Archive for April, 2006

I tell myself not to do it.
Play golf instead.
Go fishing.
Read “War and Peace.”
Watch all of Clint Eastwood’s movies.
Drink.
Drink.
Drink.
Drink some more.
But when the clock strikes 11 Saturday morning, I will do what I always do on this day every year.
I will watch the NFL Draft.

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This column ran back in 2002 when I celebrated my 30th year working for the Times Record News. Today — April 27 — is my 34th anniversary with the newspaper, so I thought since 34 was the number worn by both the great Nolan Ryan and the late, great Walter Payton, I would re-run it for you with a few updates.
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The year was 1972.
Nixon was in the White House. Watergate was just a swanky hotel.
Young American kids were dying on the battlefields of Vietnam.
Arab terrorists were murdering young Israeli athletes.
Don McLean’s “American Pie? was the year’s No. 1 song.
“The Godfather? was the top movie of the year.
Britney Spears’ parents were in the Pepsi Generation.
On April 27 of that year – exactly 34 years ago today – Ted Buss, then the sports editor of this newspaper, gave his newest sports writer a scorebook and sent him to Burkburnett to cover a Hirschi-Burk high school baseball game.
It was my first assignment and my first byline.
Since that day I have been fortunate enough to cover a Summer Olympics in Greece and a Winter Olympics in Italy; 30 Dallas Cowboys’ seasons and three Super Bowls; baseball’s All-Star Game and all of the Texas Rangers’ home playoff games; the very first Dallas Mavericks game; the NCAA basketball tournament; a PGA Championship and a U.S. Open.
I’ve followed Tiger Woods inside the ropes for 18 holes.
I’ve met Willie Mays and Hank Aaron; Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson; O.J., Dr. J and Sugar Ray; Nicklaus, Palmer, Trevino and Player; Bo Jackson, Bear Bryant, Tom Landry, Nolan Ryan, George W. Bush, more celebrity elbow-rubbing than I have time to talk about.
Man, it has been a fun 34 years.

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My wife and I went to the movies last night.
And the “Coming Soon” caught our attention more than the “Now Playing.”
The Da Vinci Code — directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks — was previewed to be coming in May.
I haven’t read Dan Brown’s best-selling book, mainly because I wasn’t sure if I should.
You see I believe Jesus Christ is who the Bible says he was — the Son of God.
And if you believe that, I don’t see how you can believe that he was married to Mary Magdalene. From what I understand the book alleges this and also theorizes that the divine Christ and an infallible Scripture was created by a group of bishops meeting in Turkey in the year 325.
Could Jesus have been married to Mary Magdalene and still be the Son of God?
I don’t think so.
Don’t ask me why because I really don’t know. Maybe I’ve just got too many Sunday Schools in me to believe in something like that.

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When I was in junior high, I had one goal in life.
To view as much of the female anatomy as possible.
That’s just the way God made little boys — out of snips and snails and puppy dog tails..
(What is a snip? Must have something to do with circumcision.)
So I can understand why some 13-year-old boy might think about pulling some cute girl’s panties down.
But thinking about it and doing it are two different things.
A front page story in our paper today told about how a seventh-grade boy at McNiel had been “given a ticket” for “disorderly conduct” for pulling a girl’s panties down in front of friends after school.
“Disorderly” conduct is throwing a pencil at someone in class.
This was sexual harrassment.
And I am in complete agreement with the girl’s grandmother. This kid needs to be punished with something more harsh than a fine that his parents are going to pay.

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I don’t know if Dirk Nowitzki deserves to be the MVP of the NBA.
That’s because I probably didn’t watch one entire NBA game all season.
I covered the Grizzles-Mavericks Game 1 Sunday night in Dallas, and that was the first entire game I had seen this year.
I have a hard time getting excited about this league.
To me, it’s just 10 millionaires running up and down a room in their underwear with thousands of people paying hundreds of dollars to watch it.

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George Bush bought my vote.
And all it cost him was a couple of cheesburgers.
Now, I’m talking Bush 41 here.
The old man.
George Herbert Walker Bush.

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4-20 is now one of the most interesting days of the year.
If you planned ahead, you bought lots of stock in Oreo cookies because it’s a good bet on April 20, Oreo consumption will go up drastically.
You have heard of crunchtime.
Well, welcome to munchtime.
It’s “Reefer Madness” all over the USA — the day when many Americans celebrate marijuana.

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“Racial tension.”
How many times have you seen those two words on the sports page lately?
Like everytime there is a story about the Duke lacrosse team.
All of the Duke players indicted for the alleged rape are white.
The victim is black.
And they’re quickly taking sides in Durham, N.C.

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Just thought I should tell you that I am taking a couple of days R and R on Monday and Tuesday. I will start my blogs back up on Wednesday.
Not sure anybody is reading these things because I get almost no feedback.

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If you’re unfortunate to be addicted to the game of golf, then you know what I’m talking about.
It’s the day you dream of. The day when your drives sail into the middle of fairways, your iron shots don’t hook out-of -bounds and your chips don’t fly over the green.
Then you knock down a couple of 20-footers on top of that.
I’ve never professed to being anything better than a hack golfer, one that hopes to break 100 every time out.
My best score was a 92 I once shot. Until Saturday.
First – Archer City’s course isn’t real long, nor is it too difficult.
Second – I will own up to two mulligans.
But I torched the par-70 course, finishing with a surprising 81.
I’ve shown promise in certain aspects of my game, only to have others fail me during a round. On Saturday, everything clicked. And I’m still living off that high.
I plan to go golfing again on Wednesday – probably to River Creek. And I know what’s going to happen. I may not break 100, while scattering balls all over the course.
But no one can take that 81 away from me.

