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One Mel of a weekend
April 28, 2006I tell myself not to do it.
Play golf instead.
Go fishing.
Read "War and Peace."
Watch all of Clint Eastwood's movies.
Drink.
Drink.
Drink.
Drink some more.
But when the clock strikes 11 Saturday morning, I will do what I always do on this day every year.
I will watch the NFL Draft.
I can't stand Mel Kiper Jr..
Hate his hair.
Despise his voice.
Am annoyed by his arrogance.
What does some graduate of Essex Community College know about football? They don't even play football there.
But I will watch him and listen to him talk about that "shutdown corner" from Middle Tennessee State who "cuts the field in half."
I have to know what that 6-7, 335-pound offensive tackle from Northwestern can bench presse.
Please, Mel, fill me in on the vertical jump of that wide receiver from Monmouth College.
I'll be watching.
I can't help myself.
I'm addicted to this stuff.
I will sit there in front of the TV set for 4 to 4 1/2 hours waiting to see whom the Cowboys will draft.
It will be close to 4 when those five nasty letters start flashing at the bottom of my screen.
TRADE --- TRADE --- TRADE
Then Paul Tagliabue will announce that the Cowboys have traded the 18th pick of the first round to the Oakland Raiders for a third round pick in this draft and the second and fourth round picks in 2011.
That means the Cowboys won't be picking until 8 or 9 o'clock that night.
What am I going to do?
You guessed it. Torture myself listening to Mel Kiper Jr. babble on for another three or four hours.
I've wasted a whole day of my life for this crap.
Oh well, Sunday is another day.
And the fourth round should come on about 10 in the morning.
Have a nice weekend. . . I probably won't,
Nick G
Posted by at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Happy 34th anniversary to me!!
April 27, 2006 This column ran back in 2002 when I celebrated my 30th year working for the Times Record News. Today -- April 27 -- is my 34th anniversary with the newspaper, so I thought since 34 was the number worn by both the great Nolan Ryan and the late, great Walter Payton, I would re-run it for you with a few updates.
------------------------------------------
The year was 1972.
Nixon was in the White House. Watergate was just a swanky hotel.
Young American kids were dying on the battlefields of Vietnam.
Arab terrorists were murdering young Israeli athletes.
Don McLean’s “American Pie� was the year’s No. 1 song.
“The Godfather� was the top movie of the year.
Britney Spears’ parents were in the Pepsi Generation.
On April 27 of that year - exactly 34 years ago today - Ted Buss, then the sports editor of this newspaper, gave his newest sports writer a scorebook and sent him to Burkburnett to cover a Hirschi-Burk high school baseball game.
It was my first assignment and my first byline.
Since that day I have been fortunate enough to cover a Summer Olympics in Greece and a Winter Olympics in Italy; 30 Dallas Cowboys’ seasons and three Super Bowls; baseball’s All-Star Game and all of the Texas Rangers’ home playoff games; the very first Dallas Mavericks game; the NCAA basketball tournament; a PGA Championship and a U.S. Open.
I’ve followed Tiger Woods inside the ropes for 18 holes.
I’ve met Willie Mays and Hank Aaron; Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson; O.J., Dr. J and Sugar Ray; Nicklaus, Palmer, Trevino and Player; Bo Jackson, Bear Bryant, Tom Landry, Nolan Ryan, George W. Bush, more celebrity elbow-rubbing than I have time to talk about.
Man, it has been a fun 34 years.
Maybe the best part of it all is I have been able to do almost everything I have ever wanted to do while still living in my old hometown. I didn’t have to move to Houston or Dallas and waste a big percentage of my life sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic. I didn’t have to become a damn Yankee or move out west to the land of fruits and nuts.
Many people have questioned why I would want to live my whole life in a place where people eat french fries with their cheese enchiladas and drown a glass of beer with tomato juice - a town who once elected a Hee-Haw mayor who dressed like Porter Wagoner.
I love Texas, and I love the Falls.
And for a town our size, we have been pretty lucky with sports.
We had Mia Hamm before she became quite possibly the most famous female athlete on the planet and a commercial giant.
