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Merle Anthony Avenue a great idea
November 30, 2009I'm on board with the unofficial campaign for Merle Anthony Avenue.
One reader proposed it in the "Letters to the Editor" section of our paper on Sunday, and I think his idea is a good one.
Being the old fart that I am, I have been fortunate enough to actually be friends with some of the people who have things named after them -- like D.L. Ligon and Flip Hoskins and Lloyd Ruby.
I know how proud they were to be honored forever.
And naming the section of Avenue H beween Monroe and Giddings -- the street that runs right in front of Wichita Falls High School -- would be perfect.
Mrs. Anthony truly was one of the great, great teachers in this town.
I know we have had other great teachers, but you have to start somewhere and Ms. Anthony would be the perfect starting point.
Then we could go on to Joe Golding Field and Eddie Hill Boulevard.
Posted by Nick Gholson at 8:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Home for Thanksgiving just one thing to be thankful for
November 25, 2009I have plenty to be thankful for every year.
But this year, I am even more thankful.
For the first time in a long time, I get to spend Thanksgiving Day like a regular person.
Most every year, I have worked on this day, covering those Cowboys.
This year I don't have to. Andy Newberry volunteered to take my place.
I am thankful for Andy.
So I get to stay home and smell the turkey cooking while the Macy's parade is on the TV.
Then I get to watch those Lions and say thank you God that they are not the Cowboys.
And then I get to eat my wife's turkey dinner (she's a pro in the kitchen) before tuning in the Cowboys. And for a change I don't have to write one word after the game or drive home..
Instead I get to flip back and forth between Texas-Texas A&M and Giants-Broncos.
A feast and a TV football feast all in one day.
That's a lot for this old guy to be thankful for.
But there is so much more.
I am thankful that I have a God who answers prayers.
I am thankful that He didn't give up until he found this one lost sheep.
I am thankful for a loving mom and dad and grandparents who nurtured me.
I am thankful for my family. A good wife, good kids, a great grandson.
I am thankful that I live in the greatest country in the world and the freedom that has been given to me.
I am thankful that I live in Texas. Yee-hah!
I am thankful for my job. Doing what I do and getting paid for it is so cool.
I am thankful for my boss. Smooch, smooch smooch. No, really I do mean it.
I am thankful for my health.
I am thankful for my friends.
I am thankful for golf and poker and cold beer.
But most of all --- at this time of year -- I am thankful I'm not a turkey.
Posted by Nick Gholson at 8:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Hopefully, history doesn't repeat Nov. 22, 1963
November 23, 2009I got a goofy email last week showing a photo of President Obama at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. There was a military person on each side of him saluting while Obama stood with his hands at his side.
The person who sent it my way wrote: "Picture taken at the Veterans Day ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Un freaking believable!!!! The man has no respect and no excuse."
But I have become quite accustomed to all this Obama bashing.
Way back during the 2008 election, I received an email with a column by a prominent editorial page writer for the New York Times.
Obama was accused of being a friend of Muslim extremists. The editorial just stopped short of naming him the mastermind of the 9-11 attack.
When I went to the New York Times Web site to check out the background of the columnist, I discovered that she had not written the one that had been sent to me. Somebody had just doctored it up to look like it.
When I told the person who sent me the e-mail about the lie, she replied: "Who cares? As long as it keeps him from being elected."
After that experience, I went online to see if there were any other photos of Obama at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Sure enough, there are and he is saluting.
Obviously, the photo being e-mailed around the country is a fraud.
But what's new?
Call it what it really is -- racism.
Sunday was the 46th anniversary of the assassination of JFK -- the tragic, senseless death of a president who saw wrong and tried to make it right.
i just pray history never repeats its self although some nuts out there are doing everything they can to see that it does.
Posted by Nick Gholson at 8:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Country baskets and dip cones celebrate my DQ birthday
November 19, 2009My birthday is this Saturday.
Nov. 21 is also Troy Aikman's birthday. He will be 43.
It is also Goldie Hawn's birthday. She will blow out 64 candles.
Stan Musial will also celebrate the day. Stan the Man turns 89.
I am exactly one year younger than Goldie.
Both of us at really hot for our age -- huh?
In my family, it is a tradition for all of us to go out to eat together on birthdays.
All of us translates into me, my wife, my son, my daughter, my son-in-law and my grandson.
The birthday boy or girl gets to pick where we eat.
I'm picking the Dairy Queen in Holliday.
It may sound like a strange choice, but it's my birthday. My choice.
And I love steak finger country baskets.
The ones in Holliday are especially good.
I know when the people over at Pasquals hear this, they will say "I told you so. The redneck has no taste."
