How My “View” of the Super Bowl Has Changed
My passion for sports has been a driving force in my life and in my career for as long as I can remember. The history of how I have “viewed” the big game has gone from my parent’s house – to my first Super Bowl experience – to a neighborly get together.
My first memory of watching one of the biggest spectacles in sports goes back to when I was in elementary school: we had Super Bowl parties before Super Bowl parties were cool. My dad would go to the store and stock up on chips, dips, soft drinks (which were a treat in our house) and cookies. Of course, back then, the pre-game show didn’t start four or five hours before the actual kickoff, but we still made the snacking an all-day affair. My favorite team, the Dallas Cowboys, won two Super Bowls while I was growing up in the 70s. We watched on a black and white TV with rabbit ears and no remote control.
From there, my Super Bowl watching experience changed from my family’s den to various bars while I was in college during the mid-80s. During those years, the Cowboys were down-right horrible, so I had to “adopt” other teams. I’ll never forget the first night of my sorority’s initiation week, the Bears were playing in the Super Bowl. One of my fellow pledges was from Chicago, and she was on pins and needles because we couldn’t watch the game (da Bears beat the Patriots that year.)
After college, the “viewing” went from bars to the news room. As a young reporter, I would inevitably have to work on the weekends, including Super Bowl Sunday. So, for several years, I watched the big game with only a few others on an otherwise slow news day. Needless to say, it was without a lot of cheering and adult beverages. But, in the mid-90s, I had the amazing opportunity to cover my first Super Bowl: my first Media Day, my first experience with a “throng of reporters” trying to get a soundbyte. That year, Super Bowl XXIX was played in Miami: the 49ers and the Chargers. It was an extremely uneven matchup and San Francisco sailed past San Diego. The next year, I finally got to see my hometown team when the Cowboys played the Steelers in Super Bowl XXX. There is nothing like being there, but there was also a lot of “leading up” to the game, and it almost made it seem like a letdown when Super Sunday finally arrived. Although, I’m not complaining because I got to do something that most people will never get to do.
Things have changed since I sat in my parent’s den 40 years ago, learning about football from my dad while watching on a black and white TV with rabbit ears. These days, my Super Bowl watching experience has transitioned into the “neighborhood party.” All the parents (hard to believe that’s me!) hang out downstairs with the big screen TV, a lot of food and plenty of adult beverages, while the kids go upstairs and play (running down periodically to grab some snacks.) And out of all my “views” of the Super Bowl, this is the best one.
The True Heart of a Champion
Well, for the first time in the team’s history, the Dallas Mavericks have won an NBA Championship. They bring home the title after a long and winding season, that consisted of winning streaks, losing streaks and injuries. But through it all, they have been the “comeback kids”: fighting, scratching and clawing to quiet all the critics who said that the Mavs would be done after the first round.
It was a group of guys named Dirk, J-Kidd, Jet, Shawn, J.J. and Tyson who battled and fought through adversity and picked each other up when one of them was down. One of the best parts of this team: the size of their heart, which is enormous. When everyone was saying, “The Mavs don’t have what it takes. The Mavs are soft. The Mavs can’t close the door,” the players weren’t listening. The players just wanted to put what happened in 2006 behind them — finally — and they did just that. The resiliency of this team is amazing; they are the most unlikely bunch, because they do it without the high-flying jams, they do it old school and it works for them.
A long-time coming for Dirk Nowitzki, and it’s all been worth it for the “Big German.” The 2011 NBA Champion MVP. The unselfish player, who takes and makes the most unconventional shots has reached his career-long goal.
Congratulations, Dallas Mavericks, you have the true heart of a champion.
The Gulf Coast is back
It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost a year since the BP oil spill, but you would never know that it even happened by the positive attitude of the people living and working in the Gulf Coast. My family and I took a vacation in mid-May of 2010, almost a month after the spill. We stayed in Orange Beach, Alabama, and at that time the oil had not reached that part of the coastline. Well, we’re back for Spring Break, mid-March of 2011. As my family and I walk along the beach, you can see the “oil sheen” on the shoreline, but really no other signs of an oil spill, specifically: no tar balls.
