Scott Nettles is a professor of computer science in Texas. He has no idea I'm writing about him. Nor have I spoken to him since I left graduate school in 1991, when he was my office mate. Scott was like the rest of us, except for this: he never had trouble lining up a date. I asked him for his secret. All you have to do is ask the girl," he said. "Most people don't ask."

This brings me to the Super Bowl, which I'm told is this weekend. I know nothing about football. In fact, I have no idea how many people are on a team but let's say it's about 10. That makes about 20 people on the field. And about 100,000 people in the stadium watching. That's how most things are in life - a few people on the field while everyone else is on the sidelines watching. It's a bit like the college dating game where we watched Scott playing the field.