The whole world is watching America (and America is watching Charlie Sheen)

So here we are. Tuesday, March 8, 2010. Right in the middle of the slowest season of the year.  Football is over, and baseball is another few weeks away.  Basketball is in full flower, but those who like a more cerebral sport have to wait until the umpire hollers "Play ball!"

I am stunned by the coverage being given to American bad boy Charlie Sheen, with his psychotic quotes and boasts and "I love me" toasts.  And yet, if he put down the bump and blow and came back to work tomorrow, CBS would rescind that termination faster than John Boehner can break into tears, and all would be well again in a land where a man can make a million and a half dollars in a week simply by being himself.

I hope that some of you got to see this little 30-minute glimpse into the life of Kid Rock on the Palladium channel on Sunday. It was a show called "Kid Rock: Born Free" and it showed Kid hanging around his house, rehearsing with his band, having a beer with the locals in his town in Michigan, and having dinner with his son and his housekeeper.  The way Kid interacted with his son Bob Jr. was something to see.  The young man is starting a band, and Kid listened to his music on the laptop, and said, "Well, it's not the worst thing I've ever heard. But if you want to make music, you have to be serious about it and put all you have into it."  He also pointed out that it's very hard to make a success for yourself if someone in your family has already made a success in the same line of work. (You could ask Pete Rose, Jr., about that.)

I mean, most people would think of Kid Rock as an unreconstructed bad boy, a dissolute sort of debauched individual, and here he was, giving his son some straight-up advice. A little encouragement, but also some facts about how hard it is out there.  We also see him picking up a couple of bags of subs for the rehearsal, and he mentions that he never thinks of himself as anything better than his fans, that he always takes time to talk to people who approach him, and he can feel good about himself for never having cheated the working man out of his money.

Makes you wonder what sort of world Charlie Sheen's kids will be stepping into.  I'd rather think of what a great dad Kid Rock is, and I bet that's a sentence that's never been written before!

PS:  Today is the day that Jackass 3 will be released on DVD.  I urge all of America to purchase this prized disc, and to gather around as families to share in its message of hope and joy, mixed with laughter in its two primary shapes: guffaws and giggles.  If you can watch this trailer for the movie and not feel the laughter welling up inside you like the time your buddy's pants fell off during the Grand March at his prom, then you need only to watch it again.