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| Mike Pirtle: News went roaring by, and I’m just waiting for light to turn |
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By: MIKE PIRTLE, Post Publisher
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Posted: Sunday, April 5, 2009 7:27 am
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Even an old, experienced newshand may have news pass right in front of him and not know it.
The March 28 mini-tornado literally passed a couple of hundred feet in front of my car but I had nary a clue.
Certainly, the driving sheets of rain had something to do with that.
And my, appropriate for a change, keen focus on the road and traffic around me due to the weather conditions kept me from noticing the destruction off to the right as I headed out Broad Street.
In fact, I was parked at the red light at the intersection with Old Fort Parkway/Memorial when the twister landed just ahead. In the heavy rain it just couldn’t be seen.
But, I did see the police car in the Old Fort turn lane suddenly pull into the intersection and the officer turn on his emergency lights.
I thought an accident must have occurred. Then as the officer moved into the middle of the busy intersection, I realized the traffic light was off.
As I moved ahead at the officer’s hand directions, I noticed scrap against a utility pole to the left in front of the now closed Crockett’s restaurant.
I figured a sign had been destroyed with the debris likely causing the power outage.
Upon reaching my daughter’s house and asking to use her computer to post a notice while trying to get info from the power companies, Post Managing Editor Mike West called with the real story.
I posted his info online, marveling at how close I had been to the storm but not realizing until later it has literally passed right in front of me.
That is the nature and the fear factor with tornadoes … one home gets destroyed and the one next door doesn’t lose the blooms off the tulips.
Guess it’s nature’s way of letting us know who has the power.
•••
So, Vince Young finally figured out sitting by himself on the bench and pouting wasn’t necessarily advancing his career and asked Titans Coach Jeff Fisher what he had to do to win back the No. 1 spot at quarterback.
Fisher told him Kerry Collins was the QB until he proved he could be replaced.
Young will have to start learning fast after wasting last year. Hopefully, he understands the mental discipline and focus needed now.
But, as great an athlete as Young absolutely is and even with great improvement, most pro quarterbacks simply never can process information fast enough during an NFL play to be successful.
It’s not about intelligence, or the Harvard QB would be picked No. 1 most every year.
Terry Bradshaw is certainly no mental giant as you can learn from listening to him as a TV announcer for about three minutes, but he could process what was happening and make those micro-second decisions to be a great NFL quarterback.
Young has the physical abilities, the processing abilities are yet to be determined, but he needs a whole lot of work just getting the basic information input into his noggin, and he pouted away last year.
Asking Fisher the right question though provides some hope.
•••
I understand former Vandy phenom Jay Cutler getting ticked off with Denver considering a trade for him, but, geez, this is his job and moving to the offensively pitiful Bears from the young and explosive Broncs doesn’t seem like a good career move. Somebody should have told him what a great quarterback Archie Manning was but no one ever knew because he played for an awful offensive team.
•••
Say, who won the Final Four. What? Oh, it’s not over. I guess I lost interest.
•••
I’m certainly glad we have warm weather, but my sinuses are punishing me severely for the warm day, rain day, warm day, rain day (repeated endlessly) phenomenon.
•••
The first flowers I remember noticing and learning their name were tulips because of their strikingly dramatic color as seen lining the driveway of my beloved paternal grandmother. Every year I note their beauty and remember my dad, Granny and, strangely, snow as the tulips were so often nestled in the same.
•••
So I’m with a friend when his wife calls and tells him to pick up a certain brand of bottled water for a party they are helping host.
Now some of the high-priced water, say Perrier, is definitely different. But, the pint bottles in grocery stores are just flat the same, probably coming out of the same tap at a giant plant somewhere.
Unless getting one of the higher priced specialty waters, bottled water is pretty much as flat as you can get water, undoubtedly to avoid lawsuits.
I’m trying to wean off the bottles, like babies and drunks, because of those ads about landfills. Even though I recycle, the bottles are avoidable by simply filling reusables with filtered water.
Of course, 15-20 years ago I just drank from kitchen taps and somehow lived more than 40 years doing that. Boy, was I lucky. |
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