I do... allow you a freebee

In a move obviously designed to further outrage cartoonist-hating Muslims, Masha Lopatova, the wife of NBA star (never heard of him until now) Andrei Kirilenko, revealed Thursday that she allows her husband a once-a-year sex fling with another woman.

Kirilenko, the 25-year-old Jazz forward, reveals in the current issue of ESPN The Magazine that Lopatova, mindful of the presence of women who congregate around wealthy professional athletes, has granted permission for him to indulge himself, so to speak, with another woman once per season. "If I know about it," Lopatova said Wednesday, "it's not cheating."

That philosophy was applauded, frequently in jest, in a variety of settings. On ESPN's own "Pardon the Interruption" television show, for example, Washington Post columnist Michael Wilbon asked, "Ain't Mrs. Kirilenko the coolest wife in the world or what?"

His co-host, the Post's Tony Kornheiser, agreed: "She is a Top 5 wife, all-time. In fact, she is up there right now on the Mount Rushmore of wives."

That was the consensus on the sports network's morning radio show, "Mike & Mike," too, where co-host Mike Greenberg, calling Kirilenko's allowance "the best story we've ever had," lamented that his wife doesn't share Lopatova's attitude. "I'd just like one day of guilt-free golf," Greenberg joked.

So, coolest wife ever, or biggest fool? For me, neither. Having just ended a two-year relationship, I'm about as single as you can get, so I can be more honest than, say, the Emperor.

However, lest I devolve into something uncomfortable, even for the 'internet', I understand Masha's point of view that, in a more 'open' relationship, it's not cheating if it is known (and, presumably, it is done safely). Of course, saying that and practicing it are completely different animals -- the film Kinsey is an excellent example of the pros and cons of sexual freedom in relationships. I'm not sure if I would, if presented with such a scenario, be ready or able to handle such a thing. On the face of it, it sounds like a dream come true, but in the end, it also sounds like a razor-thin line to walk.