At first, I thought this was either a quick April Fool's Day joke or a set-up for next week. But I double-checked with the company and it's true: Cheech and Chong will appear in "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" and "Warzone."

"Trained in the counterculture revolution and armed with drive and creativity, Tommy Chong and Cheech Marin turned cultural friction into comedic success," the "Call of Duty" blog explains for those under 40.

"Chong's ingenuity and Marin's tradition led them to fame, and their comedic chemistry made them icons. Their albums and films exposed injustice with subversive glee, pioneered stoner comedy, and became symbols of irreverent truth.

This is not an inaccurate summary of their career, but why am I reading this on a Call of Duty blog? Why do they refer to Dave as "operator"? That's my real question: at what point did we decide that video games are incoherent clown shows and that we should scrape together anyone who will sign on the dotted line?

Nicki Minaj is weird enough, as are King Kong, Godzilla, and Warhammer 40,000, but even considering those additions, Cheech & Chong's appearance in a big-budget modern military shooter seems awful, even outrageous. Also, the real Marin fled to Canada to escape the draft during the Vietnam War, where he met Chong, who is Canadian.

Yet somehow they have taken on the role of blatantly glorifying the modern Western war machine. I don't blame them: everyone has to make a living, and if Snoop Dogg can do it, so can they," but it's like watching an old hippie sign a NIMBY petition against new housing in his neighborhood: you used to be for something

Incidentally, Marin and Chong provide a voice for the operators. They even have their own finishing move called "second hand smoke". They will appear in "Modern Warfare 3" and "Warzone" on April 20, that is, April 20.

Anyway, here's to memories.