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Wednesday, November 22, 2006
My annual giving of thanks
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
Holidays, what a joy. I doubt that any country dives into holidays like us Americans, but that’s just supposition. Bastille Day is the only foreign holiday I’ve ever encountered, and France shuts down for that one, at least in Normandy, where I was in desperate need of an overnight accommodation. Approaching Caen, I noticed repetitive signs that advertised “Hotel de Ville.” Several of them. Must be a palatial place, I thought, and I kept following the markers. I was in luck, I chortled, when I saw only a couple of cars in the parking lot, but no sign of life. Then it hit me, right between the eyes.
Translated, I had arrived at the City Hall in Caen. No room in the inn. I spent the night in a telephone booth room over a small cafe, and gave thanks for that, which brings me around to the annual Thanksgiving Day mission of sharing these Thursdays with you, sometimes musing, sometimes flippant in nature:
I’m thankful for the cat’s meow — when that means he wants to get out.
I’m thankful for the sound of a waterfall, not some Niagara roar, but the trickle of water over rocks.
I’m thankful that in this twilight of my life, I still have enough hair to have to visit Cookie for a tonsorial treatment.
I’m thankful that the Oakland Raiders and Randy Moss finally got together, the hand of destiny at work.
I’m thankful for eye glasses; can you imagine what a blur the world would be without them?
I’m thankful for the sound of golf spikes — the real thing — on a gravel path.
I’m thankful when I get to church and see that the songs for the service are ones I know the words to.
I’m thankful, driving down the hill to home, to see a plume of smoke curling up from the chimney.
I’m thankful I grew up in the radio, not the television age.
I’m thankful I’ve grown to appreciate the railing on stairways more than I used to.
I’m thankful I’ve found out that “Bompa,” loosely translated means me, “Grandpa.”
I’m thankful I grew up when a corn-shucking was known as a social event.
I’m thankful for the driver who thinks to look before he backs up.
I’m thankful we don’t own a parrot, and so is the cat.
I’m thankful I can still find a place to get a typewriter ribbon.
I’m thankful for the sight of thunder clouds after a long dry spell.
I’m thankful that wrinkles don’t hurt, unless you look in the mirror.
OK, if life begins at 40, what happens at 80?
I’m thankful for the styptic pencil, something only a few of us old shavers can identify. But what happened to it?
I’m thankful for the mountain colors this year, which I seem to say every year, so who needs New England?
I’m thankful for the parent who seems to enjoy being one.
I’m thankful for the golden sun up across the marshes at St. Simons. God does paint with a beautiful brush.
I’m thankful for the disc jockey, the guy who played records and chattered away through your radio, like a neighbor across the fence.
I’m thankful for corned beef and cabbage, any time, any day.
I’m thankful the telemarketers can’t get to us any longer. Take that!
I’m thankful for ol’ John Shea, something a little private here for our best man and a friend like no other.
And I’m thankful that we’ve been able to share another Thanksgiving across the table, now don’t forget your nap.
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Meyer out of line with his whine
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Memo to Urban Meyer: Shut up, sit back and enjoy Florida’s wonderful ride to wherever the BCS gods steer the Gators in football this January.
PS: Stop becoming another Tommy Tuberville.
What’s with these SEC coaches trying to whine their way into a national championship game? Tuberville still won’t let 2004 go. Back then, his Auburn Tigers went undefeated along the way to taking the conference title game, but they weren’t picked for the Big Game. Southern Cal and Oklahoma also went undefeated, and they both had tougher schedules than Auburn, and they both were ranked higher than Auburn.
End of story.
As for this year’s Florida team, it’s lucky to sit fourth in the current BCS standings after struggling against Vanderbilt and South Carolina. In general, the Gators have been so underwhelming that they could be upset on Saturday in Tallahassee by sputtering but talented Florida State, Florida’s archrivals.
Even so, Meyer is blasting anyone who remembers last Saturday’s classic in Columbus, Ohio, and wants a rematch between No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Michigan (Saturday’s loser) in the BCS championship game. Said Meyers of the BCS folks, “If they do that, there should be a playoff system next year. Those (Ohio State and Michigan) were great teams, but if that happens, then it’s over. Then the presidents need to put together a playoff system … and now.”
No, Urban. If an Ohio State-Michigan rematch happens, Florida needs to get better. No. 3 Southern Cal also joins the Gators with one loss. Still, you don’t hear Southern Cal coach Pete Pete Carroll moaning and groaning about what should happen in the BCS title game. Said Carroll to the media after the Trojans’ victory on Saturday over Cal, “I’ll be the last guy to campaign for us.”
Notre Dame has one loss, too, and the Fighting Irish play Saturday night at Southern Cal. Should Notre Dame win, here’s what coach Charlie Weis said in his Tuesday news conference about whether his team should face undefeated Ohio State: “When I’m so prejudiced and biased toward Notre Dame, why really go there? The bottom line is, if you wouldn’t have lost, you’d be like Ohio State, guaranteed a spot.”
Are you listening, Urban, to the wisdom and class of Carroll and Weis?
Tuberville doesn’t hear them, or he just doesn’t care. Even with Auburn out of the mix this season, Tuberville can’t stay out of this BCS thing. Of a possible Ohio State-Michigan rematch, Tuberville said Sunday, “I think Arkansas or Florida should get that opportunity. It shouldn’t even be close.”
Yeah, well.
Get over it.
Permalink | Comments (49) | Categories: Quick Hit, Terence Moore
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