Archives for November 2006

Will be Rich Rodriguez from West Virginia.

A buddy has talked with someone he says is very reliable down at the capstone and says you can expect word to start getting out soon.

Spurrier talked with the Tide, but said no. Saban, according to reports in the Birmingham News was next on the list. Whether he was offered or even talked with bama officials isn’t known. Next was Rodriguez from West Virginia.

Most figured Rodgriguez to be holding out, waiting on Bobby Bowden to retire at Florida State, but according to the News, the bama job is one he wants.

Wouldn’t it be something if he accepted the Alabama job in the next few weeks and then Bowden announces his retirement in January?

Another Thanksgiving is here and copyright issues again keep the best Thanksgiving sitcom episode off the air.

Airing in November of 1978, the super-secret radio promotion at the Pinedale Shopping Center was an instant classic. But because producers and creators of WKRP in Cincinnatti didn’t nail down the music rights for the rock and roll songs used in the show, WKRP isn’t in syndication or available on DVD.

Years ago I had two vhs tapes filled with original episodes, but figured they would soon be on DVD and either lost them or threw them away.

Now a bit of trivia, the WKRP turkey drop was loosely based on a real event in Yellville, Arkansas back in 1945 or ’46. The folks there dropped the birds from the of the courthouse. Then, some bright bulb, probably some guy named Herb, thought it might be a good idea to drop them out of low-flying airplane. The really interesting thing is they continued to do this until 1989 when a national animal-rights protest made a gobble and had the turkey drop plastered across the National Enquirer.

I post this audio link every year since we won’t hear it on tv.
This year, the clip is on You Tube. Enjoy the funniest conclusion to a tv sitcom in history.

It’s been slightly more than a year since I returned a call from WKRN to accept a job in Nashville as a video journalist. I went back and forth on the decision actually, wondering if I really wanted to pick up my family and move them halfway across the state.

I look back on it now and find it was really a no-brainer.

This year in Memphis, handgun permits are expected to hit 8,000. Back when I first came to town only around 3,000 carried guns legally. Crime has gotten so bad in Memphis even preachers are packing heat.

The Commercial Appeal covered this trend in Sunday’s paper. Frightening doesn’t say enough. They interviewed a 52 year old woman, sounded as if it was just one of those random man on the street interviews. “I had a gun pulled on me”, she told the paper. She was working in a neighbor’s yard at 12:30 one afternoon when two guys walked up to her and demanded money.

The city police chief was asked about the increase in gun permits, he said “I’m all for an armed populace.” He’s in the right place then.

Yesterday was a big day in Alabama. The annual Iron Bowl game between the Tigers and Tide has always been a day filled with passion, frustration, exhilaration and anger.

Sidewalks and shopping malls are nearly vacant as everyone in the state crowds around television sets and radios to see which team comes out on top. I believe, this game is the only one to ever fill three stadiums. In 1993 when tv probation kept the game off television, closed circuit feeds were available at Bryant-Denny Stadium and Auburn’s basketball coliseum. Jordan-Hare Stadium was also completely full (and then some).

Auburn won its fifth straight this weekend. I’m an Auburn fan, my wife cheers for the Tide. I’ve learned to keep my cheers to a minimum since I need a place to sleep, win or lose.

But what happened in Tuscaloosa Saturday after the game was a shame. Auburn cornerback David Irons was hit in the face by a water bottle thrown from Alabama’s student section. The Mobile Press Register reports that Tiger Coach Tommy Tuberville also had to dodge debris being thrown from the student section.

Obscenities were hurled at the Tiger players too.

Coach Tuberville told reporters:
“There’s no place for that,” he said. “I know that’s not the true Alabama folks. That’s a situation that should have never happened. It doesn’t just happen here — it could happen at our place. We’ve got people that don’t use their sense, too. I’m not pointing any fingers. It’s unfortunate something like that would happen.”

Whether it’s from football fans, Republicans, Democrats, pro-abortion folks or pro-life folks; whether we’re talking about religion or politics, it’s easy for us to label people based on the actions of a few. Most often, those actions aren’t representative of the entire group. But a few bad apples, spoils the reputation of the bunch.

Couldn’t get his website last night, this morning or tonight. Called him and got his voice mail. What’s wrong with Joe? I thought.

Guess you have the same concern.

