Me, Mike and Mike

It's about 8:00 AM. I slowly rise from a deep sleep to the sounds of Preston and Steve blaring from my clock radio. Slowly, and quietly, as to not awake the ticking time-bomb that is my sleeping husband, I walk the bathroom and begin my daily dance of shower, hair, makeup, teeth, etc.

I emerge from the steam and dampness refreshed, ready to face another day. But not because I feel clean and awake. I know that beyond that door back in the bedroom awaits two familiar faces that I've come to enjoy and greatly appreciate over the past two years. No, not Frank and Sophie my feline children.

Ahhh.... its Mike and Mike.

Relationships are all give and take. When I moved in with my husband (way before he was my husband) my morning routine of The Weather Channel and the Today Show were replace with SportsCenter or the occasional rerun of Saved by the Bell. As time wore on, my patience with SportsCenter dwindled. They re-air the same stories over, and over, and over... just gets old.

Soon, I noticed there were different voices coming from my TV in the morning.... one, a familiar voice, a voice from my childhood. A voice associated with Sunday afternoons in fall and winter, when I would sit among the men in my family (everyone except me and my mom) and watch the Eagles. "Mike Golic is on ESPN now?" I asked. Hmmm.... I'll give him a try, if only because he was an Eagle. "Who's that other guy with him?" I ask, as I try to glean some sort of understanding about the two men with whom I'll now share my morning routine. "He's pretty good, I think you'll like him," said the hubby.

And so the love affair began. Each morning I look forward to their insightful sports commentary married with their love of pop culture and covering the stories that I usually have to wait to see on Access Hollywood or Extra. They are funny, quirky, and oddly attractive, but that's because every woman loves a man with a sense of humor and the ability to mock himself.

Being a woman "in the know" comes with many advantages. I genuinely enjoy sports, and consider myself a pop-culture junkie. Mike and Mike give me the tools I need to be a savvy businesswoman while feeding my addiction of who-wore-what-when and whos-pregnant-with-whos-baby. I can discuss A-Rod, Mike Vick, Lindsay Lohan, Brit-Brit, the all-star break, the NFL draft, Emmy nominations and Barry Bonds breaking the record pretty seamlessly, all while entertaining discussions with both male and female colleagues. Starting a sentence with "So, on Mike and Mike this morning...." puts me in a league of my own, and impresses the toughest of critics.

Mike and Mike... I love you. Keep on keepin on.

-posted by Ariel