidly, but from the thighs down I still look fairly youthful. Forget about dignity and credibility, next time I just may show a little leg.