Joe’s blog is gone. That’s the bad news. The good news is he didn’t take it down on purpose, nor did men in black coats show up at his house and pull the plug themselves.

Joe’s blog is a victim of blogger. He told me today he was prompted to upgrade his service with blogger and when he did, it was zapped. He doesn’t know where it’s gone or how to get it back. But he’s working on it.

And as Joe likes to say: “now you know what we know.”

Don’t you love stupid stuff? Particularly the stupid things we say. I talk a lot so I wind up with my size 12 Clarks shoe in my mouth nearly every day. Thank goodness no one is following me around with a pen and paper or tv camera. But then again, thank goodness some people are being recorded. One of my all time favorite stupid quotes was from William the Refrigerator Perry who, while a lineman for Clemson University, was asked what he thought of recent NCAA penalties placed on the school for recruiting violations. Part of their sanctions was the so-called tv probation.

The Fridge, replied: “Well…the bad thing is we can’t watch tv for two years”.

Here are a few more: (bless their hearts)

“Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.”
Mayor Marion Barry, Washington, DC.

“Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can’t help but cry. I mean I’d love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff.”
Mariah Carey

“That lowdown scoundrel deserves to be kicked to death by a jackass, and I’m just the one to do it,”
A congressional candidate in Texas.

“It isn’t pollution that’s harming the environment. It’s the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.”
Al Gore, Vice President

“I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix.”
Dan Quayle

“We’ve got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?”
Lee Iacocca

“The word “genius” isn’t applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.” –Joe Theisman, NFL football quarterback & sports analyst

“Your food stamps will be stopped effective March 1992 because we received notice that you passed away. May God bless you. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances.”
Department of Social Services, Greenville, South Carolina

If somebody has a bad heart, they can plug this jackin at night as they go to bed and it will monitor their heart throughout the night. And the ne xt morning, when they wake up dead, there’ll be a record.”
Mark S. Fowler, FCC Chairman

I feel smarter already

The curtain is being pulled back a bit for a few prospective owners of the New York Times Broadcast Division stations. I hear over the past few days some men and women in nice suits have been given the tour around the station “down on the river”.

One group looked more like the welcoming committee for an Ole Miss fraternity than some higher ups with a broadcast company. “Young. Real young”. Says one future former NYT employee.

From the grapevine, the folks are hearing three stations are among the likely suspects lining up to take a look. Gray Television, LIN TV Corp, and Gannett.

LIN owns stations in Indianapolis, Columbus, OH, Austin, TX, Mobile, AL, and Terre Haute, among others. Gray owns some smaller stations. Knoxville, Dothan, Alabama. Gannett owns USA Today, and tv stations in Washington, Atlanta, Denver, Cleveland and other major markets.

Joe’s keeping closer tabs on the tire kicking than I am, but I hope things work out for the best over there. Lots of good people are holding their breath, waiting to see who’ll sign their checks.

And Dennis Turner is recovering from a tough bout with pneumonia. I hear he spent some time in intensive care but is out of the hospital. I’ve had it before Dennis and I’ve never felt closer to death’s door. When you’re able to breath, it hurts. Get well fast buddy. Glad you were in such good health before it knocked the air out of you.

My ears perk up whenever I hear people in Nashville say something about Memphis. Having lived there (or in a bedroom community nearby) for 8 years, I’d always heard people in Nashville look down their noses at their sisters to the south. But after 10 months of being here, I’ve rarely heard anyone say anything about Memphis.

Until election night.

Watching one of the non-stop broadcasts of Election 2006, a state lawmaker was on giving some analysis of the big races. I don’t remember which lawmaker who made the comment, but while talking about the Ford-Corker race, he sort of rolled his eyes when asked about the Memphis voting lines.

“Oh…Memphis. Well that’s another world over there. I don’t like going to Memphis and try not to get over there very often. Some say it’s the capitol of north Mississippi and others say it ought to be in Arkansas. But Memphis…man let me tell you that’s another world over there.”

Later in the night, Steve Gill our political analyst had what I thought was one of the funnier broadcasted comments. Talking about the long lines and late ballots being cast in Shelby County, Bob Mueller said, again talking about Corker-Ford “it will be a while before those votes are counted and we won’t know how many votes there are in Memphis for a while”, to which Gill said “Well, they don’t know how many votes they NEED yet.”