"Out of His Shell"

The BasketCases are old schoolers when it comes to newspapers. Though we love that newspapers are now available on the Internet, we're still fans of the traditional print editions. Why? Because we know from personal experience that we'd miss important or interesting things if we limited ourselves exclusively to scrolling through the paper on line. We love lazy Sunday mornings when we can take our time flipping through the print edition of the Washington Post, stopping to read anything and everything that grabs our attention.

Take today, for instance. We are quite certain that if the Washington Post had not been delivered to our doorstep, we would have missed a very critical feature in today's Magazine Section -- Date Lab!

If you aren't familiar with the Magazine's weekly "Date Lab," it's the Post setting up a couple of willing singles (yes, people actually agree to this!) on a blind date. The Post arranges the date (usually dinner at a restaurant), gives the intrepid couple a digital camera, and then runs a story about the date in the Magazine Section. The feature contains a photo or two taken on the date along with each dater's comments about the other and their rating of the date on a scale from 1-5 (1 being worst, 5 being best). As you might imagine, the potential for embarrassment among one's friends, family, and co-workers is very great (particularly if your job involves working around young women and colleagues who can be relentless in their teasing).

So imagine our surprise this morning to see Rhet "eye candy" Wierzba in this week's Date Lab -- yes, Rhet, the Terps' very own Director of Basketball Operations! Who would've guessed . . . Rhet on a blind date? Obviously, it took some courage (and a sense of humor which we already know he has) to agree to this. (Or perhaps he lost a game of H-O-R-S-E with Coach B.)

In any event, the Post sent Rhet off on a blind date with a 26-year-old woman named Kelly who works at a PR firm. According to Kelly, one of her favorite films is "A Few Good Men." We'd have thought Rhet would qualify on that score. While Kelly rated the date a "4" and said Rhet had "very good manners" (something else we already knew about him), she also added, "I think it would be neat to get him out of his shell a little more." His shell? Pun intended? Good one there, Kelly!

The BasketCases really like Rhet, so we're sorry he did not find "Ms. Right" on his date. (He only gave the date a "3.") Who might that Ms. Right be? Well, we think there's a good clue here in Rhet's reaction to Kelly: "She's more into the party lifestyle of going out at night . . . I would rather hang out and do nothing or do puzzles, board games, those kind of things."

Please, ladies, there must be someone out there who loves a good game of Scrabble or Sudoku . . . and of course loves basketball! This is Rhet we're talking about. It Boggles our minds (pun intended) that an A-lister like Rhet is still "available." An opportunity like this doesn't come along every day. What are you waiting for?

If you'd like a chance to score higher than a "3" with Rhet, please send a picture (fully clothed) and some information about yourself to dcbasketcases(at)msn(dot)com. If we think you could possibly be Ms. Right, we'll see if we can fix you up.

Photo Credit: University of Maryland