I get that people believe that the man (or woman) upstairs doesn’t heap on you what you can’t handle but this is ridiculous. My friend Marty, who is battling stage 4 bone cancer, just had a stroke. You won’t find a kinder, sweeter guy than Marty.  Please keep him and his family in your thoughts.

While most people will point toward the onside kick as the turning point of the Super Bowl, I think it was when the Saints went for it on 4th down late in the half.  I was screaming at the TV, “take the points!” In hindsight, that would have made it a 10-6 game with Peyton getting the ball back in decent shape.  Pinning the Colts deep after the 4th down forced them to play conservative. Down 10-3 at half is a lot better than being down 17-6.  Do you follow?  As it turned out, the Saints got the ball back and put 3 on the board.  Sometimes things just work out.

I’m happy for Saints Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams.  The longtime Titans assistant coach always treated me fair during his time here.  He worked hard to get where he is.  It’s good to know that an old fashioned work ethic is rewarded from time to time.

Any Super Bowl commercials leave an impression on you?  I was not wowed.

I was waiting for Pete Townsend to smash his guitar at the end.  I mean that’s his signature move!

Lynley makes the best Turkey chili.  We had some friends over for the game and thought there might be some chili left over for “breakfast” today.  Nope.

We painted some trim in the house over the weekend.  Stunning how one man can get more paint on himself, the floor and glass than the trim itself.  I may have to hide my hands on the anchor desk today because I STILL have paint on my hands and arms.

I will be more inspired tomorrow.

Colts 34 Saints 31

New Orleans is going to come out jacked and get to Peyton early causing a turnover. Saints will take a 10-0 or 14-10 lead but then the Colts offense will figure some things out and lead at half 17-14. Saints will retake the lead at 21-17 but Colts will step on the gas and take a 34-21 lead. Saints add 10 points in the 4th but A Drew Brees 4th down pass will fall to the ground. Game over.

Your Super Bowl prediction?

*************

As I was digging around in a back room looking for a tape, I came across the Super Bowl week newscasts from a decade ago. I put a tape in and this is what popped up. It’s from a Wednesday 5pm newscast, late January 26, 2000. Titans media availabilty was at 8am (7am Nashville time). The NFL set up a tent outside the team hotel. An ice storm hit the city. It was freezing. Titans brass was seething and heaters were brought in the next day. Still a bush league setup. PS- Rams media set up was in a massive ballroom inside the team hotel.

Have a great and safe weekend.

With Super Bowl XLIV 3 days away, it doesn’t take much to reflect on Super Bowl XXXIV.  For those that don’t know their roman numerals (full disclosure:  I had to look up both to make sure I had them right), that’s Super Bowl 44 and Super Bowl 34.

Ah, Super Bowl 34.  Rams vs. Titans.  What a wild ride it was for Nashville.

Some snippets of The Road To Atlanta:

January 8, 2000 -

I was on the field as the Bills kicked a field goal to take a 16-15 lead with 16 seconds remaining.  I couldn’t allow myself to get bummed about the Titans first loss at the new stadium.  Stay focused.  Do your job.  There would time to sulk later.  I was going through my story lines such as; the Titans longest play from scrimmage was 14-yards… how could the Titans rush defense be shredded by Antwaine Smith?… I had to talk to free agents such as Joe Bowden and Barron Wortham because they may be gone next year… and, oh yeah, I had been working several weeks straight and I was going to put in to be off Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  I was standing at the 10-yard line and just as my mind reached “Friday”, Kevin Dyson ran by me!  The Music City Miracle lifted the Titans to a 22-16 AFC Wildcard Playoff victory.  I scored a major coup after the game by convincing Dyson to come on Coach Fisher’s TV Show Monday.  We promote the heck out of it.  Dyson was a no-show.  That’s show biz.

January 16, 2000-

I had been in Indianapolis for a few days prior to the game and met the team at the hotel when it arrived downtown Saturday afternoon.  Seems Titans fans found out which hotel the team was in and the whole thing turned into an spontaneous pep rally.  It was bedlam as the players walked through the lobby.  Treating a college team like this happens but not in the NFL.  Thing is, most Titans fans had come from a college background and making the 5-hour trip was a no-brainer.  Titans fans flooded Indy and gobbled up thousands of tickets.  The RCA Dome was so loud, Peyton Manning and the Colts offense had to go on a silent count, AT HOME!  Titans sealed the game on a 68-yard TD run by Eddie George.  Titans 19  Colts 16.
After the game Colts General Manager Bill Polian scolded season-ticket holders for coughing up their tickets. 