We’ve had the Pioneer Bowl, the CBA, a hockey team and Cowboys training camp.
Things like our Oil Bowl and T-O Junior Golf Tournament may not seem like much to outsiders, but for many years they have given us a sneak preview of sports greatness.
Midwestern State basketball has also been a favorite beat for me. Going to Kansas City for the NAIA national tournament was always a special deal, but the real reward I have received from covering the team we used to call the Indians is all the friends I have made with coaches, players, trainers and fans. I can’t name you all now, but you know who you are, and your friendship means so much to me.
In fact, I think friends are the biggest rewards in this business.
D.L. Ligon and Flip Hoskins may just be names on buildings to most people, but they were dear friends of mine. I’ll never stop fighting to see great coaches and friends like Joe Golding receive the respect and honor they deserve.
But the thing that really drew me into this crazy business was my love for high school football.
I still love it. This job, which has covered parts of four decades, has allowed me to see some of the best high school football Texas has to offer.
The best game I’ve covered was in 1992 when Southlake Carroll outlasted Vernon 39-35 at Pennington Field.
The most dominating football team I have seen from this area was Class 2A Electra in 1985. Archer City of 1994, Windthorst of 1996 and Wichita Falls High of 2000 were great, but the 1985 Tigers just ran over everything in their path to the state title.
The best player I have covered is Billy Sims. But the night I saw him, he got beat.
In 1974, Bowie upset Sims and Hooks in the quarterfinals of the playoffs. The future Heisman winner ran for something like 240 yards in the game, but the tough Jackrabbits defense shut him down in the red zone.
It has been a great 34 years.
Let’s do 34 more.
Posted by at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
To see or not to see, that is the question
April 26, 2006My wife and I went to the movies last night.
And the "Coming Soon" caught our attention more than the "Now Playing."
The Da Vinci Code -- directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks -- was previewed to be coming in May.
I haven't read Dan Brown's best-selling book, mainly because I wasn't sure if I should.
You see I believe Jesus Christ is who the Bible says he was -- the Son of God.
And if you believe that, I don't see how you can believe that he was married to Mary Magdalene. From what I understand the book alleges this and also theorizes that the divine Christ and an infallible Scripture was created by a group of bishops meeting in Turkey in the year 325.
Could Jesus have been married to Mary Magdalene and still be the Son of God?
I don't think so.
Don't ask me why because I really don't know. Maybe I've just got too many Sunday Schools in me to believe in something like that.
No way, however, do I believe what the book says about the origin of Christianity.
That would make everything I believe nothing but a hoax.
Jesus Christ is one of two things -- (1.) exactly who he said he was. or (2.) the biggest con man in the history of the world.
I choose to believe No. 1.
But does that mean I can't read this book or watch this movie?
I don't think so.
It's fiction.
I watched "Peter Pan" with my grandson Saturday morning, but I still don't believe I can fly off to Neverland and never grow up.
Today I went to the WF Library web site and put my name on the list to read Dan Brown's book.
When the movie comes out, I will go see it.
And nothing I read or see will shake the foundation of my faith.
But that's me.
Nick G
Posted by at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Way to go, granny
April 25, 2006When I was in junior high, I had one goal in life.
To view as much of the female anatomy as possible.
That's just the way God made little boys -- out of snips and snails and puppy dog tails..
(What is a snip? Must have something to do with circumcision.)
So I can understand why some 13-year-old boy might think about pulling some cute girl's panties down.
But thinking about it and doing it are two different things.
A front page story in our paper today told about how a seventh-grade boy at McNiel had been "given a ticket" for "disorderly conduct" for pulling a girl's panties down in front of friends after school.
"Disorderly" conduct is throwing a pencil at someone in class.
This was sexual harrassment.
And I am in complete agreement with the girl's grandmother. This kid needs to be punished with something more harsh than a fine that his parents are going to pay.
Granny is making lots of noise.
Good for her.
I have a daughter, and I can only imagine what I would have done if something like this had happened to her.
To the boy, this may have just been a funny prank.No harm done.
No harm to him, maybe.