They're still steaming over that Lunch Lady parody I did a few months back when I ripped their overpriced snooty food.
If liking DQ country baskets makes me a redneck dumb ass, so be it.
My wife loves dip cones, so she will be happy.
My kids all liked DQ before they all went away.
My grandson will be much more comfortable in a place like this that he would at some restaurant or bar.
So it's DQ Holliday at 5 p.m. Saturday to celebrate the big 63.
There won't be a party, just a lot of good eating. So come join us if you want to.
And you don't have to spend a lot of time shopping for just the right gift.
I have a new hobby.
I collect hundred dollar bills.
Posted by Nick Gholson at 7:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
A letter to the editor from Jehova -- Jesus' big brother
November 17, 2009God wrote a letter to the editor this week.
He called it the "fourth notice" of his second coming.
I wish I could tell you when he's coming again, but he is only giving interviews to the first five newspapers who reply to his letter.
Just missed out.
The Punkin Center Weekly Bugle called before I did.
What I can tell you about him is:
1. He does not own a computer. His six-page letter came snail mail.
2. He will never win the spelling bee. God spelled his name "Jehova."
3. His mother's name is Mary and his birthday is Oct. 20. That's going to really screw up Christmas. No longer will it be "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year," but instead "Merry Christmas and Happy Halloween."
4. He sent a picture of himself and God really looks like my friend Ruppert Rodriguez. Wish he had sent me some of his homemade tamales.
5. His New World Order is called "The Magical Kingdom." That could wind up in a Disney vs. God lawsuit.
He writes: "This serves as a proper introduction to me, Jesus Christ, Father of Man. I am Big Brother to Jesus Christ, Son of Man."
Jesus' big brother?
Does that men the holy trinity is now a holy quartet?
Jehova provided an earthly name and address, but I will not print it here.
I will tell you God is an Okie.
And GPC cigarettes are a sign that what he has to say is true.
"They are my initials," he said.
Sounds to me like Jehova may be smoking something stronger than GPCs.
Posted by Nick Gholson at 8:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
The Cowboys don't suck; they just sucked yesterday
November 16, 2009I had only been here at work about three minutes this morning when I heard a woman in the classified department declare:
"The Cowboys suck!:
And then the woman whom she was talking to replied: "I turned it off."
Hello, Monday morning.
Knees are jerking all over the place.
No, the Cowboys don't suck.
Only four teams in the NFL have a better record than they do.
They are still the leader in the NFC East.
What you should say is "The Cowboys sucked yesterday."
Then I would agree.
But when you watch as much pro football as I do, you understand that's just life in the NFL. "On any given Sunday" certainly applies in the NFL.
OK, I know it seems that the Cowboys have more "any given Sundays" than the rest of the teams in the league, but that is only because many of you watch them every week.
You see all their warts.
But believe me, there are people in Pittsburgh -- home of the world champions -- moaning and groaning today.
And what do you think the folks in Denver are saying?
Their 6-3 Broncos lost to the stink-'em-up Redskins --- by 10 points, just like the Cowboys did in Green Bay.
I can certainly understand why someone would turn their TV off during Dallas-Green Bay.
After awhile, Tony Romo getting knocked on his butt just becomes a bad re-run.
But you have to be careful hitting the "off" button during NFL games.
Just think about the sleepy heads in Indianapolis last night.
Their Colts were trailing by 17 in the fourth quarter. Bill Belichick's Patriots had never lost a game in which they led by as many as 13 in the final quarter.
Good night.
But this morning "Good night" became "Good, God!"
Peyton Manning led a big-time comeback and the Colts won 35-34.
Wonder how many people in Boston are saying "The Patriots suck" this morning.
Posted by Nick Gholson at 8:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Ed Barnett was my friend here on earth, now in Heaven
November 12, 2009Our friendship started in a pool hall some 46 years ago.
Ed Barnet and I came from completely different neighborhoods, so for first nine years, our paths crossed only in bars and smoky old pool rooms.
Our common ground was a green felt table.
I often joke with people that Ed was the reason I got into the newspaper business.
I was hanging around the pool hall downtown, and every day Ed and Marvin Penrod would come in around lunch time and stay all afternoon.
My daddy never had a job where he could shoot pool all day.
So I asked the guy who ran the pool hall where Ed and Marvin worked.
He said "the newspaper."
Right then and there, I decided I wanted to work at the newspaper. Hell of a job.
I didn't know at the time that Ed's granddad owned the paper.
We worked together here at the paper for nine years.
He was the grandson of the publisher.
I was a minimum wage sports writer.
