My Corner of the World

Monday, July 31, 2006

Did you early vote? On some days the lines were long & the wait was long... but it's better than the alternative. I've already been laughed at for stating this, but when you stand in those long lines waiting to cast your vote, think for a moment of the millions around the world that would die for the same right.

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Yippee... former Vice President Al Gore will be in town today signing his latest book. I gotta hand it to the guy for showing his face in a state he couldn't win... then again, he was pretty strong in Shelby County so he'll probably feel at home here..

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It will be hot & humid when high school football teams across the state hit the fields later today. Ah, I can almost hear the clapping of shoulder pads. Football season is close, folks.

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Sunday, July 30, 2006


In all my years of being on radio, TV or writing in newspapers, I have never received the feedback that I got this week after my picture appeared in the Commercial Appeal. Folks at work, church, on the street & in my email have all mentioned it. The good news out of all this is for the CA because obviously their readership is goind okay.

"So what were you doing looking over Mike Fratello's shoulder?," is the question I am asked. That picture was taken before the NBA draft. The Grizz were working out players at FedEx Forum & the media showed up to talk to Fratello & company. While TV cameras hustled for position I decided the best thing for me to do was loop around Mike & hook my arm towards the front for the best sounding audion.

It worked. Little did I know I was on candid camera!

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You'll probably laugh, but when I found out CMT was going to run a Hee Haw marathon this weekend I was pretty excited. The unfortunate part is I just realized they are running the same 6-7 episodes over & over. Too bad.

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Conference USA's media day happens Tuesday in Dallas. There's a pretty good chance Tommy West will join us on Memphis Morning News on WREC Wednesday morning at 7:10 a.m.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

- Thank goodness football season is almost here. The SEC Media Days start today, CUSA is next week. Is that pigskin I smell?

- I laughed when I read the letters to the editor earlier this week in the CA... all of these informed letter writers were complaining about the candidates stating in their radio & TV ads that they "approve this message." I laughed out loud at the Editor's Note: Campaign reform passed by Congress in 2002 included a "stand by your ad" provision that requires an "I approve this message" statement. The intent of the provision was to discourage negative campaigning by forcing candidates to associate themselves with their attacks. My reply would have not been as nice: Quit spending time writing letters that complain & spend more time paying attention to the news. You might learn something.

- Here's an amazing fact for you: I am yet to get a speeding ticket when travelling through Oakland, Tenn. Then again, I don't speed when I drive through there. Same thing for Germantown & Collierville, too. Funny how that works.

- The headline on DeadSpin.com: Danica Patrick now set to not win races for a different team all together. Ok, that is pretty good, maybe even better than my line calling her the Anna Kournikova of motorsports. She's staying in open wheel taking a seat with Andretti-Green Racing. There are several NASCAR teams which made a mistake not luring her away from the IRL. Would she ever win a race? Who cares, there are seveal drivers right now that drive every weekend in Nextel Cup that will never win a race... but Danica would generate a lot of publicity for whoever hired her.

- Have you early voted yet?

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

- Even at 4 in the morning, the yield sign is still considered an option by most Memphis drivers. I am glad my breaks work.

- The wheels of government move slow... part of the reason is the inability to start meetings on time. Noon usually means 12:15 or even 12:30 for some bodies. Don't even get me started on press conferences.

- Memphis football coach Tommy West is surprised his Tigers are chosen third in CUSA's east division. While TW cannot say it, I can: Memphis will be a better football team this year. What? How can you say that? DeAngelo is gone! Maurice Avery is gone! This is a rebuilding year! The Tigers will be fine. TW & staff finally have the program where it can endure losses of key players & survive. Just look at last year when you lose your top 2 quarterbacks.

- I need to go early vote... have you?

- The Grizzlies are hosting a press conference today with Jerry West, Mike Fratello, Rudy Gay, Alexander Johnson & Kyle Lowery. I wonder if Jerry will talk about the article in the California paper last week declaring this is his final season with Memphis?

