Why must the Winter Olympics end? Although one case the Winter Olympics can end is NBC’s coverage. Figure skating channel anyone? Even on days when they don’t HAVE figure skating they subject us to it.
As long as I’m throwing questions about, can we always have the South Lake Chamber breakfast at the City of Minneola hall?
This little fued between U.S. skiers Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso is getting intriguing. For the record, I’m on Julia’s side. Lindsey Vonn’s act is getting tiring, Mancuso is the better skier, like it or not.
Somebody says Tijuana Flats in Leesburg closed. Great, another half-ways decent affordable-for-lunch restaurant in Leesburg closes. That pretty much leaves … I’m bringing lunch in.
I’m not the biggest University of Tennessee fan, but this is funny.
Former South Lake High star Jeff Demps was named the SEC Male Freshman of the Week.
Former South Lake High and current University of Florida football and track star, Jeff Demps, was named the SEC Male Freshman of the Week.
From the University of Florida press release:
In the first collegiate indoor meet of his career, Demps placed second in the finals of the men’s 60-meter dash at the Virginia Tech Elite Meet with the second-fastest time in school history at 6.61, just off the NCAA automatic-qualifying standard of 6.60.
Demps charted the fastest time of any competitor in the preliminary round at 6.64, which at the time was the fourth-fastest time in school history. He ranks second in the nation so far this season in the men’s 60-meter dash.
You can read the full press release on the University of Florida’s Web site here.
Coming back from Eustis today, I needed petroleum products for the ol’ gas guzzler and stopped at the Cumberland Farms on 441 and 473 near the mall.
Dashing through the rain, I gave the lady 40 bills to fill it up. In pressing the key pad, I guess she missed a zero and put in $4. I put the four bucks in … and dashed through the rain again to tell her. She noticed it right away she apologized three or four times and … dashed through the rain to put the remainder in the tank.
It was then, on about her fifth apology, she asked me to come in for a free cup of coffee. On a rainy, cool, damp, crappy day … I took her up on it.
The lady made a mistake and was willing to give up a simple cup of coffee for it. I say thanks and you just don’t see that anywhere.
Like I posted two weeks ago, I really hoped the Saints were going to the Super Bowl. It really has meant plenty to the city of New Orleans and its people, and what a great town it is.
They did and they won it. The city deserves it.
The celebrations, needless to say are running rampant. However, unlike Detroit or Chicago when the Pistons and the Bulls won the titles, no destruction in NOLA. And there are reasons for it.
First, and most obvious is the fact, they’ve seen enough destruction in that town with a tyrant named Katrina.
Second, this is New Orleans, they invented the word cocktail, and shortly after that they had to have invented the word party. They know how to do things right and have a good time.
You can see, it seems like destruction, but its just people hugging and shouting – not torching.
There were two incidents, but the police said the usual crime had “subsided.”
Georgefest in Eustis is on Feb. 27. This celebration has been ongoing for 108 years and features a parade, games like bed races and pie eating contests and the Citrus Squeeze – a juicing contest.
And the obvious fest coming up is the Leeburg Bikefest from April 23rd to April 25th. This year’s headliners is Warrant, the 80s/early 90s band with hits like Cherry Pie, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Heaven and Downboys.
After making a trip to New Orleans during the holidays and meeting some of the most hospitable people I’ve ever met, I really hope the Saints go and win the Super Bowl. Nearly five years after Katrina, the city is rallying around the Saints and would be a huge lift up for them. There have been several stories written about the city – and how the people love the Saints – like this from the Denver Post. But the best one is from ESPNs Wright Thompson who talks about “the soul of the city.” New Orleans is a great town with great people, you don’t HAVE to be a partier to enjoy what that city has to offer.
Oh yeah and the food ain’t bad either when in New Orleans. Suggestion, go to Mother’s for breakfast, Johnny’s Po-Boys (try the Judge Bosetta) for lunch and Arnuad’s Remoulade or K-Joe’s for dinner. If you sit at the bar in K-Joe’s and get Bruce tell him Mike and Denise from Clermont say Hi. I think I gained about seven pounds in five days there despite all the walking.
The late night wars are about over and, unfortunately Conan is gone for now. I really like Conan, when I stayed up long enough to see him, AND I liked Jay’s prime time show. I used to be a big fan of Dave too and may have to switch back to him. Dave has had the most fun with this saying quips like “Let me ask you this: In contractual negotiations, are you fascinated by legal detail? Listen to this: Conan O’Brien, he had ‘The Tonight Show’ and now he’s leaving, and NBC is negotiating with him and it’s that intellectual property –- he can’t take his signature comedy bits with him. But that’s OK, Jay will take them.” Dave has been pretty much hammering Jay and NBC in the past couple weeks.
The long walk into the desert abyss has started, Dr. Saturday and I agree. …
… At least this is an Olympic year. Go Shaun White! And the best event bar none in ALL of the Olympics, Winter or Summer, is the downhill. Tommy Moe was the last U.S. winner in 1994.
