Jack & Pope

I really hope I didn't overhype this (like NBC did with the Seinfeld "Yada Yada" episode) but here we go. While I was writing yesterday's awesome picture wristband post I got a call from my mom at work. Normally these are just checkup phone calls ("you didn't light the house on fire again did you, John?"), "come and pick me up" phone calls, or my favorite, the "please get a life" phone calls with the usual ending of, "I'm so sick of looking at you." This call was different though becuase she informed me that my father, Jack Duffy, was interviewed for local news channel CBS-3, EYEWITNESS NEWS!. Here's a dramatization of the phone call:

Mom: "So your father was interviewed for channel 3 today."
Me: "Oh really? What for?"
Mom: "Well he and a bunch of his lawyer friends went down to the Cathedral for a Thanksgiving Mass for the new Pope."
Me: "Oh, dear God."
Mom: "That's right. They went down during lunch, and he was interviewed when he came out."
Me (on the verge of tears): "Whyyyyyyyyyy? WHYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????"
Mom: "So you have to watch for it at 4:00."
Me: "So let me get this straight - there was a Mass for the new Pope?"
Mom: "Yes."
Me: "And Dad went to it? With lawyer friends? Why is he like this? What is wrong with that man? Who has friends like that? Is he my real father?"
Mom (laughing): "Well, you know him."
Me: "Yes, unfortunately. What did he say?"
Mom: "They asked him his thoughts on the Pope, and I think he was positive."
Me (not unsarcastic): "Well this is just gonna be great. What time are you gonna be home? Do you need a ride, or is God-Boy taking you home?"
Mom: "No, we're leaving after 5. My God I'm sick of looking at you. Goodbye."
Me: "Ah, bye."

So, not only did I have to sit through an interview of my father on local television (THANK THE DEAR LORD it wasn't national), but I also had to sit through a half hour of local news, which might actually be worse. Finally, they promised that story would be on at 4:30, and when it came around it didn't disappoint (and by that I mean it totally did). Now, just so you know, on the scale of My Father Embarassing Me, this interview fell somewhere between him wearing the all teal Marlins hat for most of the 1990s and him singing with an Irish brogue at pretty much every public event we go to as a family. I'll set up the interview for you now.

It started out in the CBS-3 studio with a little piece on the Pope's first day of his new job, which showed him unlocking the door to his apartment, and saying Mass:


"There's no hope with dope." - Pope Benedict XVI 

After that segment they went to some Lady Reporter (forgot her name so that's what I'll call her from now on) who was standing outside the Cathedral in Center City Philadelphia. She gave a summary of the Mass and they showed a clip of it:


"I agree with the Pope's views on dope, . . . ah, and let us pray, I guess." - Father Maginnis  

Lady Reporter then went on to show interviews of local Catholics coming out of the Mass, and this is when the magic happened. Good ole Jack was the first one they showed and I was ready. In his brief moment he said the following:

JD: "The truth is the truth, and I believe the Pope speaks the truth."

I was taking this picture of the screen at the time and I nearly fell down when he said that. It felt like he said the word "truth" about 89 times in that one sentence. In fact, he most likely set the record for the use of the word truth over the shortest amount of time, and it was on TV for everyone (who was watching) to see. Unfortunately, I took the picture before his name and where he was from could come up on screen because I wasn't sure how long he would be on air. Here's what I got:


"Truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth Pope Pope truth." - Jack Duffy 

I have to admit, he looked pretty OK and they got him from a good angle. He told me later on that he was scared that the camera was focused on his Guinness tie which you can only kind of see if you look closely. The best part of the whole interview (and I thank my lucky stars for this) was that he wasn't wearing a bow tie which he does from time to time. If he had the bow tie on this moment definitely would've surpassed the Irish brogue (Code Orange) singing incidents on the Embarassment Scale above. I hope that I never get to see Code Red, or Fuscia, or whatever gayness it is. The Lady Reporter then sent it back to the studio and that was that:


"That Jack Duffy sure is insightful. Back to you, Ken!" - Lady Reporter 

The plus side of all of this is that I now get to say the word "truth" non-stop whenever he talks to me if I feel like doing so, which I most definitely will. Also, it really could've been a lot worse, but he didn't embarass the family as a whole, just me. I can live with that because it's happened in so many different forms in the past. Another plus is that is was only on at 4:30 and in the Philadelphia area which is major. I know that all of you will think I made a much bigger deal out of this than I should've and that it wasn't that bad or bad at all, but that's my job as his son, and it's his job as my father. It's a special thing we have, and that's the truth.

And you're welcome for the cheeztastic ending.



***Happy 50th post to me! Happy 50th post to me!***

I should have at least twice that by now. My bad.