Member Madness

Originally posted Nov. 23, 2005

Today we ran a story on the front page about a San Jose dude pulling a truck with his penis.

Apparently, big mistake.

We've been getting all sorts of phone calls and e-mails, which has turned something that was completely hilarious yesterday into a woeful disaster today. To clarify, the guy in question is a grandmaster of qigong, specifically the "Iron Crotch" sect. Followers of "Iron Crotch" lift weights and pull things with their penis in order to increase stamina, etc.

Despite the general atmosphere today, I have to say we got the funniest voicemail EVER this morning. Here's how it went:

(somewhat oldish and deep-voiced man) "It's 6:36 a.m. I'm a subscriber to your Wednesday, Nov. 23, edition. I cannot believe what you put on the front page at the bottom about a man pulling a bus, or some goddamn thing, with his penis. PLEASE, folks! I quit taking 'Penthouse' and 'Hustler' years ago. Don't put this crap in a family paper, kids get a hold of this. You dumbshits...now you're gonna have 9,000 kids going out tryin' to pull a fuckin' bicycle with their penis. You dumbshits, why don't you think before you do something? You fuckin' idiots."

Thank you for the creative and um...constructive...feedback, sir. Duly noted. And why the unnecessary emphasis on "penis" each time? Hmm...creeepy.

Sigh...well, anyway, lesson learned. No more anatomical stories on A1. And we're not the only paper that did it, so I'm interested to know what they're getting on their ends. And never mind all that, what about the reporter whose phone number and e-mail were at the bottom of the story?!

Man, if I were her, I'd call in sick today. She did have a good lede, though.

Tara commented: Screw him. Maybe he's just jealous? haha.