Conan’s best line in all of this? “There’s a rumor that NBC is so upset with me that want to keep me off the air for three years. My response to that is if NBC doesn’t want people to see me, just leave me on NBC.”
And make sure you swing by the Leesburg library in February for a look at some artifacts on Lake County Black History.
Well go ahead and blame me if you must. But I’m happy with it, just two weeks late that’s all.
For those who read my editor’s column in the magazine, I asked for something from Mother Nature in the December issue. It just happened two weeks and a day past due.
I asked Mom for one day of snow. We got it Saturday. I wanted it for Christmas Day. THAT’s the day we should have had it. And now we’re left with the sunny and cold days.
Throw the snowballs or sleetballs at me. Bombard me. I’ll take the blame. I asked for it and I got it.
But tell me this, are you really upset about the cold? Really? You know we only have a few bad days of this. Remember these cold days, store it up as if it were solar power. You will need an “arctic blast” right about … how long can you take it?
Or how about a repeat of last June when there were heat advisories out because the heat index was hitting 104. Rarely does it get to be more than 100 in Florida, but when it does, you know and I know - you cook.
I’m sitting in the office at English Communications wearing a coat – and enjoying it. I can suffer a little at this end as oppossed to sweating to death.
Thanks Mother Nature, you were a little late, but we had some fun.
The holiday that seems to be picking up steam lately is Festivus. Festivus was started in February 1966 but took shape on Seinfeld in the episode The Strike. George’s father, Frank, declared it as a “Festivus for the rest of us.” It comes complete with aluminum pole, the airing of grievences and feats of strength. Not bad, just another holiday, so what if a TV show started it.
A company in Milwaukee is actually making Festivus poles as well. It’s too late to order them, but it is only 364 shopping days until next Festivus.
Happy Festivus
Merry Christmas
I’m going to have a Sazerac or two in New Orleans before New Year’s Day
It was reported yesterday that Arnold Stang passed at the age of 91. So you’re wondering who Arnold Stang is.Stang was a nerdy let’s say junior Don Knotts of radio, TV and movies. Stang once said ”I look like a frightened chipmunk who’s been out in the rain for too long.”
But what brings me to this point is the fact Stang was in one of the “first” American comedy classics called It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. And if you’ve seen it, you know that some of the great comedians of a past generation were in it. Many in The Villages remembers Milton Berle, Buddy Hackett, Sid Caesar, Phil Silvers, Mickey Rooney, Jim Backus and about a thousand others were in it – even the Three Stooges.
For those of a younger generation the movie is a little like Airplane. For those of the now generation, It’s not like a insipid Will Ferrell movie. It’s a classic stupid slapstick type of movie. Ferrell’s are just stupid.
The plot centered around a group of motorists, Caesar, Berle, Rooney and the great Jonathan Winters who are passed by a speeder driven by Jimmy Durante. Durante’s car crashes and in his dying words tell the motorists about a large sum of money under a “Big W.” The chase starts to get to the city where the money is.
If you have young kids, I suggest going out and finding this movie and watching during the post-Christmas week. The kids will learn about a classic and the great American comedians and no worries about language. But warning, if you get the director’s cut of the movie, start it at 7 p.m. – it’s three hours and 12 minutes long.
Cold and flu season in Florida must mean it comes with screwy weather. It’s 85 one day, 56 the next. Rain, wind.
Yeah, I got it – the cold. At least I get it and get rid of it before Christmas, so the timing is not all that horrible. Pass the Kleenex.
You just feel miserable … and most likely a full slate of Christmas shopping ahead. I once had a co-worker years ago ask this question, “Mike since you stay pretty healthy, I imagine you have some kind of natural remedy you take.”
My response was: “Absolutely not, Joe I find the most potent cold medication I can get to try and get rid of this thing.”
At the Clermont Wal-Mart establishment the other night, I picked up the stuff behind the counter. The one that contains psuedoephedrine. I know, you have to sign for it – but hey it works. Of course, psuedoephedrine used to be common over-the-counter medication until morons figured out how to make methamphetamine out of it.
Because of stupid drug addiction, it makes it harder to cure the common cold.
I’ve tried chicken soup, doesn’t work – actually tomato soup works better for me.
Anybody have a sure-fire way to get rid of a cold?
It’s the only way to describe Bobby Bowden stepping down the way he is.
When you think of Florida State University – you think of Bobby Bowden. He put the school’s football team on the map around the nation. Fourteen straight times his Seminoles would finish in the top 5 in the nation.
He’s a legend – period.
I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing Coach Bowden during my sportswriting hey day. He was always a pleasure to interview. The first time I met him was at the 1989 State Championship game when Bradenton Manatee played Miami Carol City and I was a young pup reporter for the Bradenton Herald.
The conversation started on the field like this:
“Hello Coach Bowden.”
“Hey Boy”
I was a little taken back. I mean I was 26, of course to him I guess I was a boy.