The pool shooting days were gone.
Our common ground became a love for sports.
I remember the night we went to Fort Worth together for the State Golden Gloves.
Ed hadn't told anybody he was going, so when we got there, he called back to the newspaper office to tell them he was "with Nicky" in Fort Worth.
(People who knew me before 1972 call me Nicky)
Back then we also had a female switchboard operator named Nickie.
The gossip around the office was that Ed had gone to Fort Worth with Nickie.
Ed retired from the paper in 1981.
He fought a lot of demons for many years before finally finding the Lord.
Me, too.
So, strangely, our common ground was Christianity.
Ed's witness led a lot of the "good old boys" to Christ.
We both still loved to gamble.
That brought us together in the poker room across the river.
The pool hall competitiveness was still there.
Ed once told some people that he would rather knock me out of a poker tournament than win it.
We were also competitive in politics.
He was right.
I was left.
That came up often at the poker table.
But it never threatened our friendship.
My friend left this earth on Wednesday.
I honor him today with these words from a Michael W. Smith song.
"Packing up the dreams God planted
In the fertile soil of you
I can't believe the hopes He's granted
Means a chapter of your life is through
But we'll keep you close as always
It won't even seem you've gone
'Cause our hearts in big and small ways
Will keep the love that keeps us strong
And friends are friends forever
If the Lord's the Lord of them
And a friend will not say never
'Cause the welcome will not end
Though it's hard to let you go
In the Father's hands we know
That a lifetime's not too long
To live as friends
And with the faith and love God's given
Springing from the hope we know
We will pray the joy you live in
Is the strength that now you show
We'll keep you close as always
It won't even seem you've gone
'Cause our hearts in big and small ways
Will keep the love that keeps us strong
And friends are friends forever
If the Lord's the Lord of them
And a friend will not say never
'Cause the welcome will not end
Though it's hard to let you go
In the Father's hands we know
That a lifetime's not too long
To live as friends."
Goodbye, my friend.
I'll see you in Heaven.
Posted by Nick Gholson at 8:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
World Series of Poker better than World Series of baseball
November 11, 2009As a kid, I loved baseball.
I played baseball.
I watched baseball on TV
I listened to baseball on radio.
I collected baseball cards.
I knew the number and name of every player on the Wichita Falls Spudders' minor league roster.
So who would have ever thought that some day I would rather be watching the World Series of Poker than the World Series of baseball?
But this year I looked at the Phillies and Yankees -- not because I was really interested in the World Series but instead probably because it is the World Series and something inside of me tells me I have to be interested.
Poker is now more exciting to me than baseball.
I watched the World Series of Poker on ESPN every Tuesday night.
I could not wait until the November Nine and the final table.
Last year I went to Vegas for the final table and was sitting tableside on the stage of the Rio's Penn and Teller Theater when Peter Eastgate won the title.
This year I was at MSU's preseason basketball dinner, just wishing my friends Denny Bishop and Charlie Carr would shut up so I could get home and watch poker's most exciting moment.
Could Phil Ivey -- the greatest player on the face of the earth -- overcome a chip leader with a stack more than six times the size of his?
Would Garvin Moon -- the chip leader lumberjack from Maryland -- be as lucky in the end as he was in the beginning?
As Denny and Charlie were talking -- and talking -- and talking, my DVR was doing its job and saving every hand for me.
So I got to watch every minute of the final table that ESPN chose to show.
A kid not old enough to shave won again.
One year after the 22-year-old Eastgate became the youngest WSOP main event winner, 21-year-old Joe Cada broke his record.
Cada won more than $8.5 million for surviving a field of more than 6,400 poker players.
He won all that with a pair of 9's.
After playing great poker the whole way, Ham bet his tournament life on a queen-jack of diamonds.
The two over cards never hit -- and Cada is king of Las Vegas.
I can't wait until the next one.
Posted by Nick Gholson at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Bum's boy now valedictorian of NFC East; thanks, Andy
November 9, 2009Isn't it amazing how much smarter Wade Phillips has gotten in just one month?
Remember what a dumb ass the Dallas Cowboys coach was when his team lost in Denver on Oct. 4.
Then think back to the names you were calling him when the Cowboys looked like they were going to lose to the pathetic Chiefs the following week.
I heard you.
Naughty, naughty, naughty.
Some people were thinking Jerry Jones might fire Bum's boy before Thanksgiving.
But Jerry gave his head coach a vote of confidence. He had job security -- for at least three months.
Since Denver, however, everything has changed.
Hail Wade -- king of the east.
The Cowboys have won four straight games and are now on top in the NFC East.
