Yodel Worthy

I'm heading out to Birmingham tomorrow morning for the first-round Davis Cup tie between the United States and Switzerland. (That's Andy Roddick, Mike and Bob Bryan, above.) As bummed as we were about Roger Federer's pulling out at the last minute, my partner in crime Greg stumbled upon these dreamy photos of the mostly unknown Swiss squad last night, below, and we've suddenly decided we won't be complaining about the competition at all.

Hunk Alert: Yves Allegro, Stephane Bohli, Severin Luthi, Stanislas Wawrinka and Marco Chiudinelli

Sign your names across my heart ...

Greg and Kenny near the University of Arizona, Tucson 1986

As excited as I am for the tennis, the real point of the trip is to catch up with my longtime friend Greg. We've known each other since 1980 (we met when we played tennis against each other back in junior high) and have been like brothers ever since (lots of laughing, lots of fighting, lots of love). It's hard for me to even imagine that this is true, but because of a number of factors, it's actually been nine years since we last saw each other, at my sister's wedding in February 2000. I couldn't be happier that our in-the-flesh drought is almost up.

While I'm away, my pal Marc Lallanilla -- who did a wonderful job filling in for me last fall when I was at my family reunion in San Diego -- will be guest-blogging for me (tech issues permitting). Since the beginning of the year, Marc's been writing his own blog -- THE SHINBONE STAR -- that I encourage you to check out, too.