Just sitting here flipping the remote and wondering “Why isn’t there an Easter Eve??. . . .
I started flipping the remote Saturday afternoon trying to find the Rangers’ game. Once I realized it wasn’t on TV, I began looking for alternate viewing.
And what I found was better than the Rangers. (That really doesn’t take much these days.)
First, I found a tribute to Hank Williams Jr. TV has way too many awards shows, but I stopped off on CMT when I heard Johnny Cash’s name mentioned. Hank Jr. was receiving a reward named for the late great J.C.
I saw Hank Williams Jr. at Memorial Auditorium here in Wichita Falls back in 1977 or 1978. The place holds 2,700 people. Only about 200 showed up to see Hank.

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GOOD – The effort: In what other sport do you see most of the competitors so physically exhausted that they can’t stand or walk. Let’s face it. Running isn’t the most glamorous sport, and these athletes push their bodies to the max.
BAD – The execution: I’m sure Denison tried its best, but it wasn’t the best-run meet I’ve ever seen. It started 35 minutes later than expected, and had some long gaps in between.
Then, somehow, the boys’ coaches had to stand around for 30 minutes afterward to see who won because there was some sort of error compiling points from a field event. It was unorganized, to say the least.
GOOD – The coaches: These people are so unsung it’s not even funny. First off, with prelims, field events and finals, these meets last almost 12 hours. And coaching is one of the only tasks they have. Coaches also have to keep up with the whereabouts of 20-30 kids, making sure they check-in in time and don’t wander off.
BAD – My forgetfulness: First, I print off the directions to the stadium, but leave them at work. I realize this when I’m in Nocona. No biggie, although I had to stop for directions twice.
But I also forgot my lawn chair, so standing for 5 hours isn’t the best thing for your back. And that’s on top of the four-drive roundtrip drive. Oh well.
GOOD – The Youth: Wichita Falls and the area around it has produced only one gold medalist at
state in the last two years (Graham’s Dan Schmidt – discus).
Who knows what this year will bring, but there’s a bunch of kids who will make repeat trips to Austin. The entire WFHS girls team is coming back, and WFHS’ Isaiah Anderson, who hasn’t lost in the 100 this year, is a soph.
And keep an eye on this name – Katie Grimes of Graham. The freshman won five golds at the 5-3A meet and has some pretty salty times on our track honor roll.
Also, kudos to the Rider, Graham and Holliday boys, and the WFHS and Graham girls for their district titles. I can’t wait for regionals.

For much of my life I couldn’t understand what was so good about Good Friday.
I saw nothing good in the torture and execution of an innocent man. And when that man just so happens to be the son of God and the execution is crucifixion upon a cross – well, what’s so good about that?
But in my youth, I never really heard much about Good Friday. I grew up in the Church of Christ where “we celebrate Easter every Sunday.? Because of that attitude, Easter and the things that go with it, really weren’t the big deal they were in other churches.

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When did basketball coaches become so expensive?
It’s not like they’re rare and hard to find.
And you really don’t have to be very smart to do it.
So why are colleges offering 2 million bucks a year for a coach?
Yeah, you read right. 2 million bucks to coach a game that basically is 10 guys at a time running up and down the floor in their underwear.

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“The Paper” was once the marketing trademark for the Times Record News.
For some reason, we stopped using it, but I always liked it because that’s what everybody called us.
“Do you work at The Paper?”
“I’ve been subscribing to The Paper all my life.”
Etc., etc., etc.
Well this week The Paper ran out of the paper.
Or at least my favorite stall in the men’s room here did.

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I have my favorite times of the year. Football season ranks highly, for sure.
March Madness is also up there. And the World Cup, which cycles only every four years (and is only a couple months away), tops the list.
But there’s also a two-month gap coming up where one sport is at its finest. For those hockey enthusiasts, you know what I’m talking about.
Playoff Hockey.
Is there anything more tantalizing? Where every goal is huge, where every shot has three bodies flying in front of it, where the checks are crisp and the tension crisper.
What other sport can go into five overtimes?
I mention this because I witnessed my first taste of playoff hockey the last two weeks, covering the Wildcats in an entertaining best-of-5 series.
Wichita Falls lost, but it played the underdog role to a T, battling hard for every loose puck until the final whistle blew.
It was great stuff.
And so now, I have to wait another couple of weeks until the Stars open the playoffs. It’ll be hard, but I’ll be able to manage.

I spent part of my morning today learning how to answer the phone.
Now, I’m waiting on the big test. I just know the company is going to plant a mole to dial my number to see if I learned my lesson.
Here is how a call would have gone before my Team TRN changed my life:
Ring, Ring Ring
Ring Ring Ring
Ring Ring Ring
Ring Ring Ring
“Sports”
“Yeah, buddy, can you tell me what was the score after the third quarter of the Super Bowl?”
“The Super Bowl that was played on Feb 5? Just a minute, let me let you talk with our Super Bowl third quarter score editor, Lee Anderson.”
click
Now here’s how the new me — or at least the paranoid me — will handle such a call.
Ring Ring
“Sports: Nick Gholson speaking. May I help you.”

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If being a non-winner means being a loser, then I am a loser this year.
And most likely, I will be a loser again next year and the year after that.

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I think I may be Mexican.
In the last week, I have really enjoyed being around Mexican people.
And I could eatMexican food seven days a week.
Does that make me Mexican?

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As i write this, Vijay Singh is leading the Masters. I don’t like Vijay Singh. Anytime the TV cameras focus on him, my wife Jenee’ and I give a loud “Booooooooooooooooooooo.”

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