C.J.: We take you from dancing with Paris to caucusing with Scarlett

Bet it was difficult for David Koch to line up Paris Bennett for the opening of r.Norman's Steakhouse.

"No," CEO Koch said in total seriousness Thursday at a gala attended by about 3,000 at the new Block E meat market, which includes a nightclub and sushi bar. Maybe if I start calling him "Uncle David," which is how Paris refers to him, Koch could tell when I'm kidding.

Jamecia Bennett and her "American Idol" alum daughter were seriously rockin' to Erykah Badu's "On & On." Although raised in the church, Jamecia was shaking part of her body in a way that wasn't very holy. Reminded of this, Jamecia defiantly shook it again with a smile.

The highlight of the evening for B96 GM Steve Woodbury, who was in the company of his daughter Jenny, was when I told him that his friends Jamecia and Paris were upstairs. "They were very sweet. Nice hugs," Woody said later.

The most memorable part of my evening was former Viking Eddie McDaniel's new way of handling me.

Back in August, Eddie Mac attended a Smile Network event at which I quizzed him about broadcast reports that he's allegedly a slumlord. Fast forward to Thursday. It took a few seconds for Eddie Mac to realize I was shooting video of him. His reaction was priceless, as you can see at www.startribune.com/cj.

"Oh, my GAWD," Eddie Mac said in his distinctive way as he turned tail, as they say. But he thought better of fleeing, came back and as you can barely see on the video pretended to plant kisses on my camera lens and me.

Are you taking care of your tenants? I asked Eddie Mac as he made loud kissing noises while doing what one of my editors described as "mauling" me.

"I need you to be a tenant," Eddie Mac said. I'm already almost on the street; I didn't need to rent from him.

While I am laughing on the video, all silliness aside, I think Eddie Mac did/has done irreparable harm to his image as a nice guy by owning properties where tenants live in such deplorable conditions.

Eddie Mac should show his tenants the same charity he does when he attends events like the opening of r.Norman's, which raised money for the Hennepin Theatre Trust.

Knobby's human shield Chuck Knoblauch didn't look like a stand-up kind of guy using his 3-year-old as a media shield.

"Maybe when he grows up," Knobby said, patting his little boy's back, "he won't have to worry about drugs in sports. That's why I have him here today to learn a very valuable lesson -- if you do something, be prepared to talk about it."

Come on. It's highly unlikely a 3-year-old could grasp the issues in the Mitchell Report. Don't most parents try to shield their kids from negative media experiences?

If Knobby honestly examined his motives, he would admit the only reason he brought that kid along walk was for cowardly cover.

Shame on you, Knobby. Don't you have a grandmother you could have trotted out for what looked like a perp walk?

Scarlett incited him John Lesch was just a tad winded about the prospect of seeing Scarlett Johansson on Monday night.

Lesch sounded so rattled and breathless that I inquired about his excitement level. "I am very excited," Lesch said. "You don't get people like this to incite caucus turnout among young people very often. That's the name of the game for the Young Progressive Majority -- to make sure that we tap in to people who wouldn't otherwise be engaged in a political process. When you say you've got Scarlett Johansson and Kal Penn. ... It was going to be just a caucus training, and then they're going to show up; so it's going to be a little more."

Moss was classy Randy Moss was fairly classy in defeat Sunday after his Patriots were beaten.

He made no excuses and said they were outplayed. And the clips that aired didn't feature any mangled English, which is what we usually get from Laurence Maroney, the other Minnesota connection on the Pats, who unfortunately sounds like an English-as-a-fourth-language major.