By TEDDY ALLEN & JOHN JAMES MARSHALL/Designated Writers

The Designated Writers co-founders were out of their element Tuesday as we were with Important People.

File this in the Hell Freezes Over or Pigs Fly category, but we were honored to “speak” at the weekly meeting of the highly regarded Rotary Club of Shreveport at the Convention Center Downtown.

We sang a few tunes. Did some soft shoe. Then answered some questions about sports.

Speaking of sports, Shreveport Rotary members are a bunch of All-Stars. One of their causes is wiping out polio worldwide. They’re involved in the Salvation Army Angel Tree Adoption. In helping at the Food Bank at the new Mt. Zion Road location. Delivering Thanksgiving meals. Helping with the Common Ground Christmas Market. The Red Kettle Service Project at Hobby Lobby at East Gate Shopping Center.

They are just helping people, right and left. These are winners and you want to hook your wagon to their star.

And obviously, since we were the “speakers,” they are easy to please.

To be honest, we were just hoping to not get booed. We saw one guy in the corner actually crack a smile, so we figured we were killing it with our jokes. Small victories .. you take what you can get while the getting is good.

Just a couple of Louisiana Tech grads who are still sports writers at heart — even though neither has been a sports writer for a few decades now. What struck both of us was that bankers and judges and hospital big-wigs were wanting to hear what we had to say. Probably didn’t think that was going to be part of the long-range plan when we were covering Sarepta-Ringgold games back in the 1980s.

Being around the Important People was a big treat for us; almost as big of a treat as the plate of chocolate cookies on the buffet line that never goes unnoticed when the Designated Writers are in the room.

We came, we saw, we ate.

But most of all, it truly was our pleasure.