January 23, 2000-

Having worked in Jacksonville in 1994-96 prior to my move to Nashville, I knew the Jacksonville TV guys pretty well.  One came up to me prior to the game and began the conversation by flashing his plane ticket to Atlanta.  He was telling me about his station’s plans to get him up there that night and start reporting (since there was only one week between this game and the Super Bowl).  I mean, no team beats another team three times in one season, right?  Jacksonville had just come off a 62-7 dismantling of the Dolphins.  Jaguars scored on their opening drive and I thought, “well, it was a good run” but then the Titans defense stiffened.  In the second half, the Titans scored a safety and on the ensuing kickoff, Derrick Mason ran back the kick for a touchdown.  Titans Executive Don MacLachlan was slapping me on the back as if I have a cough drop lodged in my throat.  Titans 33  Jaguars 14.  It was arranged before hand that the lights stay on at Alltel Stadium so that out of town TV reports could be done with a backdrop.  What actually happened? Bob Mueller and I huddled under an umbrella in a driving rainstorm in pitch blackness to deliver our live reports.  Apparently the stadium folks weren’t too thrilled with the result.  What happened to southern hospitality?  Bob and I, dripping wet, hopped off our connection through Atlanta Sunday night.  That hotel beer in a soggy suit (our luggage was being driven up from Jacksonville) tasted mighty good.  Why? 
Some Jacksonville TV guy ate a plane ticket.

Me and Mike Hill (now at ESPN) taking a goofy break at the ESPN Zone that News-2 took over during Super Bowl week.

January 30, 2000-

News-2 ends up sending 23 people to Atlanta Super Bowl week to answer to all our newscasts and also a nightly 30-minute Titans show right after News-2 at 10.  For once, the TV gods were with us as ABC happened to have the Super Bowl that year.  The night before the game, I picked up our game credentials and notice after the fact that of the 21 we requested, we were missing one; the one for the ABC network affiliate sportscaster in Nashville that would have had him in a primo seat in the press box.  Yep, mine.  I ended up watching the game in our News-2 satellite truck in the Georgia Dome parking lot on a 4-inch but 4-inch black and white screen.  It’s just as well as it made it easier to edit video for our 2-hour post-game show.   Rams 23  Titans 16.  After Dyson wss stopped short of the goal line, I calmly let the tape roll for 20 seconds so it wouldn’t run out, on our post-game show.  I climbed out of the truck and fought through the exiting crowd  and snuck onto the field without a pass.  To this day, that maneuver is still a “small victory” after the NFL gestapo refused to issue me a pass. 

After a long day... and long month. Wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

The picture to the left says it all.  It was taken just moments after our post-game show. 
Yes, that’s a dip cup in hand.  (A habit I’ve nearly broken.  Don’t scold me). 
Confetti strewn on the artificial turf.
Camera equipment surrounding me, this was my first chance to process the game.
Somebody titled this picture, “A Titanic Relief”.
To this day it was craziest month of my professional life.
That run didn’t end until Tuesday when we broadcasted live  2-hours of an “AFC Championship” parade.

I was able to get those days off… a month later after February ratings.

Anybody with 10th anniverary stories to share?

Now I know.

In my January 21st blog, I questioned where the federal money was coming for the Race To The Top program.  In short, it’s a program challenging states to alter the way they measure teacher success.  In exchange, states could be awarded millions of dollars.  Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen, seeing an opportunity to receive nearly a half-billion dollars in aid for education, asked Tennessee lawmakers to conduct a special session.  After some spirited debate, the teacher’s union and lawmakers were able to hammer out a compromise and Tennessee jumped through the necessary hoops to advance its application.

While I’m not a big Joe Klein fan, I read his recent column in Time Magazine that criticizes New York for not even attempting to qualify for the funding.  In essence, the state left a potential $700 million on the table.  Why?  Push back from the teacher’s union. 

