The Famous Project

A few years ago, I wrote a column stating that Raef LaFrentz is the most famous “Raef” in American history. This seemed a pretty uncontroversial stance, at least to me, but a big-time editor (rather unconvincingly, in my view) made the argument that he actually was second-most famous … behind Rafer Johnson. Now — you tell me. One is named “Raef.” The other is named “Rafer.” That’s just not the same, right? The “er” part seems to me to more or less disqualify Johnson from the “Raef” competition, no? And so the big-time editor, being a stubborn type, went through the files and found an old clip where someone calls Johnson “Rafe.” At this point, I conceded the point, not because he was right — come on, it’s RAFER, not RAFE, I don’t care how many clips the guy finds — but because big-time editors have the power to fire people. In any case, the point is that I...