But the girl was humiliated in front of her peers. This will take some time getting over. And she may never completely get over it.
To the WFISD -- listen to grandma.
Make the punishment fit the crime.
Mke this kid think twice -- maybe even three or four times -- before he pulls a stupid stunt like this one again.
And to grandma -- keep up the fight.
I and a whole lot of other "snips and snails and puppy dog tails" are on your side.
Nick G
Posted by at 8:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
31 points, 11 rebounds
April 24, 2006I don't know if Dirk Nowitzki deserves to be the MVP of the NBA.
That's because I probably didn't watch one entire NBA game all season.
I covered the Grizzles-Mavericks Game 1 Sunday night in Dallas, and that was the first entire game I had seen this year.
I have a hard time getting excited about this league.
To me, it's just 10 millionaires running up and down a room in their underwear with thousands of people paying hundreds of dollars to watch it.
But I like the NBA a little better at this time of the year.
Not as much as I like the NHL, but I can at least watch the games.
So, although I can't tell you who deserves to be the MVP of the NBA, I can tell you who deserves to be the MVP of this one game I saw.
Dirk Nowitzki scored 31 points and had 11 rebounds to help Dallas win 103-93.
But I'm betting most of the writers in this press room chose to feature somebody other than Dirk in their stories. Maybe it's because he's a boring quote. Or maybe it's because he is expected to get 31 and 11.
The guys who see him every night take him for granted.
The Memphis writers are probably more likely to praise Dirk after a game like this than the Dallas writers.
Hey, I wrote about Eric Dampier, and he had 19 fewer points than Dirk.
But last year Dampier was a playoff dud. When Shaq had a bad game, he told the press he "played like Eric Dampier." Then somebody told me that Shaq said that Eric Dampier is the "best center in the WNBA." That came right after Dampier had said he was going to be one of the best centers in the NBA.
Well, in this one playoff game, he was the best center on the court.
But Dirk was the best player.
Posted by at 12:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Turning burgers into baloney
April 21, 2006George Bush bought my vote.
And all it cost him was a couple of cheesburgers.
Now, I'm talking Bush 41 here.
The old man.
George Herbert Walker Bush.
It was 1970 and Daddy Bush was running for senator against Lloyd Benson.
He came to Wichita Falls with Bob Lilly one afternoon and had a big rally at Bridwell Park.
At the time, I was a starving college student, living in a two-room $45 per month apartment on Brittain Street. I lived about four blocks away from Bridwell Park.
At the rally, they gave away free burgers and Cokes to everybody who came. I got two burgers and a couple of Cokes.
Bush lost the election but he won me over.
No other politician has ever fed me free burgers.
So I voted for Daddy Bush everytime he ran for anything, including 1988, when he won the presidency and 1992 when he lost to Clinton.
I also voted for George W twice.
And now I'm regretting those two votes.
George W Bush has turned into possibly the worst president we've had in my lifetime. And that includes Nixon and Carter.
Our kids are getting killed in Iraq and I don't know why.
Gas is closing in on $3 a gallon and I think George W has sold us out.
But did we really have a choice.
Gore?
Kerry?
Aren't there any Democrats out there better than that?
Don't say Hillary. I'm not buying that.
Who will win the presidency in 2008?
I don't know. But whoever it is can't be worse than George W.
I wish I would have passed on the burgers and stayed home with a baloney sandwich back on that afternoon of 1970.
I didn't realize all the baloney that would come later.
Have a good weekend
Nick G
Posted by at 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
It's 4-20: Where are your children?
April 20, 20064-20 is now one of the most interesting days of the year.
If you planned ahead, you bought lots of stock in Oreo cookies because it's a good bet on April 20, Oreo consumption will go up drastically.
You have heard of crunchtime.
Well, welcome to munchtime.
It's "Reefer Madness" all over the USA -- the day when many Americans celebrate marijuana.
I had never heard of 4-20 until a year or two ago. (But my kids had.)
The origin of the 4-20 dates back to 1971 when a group of high school kids at San Rafael High School in California met at 4:20 in the afternoon to smoke weed.