So where is the money coming coming from?  The $4.35 billion fund is carved out of last year’s $787 billion stimulus plan.  We can argue all day whether the stimulus is working or whether we actually have the money to pay for it in the first place.  In this case, if the government is to spend money, education is a good place to put it.  Throwing money at a problem isn’t the answer.  Throwing money at a problem but expecting different results because you’ve changed the rules for more accountability could be the answer.

We won’t know for years whether this stimulus money actually improved education in Tennessee.  We do know that lawmakers from across the political spectrum and the union came together to at least try move the ball forward. 
That’s more than we can say about New York.

Nashville has many beautiful days but today ain’t one of them.  Dirty melting snow, rain and 37-degrees.  Ugh!

Emergency rooms were cranking this weekend.  Why?  Sledding accidents.  All ages!  Vandy had nearly 30 people come in and Saint Thomas more than 100!  Nashville is arguably the friendliest city in the country but when it comes to driving, we seem to go into NASCAR mode.  That Jeckel and Hyde attitude seems to carry over to anything that involves speed. 

Back alley. Plastic bin top. This is how we roll in East Nashville.

Since Lynley grew up here, she wanted to try sledding and was bound and determined.  Our back alley has a hill so she took the top of a large plastic bin and scooted down the hill.  Noooooooot exactly Aspen.  Her one run included plenty of speed and turns.  She went down sideways for most of it.  Why one run?  Her backside was soaked. 

Did you check out the Grammys?
My quick hits:

• I could watch and listen to Elton John reading the phone book. It’s a generational thing.
• Pink craves attention.
• I wish Kings Of Leon performed.
• Michael Jackson tribute was extremely powerful. Carrie Underwood can belt it out with the big boys. Usher is just plain cool.
• While I appreciate rap as an art form, I will never accept that some words have to be beeped out. And don’t give me that, “you wouldn’t understand” line. It’s like raising your voice during a debate. If you have to do it, find a better way to present your argument.
• The more I see the Zac Brown Band play, the more I like it.
• Beyonce’ doesn’t mail it in. She’s so passionate about her performance.
• I can watch Bon Jovi playing an 80’s hit on youtube. Why exactly were they there?
• The show is too long for a Sunday night.

If you couldn’t earn a living doing what you do, what’s your other choice?  The more I think about it, I think I might have been a history teacher.  I find myself gravitating to books with old pictures.  Right now I’m digesting a book about Nashville history.  Did you know the State Capitol was built before the Civil War?  I bring this up because the speaker at the civic club I belong to has written a book about The Hermitage Hotel, celebrating its 100th anniversary.  I look forward to hearing him today.

Gotta hit the Y then scoot downtown.  As always, thanks for stopping by.

Interesting weekend, huh?

Note the back right wheel. The car simply slid 3 feet to the left.

After Friday night’s newscast, My car was stuck on a slope at work.  Wheels went round and round but I didn’t move.  Bob Mueller, with his SUV, came to the rescue and was kind enough to give me a ride home.

Saturday, Lynley and I had the bright idea of packing our gym bags and walking to the downtown Y, about 2 miles.  It never dawned on us to call to see if it was open.  I mean the city wasn’t paralyzed. 

The Y was closed. You gotta be kidding me??!!

Saturday night was the Mid-South Emmys.  Some great, great work at News-2 was slighted but the station did win a couple of Emmys including News-2 At 4 for Best daytime newscast.  So many more people are involved with that show than what was on the entry form.  Lynley and I decided to go in the last minute and glad that we did.

I work with good people.

Any snowy weekend memories you want to share?

Lynley has a snow day from work so I’ve been hanging out with her this morning watching it snow.  It’s the simple pleasures, isn’t it?
Later today our newscasts will be all weather, all the time.  We have dinner scheduled with friends but that’s up in the air with this snow, sleet and ice.  Living in South Bend for my first 25 years, this was just another winter day that ended in “y”. In Nashville it’s major news.  I’ll roll with it.

I don’t have any great pearls of wisdom today so thought I would end the week with this joke sent by a friend. Forgive the PG rating.

 A sweet grandmother telephoned  St. Joseph ’s Hospital. She timidly
asked,
        ‘Is it possible to speak to someone who can tell me how a patient
is doing?’