- I glanced at the site stats last night & was amazed at the traffic that came through in the three weeks I did not update. It made feel kinda bad, but I got over it. Seriously, I appreciate all of you who come here. The emails are nice, too.

- 40 days until Tiger football kicks off. Please remember the new home for Memphis football & basketball is NewsRadio 600 WREC.

Monday, July 24, 2006

Wow, three weeks since my last update. That's way too long to go between postings, especially when you consider traffic to the blog was steady throughout the spring & early summer. I haven't checked out the statistics lately so I am sure they have dropped off. That's my fault...

I am deciding a direction to take with the blog. The daily sports show prep I was posting is not as relevant anymore since I am no longer doing a sports show. Then again the blog will take a serious turn back to sports when college football season arrives. And it's very, very close.

I've thought about using this space to share observations on my new area of covering news along with sports for WREC. As a relative newcomer to the news scene in the city it's interesting to see some of the things I have witnessed for the last six weeks.

Let's see which direction this blog heads... it should be a fun ride.

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I could have been a movie critic... I have seen three movies in the last six weeks. That's really strange for me considering the last movie I saw at a movie theater was Christmas 2004. Also, consider the following better late than never since these three movies are past their prime at the boxoffice:

Cars - highly recommend for the kids, plus adults will like it, too; this was Abby's first movie & I enjoyed her wide eyes & eating popcorn more than the movie itself; being a race fan, this movie was pretty neat.

Click - a 2006 version of "It's a Wonderful Life," except not as good; I was expecting a total Adam Sandler comedy experience & instead I got an emotional roller coaster in the second half of the movie.

Superman Returns - I loved it! Why did so many people not like this? Kevin Spacey does a great job as Lex Luthor.

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I am dying for football season to get here. CUSA's media days will happen next week in Dallas & I will miss it. It's a mistake to hold it there & I think the powers-that-be will realize that when the attendance drops. It belongs in Memphis so the media day can be held in conjunction with the two day of events the Liberty Bowl always planned. The Liberty Bowl is a great partner for CUSA & this whole event will be missed here.

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One of the greatest rock and roll albums of all time is Zeppelin I... I was in a music mood on my 4 a.m. ride to work this morning, so it was cranked in my ol' speakers as I cruised on I-240. "How Many More Times" is the best cut on the CD & is one of the top five Zep songs ever.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

The President of the United States visited Memphis Friday, bringing with him the Prime Minister of Japan. It seems his foreign guest is a huge Elvis fan, so their first stop was Graceland. They made a surprise trip to the National Civil Rights Museum, then capped the visit off with BBQ from the Rendezvous.

WREC was the radio pool reporter & I was chosen for the task. This allowed me closer access to the event in terms of riding in the Presidential caravan & getting a close glimpse of everything that happened.

It was a once in a lifetime opportunity for a local news reporter. I remembered to bring along my digital camera. Unfortunately, the batteries died about midway through the trip. But here is a little of what I experienced:


Air Force one arrived promptly at 10 a.m. at the Tennessee Air National Guard off Democrat Road. What a beauty it is. See it up close was one of the most exciting parts of the day for me.

None of us knew from which direction she would land. But at 9:50 a.m. or so I knew the arrival was imminent as the skies surrounding Memphis International Airport had grown very quiet.

As I prepared to do a live report at the top of the hour on WREC, I looked up & AF1 was rolling towards us. It was an awesome site to see this big bird of steel. When I was told pool reporters were to go out & stand under the wing to await the exit of the President, I was like a kid at Christmas!

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There's no long & drawn out process with the President's arrival. If it says 10 a.m. in the itinerary, you can count on it. The sound of camera shutters are loud & somewhat distracting. The President does his obligatory wave, then chats with local officials. I wish I could have eavesdropped on what George W & Mayor Willie Herenton talked about over their brief handshake.
Again, there's a tight schedule to adhere to, so it's off to the Presidential limo (which was cool to see up close) & a looooong caravan to Graceland. But the ride goes back pretty quick when you don't have to worry about Memphis drivers or stoplights.

