No more clowning around

And now for a last word on ? The Last Word. Or, as one staff member called it this week, “editorial light.”

The Last Word, which started after the Pilot relaunched its Sunday paper, traditionally has been a place where the paper can briefly touch on an issue of less-than-earth-shattering importance. In our first The Last Word, we suggested a community-based NBA trade: Dennis Rodman, then causing trouble in West Newport, for Kobe Bryant, who was rumored to be moving to Coto de Caza.

Since then, we’ve blamed El Nino for all the world’s ills. We said a fond farewell to the ficus fracas in Newport Beach. We were amazed that 300 people paid $1,000 to meet Rep. Dana Rohrabacher. We’ve been terrified by jellyfish. And then last week we touched on another rumored move: George Clooney.

Whoops!

It appears some readers missed the liberties we were taking with the story.

So for them and others, here are the guidelines for The Last Word: In all but the rarest cases, we’re having fun with the issue. We’re not being terribly serious. Or, often, we’re not being serious at all.