It's as simple as that, although there have been many other theories such as:
420 is the penal code section of marijuana use in California.
420 is the Los Angeles police radio code for marijuana smoking in progress.
420 is the number of chemical compounds in marijuana.
4-20 (April 20) is the day that rock stars Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin all died. (Morrison died on July 3, Hendrix on Sept. 18 and Joplin on Oct. 4)
4-20 (April 20) is the best time of plant marijuana.
None of that is true. Neither is true that the Grateful Dead always asked for Room 420 in the hotel they stayed at.
But it is true the first LSD trip was taken by Albert Hofmann at 4:20 p.m. on April 19, 1943.
Adolf Hitler was born on 4-20 in 1889.
The Columbine HIgh School massacre in Colorado happened on April 20, 1999.
The color DVD version of the movie "Reefer Madness" was released on April 20, 2004.
Many of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" are set at 4:20.
In the song "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin, the first drum beats end in a cymbal crash at exactly 4 minutes and 20 seconds through the song.
And since I am still a sports writer, here is some interesting 4-20 stuff.
Steve Spurrier celebrates his 61st birthday today.
Two of baseball's most hallowed grounds opened on 4-20 -- Fenway Park in Boston in 1912 and Wrigley Field in Chicago in 1916.
Also on 4-20 1989 scientists announced the successful testing of high definition TV.
Happy -- but not too happy -- 4-20
Nick G
Posted by at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Racial tension and the Golden Rule
April 19, 2006"Racial tension."
How many times have you seen those two words on the sports page lately?
Like everytime there is a story about the Duke lacrosse team.
All of the Duke players indicted for the alleged rape are white.
The victim is black.
And they're quickly taking sides in Durham, N.C.
I bet that some of the black people, who are now taking the victim's side in this situation, were defending Kobe Bryant in his Colorado case a couple of years back.
And at the same time, there are white people out there who are labeling this victim a drunk stripper while, back in Colorado, they saw the white hotel worker that Kobe allegedly raped as a helpless and innocent.
One of the problems is cases like these are so high profile that we never hear the real truth.
Instead we get a bunch of bobblehead lawyers confusing us with their one-sided lies.
The real truth is we don't know the truth.
But let's not fall into the trap of turning this Duke case into black vs. white.
Nor should be try to make it rich vs. poor.
Yet even as I say that and believe that, I know that we live in the real world where justice means "Just Us."
The rich may simply write a check and make this all go away. Right, Kobe?
Or it may go to court where the Golden Rule will once prevail -- Them that have the gold make the rules."
Nick G
Posted by at 1:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Gone fishing
April 17, 2006Just thought I should tell you that I am taking a couple of days R and R on Monday and Tuesday. I will start my blogs back up on Wednesday.
Not sure anybody is reading these things because I get almost no feedback.
But if anybody is out there, I will be back and have a blog posted before noon Wednesday.
Gone fishing,
Nick
Posted by at 8:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Gone fishing
Just thought I should tell you that I am taking a couple of days R and R on Monday and Tuesday. I will start my blogs back up on Wednesday.
Not sure anybody is reading these things because I get almost no feedback.
But if anybody is out there, I will be back and have a blog posted before noon Wednesday.
Gone fishing,
Nick
Posted by at 8:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Easter Eve?
April 15, 2006Just sitting here flipping the remote and wondering “Why isn’t there an Easter Eve?�. . . .
I started flipping the remote Saturday afternoon trying to find the Rangers’ game. Once I realized it wasn’t on TV, I began looking for alternate viewing.
And what I found was better than the Rangers. (That really doesn’t take much these days.)
First, I found a tribute to Hank Williams Jr. TV has way too many awards shows, but I stopped off on CMT when I heard Johnny Cash’s name mentioned. Hank Jr. was receiving a reward named for the late great J.C.
I saw Hank Williams Jr. at Memorial Auditorium here in Wichita Falls back in 1977 or 1978. The place holds 2,700 people. Only about 200 showed up to see Hank.
I remember there was a small group huddled together at the back of the balcony and Hank asked them to come on down front since there were plenty of seats. They waved as if to say “thanks, but no thanks.� They were probably smoking weed and liked the back row.
