Brandon, our fearless, manly, commissioner for the fantasy football blogger league, writes about his love for Project Runway.

I love the show too, but not for the reasons you might think. I don’t watch it because its particularly good (there are plenty of great shows that I don’t watch) or that Heidi Klum is hot (I guess you can round her up to “all right” but she’s hardly on the show).

I watch Project Runway because I totally have a man crush on Tim Gunn (the reason why Top Chef can’t replicate the Project Runway recipe is that Tom Colicchio, a great chef to be sure, is no Tim Gunn).

It’s not that I want to be gay with Tim Gunn or anything, I just want him in my life to appear at random points and counsel me on whatever is going on.

I’m not afraid to admit it. I totally fantasize when I watch Project Runway. I imagine myself on a movie set, trying to get through a tough day of shooting before we lose the light, and Tim Gunn rolls up to video village, in a nicely pressed suit, crisp white shirt, with a wide windsor knot on his tie (or ascot), and watches the monitors with me -

“Frankly, I don’t understand what’s going on here. This worries me,” he’ll say.

“Yeah, me too but I think I can write a voiceover and cut it to long vistas of the skyline,” I’ll say.

“Well, make it work,” he’ll say, as pats my shoulder and walks away.

Or when I’m making dinner, Tim Gunn walks into the kitchen -

Him: “Mmm, something sure smells good…”

Me: “Chicken marsala.”

Him: “Yum. I like that you decided to used chanterelle mushrooms.

Me: “Earthy.”

Him: “Definitely. And shallots? Interesting. I never would have thought of it. I like it. Well, you have 15 minutes left. Make it work.”

Or after a fight with Mary Milan, Tim Gunn appears -

Him: “Do you want to talk about it?”

Me: “She’s crazy if she thinks I’m going to miss this Sunday’s football games to go to yoga.”

Him: “You know, a marriage is only as strong as your willingness to forgive and understand the other person.”

Me: “I’m just not in the mood to talk right now, okay?”

Him: “Very well then. Carry on.”

And later in a very special appearance to Mary Milan -

Him: “You know, Johnny struggles occassionally with expressing himself but you have to see in him his seriousness of purpose, which is unfaltering. It’s what you fell in love with.”

Mary Milan: “You know what, Tim Gunn? You’re right.”

Him: “You know what to do. Make it work.”

A friend of mine saw him in New York during the heat wave last month. While everybody was sweating through their clothes and jumping out of windows, Tim Gunn was getting out of a cab, in a suit and tie, perfectly composed and unruffled, not a bead of sweat on his forehead.

He totally took his own advice and made it work.

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