I'm Famous (once removed).

A couple of stories in our local 'newspaper' caught my attention recently - only because I am related to people mentioned in the stories...

First a few words about the 'paper'. Its proper name is the Herald-Chronicle, but I call it 'the Harold, Comical' because, 1, 'Harold' is a funny name and 2, 'comical' sorta means 'funny' and 3, our paper is quite (unintentionally) funny.

Actually, I find the mis-spellings, grammatical mistakes and factual errors quite endearing. It's sort of like reading the average weblog - only we have to pay 50 cents for the priveledge...

Back to my story...

The front page of Tuesday's edition of the Harold-Comical featured a story about a local guy who has 'hit the big-time'. His name is Cos DeMatteo and he portrays Dean German in the new Mark Wahlberg movie, Invincible.

He also appeared as an extra in the remake of 'The Longest Yard',

DeMatteo was a local HS football standout who went on to break records at UTC and has played arena ball for several franchises.

I've never met Mr. DeMatteo, but his junior high school football coach is mentioned in the article. That coach's name is Mark Montoye.

Mark is, in addition to being my fellow member of Harris Chapel United Methodist Church, an extremely distant relative of mine and also just happens to be my wife's first cousin.

Does this make me related to my wife? Not really.

Does this make me famous? Not at all. But wait, there's more...

Another article, also on the front page of the same edition of the local news, is about my first cousin (once removed), Lt. Col. Beri Fraley.

Beri was recently given the entire command of the 1-181st Field Artillery Battallion of the Tennessee National Guard in Chattanooga.

Cool.

Unfortunately, I can't link to this story because it does not appear in the online version of the HC.

Not cool.

Beri is also the son of current Tennessee State Representative George W. Fraley Jr.

Representative Fraley is better known (to me) as my paternal grandmother's little brother.

I am so close to being almost marginally somewhat well-known that I can taste it.

No? I suppose I must instead continue to pursue fame and fortune in my own right through the incredibly witty and profoundly interesting musings that comprise this here Blog.

Right.