FredEx Goes Bravo

I'm a Freddie Mitchell fan. It is hard not to like the former college star and NFL First Round Round Draft pick when you meet him. The man has an infectious personality to go along with a dozen or so nicknames: FredEx, The People's Champ (of which he had a belt, similar to the WWE championship), The Sultan of Slot,  First Down Freddie, Fourth Down Freddie, Hollywood, 4th and 26 Freddie, and Puppetmaster. Unfortunately, Freddie's NFL career was short-lived. He never shied away from speaking his mind off the field, and some might say Mitchell's honesty led to his being black-balled from the NFL. I met him a few years back in El Paso, when he joined Ray Mickens for his Celebrity Weekend. He instantly became a favorite and we've kept in touch over the years.

When I'm not on the radio, I try to spend as much time with my wife Karen as possible. Her Wednesday night TV lineup consists of Bravo, not ESPN. "Top Chef" is a must, and last night a show called "Millionaire Matchmaker" was on afterward. The program's premise is what the title suggests: millionaires are fixed up on dates and viewers spend an hour watching these rich people try to discover love. The matchmaker is a 49-year old Patti Stanger, a brash Jewish girl from New Jersey, who prides herself on being a modern day Yente from Fiddler on the Roof. Sure enough, the one of the millionaires being matched up last night was Freddie Mitchell, and suddenly I had interest in Bravo TV. The date started off good, but took a turn for the worst (you need to watch a re-run of the episode to understand what I'm talking about). After watching "Millionaire Matchmaker", my wife is suddenly a big fan of FredEx, and thought I was joking when I told her that I'm friends with the former football star. Maybe Freddie doesn't need Patti Stanger or The Big Apple to find true love...the girl of his dreams might be right here in El Paso.