I wonder if listening to Jim Rome's sports talk radio show, The Jungle, has changed my taste in men.

I went to a poetry reading yesterday to hear this woman from my writing group read her poems. The room was full of stereotypical artsy looking SF types with women in trendy dark skirts, velvet burnt out scarves and boots, men with leather jackets and beards or politically correct rumpled hair. Everyone had that affected and bored, I'm a struggling artist attitude, with pinched faces like they needed to go to the bathroom but weren't going because it was politically incorrect or something. The smell of patchouli was killing the scent of the giant cala lillies that seemed as out of place as I was, in this dark, "trendy and cool" scene.

And there I was, still wearing work khaki pants, white tshirt, black cardigan and red antique bead japanese necklace, an outfit I put some conscious thought into on a pit stop home. I was trying to look casual, relaxed and somewhat artsy, but when I surveyed the party, my outfit looked positively conservative and almost virginal.

It's not like I hadn't been to events like this before, but this was the first time I felt like such a fish out of water. And the men. They all looked so pasty like they were molding right there in their leather jackets and black jeans.

I think I really am different from most women when it comes to what is an attractive man. I can’t believe a friend thought that one thin, older, white haired and bearded poet was attractive. But he’s that stereotypical poet/artist type and I've never found that look was particularly attractive. First of all, I really don’t like very thin men. It's so annoying! My crazy mother instincts come blazing out and I just want to stuff food down their pie-hole till they gain some weight.

Secondly his poetry about that woman in the shower was just bad. How neurotic and such a show of low self-steam. Here’s a guy who’s paranoid about how many men his woman has slept with. Like who the hell really cares. And why would a guy even be concerned about stuff like that. It's none of his business how many men his chick has slept with and the fact that's he's written a poem about it, makes me think he has a problem with women with a past. Does thing guy want a virgin? Is he so lacking in self-esteem that he would prefer a woman with no sexual experience so he wouldn't feel so inadequate. His kind of poetry is not a good sign.

A friend thought Jim Rome sounded like a frat boy and I didn’t even know she really hates that type. But I know this friend would probably find skinny white haired poet guy attractive, because he’s so anti-frat boy. Maybe that’s his attraction for women. He’s the total opposite of the typical dumb male. Because he's not a frat type, as a woman you start to think that he's like this better kind of guy. But I don’t know. I think artsy type guys are wolves in sheeps' clothing. White haired bearded poetry guy was so sexist in his poetry, so selfish, so self absorbed. He seemed like the kind of guy who would write you a beautiful poem then break up with you in the next breath. This guy would probably never be caught dead at a football or baseball game.

A few years ago, I wouldn't have cared if a guy was into sports, but now I care. A few years ago, I might have been just little bit interested in white haired beared poetry guy, but not now. A caller on Rome's show called guys from SF, "those sissy wine sippers from the West Bay" and I think he made a good point.

But then I've never had a problem with frat boys. First of all, my college was so small, we didn't have frats and sororites so I never associated with them on a regular basis enought to have bad opinions. Secondly, I've always been athletic and worked out at a gym, so I'm used to guys who are healthy looking and who work out. Third, my few experiences with frat boys have all been good ones, so good in fact, that I've only ever dated frat boy types and even married one once.

Okay, I take that back. I've dated a few non frat boy types, but my experiences with these guys were horrible. I couldn' t watch football on Sunday. They weren't into March Madness. And we never went to baseball games to sit in the sun to drink beer. And I'm really not that that into sports.

So is Jim Rome changing my taste in men or did he just reinforce it? I don't know. All I know is poetry writing pasty thin artsy boys are just so not attractive to me right now, where before they at least showed up on my hottie radar screen if only for just a little while.