Doug's Place

I’ve seen and heard Tiger Woods’ mea culpa in full three times now. These few sentences from today’s statement he issued have raised my eyebrows (and probably my blood pressure).

“I ran straight through the boundaries that a married couple should live by. I thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to. I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt I was entitled. Thanks to money and fame, I didn’t have to go far to find them.”

Are you kidding me?!?! Tiger thought he could get away mixing married life and fooling around. He enjoyed competing in the highest ranks of pro golf, raking in millions of dollars in the process, and he thought he’d be “allowed” to spend some of that money on extra-curricular activity (that’s putting it nicely, to say the least).

I don’t even want to begin to calculate how much money he spent on the other women (I don’t have the time; I’ll let someone else do that). All I’m going to say is that money could’ve been spent in better ways (improving neighborhoods, gifts for the Mrs., maybe even opening up golf camps for youth).

Tiger’s certainly not the first pro athlete to become unbelievably rich and run afoul of marital vows in the process. As long as pro athletes make those millions, “the temptations”, as Tiger called them, will always be there.

Doug’s Place Flashback: While May 28, 2005, proved to be the official start of a brief marriage (for the benefit of those of you seeing my blog for the first time, I’m widowed), Cindy and I took the vows we exchanged to heart. While not every day was a bed of roses, we loved each other deeply and stayed committed to each other until the marriage’s natural end.

Unfortunately, during our time together, at least five other marriages involving couples Cindy and I knew were hitting the skids and on their respective ways toward “the big D”. One of those situations was just so unbelievable, I can remember I didn’t sleep well one night. When Cindy got into bed with me, I remember holding her real close and saying to her, “I never want to lose you.” The feeling was mutual.

Memo to those of you in a marriage: Stay committed to it. Make sure any and all temptations are in your rear view mirror. Move forward, never backward. If you have money to burn, that’s the golden opportunity to brighten your spouse’s day with a surprise gift.

In February of ‘09, I was at a Super Bowl party at a local restaurant. A waitress was wearing Saints gear — and I specifically told her, “Darling, it’s going to be a cold day in Ecuador before they win a Super Bowl.” Well, they’re 120 minutes away from the Lombardi trophy.

Fast forward to the summer and fall and all the drama of whether Brett Favre would suit up for the Vikings or stay retired. During a pre-season game, I blogged, “I’ll be real surprised if Brett Favre and the Vikings make the playoffs.” Well, they’re also 120 minutes away from the Lombardi trophy.

OK, I’ll eat crow on my latter statement and will be glad to take a second helping if the Saints win the whole shebang. The part about Ecuador getting a visit from Old Man Winter probably won’t happen by this time next month.

But back to the teams themselves. In order for the Saints or Vikings to win the Super Bowl, one team must defeat the other. Such is the fact for Sunday’s NFC championship game.

To say the least, there’s tremendous interest in this game throughout these neighborhoods. The Saints, the de facto home team, are playing against the Vikings, quarterbacked by a hometown hero.

At the end of Sunday, my sincere hope is that it will be a competitive game and it will be something we all talk about for years to come.

As for a prediction, I’ll just go this far and say the winning team in Sunday’s game will be — the one with more points on the scoreboard.

(The following is cross-posted from DougMorris.net with additional personal notes.)

For better or for worse — and many in the here and now would argue the latter — the game show Remote Control helped blaze the trial for non-music video programming on MTV.
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A disturbing story that hit home crossed the wires today.

Kings Island amusement park, located just outside Cincinnati, had an early Halloween exhibit featuring “skeletons” of celebrities who’ve died within the last few months — including Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett.

But wait, it gets worse. The exhibit also had the likeness of a deceased Steve McNair, again in skeleton form, holding a football helmet with a hole in the top. How tasteless.

This hits home for two reasons. McNair was part of South Mississippi’s neighborhoods before moving on to stardom at Alcorn State and fame and fortune in the NFL. I think we’re at a point where the less said about the circumstances that lead to his untimely death the better.

The other reason: My family and I lived near Dayton for eight years — and I’ve visited Kings Island with family and friends a good number of times. The last visit had to have been around 1990.

That “last visit” will be a “last visit” in more ways than one. I’m planning to revisit Ohio next year and the year after that. During those and other times I visit Ohio, none of my money will be spent at Kings Island.

With Halloween more than a month from now, a simple word of advice to those of you planning something similar to this atrocious display: DON’T!

Like any other Southern Miss fan, I’m counting down to kickoff. But at the same time, I’m sure there will be heavy hearts on the other side of the ball come Saturday.

The Eagles’ first opponent: Alcorn State — alma mater of the late Steve McNair.

Word came today the powers-that-be in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, of which Alcorn State is a part of, are requiring players of their football teams to have #9 stickers on their helmets — in tribute to McNair.

I’m sure the Braves, at least, would do something to this effect. But during McNair’s collegiate career, he made a *lot* of people aware of the SWAC.

There are also plans to remember #9 during Saturday’s game. Another touch of class.

On a totally different football note, I’ll be real surprised if Brett Favre and the Vikings make the playoffs. A pre-season game against the Texans is taking place as I type this — and the Vikings were penalized minutes ago for too many players on the field. Might be a sign he’s trying to get used to them and vice versa.

The following is borderline NSFW.
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OK, let’s get the obvious out of the way. To use an oft quoted line from a local dentist who competed on The Amazing Race, “Dagnabbit!”

Certainly, this is not the way the Southern Miss baseball team wanted to end a storybook postseason – with two consecutive losses and eventual elimination from the College World Series. But, man alive, getting to Omaha was sure fun.
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On this May 28th, if Cindy were still with us, we’d be celebrating our fourth wedding anniversary today. Instead, it’s a commemoration at best.

This is a good time to note what I say to my radio audience near the end of every RockTrax show. I’ve said this every week since her untimely passing.

“Make it a great week, keep the faith and treasure your loved ones.”

I’ve always wanted to do this: Be a celebrity waiter at Chesterfield’s for the annual Waiting For A Cure Foundation fundraiser.

Here’s why: Close relatives and friends have fought the battle against breast cancer -– and won. Waiting For A Cure helps meet the needs of local breast cancer patients, survivors and their families.

Please join me and your friends and neighbors as we all raise money for this local breast cancer support group April 6th at Chesterfield’s, at the corner of 49 and Hardy in Hattiesburg.

Other celebrity waiters include: Larry Fedora, head football coach at Southern Miss; Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree, Petal Mayor Carl Scott; Colleen Donovan, co-anchor of WDAM-TV’s 5:00 newscast (full disclosure: I produce this during the business week) and U.S. Senator Roger Wicker.

For more details, visit www.waiting4acure.org or call 601-543-5719.

More evidence you can take me out of Knoxville – but you can’t take Knoxville out of me.

I’d like to say I’m surprised by last night’s big headline in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tourney – but I’m not.

Coach Summitt had a lot of freshman players on this year’s squad. These are players not necessarily used to the “big time”.

The coach will make a rebound. Other legendary coaches have had setbacks before and came back. If they can do it, so can Pat.

Meantime, as much as it pains me to say this, don’t be surprised if Geno and company run the table.