After talking to the residents and employees of Orange Beach and Gulf Shores, Ala., and Perdido Key, Fla., they are extremely grateful to have the tourists back, and they all say the same thing about the BP oil spill: the media killed us. Yes, the media. Every person that I spoke with said that the reports of “tar balls” and oil in the water was blown way out of proportion. In parts of Orange Beach and Gulf Shores, very few “tar balls” were present; in Perdido Key, there were even fewer. According to residents and employees of the Gulf Coast, this Spring Break will be the measuring stick as to how well they will bounce back. And so far, so good: business is great.
So yes, the Gulf Coast is back, but it never really went away.
What? No Easy Bake Oven?
We’re all trying to save money, right? We do what we can: conserve water, buy an economical car, recycle, and use those funny looking light bulbs. I still can’t used to them, but we’re going to have to. In 2007, legislation was passed to phase-out those bulbs we have all grown accustomed to. The move away from incandescent bulbs is to establish energy efficiency standards that require all new bulbs to use 25-30 percent less power than the traditional bulbs by 2012. This sounds all well and good, but there have been a lot of cons about the compact fluorescent lamps or CFLs (those are the funny looking tubular bulbs). They take a long time to get going, they aren’t as bright as our usual bulbs, and here’s the coup de grace: no more Easy Bake Ovens! Huh? Say it isn’t so…I remember begging for an Easy Bake Oven for Christmas in the 1970s. Now, mind you, my family didn’t have a lot of money, so this item on my Christmas list was a biggie. Well, I got one and I baked my little heart out. Pouring my batter into those tiny cake pans, sliding them into the oven, and thanks to the heat emitted by that bright incandescent bulb (of course, I had not clue that’s what it was called) those cakes came out perfect!! Well, Hasbro has decided it will retire the Easy Bake Oven because federal law will basically prohibit the use of the heating element: the 100 watt bulb (oh sorry, the incandescent bulb). But have no fear you budding bakers-to-be, Hasbro says they will introduce the new “The Easy Bake Ultimate Oven” this Fall, which will use a non-bulb heating element. What a relief.
Do you know who your “frelatives” are?
Now that the holidays are behind us — well, at least the big ones — I’m sure you spent some of that time with relatives. The big family dinner at Thanksgiving, Christmas or any other holidays you celebrate. Oh, I know, in every family there are certain relatives with whom you’d like to spend as little time as possible. I guess I am pretty lucky, for the most part, mine are pretty easy-going. Now, mind you, there are the relatives who are, as they say, “Like fish: After three days it’s time to throw them out.” Then there are the relatives that you actually get along with. Then, you’ve got your friends who you wish were your relatives. Recently, I learned a new term that my best friend’s son coined — or at least we let him think that he coined it — which describes those really good friends who you consider to be your relatives. So, here it is, wait for it….”frelatives.” Obviously, it combines “friends” with “relatives.” Genius! Thinking back to when I was growing up, we called some of my parent’s friends “aunt” and “uncle.” They were the kind of friends who you could count on for just about anything: frelatives. If something came up, you could leave your kids with these frelatives and have peace of mind while you went to your meeting, or your doctor’s appointment. But frelatives are even better than relatives because they are not related to you! That way, you can get mad at them, then you apologize, then you are friends again. But relatives, you can get mad at them, but they hold it against you and can take you out of their will. So, frelatives are relatives without all the baggage, no strings attached. And sometimes, those are the best kind to have.
Will somebody please tell me what Christmas is all about?
Every time I see “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” I always get choked up at that scene when Charlie Brown calls out in the middle of their rehearsal, “Will somebody please tell me what Christmas is all about?” Linus simply says, “I’ll tell you what Christmas is about, Charlie Brown. Lights, please.” Linus then recites a passage from Luke 2. No matter how many times I watch, it always make me cry.
This Christmas was especially hard for me, it marks the tenth Christmas without my dad. I still wonder what it would be like to have him here, now that I’m married and have a daughter. This time of year also leads me to reflect on what this season is all about. While we may all have different answers; I have a whole list of answers.
