Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. Chapter Twelve Editorials, Opinion Pieces, Columns, Blogs and Cartoons 373 In the Fan of the House sports columns, Erskine talks to his audience, usually as one fan to another, often with some fan-to-fan ribbing. He writes, “I’m constantly fi ghting against the forces who take it (sports) all too seriously, even though for those involved, it’s a big and serious business. The fans shouldn’t see it that way though, which is where I come in.” While you were sleeping, L.A. has become America’s most- accomplished sports town—three teams in the playoffs, a fi rst-place baseball club, a championship soccer franchise and a college football team that will probably contend for a title this fall. At one point, it looked as if the Lakers and the Clippers would be squaring off against each other at the Big Staple at the same time the Kings would be in the Stanley Cup fi nals. OK, get a grip. In the Man About Town columns, Erskine often writes about his own family’s experiences in Los Angeles. Here, his voice is the most distinctive. Erskine writes, “I mock myself to make up for my mocking of everything else.” He is a clueless, large-sized child surrounded by—and at the mercy of—a competent wife (he refers to her as “Posh” or “Poshy”), sons (he refers to the youngest as “the little guy”) and competent daughters. He refers to one as “the lovely and patient older daughter.” As for the younger, he writes: Took the daughters surfi ng the other day. I’ve noticed lately that most of the activities they like have dollar signs in front of them. In fact, one of them just legally changed her name to Vi$a. Tough decision. It was either that or Cha-Ching. But when Erskine reviews comedian and actor Paul Reiser’s book “Familyhood,” he discusses the author’s voice as ably as would any professor of literature. As a performer, Reiser’s particular gift seems to give words a percussive emphasis, almost a rim shot. They are reactive, these jabs, to other people in the show. In his writing, it takes a while to hear that voice again, to fi nd the beats of his sentences. But if you like Reiser the comic, you’re likely to enjoy Reiser the writer ... Point of view is everything with Reiser, not to mention an eye for the little things in a father’s life. Reiser doesn’t so much pick the right word as accentuate the right emotion.