I AM NOT a Republican. I repeat, I AM NOT A REPUBLICAN. If I were then I’d have a hard time bumping fists with brother Barry O. With that said, I am a fan of Republican Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, his place in US history and his battle against Hodgkin’s Disease.

In 2006 I participated in the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s Livestrong Day in Washington DC and had the chance to visit with Senator Specter’s office. I did not meet the man himself, but just having the chance to sit in his office lobby and view all the photos of Senator Specter with both political and sports legends from the past 40 years made up for him blowing us off.

Fast forward a few years and Senator Specter has recently announced that he has a reoccurrance of Hodgkin’s. For those of you non-politicos, it was nearly impossible to miss the Senator from PA going through treatment the first time around while still managing to participate on the Hill inbetween chemo treatments. Truly remarkable stuff. Now he’s got it again and spoke about it briefly this morning on 610WIP Sports Radio where he calls in frequently to talk about the Philadelphia Eagles.

Like I said, I am not a Republican, but you have to admire this one for his in-your-face approach to dealing with and surviving cancer.