The chicken head and me

Since several of you have asked: No, I am not the Jim Naughton who Tom Brokaw referred to yesterday in his eulogy of President Gerald Ford. I have never worn a chicken’s head to get the attention of the President of the United States. That’s another guy. I refer to him as the real Jim Naughton, and people who know us both refer to him (at least in my presence) as James the elder. He left the New York Times, having covered the White House just before I arrived at the Times to cover hockey. We are buddies. But we aren’t the same guy.