As the years went on, culminating with myself as president of the Florida Sports Writers Association in 2006, he would call me Mike. But I’ll always remember that first conversation we talked about why he was at the game, (He was eyeing offensive lineman Pat McNeil of Manatee to play at FSU) and what his Seminoles would be looking forward to in the 1990 season.
I never was a “beat writer” for the Seminoles but, as sports editor for The Daily Commercial, I would have links to the FSU program and Coach Bowden mostly through former Eustis High players Billy and Bobby Rhodes and Justin Amman. I would also talk to him during the Florida College Media Day, which was held before the start of the season in Daytona Beach or Cypress Gardens. The event, held each year, was put on by the Florida Sports Writers Association, took place all in day.
On one day August 1, 1999, the event was held on a paddlewheel steamer in which Cypress Gardens had bought and they shuttled in the coaches back and forth on a boat, leaving us “hacks” on the steamer for seven hours – with no air-conditioning.
Coach Bowden needed about three people to help him off the boat and it was about 3:30 in the afternoon, but he was his usual self, full of quips ”Boy howdy, how did you guys ever survive this boat ride?” That was his first words when he got to the podium. “It’s dad gum hot up here I’ll tell ya,” was his next line.
The next year, the media day was inside. A month after the 2000 media day I was hired by The Tampa Tribune and became an officer of the FSWA. In 2005 and 2006 I was president of the organization and was in charge of arranging what grew into a two-day function at a posh hotel in Orlando in 2005 and in Tampa in 2006.
While arranging 12 coaches to attend the two-day event, each were given a half hour in which to speak. Urban Meyer got a half hour. Lamont Massie at Ed Waters got a half hour. And most would eat up that half hour, except one – Coach Bowden. Coach would “hold court” with the sports writers just chatting football and one-liners. All that was needed was a change in the setting from a hotel ballroom to a bunch of wooden chairs, a cracker barrel and some checkers.
In 2006, FSU Sports Information Director Rob Wilson asked me if it ”would be all right” if we had Coach Bowden go on last, which was Sunday, and if we could block out an hour because as Rob put it then “Coach likes to talk.” I had no trouble honoring his request.
Of course, those media days were always great – it was like who cares about August baseball, the heat, the afternoon storms whatever – football season was just around the corner. Time talk football. And Coach Bowden was the best.
In the annals of college football history, Bowden will always go down as one of the best, but what made him more legendary – I believe – was when his status was boosted by another coach just down the state – the head ball coach Steve Spurrier at Florida. At those media days, fellow state sports writers would salivate over what Bowden and Spurrier would say.
Those two coaches made this state legendary when it comes to college football and now, neither one is here. The St. Petersburg Times, at the turn of 1999 to 2000 had a special commemorative section on the 25 most influential people in the history of Florida. In it were people like Walt Disney, Majory Stoneman Douglas and former Governor Ruben Askew. But also in it were Steve Spurrier and Coach Bowden with the line “They have consumed our Saturdays.”
LAKE Magazine’s Jake Vest was right a couple months back in his column – Bowden and Spurrier ARE a part of Florida’s history.
I remember during that 1999 Florida-FSU game in Gainesville, when FSU won 30-23 Bowden was saying afterward that when FSU would look to be in trouble offensively, he would grab the headset and start calling the plays instead of then-offensive coordinator Mark Richt. “I wanted to start working out of the I-formation. That’s the best formation for when we get in a bit of trouble. We can either throw it to or run (Travis) Minor and that’s safe.” The Seminoles would go on to win the National Championship.
Don’t tell me he couldn’t coach. Yeah, maybe he made the wrong decision when Richt left for Georgia and he hired Jeff Bowden as coordinator and FSU’s dominance diminished, but it really hasn’t gotten THAT much better with Jimbo Fisher has it?
Its all over.
It’s a dad gum shame the way they (FSU) are forcing Coach Bowden out the door, oh maybe he should have left a couple years ago and we would be writing this two or three years ago.
I’m not a FSU fan, but if Coach Bowden is coaching the last bowl game, no matter who the opponent is. Let them win. Let the players raise Coach Bowden on his shoulders for one more ride. FSU owes him that much – at least.
It was reported yesterday that 
It’s bumfuzzling, dad gum it.
I never was a “beat writer” for the Seminoles but, as sports editor for The Daily Commercial, I would have links to the FSU program and Coach Bowden mostly through former Eustis High players Billy and Bobby Rhodes and Justin Amman. I would also talk to him during the Florida College Media Day, which was held before the start of the season in Daytona Beach or Cypress Gardens. The event, held each year, was put on by the Florida Sports Writers Association, took place all in day.
In the annals of college football history, Bowden will always go down as one of the best, but what made him more legendary – I believe – was when his status was boosted by another coach just down the state – the head ball coach Steve Spurrier at Florida. At those media days, fellow state sports writers would salivate over what Bowden and Spurrier would say.
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