We're in a restaurant. We sit down to eat and as we look over in a corner of the establishment we see Phil Rizzuto and his wife sitting there eating a leisurely lunch. We get all excited, run over to Mr. Rizzuto and ask him if he would give us his autograph. He reluctantly takes out a pen and signs our napkin or whatever it is we brought over to him. We then go back to our seat, all smiles and place that napkin in our special bag. Later, when we get home, we frame it and hang it on the wall. It stays there until we ourselves are long gone from this Earth.

Good heavens. Why the fuss? Why are we so taken by these celebrities? Why is it that whenever we see one our jaw drops to the floor and it's all we can do to keep from drooling all over ourselves? There are many theories as to why we go crazy over seeing a famous person. We'll explore a couple here, though by no means is this list exhaustive.

One of the main reasons psychologists believe that we are so taken by celebrities is because of the dullness of our own lives. We get up, go to work, do our jobs, come home, maybe watch a little TV and then go to bed. Everyday is the same old thing, except maybe on weekends when we might go shopping or to a movie. But for most of us, we really don't have very exciting lives. Getting to meet somebody who is a TV or movie star is probably the most exciting thing that is ever going to happen to us. So when it does, we jump all over it because we may never get another moment like it again. We feel, in a sense, that if we are able to connect, even if for just a moment, with a celebrity, that we are close to being a celebrity ourselves. We can tell people, "Hey, I shook hands with