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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.

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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.
Continue reading “You Can’t Make This Stuff Up”

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.