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.
Continue reading “Thanks For A Great Season, Fellas”
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.
Well, I hate to — oh, wait, this just in. Brett Favre’s coming out of retirement to play for Ottawa’s expansion team in the Canadian Football League.
Just kidding.
In any event, I hate to say I told you so — but I told you so.
When Brett switched jerseys, I predicted the New York Jets would go 8-8 and be, at best, a wild card if they made the playoffs. (insert Jim Mora’s rant here) End result was actually 9-7 and missing the playoffs. So I didn’t miss by much.
Though I will admit it got interesting when the Jets were 8-3. One NFL analyst said he wouldn’t be surprised if the Super Bowl had Giants vs. Jets. Well, we know how all that turned out.
Next items on Brett to do list: Find a way to get back to Green Bay and sign a contract there so he could retire a Packer. Further, I’m sure he’d like to get more involved in the Fourward Foundation, host golf tournaments and other fundraisers — and really give back.
Oh, and don’t be surprised if moves are made to waive off the five-year waiting period — in an effort to get Brett in the Pro Football Hall of Fame that much sooner.
Long before I rooted for the Golden Eagles or the Buckeyes, I rooted for the Vols of Tennessee.
The Morris family called Knoxville home in the ‘70s. My dad taught Air Force ROTC at Tennessee. One floor below his office was the basketball court and the office of Pat Head.
Nowadays, you know Pat Head as Pat Summitt. And now, we all know Pat Summitt as the only coach in college basketball history, in either the men’s or women’s game, to earn 1000 wins. The grand victory came, moments ago, in a win over Georgia’s Lady Bulldogs by a score of 73-43.
The accolades are coming in fast and furious. So I’ll keep this one short.
Coach Summitt, Knoxville always holds a special place in the hearts of the Morris family. You continue to make residents of Knoxville, past and present, proud. Here’s hoping the ninth championship is just around the bend.
And yes, as you told ESPN’s Kenny Mayne in a “This is SportsCenter” promo, you do have this coaching thing down pat.
Congratulations.
Seventy-five years ago today, Prohibition came to an end in these United States. And what better way to celebrate than going out for a drink? Such will be the case all across the country.
For example, word is there will be celebrations throughout California’s wine country. If you’re a Vulcan, you have to admit that’s logical. At least one Boston-based bar is also celebrating with an end-to-Prohibition party. If Norm, Cliffie, et al, were real people, they’d join in.
And to mark this milestone in Indianapolis, I’m sure a former co-worker in Fred Scott Sands will enjoy plenty of booze, buy women a few rounds of drinks, get them to… uh… well… if you knew Scott the way I knew him, you have a pretty good idea of the likely remainder of the story. Ladies of the Circle City, unless you *really* want to have Scott’s babies, it’s best you keep your distance from him.
But seriously, tonight and any night, after you’ve indulged in adult beverages, remember to leave the driving to someone else.
If you have not heard the story of Shane Stanford, you need to.
Shane currently serves as host of The United Methodist Hour: Time That Makes The Difference from its Hattiesburg-based headquarters. The program has been a statewide and regional program for decades — and it recently went national thanks to FamilyNet.
Doug’s Place Flashback: The first time I saw the program, it was on Tupelo’s NBC affiliate while visiting relatives in Alabama. Its then-host was Sam Morris. My father’s name is Sam Morris — but the preacher and my father are two different Sam Morrises. It became quite a running joke in the family when we all moved to Mississippi in the early ‘90s.
But back to Shane. Life has dealt him many a setback over the last several years. He’s a hemophiliac. He contracted HIV and hepatitis-C through a blood transfusion. Through it all, Shane’s happily married with three daughters (the Mrs. and girls are all healthy) and he continues to preach the Gospel.
Shane’s also an accomplished author. His story is told in the book When God Disappears. Shane and Pokey’s recently discussed their story on Life Today with James & Betty Robison. If you missed that program, click here.
A note of disclosure, as well as pride: Shane’s wife worked with my wife at William Carey University. When I relayed a message to Cindy that Shane was becoming the next host of the Methodist Hour, her reaction was, “Pokey’s husband?” Shane and I have since talked about Cindy’s story and her favorite verse of scripture: Jeremiah 29:11.
Bottom line: Just like Timex, Shane’s taken a licking — and, yet, he keeps on ticking.
I’m not a political junkie and Doug Morris dot org hasn’t necessarily been a haven for political blogging. Well, save for the times I followed this gadfly’s runs for office…
…and you don’t need a political science degree to understand why his runs for seats in the legislature and Hattiesburg’s city council ended in epic fail.
But back to the originally intended point for this post. I voted for John McCain because of his fearless leadership and service to our country. Stories of McCain as a military man and politician are all well documented.
Barack Obama on the other hand, to me, comes off as too much of a political neophyte. He’s served as a U.S. senator, was a state legislator in Illinois previously and… uh… is that all?
That reasoning noted, I’m going to take the high road from here. First and foremost, congratulations to President-Elect Obama on a fine win. Also, condolences to Mr. Obama and his family following the death of Madelyn Dunham, his grandmother.
Further, I wish to quote the words of John Wayne, the legendary actor who voted for Richard Nixon for president in 1960.
Nixon lost that election to John F. Kennedy. After the numbers were tabulated and JFK was declared the victor, Wayne said, “I didn’t vote for him. But, he’s my president — and I hope he does a good job.”
Regardless of who you voted for, let’s hope the same for President-Elect Obama.
Wow, what a saga.
First he retires, then he gets the itch to come back, tries to reunite with the Packers and the Pack trades him to the Jets.
At WDAM, we weren’t following a story. We were following a soap opera. So was the rest of the media in Green Bay and nationwide. Trust me, we got several calls from Wisconsin, ESPN and the like, all throughout the saga.
Early buzz, is of course, good. Thousands of #4 “Gang Green” jerseys have been sold, either online or in sporting goods stores. Jets fans have welcomed him with open arms. And I think I’m not going out on a limb in saying a percentage of those sales involve customers here in these neighborhoods of South Mississippi.
Question, of course, is this: What will be the end result? Depending on how well Brett does, the New York media at large will either be Brett’s best new friends or worst new enemies. There’s just no in-between.
On this 8/8/08, I’d say the absolute best that can be done in his first year as a Jet is 8-8. If he does better than that and reaches the playoffs, Wild Card at best.
Sure, I’ll root for Brett – unless it’s Week 6, when my Bengals are due to arrive in Giants Stadium to take on the Jets. Still, my gut feeling is – he would’ve been better off retired.
Even I could use a light-hearted post here. So here goes.
More than two dozen people are slated to be honored with stars on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame next year. Check out the story here.
As much as I’d like to take credit for one of those stars, the Doug Morris they’re referring to here is the longtime CEO of Universal Music Group.
From one Doug Morris to another, congratulations.
