I feel like a tackling dummy as I sit here writing this week's Out of Bounds with cold-flu-like symptoms. To make matters even more fun, the air-conditioning unit is running in the Annapolis "bureau" of the Blade-News. Granted, it is 70 degrees outside today. But let's face it: 70 degrees in October is different than 70 degrees in June.

Sitting at my desk on a warm Halloween afternoon and hoping that there is no swine anything in my body, it occurred to me that we have not even reached the true flu season yet. Once winter kicks in and the virus really starts going around - because as everyone tells us,...