If Hank came to our town today, he would pack the KYC.
Most of the younger people today don’t recognize Hank Jr. for being the outlaw son of Hank Sr. But thanks to Monday Night Football, they know him.
Will Hank Williams Jr. ever get into the pro football Hall of Fame.
He was done almost as much for Monday Night Football as Howard Cosell.
After watching Hank accept his Johnny Cash Award, I flipped over and caught one of the best movies ever made: “The Sting.�
Paul Newman is the greatest actor that ever lived.
I plan to spend the rest of my Easter Eve taking my wife out for Mexican food and margaritas and then the movie “Inside Man� featuring the greatest actor of this day – Denzel Washington.
To the people who sent me the emails on Friday, you were right and what you saw me do will not ever happen again. The only reason I won’t elaborate here is because what I did was illegal and I am not going to confess in print.
And to the guy who called and left me a nasty message about my weight. Hey I have lost 20 pounds since December and I did it while enjoying Christmas and a 19-day stay in Italy for the Winter Olympics.
Happy Easter,
NIck G
Posted by at 4:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
It was a Good Friday
April 14, 2006For much of my life I couldn’t understand what was so good about Good Friday.
I saw nothing good in the torture and execution of an innocent man. And when that man just so happens to be the son of God and the execution is crucifixion upon a cross – well, what’s so good about that?
But in my youth, I never really heard much about Good Friday. I grew up in the Church of Christ where “we celebrate Easter every Sunday.� Because of that attitude, Easter and the things that go with it, really weren’t the big deal they were in other churches.
But in my youth, I never really heard much about Good Friday. I grew up in the Church of Christ where “we celebrate Easter every Sunday.� Because of that attitude, Easter and the things that go with it, really weren’t the big deal they were in other churches.
So I was a grown man before I understood the good in Good Friday.
It’s right there in John 3:16. You’ve seen that scripture verse on signs at football stadiums and other sports venues. But have you ever read it? And if you have, do you really undertstand it?
I spent Good Friday with my grandson, who is now just a couple of months shy of his 3rd birthday.
Being with him reinforced my understanding of this day.
We played, we laughed, we swam, we ate, we did everything together from about 8:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. And as I did my afternoon walk after taking him home, I thought about just how much I love Nicholas Ryan Graham.
But I wouldn’t “give� him up for anything. In fact, I would do everything I could to protect him. I would give my life for him.
Now read John 3:16 again and see if you can grasp the real meaning of Good Friday.
Happy Easter.
Nick G
Posted by at 8:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
$2 million for a basketball coach?
April 13, 2006When did basketball coaches become so expensive?
It's not like they're rare and hard to find.
And you really don't have to be very smart to do it.
So why are colleges offering 2 million bucks a year for a coach?
Yeah, you read right. 2 million bucks to coach a game that basically is 10 guys at a time running up and down the floor in their underwear.
Offer me a $100,000 and I'll coach any school in America.
It's not that hard, people.
Just find out who the school's rich boosters are and send them out to get you as many McDonald's All Americans as they can buy.
Then put a whistle around your neck and point them to the right basket.
That's the way these big-time college coaches do it.
They are wolves in thousand dollar suits.
You would think these college presidents and administrators would be smart enough to know that. I mean these guys all have "Dr." in front of their name and they can't cure an upset stomach.
But they keep paying out $1.5 and $1.6 and $1.8 million to these coaches.
That's stupid, Dr.Dumbbutt.
I played golf with Jonathan Pastusek on Monday. Jonathan works for the city full-time and has a part-time job coaching boys basketball at Notre Dame High School. I didn't ask him what he got paid to coach the Knights, but I can guarantee you, it ain't close to $2 million.
But Jonathan knows enough basketball to coach it.
If you sent him to two or three really good clinics for extra training, I'd bet he could coach Virginia Commonwealth to as many wins as Jeff Capel did. And Jeff Capel just got $850,000 to be the head coach at OU.
I would have coached OU for one-fourth of that.
