The L Word

I came across my birth certificate today and ended a years-long mystery in my family.

It turns out there is only one "L" in my middle name. On the rare occasion that I had to fill out a really important form that required the spelling -- not just the initial -- of the middle name, I used to either order a reprint of said birth certificate or call home to mom.

It's funny, for some odd reason, mom just brought it up out of the blue last weekend and claimed she was confident there were two Ls in Phillip. Now that I just typed that, I remember some rule of thumb that says there's one L in the first name that is singular, and two Ls in the last name that is often plural. Makes sense.

So rest easy, everybody. I now know how to spell my full name.

Felton Spencer

I've told this story a couple times lately, so here it is in blog format for both of you.

Felton Spencer was a star (read: tall) basketball player at Louisville back in the day, and played in the NBA for more than a decade.

Shortly before I left Louisville before New York, I saw him at a bar. I hadn't quite been overserved at this point, but I definitely was juiced enough to feel courageous to say hello to someone almost twice my size.

Trying to figure out which way was best to appear like a really cool white guy, I vacillated between, "How you doin?" and "What up, player?"

The end result? "How you playin?"