MOSCOW - A monument to the enema, a procedure many people would rather not think about, has been unveiled at a spa in the southern Russian city of Zheleznovodsk. The bronze syringe bulb, which weighs 800 pounds and is held by three angels, was unveiled at the Mashuk-Akva Term spa, the spa's director said Thursday. "There is no kitsch or obscenity, it is a successful work of art," Alexander Kharchenko told The Associated Press. "An enema is almost a symbol of our region."

Kharchenko, 50, said the monument cost $42,000 and was installed in a square in front of his spa on Wednesday. A banner declaring: "Let's beat constipation and sloppiness with enemas"... was posted on one of the spa's walls.

Civic pride is an important thing. Psychologists will tell you it's ingrained in human beings to want to feel like part of a collective, of some greater good beyond yourself. So every community should have something they feel proud of. LA has Hollywood. Nashville has country music. New York has Broadway. Zheleznovodsk has enemas. Good for all of them; it's nice to have something to be proud of. And if it just so happens that Boston is the City of Champions... lots and lots of champions... and Zheleznovodsk is the place you go to get your colon cleaned out, who are we to feel superior?

In fact, I think it's a great idea. I say as a gesture of goodwill the city of Boston should have an enema statue built and sent to every city we humiliate on the way to all future championships, the way France sent the US the Statue of Liberty. Just as a way to say, "Here ya go, LA. Stick this up your ass."