I can make illegal phone calls, lie to recruits and their families and pamper big-money boosters as well as the next guy.
Posted by at 8:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
The Paper...
April 12, 2006"The Paper" was once the marketing trademark for the Times Record News.
For some reason, we stopped using it, but I always liked it because that's what everybody called us.
"Do you work at The Paper?"
"I've been subscribing to The Paper all my life."
Etc., etc., etc.
Well this week The Paper ran out of the paper.
Or at least my favorite stall in the men's room here did.
There's a sign on my dentist's wall that lists things we should always do to have a better life -- things like
Never pass up homemade brownies.
Always put something in the offering plate
Wear shined shoes.
But there's one in particular that I remember -- Always check to see if there is toilet paper before sitting down in a public restroom.
On Tuesday, I broke that commandment.
I always hear people say that something is "the greatest invention since sliced bread."
Well, I'll take toilet paper over sliced bread any old day.
Just wait until you don't have any and you will agree with me.
I was in that predicament Tuesday. Sitting there with no TP.
With pants down, I scooted over to the paper towel dispenser -- praying that nobody would walk in and catch me in such an awkward position.
My prayer was answered and I survived an embarrassing ordeal.
To avoid future incidents like this, I am putting our maintenance department's telephone number in my cell phone. Then I call always call my old buddies Patrick or Joe to come rescue me.
I just hope I never hear.
"Hi, this is the maintenance department. We're not in right now. But if you'll just leave your name and number, we will get back to you."
Posted by at 7:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Don't call me, I'll call you
April 11, 2006I spent part of my morning today learning how to answer the phone.
Now, I'm waiting on the big test. I just know the company is going to plant a mole to dial my number to see if I learned my lesson.
Here is how a call would have gone before my Team TRN changed my life:
Ring, Ring Ring
Ring Ring Ring
Ring Ring Ring
Ring Ring Ring
"Sports"
"Yeah, buddy, can you tell me what was the score after the third quarter of the Super Bowl?"
"The Super Bowl that was played on Feb 5? Just a minute, let me let you talk with our Super Bowl third quarter score editor, Lee Anderson."
click
Now here's how the new me -- or at least the paranoid me -- will handle such a call.
Ring Ring
"Sports: Nick Gholson speaking. May I help you."
"Nick Gipson, hey man I really enjoy reading your column. Today's was the best."
(I didn't have a column today -- but out of courtesy, I don't tell him the caller he is full of something I can't print in this blog)
"Thanks for reading. I am here to serve our customers."
"What I need is the score after the third quarter of the Super Bowl."
"14-10 Steelers. How else can I help you."
"Dang, I almost won 6 bucks. I had 7 and 0. Dang. Hey, while I've got you, who won the Rangers game last night?"
"The Angels won 5-2. We had a story in the paper."
"Yeah, well I haven't picked my paper up out of the driveway yet."
"Would you like for me to come pick it up and put in on your doorstep."
"Dang, Nick, that sure's nice of you."
"And if you would like for me to read it to you, I could do that. I would have to skip my lunch hour, but our customers come first."
"Nick, you've been so nice and polite, I have to be honest with you. I don't subscribe to the paper."
"Would you like for me to pay for you a one-year subscription."
"You'd do that for me?"
"Sure would."
"Well that's mighty kind of you. When I get back on my feet and get to work, I'll pay you back."
"If you are out of work, I could bring you some groceries."
"Could you bring me a pack of cigarettes and a six pack of Bud when you do that?"
"Anything for a customer."
(Or should I say anything to get another one of those myhub.com mouse pads.)
Posted by at 2:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
I'm a loser.....
April 10, 2006If being a non-winner means being a loser, then I am a loser this year.
And most likely, I will be a loser again next year and the year after that.
That's because I no longer have any interest in entering journalism contests.
I already have one wall in my office covered with useless plaques and certificates. I don't need any more. I don't want any more.
I started entering these contests 30 years ago and have won some kind of a writing award in each of the last four decades.
I congratulate the winners our newspaper had this year. It was really nice to see my friends Judy, Lana and Jessica win first place awards in the Texas APME contest.