        The operator said, ‘I’ll be glad to help, dear. What’s the name
and room number?’

        The grandmother in her weak, tremulous voice said, ‘Norma Findlay
Room 302.’

        The operator replied, ‘Let me place you on hold while I check with
her nurse. After a few minutes, the operator returned to the phone
and said,
        ‘Oh, I have good news. Her nurse just told me that Norma is doing
very well. Her blood pressure is fine; her blood work just came
back as normal, and her physician, Dr. Cohen, has scheduled her to
be discharged on Tuesday.’

        The grandmother said, ‘Thank you. That’s wonderful! I was so worried!
      &nbsp ; God bless you for the good news.’

        The operator replied, ‘You’re more than welcome. Is Norma your
daughter?’

        The grandmother said, ‘No, I’m Norma Findlay in 302. No one tells
me shit.’

Have a great and safe weekend.

9/11 proved that the NFL was the big dog. 
Sometimes the big dog uses its fans as a fire hydrant.

In the days following 9/11, college football couldn’t decide whether to play games that Saturday.  The Southeastern Conference issued a statement that indeed, the games would go on.  Then the NFL postponed all games that weekend.  Poof!  No games in college football or any other sport that weekend (I do remember some area high schools playing because the gate for each home game is so important).

It was 9/11 that proved the NFL was the gold standard.  Whatever it did, others followed.

The NFL does many great things but I think sometimes forgets the very economic engine that makes it the most lucrative and popular sports league in the world; the fans.

I bring this up because I caught this surfing this New Orleans based website:

Superdome officials say they have received many calls from people asking if they can watch at the building on the stadium’s video screens when the New Orleans Saints play in their first Super Bowl on Feb. 7 against the Indianapolis Colts in Miami.

But the Superdome won’t be opened to fans, officials say, because that would violate NFL policy.

“We’ve had a lot of calls, and certainly wish we could show it, but there is a longstanding NFL policy that you cannot show the game to a mass audience,” Superdome spokesman Bill Curl told New Orleans television station WVUE, according to the station’s Web site. “So we’re just not able to do it. Sorry, wish we could.”

For the common fan, the NFL is simply too expensive.  Going to the Super Bowl?  You better be very lucky at Lotto.  It’s not even a consideration for 99.9% of a team’s fan base.  Couldn’t the NFL bend a little bit and let the Super Bowl teams’ cities host a Super Bowl party in their stadium if the demand was there?  The Superdome and Lucas Oil Stadium this Sunday would probably have at least 50-thousand people each, a week from Sunday.  Charge 20-dollars a head and after operating costs, give it to charity.  Add the number of fans that go through the turnstiles to the TV ratings number for that city.  Yes, it would mean team personnel in charge of manning the stadium would have to work the day of the game.  Ask them and I bet they say it would be a memorable way to share the experience with the very people that make their jobs possible.  Years from now, some sons and daughters would call their parents on Super Bowl Sunday and say, “Thanks for taking me to the stadium that day when our team played in the Super Bowl.  And remember when TV took that shot of the stadium when we scored a TD?  It felt like we were really part of the whole Super Bowl experience.  It’s one of my greatest childhood memories.” 

Instead, those two cathedrals will sit empty February 7th.  That’s a shame. 
The big dog should lead again.

Along those lines, I thought this was a thoughtful read about the Saints and their role in New Orleans.  It’s by Filip Bondy of the New York Daily News.   There will be a bunch of “touchy feely” stories about the team’s relevance post-Katrina.  This article is a bit of a reality check.

I’m doing some research on sexual assault for a segment that will air soon.  What an eye opener.  I’m sickened by the innocence stolen from young people by so-called “trusting” adults.  It makes me want to puke.  If I was a judge, it wouldn’t be pretty.  Rehab?  My behind.

 *****

Speaking of rehab…

I heard this not long after Tiger Woods car crash Thanksgiving weekend:

Why did Tiger his a tree and a fire hydrant?
He couldn’t decide between a wood and an iron.

Ever since accident and the 21 straight days on the cover of the New York Post, just about every conceivable angle has been written on the man. But then recently, this popped up on espn.com written by Jason Sobel.  I’m not sure I totally agree with it but it is a different theory. 

