"Why is everything so much more serious when Sam Waterston says it?"

I arrive home after my lunch and my roommate has the Olympics on in our living room. We had set up the living room as our operations center: the dining room table moved in with countless tax returns and his laptop taking up one end of the table and on the other end my laptop, legal pads, and brief writing material. After watching our hockey team lose and some ladies speedskating (the gold medal sport for best 'junk in the trunk'), NBC cuts to the heartwarming struggle from the Lillehammer Olympics and that inspirational sport: cross country skiing. The epic battle between the Norweigans and the Italians in a sport that I could care less about.

However...

Sam Waterston was narrating this inspirational heartwarming struggle. And I couldn't...stop...watching. 45 Minutes later, after the Italians won the Gold they return to the emotional saga of the personal lost associated with the Norweigan team. No matter how much I tried to pour myself into this brief, Sam kept me on the edge of my seat. So...damn...emotional...must...keep...it...together...

At the end, I realized I just got choked up over a story told to me by Sam Waterston. In conversations with a fellow 2L, the effect on her is as just as powerful. She even opened a TD Waterhouse account because Sam Waterston told her to do so. She is going to have his children next week.

As for me, he can tell me anything. And I'll believe it. And it'll be serious. And it will be emotional. Just because Sam Waterston has said it, it must be so. Damn you NBC. Thank you Sam Waterston.