And we have several others honored in the Oklahoma contest. Well done, all of you.
I wish some of the guys on my sports staff had won something. They worked hard and did some stuff that was worthy of winning.
This was the first year that I didn't enter anything. My contest days are over.
I'm not even sure they should have these contests.
The are so subjective. Most of the time it just depends on who's judging what. I have had years when I had some great stuff and got shut out, while there have been other years than I won with crap.
These judges don't want to judge. They do it out of obligation.
I was chosen to judge the sports writing contest in Arkansas one year. It wore me out. I will admit now that about halfway through, I quit reading every word and was just scanning stuff.
It was an interesting sports weekend.
Our hockey team had the Texas Tornado backpedaling in the first period of Game 4 Saturday night. The Wildcats were playing really aggressive and were taking it to the defending champs. But the Tornado scored a goal with 7 seconds left in the first period and it seemed to swing the momentum the other way.
Spent most of Sunday in my recliner watching Phil win the Masters. I like watchng Phil. I like watching his wife Amy even more. I am getting tired of his kids, though. My grandson is cuter than all three of them.
My big event of the weekend was the "Run for the Son" 5K race that my church sponsored. I walked the route in 45 minutes, which is faster than my daily time. The winner ran it in 19 minutes. He could have run it twice and eaten lunch before I got in. But I finished. That's what matter most.
See ya,
Nick G
Posted by at 8:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
I think I may be Mexican.
April 7, 2006I think I may be Mexican.
In the last week, I have really enjoyed being around Mexican people.
And I could eatMexican food seven days a week.
Does that make me Mexican?
For all of you political correct freaks out there, "Mexican" is not a derogatory term.
It is what I have always called my Mexican friends, and I have had many, many of them in my life. I grew up on Travis Street. Two blocks away on Burnett were the Estradas -- Jimmy, Felix, Manuel, Joe and Lee. We played ball together. We went to each other's birthday partys. We were all friends.
Their skin was darker than mine but I never felt there was any big difference in us. We went to the same schools.
Blacks were different. They didn't live in our neighborhood. We lived close to the tracks, but the railroad track that ran through Wichita Falls separated us. They didn't go to our schools.
If it hadn't been for baseball cards and rock and roll music, I would have never known the names of any black people.
That was just the way society was then. It was wrong.
But I was friends with lots of Mexican people.
This week has been strange for me.
One day, Richard Estrada -- just a day after his 86th birthday -- came by the paper to visit with me. He was stationed in northern Italy during World War II and met his wife there. Since I was there for the Winter Olympics, he wanted to talk about Italy. I enjoyed our visit.
I bowl in a league at SAFB on Wednesday night and this week we bowled against a team of real nice Mexican friends. After league, my wife remarked how well I get along with Mexican people. But I always have.
Then on Thursday, an old friend, Ruppert Rodriguez, stopped by to see meat the office and brought me some of those great Rodriguez tamales.
I am writing this at KYC while watching the Wildcats hockey game.
I want to thank fourladies here for their hospitality -- Sally Chasteen, Sonya Baugh, Debra Looney and Rose Perry.
Thanks, girls
See ya later
NickG
Posted by at 8:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Thursday with Nick (4-6)
April 6, 2006As i write this, Vijay Singh is leading the Masters. I don't like Vijay Singh. Anytime the TV cameras focus on him, my wife Jenee' and I give a loud "Booooooooooooooooooooo."
Oh I am sure Vijay is probably a nice guy. Most golfers are. But I haven't liked him every since he griped about Annika Sorenstam playing Colonial. Then he pulled out of the tournament.
I think Vijay Singh is a robot. You just wind him up and he gives you the same swing over and over and over again. I want to see him chili-dip one like a regular guy. Duck hook one into the woods. or hit one of those slices that starts on the No. 3 tee at River Creek and ends up on the No. 2 tee.
Ernie Els is also one of those boring golfers. My Masters pick, Retief Goosien, has the personality of a bunker rake.
Give me John Daily. I love his game and his music.
"All my exes wear Rolexes"
He sang that at Colonial last year.
HELLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Does anybody out there hear meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?
I feel like I'm back in Torino talking to myself. One comment on seven blogs and that came from my boss telling me not to expect an Aprils Fool bonus.
I am going to go back to my old plan of printing the seven words George Carlin says you can't say on TV. Somebody will read it, get offended and tell Robert Jeffress. Then he will preach against me like he did those dumb library books.
Nobody would have read "Heather has a Whole Bunch of Mamas" if he hadn't given it all that attention.
If he gets up in his pulpit and rags on my blogs, somebody might find them and read them.
This is like that radio talk show that I was a guest on years ago. It was a station here in town that nobody could hear if they left the parking lot of the station. We sat there one hour and nobody called.
The trivia question was: 'What's your name"
And nobody won
See you manana,
Nick G
Posted by at 3:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Wednesday with Nick (4-5)
April 5, 2006So did everyone out there survive 01 02 03 04 05 06?
In case you did survive and you don't know what you survived, that was the time and date Wednesday morning at 1a.m., two minutes and three seconds on April 5, 2006.
If you missed it, you can catch it again on April 5, 3006.
Right after Kelvin Sampson decided to move to Indiana, I heard an announcer on an Oklahoma City radio station state that OU had never had a black head basketball coach.
I had always thought Sampson was an African American.
Most people I talked to the last few days also thought so.
But Kelvin Sampson is a descendent of the Lumbee tribe of Native Americans. Today the Lumbee tribe is the largest east of the Mississippi River.
And you just thought you couldn't learn something reading my blog.
Now run out and bet a few dollars on Retief Goosan to win the Masters. He is my pick.
The Rider boys soccer team is undefeated in 27 games and just three wins away from a state championship.
Can you imagine what it would be like if this was a football team we were talking about?
Wichita Falls would be going crazy.
But it is soccer and only a few parents and Rider students really care.
Once upon a time, not so long ago, I was a big soccer basher.
But I have changed. I'm still not a big fan of the game and don't know why the rest of the world is so soccer crazy -- but I have learned to appreciate the game.
I really appreciated what Kenny Catney has done with the Rider soccer program. Go win it all, guys.
See you later,
Nick G
Posted by at 3:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday-Tuesday with Nick (4-3 and 4-4)
April 4, 2006I spent Monday at the ballpark on opening day of the baseball season. There is only one other place that I would have rather been.
At Augusta.
I have done just about everything I could ever want to do in this business. But there are two things I would like to do before calling it quits.
1. Walk the 18 holes at Augusta National. Yes, I would like to play golf at the home of the Masters, but walking the course and seeing the beauty of Augusta is at the top of my "to do" list.
I don't care anything about covering the Masters. I've seen enough golf in my life. I have not seen Augusta.
2. Attend a Kentucky Derby. Again, I don't care about covering this race. I have covered a Breeder's Cup, so been there and done that. But I would like to spend Derby Day at Churchill Downs. Sip a mint julep or 12 and bet on the races -- especially the big race.
I think covering both a Summer and a Winter Olympics has kind of spoiled me as far as actually covering big sports events. Once you've done those, everything else is kinda small. I'm hoping to get one more Olympic assignment -- Beijing in 2006. That would be all for me.
Man, wasn't the Final Four about as boring as you can get?
Someone asked me if I was going to watch the women's championship game Tuesday night.
No way.
See you,
Nick G
Posted by at 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
weekend with Nick
April 2, 2006I didn't watch a single minute of the Final Four on Saturday.
April Fool.
I can't remember the last time I ever missed watching college basketball's big finale.
But after watching the two games Saturday, I wish I hadn't watched.
This was boring.
George Mason and LSU didn'teven put up a fight.
This was a strange weekend though.
I didn't watch any sports on Sunday. I can't remember the last time that happened.
My wife was happy with it.
Next weekend will be different.
I will watch the Masters. Not many sporting event better than those four days at Augusta.
But I love golf.
My prediction: Retief Goosen.
If he wins, I will remind you about this pick.
If he doesn't. forget everything I said.
See you later,
Nick G
Posted by at 5:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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