For me, it’s not only the story of Jesus’ birth, but it’s a lot of other little stories that happen in everyday life. So, here are some of my explanations of what Christmas is all about:
Christmas is….
Paying for the person behind you in the drive-thru.
Staying up late on Christmas Eve doing crossword puzzles with my mom.
Giving a hug to somebody who really needs one.
Decorating Christmas cookies with my daughter and making a complete mess.
Being Santa Claus to somebody who wasn’t going to have a Christmas.
Leaving an extra big tip to the hard-working waiter or waitress.
Looking at old pictures and listening to my mom tell Christmas stories of when we were kids.
Making my own memories with my family.
Here’s hoping that this Christmas, or any other holiday that you may celebrate, is filled with joy and happiness and all the good things that it brings.
What is a Hero?
There are many definitions of the word hero: a person of distinguished courage, the principal male character in a story or play, a type of sandwich (yes, that one is really a definition!) I’ve been thinking a lot about this word over the last few weeks as the Rangers have methodically made their way through the American League Division Series, then the American League Championship Series, and now have reached the World Series. I look at each and every Rangers player from pitchers, to infielders, to outfielders and in my mind they are all heroes. Despite the fact that they are struggling against the San Francisco Giants, the Rangers have shown more resiliency than any team I’ve ever seen. In the spring, Manager Ron Washington admitted to using cocaine, the club was put on the selling block then went to auction, they’ve made it further in the playoffs than any Rangers team in history. So hats off to the entire franchise, from the players all the way to the front office.
After thinking even more about heroes, it was obvious to me who my heroes were when I was a kid, and as an adult. First and foremost, my dad was my biggest hero. He taught me everything there was to know about sports, he had such a passion for sports and passed that passion on to me. No matter what sport it was, my dad would watch it. After I graduated from college and moved out of the house, he would even walk up to my old high school to watch the baseball team…he didn’t know any of the players, but that didn’t matter. My dad and I shared a special moment at the Byron Nelson when Payne Stewart won it….Stewart had been one of my dad’s favorite golfers. I suppose it didn’t really hit me how much of a hero my dad was to me until he became very sick; he eventually died of a very rare form of Leukemia. I went to a lot of his treatments and would just sit and talk to him, we would reminisce about all the things we used to do together. I had an uncle who would drive all the way from Tyler to take me to a Rangers game (at Arlington Stadium), and almost every year he and my dad would go to the Byron Nelson. My uncle was an extremely active man: he was a bowler and golfer, and also a mail carrier. Eventually, Parkinson’s Disease took over his active body, then eventually his life.
I think for the most part, people consider heroes to be a larger than life person who is so incredible that you wish you could be just like them. For some, it might be an athlete, for others it just might be someone who is right there in front of you.
Is there ice cream in heaven? In honor of Leah
When you become a parent, you learn a lot of new things…well, maybe they’re not new things. They’re most likely things you did or said as a kid, but you just forgot about them.
A few months ago, my five-year-old daughter started asking me questions about what happens to people when they die. My natural reaction and answer was, “They go to heaven.” Then of course, more questions followed: “Well, who else is heaven?” “Do you go to school in heaven?” But the one question that stuck out in my mind was, “Mommy, is there ice cream in heaven?” It just made me stop and think about how innocent children really are — how unassuming, yet unpredictable.
Then, a few weeks after that conversation with my daughter, a “media” friend’s battle with Stage 4 breast cancer was reaching the end. I thought back on all the days I spent at Valley Ranch covering the Cowboys back in the mid 1990’s….that’s where I met Leah. She was one of the first female field producers for ESPN television, and one of her many assignments was the Cowboys. There weren’t too many women in the sports media field at that time, so I felt a connection with her. I would crack up at the things she would say, and could see how extremely talented she was by the way she orchestrated the coverage of America’s Team. I will never forget her quick wit and her energetic approach to everything.
Here we are 15 years later….that group of media folks that spent many hours at Valley Ranch have gotten married, had kids, retired, whatever it might be. But that group will be one person less.
