For three decades, or as Homey says, "Close enough!", I have updated my outgoing land line voice mail message with something historical for the date. Today's is for the birthday of the late actor John Houseman; part of my message utilizes his line in a commercial where he said, "Ask your mother." Chauvinism lurks there with the allegorical also-ran I considered a moment ago.

On this September 22 in 1949 Russia exploded its first atomic bomb. In today's L.A. Times sports section columnist Bill Dwyre writes about deflated footballs conveniently displacing concussions from current pigskin, in all its accessory connotations, controversy.

There was a recent essay in the Opinion section about God, football and victory; the launch of Sputnik more or less a decade later did its soaring share in the "We've got to be tough boys, turn into men, and defeat [the other school] and eventually Communism" racket in the USA but today I wanted to simply juxtapose the bomb and everlasting machismo.

It was on the last day of the school year at a Catholic institution a half century ago the boys' dean of discipline slash coach of a junior varsity team which had won a league championship the beginning of said year came up behind me in the hall. He strangled me for a second and growled that I'd better be at the meeting for the dreaded date of August 27, when fall practice resumed. The meeting was full of more threats about being a tough winner.

Oh, but Coach was a brilliant academic over the years. That season turned out to disaster and he was eventually sent packing from Our Lady Of Nuclear Victory over sex scandals and the fact the school got a Principal with . . . principle. Just don't ask Mom. He resurrected his career in the male whitewalled/"self reliance" bastion of the Coachella Valley and is now. after yet more harassment elsewhere, Superintendent of a district.

Even Woody Hayes warned about the bomb. In the meantime, if you boys want to become men you play hurt and say nothing. I hang my head for this blog. If the strangulation were to be completed, yes, it will hang . . . .