I remember in high school hearing all the adults brag about their kids.

A guy on my basketball team ended up getting a full ride to Stanford and hit a game-winning home run in the college world series. I'm sure his dad bragged about that, as I remember him often bragging about all his kids, once at the pizza parlor he owned where he invited the team to enjoy some grub (although he made us pay $5, which I think was kind of chinsy).

As an adult, when I hear people brag about their kids, it usually goes in one ear and out the other.

I wrote about a Mensa party once. It was at Richard Lederers house in Scripps Ranch. And this was right before poker became this huge thing you see on all the channels late at night.

He told me his son and daughter were two of the best poker players in the world. I thought -- yeah, right.

And a few days later I was on a plane to New Orleans, and the in-flight magazine had a five page story on his daughter, Annie Duke, who had won a few million in a tournament (and most recently had a big blow-up with Joan Rivers on one of those goofy reality shows).

His son is Howard "The Professor" Lederer, and I've since seen him on many shows.

A few different Thanksgivings I spent with a few writer friends. It was at Eber's house both times.

The first time there we argued non-stop about movies. That's because he has horrible taste in film. His all-time favorite movie was "Brazil", I recall. And he loved "Crash"...which I was disappointed by.

So last Thanksgiving, we joked about our movie debates. We instead argued about authors and musicians (he has great taste in both, thank god).

Before the bird was cut, he was doing a lot of texting. He looked up at me and said, "My son made it onto American Idol." My girlfriend and I said that was great. He, like any good dad, was worried that he was leaving a play in Los Angeles (I think it was "Wicked" but not positive). Why leave the steady paycheck of a big production, to do some reality show?

He wasn't allowed to give us details, but we knew from what he was saying (or...wasn't saying), that his son made it past the initial cut-off, and would actually be on the show.

Since neither of us watch American Idol, after the first few episodes we asked our friends about Eber's son, Adam Lambert. They all said the same thing.

"What? You know him?!"

"Well....no. We know his dad."

"He's so gonna win. He's the best singer, by far."

"But...aren't there still 10 people left, or something like that?"

"Yeah. But that doesn't matter. He's going to win it all."

Imagine our surprise when stories started popping up everywhere. I told a few of my friends that are addicted to the show, but my girlfriend said when she heard co-workers talking about how much they loved Adams voice, she thought it would sound like she was name dropping.

That got me thinking...what is it like for Eber, to overhear people talking. Is he at Starbucks, and some guy is mouthing off about how goofy the eye-liner and black finger nail polish looks...would he say "Uh..that's my son you're making fun of."

Eber is a big dude. He's about 6'3", and solid. Not fat, just big.

So, I contacted him about some of these things. He told me that contracts were signed and he couldn't comment on anything. I understood Adam not being able to, but was surprised he couldn't talk. He said something about them not wanting the media to cover more of one contestant, and how that could show bias, etc etc etc.

When the Entertainment Weekly arrived in my mail box yesterday and I saw him on the cover, it really drove home the point of how big he has become.

After he wins Idol, I'll try and talk to the Lamberts, and report all the details here.

(on a side note: am I the only one that thinks he looks like the singer from Louis XIV?)