Leah had a website/blog with Caring Bridge, which is how I kept up with her over the last two years. Whenever I received and update, I would be anxious to read about Leah’s progress. She had an amazing ability to mix the seriousness of what was happening to her, with the hilariousness of her infectious personality….then her husband Eric started writing the updates and I knew that the end was near. In the days leading up to Leah’s passing, I would look at my daughter and think of the big things and the little things that your kids do. At the same time, I thought of Leah and how I had the upmost admiration for her — how she handled everything that happened to her. Then I thought about Leah’s three children who would be told, “Mommy is going to heaven.” I wonder if they asked if there is ice cream in heaven.
The Rangers got their man
Just when you think it’s going to be a slow sports news day, the Rangers pull a rabbit out of their hat. The rumblings all started Thursday evening…I was working afternoon drive when on of our station’s news anchors sees a story about a multi-team deal, and somewhere in that deal was the name Cliff Lee, and the Texas Rangers. But another name on the list of teams was the New York Yankees. Needless to say, most of us thought the Yankees were going to snag the Mariner’s ace, and for most of the morning and early afternoon on Friday it looked as though the Yankees and M’s had the deal wrapped up. But then, things started to unravel….talks stalled, the deal fell through and low and behold, the Rangers came out of the whole thing smelling like a rose. Lee had been on the Rangers’ radar for a while, they were looking for immediacy: a pitcher who could come in and not waste any time. And so the official announcement came at 5:00 pm, Friday, July 9, 2010: what some are calling the biggest trade in club history. Texas sends first baseman Justin Smoak and three minor leaguers to the Mariners for former Cy Young winner Cliff Lee and reliever Mark Lowe. Rangers management is looking at Lee as a way to get them to the promiseland: win the American League pennant and move on to the World Series. Fans are looking at Lee in the same way….they’ve been waiting a long time for Texas to see some postseason action. What if the Rangers made it to the World Series, and won? Would the Nolan Ryan/Chuck Greenberg group look any more attractive? Could the Rangers win a World Series before the Cowboys could get to the Super Bowl? That’s a lot to digest…..let’s just get to the second half of the season.
Indy vs. Nascar
In my 20+ years of anchoring and reporting sports, I have never been to an Indy Car Series race, until now. In 1997, the inaugural year of Texas Motor Speedway, I did attend the NASCAR race, but that was my one-and-only, until now.
With KRLD-FM’s dubious honor of being the official radio station of TMS, I had the chance to check out both races this year. Each broadcasting experience was as different as a broadcast could be, in every aspect. In April for the NASCAR race, it was cold and rainy. All the races were delayed, it was a long weekend for everyone. In June for the Indy Car Series race, it was near-record heat, and dry. On Friday of NASCAR weekend, we had a live broadcast from the midway, a front-row seat of fans milling around. On Friday of Indy Car weekend, we also had a live broadcast from the midway, and let me tell you, there are a lot of differences between Indy Car fans and NASCAR fans. Let’s just say that Indy Car fans are more of the “wine and cheese” crowd of racing, and NASCAR fans are the “beer and dip” crowd (dip meaning, “put a little between your cheek and gum” dip). In addition to the difference in appearance and taste, the NASCAR fans come out in droves, while the Indy Car fans don’t quite have the “drive” that the NASCAR fans do. This year, the Indy Car crowd (even with Kaptain Robbie Knievel’s “Above the Law” jump) was maybe 1/4 of the crowd that came out — in the cold and rain — for the NASCAR weekend.
Despite the differences in the size, personality and attire of each crowd, it all boils down to this: I would so much rather watch an Indy Car race! I still just don’t get the whole NASCAR following — or dare I say obsession — by its fans. I had the fortunate opportunity to watch both races from the infield, and for the Indy race, I was just behind pit row. It was amazing! The cars sound like a ginormous swarm of bees when they are whizzing around the track; when they enter pit row, the sound is absolutely heart-pounding. I can remember as a kid, the Indianapolis 500 was one of those events that we would plan our TV time around to watch. We would have it on while my dad would be outside grilling hamburgers and hot dogs. Now I suppose there are so many drivers from other countries competing in the Indy Car series, that America has turned its racing attention to NASCAR. And that’s too bad, they don’t know what they’re missing.