We need to talk. Actually, no, we need a break. How about one, then the other?

Been at this sports blogging thing going on eight weeks. So far, so swimmingly. I write, you read. I write some more, you correct my mistakes. I write still more, you sometimes feel moved to write back.

Hate to break our momentum with a 20-second timeout, but it’s vacation time at Ye Ol’ Sportatorium. Next week I’ll be floating the river in New Braunfels, attending a concert by this guy and painting my dad’s house. Swear, I couldn’t make up that cumbersome of a trifecta.

(Don't be alarmed to find Robert Wilonsky – ya know, founder and CEO of Unfair Park – rummaging around here in my absence. It's okay, he's got full security clearance.)

Let me leave you with some programming notes, first and foremost a call for one last push of patience on the cover story about you-know-who. For reasons beyond my control, the story is now running in our July 10 issue. So there. Mark your calendars, tell your friends and I don't wanna hear about it until after you read it. Deal?

While I’m gone please monitor Josh Howard’s youth camp, Thursday’s NBA Draft and next Saturday night’s celebrity baseball game in Frisco. I’ll need a full report when I get return.

And, either I really need some time off, or Fox 4’s Baron James is these days referring to Clarice Tinsley as “CT”. Could’ve been “ET”. Probably “CT”. But still … WTF?

Y’all come back now, ya hear?! Richie Whitt

• From the Home Office in Dallas, Texas