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The President, Laura & Japanese PM (along with their traveling party) got a private tour by Priscilla & Lisa Marie. We were taken to the backdoor of Graceland where you would typically exit the Jungle Room. Then somehow the entire media crew (nation, international & local) crammed into a viewing area. That's where the Japanese PM did his Elvis impersonation & even serenaded Lisa Marie.

After that photo op, we were pushed back outside. Cameras & photogs were allowed to follow Bush into the old raquetball court which is now a huge trophy room. The rest of us were ushered back around to the front of Graceland to a viewing area on the north side of the lawn. Then the rest of the media caught up. But as soon as they were in place they asked those of us who missed the trophy room to come to the back of the mansion & have a seat. As you have figured out by now, you do a lot of standing & waiting when part of the press pool. Then at a moment's notice you are required to run to catch the story or hop in the media van. I highly recommend tennis shoes to anyone aspiring to have this as a daily job.

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Now back at the front lawn of Graceland, Priscilla & Lisa Marie are escorted out by their bodyguard. Some photogs are asked not to take pictures, although I am not sure why. I guess I got lucky. It's good to see both of them still very involved with the promotion of Elvis & Graceland.

Ah, now back to the waiting game. Did the front door just open? What's taking so long? Is the President going to speak? All questions being thrown out by the traveling media to Josh Gatlin of the White House press office. Josh deals with most of these folks every day of his life. I am sure he gets tired of the same questions over & over. However, I am a local guy & I need a story. Sure, I was the only person in Memphis radio doing live updates traveling with the President, but I needed some audio. I saw I had an opportunity when the President was walking towards our area. Thankfully I had asked Josh prior to this if I could kneel inside the roped off area where my digital recorder would be able to pick up a few comments. His reply was a quick, "Sure, go ahead."

When the President, First Lady & Japanese Prime Minister arrived to share a few words, I was no more than 10-feet away from the trio. I got one picture & then my camera died...
Just a couple of observations: the President is thinner than he looks on TV & Laura looks younger in person.

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It's then downtown & my live report at noon talks of how we are heading to the Rendezvous for lunch. Then our caravan turns left & flys past Beale Street. Where are we going? Ah, of course... the National Civil Rights Museum. It was not on the itinerary, but obviously scheduled in advance because, 1) secret service requires it, 2) Dr. Benjamin Hooks was the guide.

By the time our press van arrived the President & Prime Minister were on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in the exact spot where Dr. Martin Luther King was gunned down many years ago. We could not hear what was being said on the ground, but everyone's faces told the story.

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I was embarrassed for my city when we turned around to walk back to Main where our press van was parked. Hanging from the downtown Memphis College of Art building was a hastily painted sign simply stating "F#$% Bush."

I have no problem with signs of protest or such. We saw plenty of that outside of Graceland. Some saying "Get out of Iraq" or "Give Peace a Chance" or something similar. But a large public display of the "F" word was tacky & uncalled for. I would have said the same thing had Bill Clinton been the President.

There were children around. There were dozens of members of the nation & Japanese press. Sure, they have probably seen these types of immature signs before... I was just hoping my hometown was better than that.

Wouldn't the word "Peace" spoken louder?

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Lunch at the Rendezvous was a neat event. They allowed the media to stand up stairs & look down at the festivities. I immediately noticed Karl Rove & Tony Snow in the mix. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist was working the scene; so was U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr.

We were then escorted to the basement for our own lunch. It was interesting to see most of the Japanese media guzzling beer with their lunch while the U.S. media stuck to Coke & sweet tea.

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The caravan left downtown & we were back near the airport in only 10 minutes. Our press van was near the back of the convoy. By the time we arrived, parked & exited the vehicle, the President & Laura were already on board Air Force One. As I gave my 2 p.m. live report on the radio the jet was several hundred yards away from the hangar.

At 2:10 p.m., as I started my SUV Air Force One roared into the sky, departing to the north, turning slightly to the east, then disappeared.