It's an honor to be called out by an overgrown elf. I think.
For the record, here's the genesis of our "dispute". This was the lede on a story I wrote last August on USC:
LOS ANGELES -- Just when you thought the klieg lights had dimmed and USC had transitioned back to normal football powerhouse status, here came Ricky Bobby.
Actor/USC fan Will Ferrell showed up at a Trojans team meeting last week wearing a NASCAR jump suit, upstaging coach Pete Carroll in his own NASCAR getup. Moments before, Carroll burst into the meeting to announce a training camp surprise: He was taking the team to see Ferrell's new movie, "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," at a campus theater. Then here came Ferrell, in character, stunning the unwitting Carroll and sparking a boisterous group jump-around session befitting the winning pit crew at Daytona. The only thing missing was a celebratory burnout and some sprayed champagne.
Naturally, about 200 USC fans wrote in to say that Ferrell is an alum, not just a fan. I told them I went with fan because I wasn't 100 percent sure he graduated from USC, so I didn't want to erroneously call him an alum. (Moral of the story: shoulda checked with USC folks. Didn't.) Anyway, that somehow morphed into me saying he didn't go to school there. Hope the dude isn't getting his info from message boards or something.
An aside: if you haven't seen the GQ cover story on Ferrell from a few months back, find it. Funniest magazine story of all time ever. Writer produced a boilerplate celeb feature template and let Ferrell himself fill most of the adjectives, nouns and key phrases. Perfect vehicle for his wit. I give huge props to the writer or whoever came up with the idea, and to Ferrell for playing along brilliantly.
That said, I'll still fight his ass. Bring it on.