 *****

“Nobody expects to have car insurance that covers an oil change.”

That’s just one of the interesting comments made in this Newsweek column by an insurance company CEO.  The health care debate is a wicked web to untangle.  I’m I naive or is this piece an accurate depiction of what’s going on?

*****

Lynley and my house was built in 1925.  Drafty?  It has more crevasses and holes than the New Madrid Fault.  One of the heat vents is underneath the couch.  During cold days, guess where 7lb. Diane likes to hang out?  You got it.

"Dad, please get your cell phone camera out of my face please."

*****

Lynley made one of the more fascinating purchases the other day.  I’m trying to find a parallel to it. 
A top-shelf martini at a biker bar? 
Wearing a tuxedo to a picnic? 
Anyway, here’s the purchase:  Prada perfume at the East Nashville Kroger.  Apparently one bottle of Prada perfume was mistakenly delivered to the store.  Management there didn’t know what to do with it so put it on sale for half-price.  Once Lynley spotted it, that bottle didn’t stand a chance.  She  is pretty particular about perfume so it must be good.  Do you have a better analogy for this?

I’m up early to get a run in (Downtown Y treadmill) and then going to visit a friend in Spring Hill.  Marty is the best handyman in the Mid-State. 

Want a room painted?  Marty’s your guy.
Need a wall built and your closest redesigned?  Marty’s the man.
Screen door put on?  Marty has you covered.

Always on time.  Always with a pep in his step.  I would find myself hanging around just to shoot the breeze with him. You know that person that loiters around your desk, a “chatty Kathy”, and you just want to get your work done? Yeah, I’m probably “that guy” to Marty.

Marty can do it all. On Marty’s “to do” list the next few months?  Beating cancer.

If the sign that hangs by my desk, “Attitude is Everything” is true, then I like Marty’s chances.

To him, it’s just one more thing to fix.

In the wake of this recent news about Marty, I thought I would republish a blog entry from December 10, 2009:

“The Bitch is Back.”

-Elton John 1974

I’ve always approached this blog as an extension of my life. Like me, it can be serious and silly. Part soapbox, part punch line. It’s a healthy daily exercise trying to connect with family, friends and viewers on compatible subjects. Unlike the law of physics, my action is often trumped by your reaction. I’m hoping this is one of those entries.

Jeff and me at USC-Notre Dame game in October. We are smiling because the Irish hadn't fallen behind by 20 yet.

Cancer is quite frankly, a bitch that’s now messed with two members of my immediate family. Thankfully the big “C” is sometimes the little “c” because of the advances in treatment. Yesterday I learned my younger brother has to beat the little “c”, again.

When my 77-year old father beat thyroid cancer earlier this year, it was an educational process.  If you’ve ever dealt with “C” or “c”, you come to understand the difference.  When my father revealed the diagnosis, the trite emotional response, “Not in our family!  That couldn’t happen to our family!” made the circles.  All family members kept their composure and Mom was incredible through it all but I’m sure everyone had their moment(s) when they “freaked out”.

My father’s saga led my brother and me to get checked out.  My brother’s tests came back with some masses and nodules in his thyroid.  Surgery took place earlier this month followed by yesterday’s follow-up appointment.  That’s when his doctors decided to go off script and told him they found cancer in the left side of his thyroid.  Another surgery in six weeks.  Then maybe some radiation treatments.  My brother has a great attitude toward it all calling the whole ordeal a “big hassle.”  Perhaps I’m naive but a few decades ago it would have been called a whole lot worse.

So there.  That’s my latest family drama. On life’s Richter scale, we haven’t made too many dishes fall off the shelf but it’s still OUR dishes, ya know?  We’ve been very lucky.  Fortunately, my father and mother once again (do they ever take a day off from parenting and do something really devilish?!) have offered a blueprint in how to deal with such things.

To show what a great attitude Jeff has toward the next few months, he walked me through his recovery timeline punctuating the fact that he’ll be all healed by Lynley’s and my wedding.  In a intimate conversation where it could/should have been heavy with “why me’s?”, he actually was thinking about other family members.   How incredible an attitude is that?  Silly good.

So cancer’s a bitch.  The Bitch is Back.

This Bitch doesn’t stand a chance.