And Phillips is the valedictorian of the NFC East head coaches.
About the time all the experts were measuring the New York Giants for Super Bowl rings (in October), the team lost four in a row.
Now Tom Coughlin may quickly turn from expert to ex-coach.
Jim Zorn?
He's just the latest of many Danny Snyder mistakes.
George Allen must be turning over in his grave.
The one proud Redskins just plain suck.
And now another media-proclaimed genius is showing he can really screw up in front of the whole nation in prime time.
Andy Reid had a brain fart on Sunday night that left a stink all over Philadelphia.
And I'm not talking about how he lost two timeouts by losing ball spot challenges.
This just added to the problem.
Sending David Akers out to kick a 52-yard field goal with 3 1/2 minutes to play instead of going for fourth-and-11 at the Dallas 34 was idiotic.
The three points did the Eagles no good.
They were still needed a touchdown to stay in the game and had no timeouts.
But if you really are stupid enough to settle for a field goal, then wise up and at least try an onside kick to get the ball back.
No, Philly kicked away to Dallas, who made two first downs and let Tony Romo kneel three times to finish the Cowboys' 20-16 victory.
"We need to eliminate mistakes," Philly quarterback Donovan McNabb said after the game.
On Sunday night, that might have included locking their head coach in the dressing room until this game was over.
Posted by Nick Gholson at 8:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Kiss my bezoar; No more bees for me
November 5, 2009After at least 10 years of spelling and misspelling,I am now officially retired from the spelling bee.
I did my last one on Wednesday.
I will not be Brett Favre and come back and try to win the big one.
I will not be Ted Buss and go back and forth from retirement to unretirement.
My worst finish was dead last. (Keep reading).
My best finish was a second place. (Thanks, Susan).
The Wichita Adult Literacy Council has the bee as a fundraiser every year. They say that one out of ever four people in our area can't read well enough to read a prescription bottle.
I'm not sure I really believe that.
I don't know one single illiterate person.
My bee days are over.
It all officially came to an end on the fifth round Wednesday when my two partners, Susan Knowles and Jessica Langdon, and I screwed up "Bezoar."
Can't remember exactly how we misspelled it, but we did and were punished severely by having to sit there on the front row while the 10 remaining teams fought it out for the championship.
Bezoar?
What in the hell in a bezoar?
Can I phone a friend?
"Hey, Joe Brown, how do you spell bezoar?"
"Yeah, it probably does start with a B."
The regular dictionary definition for bezoar is: "any of various calculi found chiefly in the gastrointestinal organs and formerly believed to possess magical properties"
One medical dictionary calls it "a ball of swallowed foreign material (usually hair or fiber) that collects in the stomach and fails to pass through the intestines."
A magical hairball?
My spelling bee career came to an end because I could not spell a word meaning hairball?
Oh well.
The end was better than the start when Susan and I spelled out and wrote down "Insomnia" in the first round and our good buddy Joe B. misread it.
How the hell can you misread I-n-s-o-m-n-i-a?
I know Joe Brown is not among the 25 percent that cant' read a pill bottle.
Maybe old Joe just had one of those bezoars in his belly that day.
Posted by Nick Gholson at 8:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
One year ago, we elected Obama; Did we get it right?
November 4, 2009Exactly one year ago today, this great country elected Barack Obama our president.
Nothing against John McCain -- he's a good man.
And nothing against Sarah Palin, whoever she is.
In fact, for many people like me, we didn't cast our vote for Obama.
I really don't know much about him either.
It's just that he had a "D" beside his name instead of an "R."
Having George W. Bush as our leader for eight years was long enough.
Bush is a Republican.
We didn't want another Republican.
So, even though Fox News' "fair and unbalanced" reporting has tried to tear down Obama and everything he stands for, I am still happy with the way I voted on Nov. 4, 2008.
I might be a little blue dot in a big red state, but that's OK with me.
Am I completely happy with Obama?
No.
He talks a good game, but right now I have to honestly admit the thing I most admire about him is he's not George W. Bush.
I would like to have a president who ---
1, Ends all war. Leave the fighting to MMA and IFL.
(Somebody in Dallas suggested I take a short cut on the George Bush Turnpike and I told them "No, thanks, I might wind up in Iraq.")
2. Balances our budget. No more bailouts, please.
3. Explores and finds an alternative energy source. We have been talking about this since Jimmy Carter.
4. Stays out of other countries' business. We have enough problems of our own.
If Obama and a Democratic Congress can't get any of that done, I just might vote for somebody else come Nov. 6, 2012.
Heck, who knows, I might run myself.
Posted by Nick Gholson at 8:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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