Whilst listening to sports talk radio from my old stomping grounds the other day, I just so happened to tune in during a rather interesting discussion.

The afternoon guys on 97.1 the Ticket, Valenti & Foster, were complaining as they usually do about the topic du jour which usually has nothing to do with sports. On this day the topic was fat people on airplanes.

Terry Foster, who used to be a frequent traveler as a sports columnist for one of the local newspapers, told all his “horror” stories of having to sick next to “fatty” on his trips around the country. Mike Valenti, the master complainer and eternal pessimist, threw out all the cliches of how fat people smell and sweat and breath heavy and generally don’t deserve to live in the same atmosphere as his large ego.

After they both had a chance to rant, they opened it up to callers. Let me just say, that sports talk radio is a haven for the grumblers, complainers and chronically crabby in Detroit (and other places I’m sure).

As the calls began to come in, there was not much tolerance for the pleasantly plump, much less the morbidly obese. People were saying that those “chunky” individuals shouldn’t even be allowed on the plane. The best thing I heard was putting a seat in the terminal before boarding and if you couldn’t fit in the seat, you couldn’t fly.

Let me just say, I’m not against being charged for two seats if I don’t fit in one. I’m okay with the reality that planes are not made for “people of size” as I once heard us referred to. To say that people that are bigger shouldn’t be allowed to fly is ridiculous. If we’re willing to pay more to fly, then there should be no reason to deny us a ride on your fancy aero-plane.

If these Airlines had any sense at all, they would cater to larger people. Instead they continually make the seats smaller and smaller. I would venture a guess and say most people are uncomfortable flying the friendly skies.

One last thing I have to say is this, I realize that being overweight is not ideal. I don’t want to be the way I am and it’s a constant struggle, but telling me that I shouldn’t be allowed to fly on a plane doesn’t motivate me to change… it just pisses me off that people actually are that stupid.

We’re people too, there’s just more of us to love.