Ryder Cup Captain Corey Pavin raised a few eyebrows this week when he said Tiger Woods was NOT a shoe-in to be on this years team. The Ryder Cup competition pits the worlds national teams against each other. Today golfing great Jack Nicklaus came to the aid of Woods when he said Pavin should be checked with a brain scan if he decides to bypass Woods for this years American team. The 70-year old Nicklaus has never been an outspoken player in his career, but told reporters, "If you're going to have a team made up of the best players in your country, then Tiger should be at the top of the list." Nicklaus admitted that Woods is going through some personal problems with his rumored divorce from wife Elin, but that has no bearing on his golf game. The team must be assembled and ready to play by October, and now Pavin has been scolded by one of the best for even thinking about omitting Woods. Tiger returned to the game after taking time off after his extra-marital affairs were made public. His play in the Masters Tournament was creditable, but the following week he failed to make the cut after the first round. Having said that, he is still the best player in the country and probably the world. Corey Pavin needs to get his priorities straight and decide what is best for America.... and his Ryder Cup team.
This is a 1948 Chevrolet cabover truck that has been completely re-furbished by Texoma Harley- Davidson in Sherman, Texas. When new this truck had a 216 cubic inch 6-cylinder engine with a three speed transmission. This particular truck had a stake bed on it when discovered on the east coast of the United States. One of the owners of Texoma HD bought the truck and had it re-done for use by the dealership. It now is powered by a 350 cubic inch Chevrolet V-8 engine and a four speed automatic transmission. The unique thing is the engine is now mounted underneath about where the cab ends and the bed begins. Originally the front end tilted to offer access to the engine compartment. You can see the air vents on the side for engine cooling. It does have a radiator that is mounted in the conventional position, but the hoses are extra long to connect with the engine. The engine can be accessed thru a door in the bed, which can also be tilted if serious access is needed. There is also a trap door in the bed that conceals a trailer hitch to pull a goose- neck trailer that the dealership owns. The open bed is used to transport motorcycles from one dealership to another (the owners have five Harley-Davidson stores). The bike on the bed is a 1957 Harley Davidson Sportster, the first year for that particular model. I have also included a photo of the inside of the truck to show how pristine it is now compared to how it looked when it was new in 1948. Also check out the air conditioner...unheard of in 1948.
The North Texas Chapter of the American Truckers Association held their regional championships in Fort Worth today. The competition was held at the Fed Ex terminal off of I-820 on the north side of town. There was a lot of companies represented, but Wal-Mart had nine drivers entered from the local competition. I retired last October, but traveled down to check on my boys. Todays competition was composed of a written test,..a physical examination of the truck for defects & violations...and the actual driving of the truck through an obstacle course. I am proud to tell you that my friend Rick Pledger won first place in the competition. Rick and I have been friends since 2001 when he beat me out of the State Championship on his way to the National Championship. This year Rick still has to go to the state competition in Bryan, Texas later this summer, but we are confident that is just a formality. He wants that second national title to put himself in an elite category among Wal-Mart drivers. Earlier in this blog I told you about a friend of mine that was almost killed in a motorcycle accident. That was Rick. Three broken vertebrae in his neck and two more in his back. Doctors told us he was within an inch of killing himself. The back still gives him trouble, but today's First Place plaque will make the pain subside somewhat.
Whenever I tell someone that I am from Denison they usually confuse it with Denton....Denison is the one with the GOOD football team.. Actually, Denison is a lot more than just a football crazy town on the Red River. It was the first place the Missouri-Kansas-Texas (MKT) Railroad came to Texas. Denison became the railroad's main hub for all of Texas, and some of the railroad big wigs decided to call Denison home. The first public school in Texas was started in Denison. The Marx Brothers were simply musicians until a stop in Denison where Groucho bought a wig and became the stooped over clown that everyone remembers. Probably the most famous Denisonian is Dwight David Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States. Ike was born in Denison October 14, 1890 but his family moved to Kansas when he was a young boy. He will forever be remembered as the Supreme Commander of all Allied Forces in World War II, and the man who had to make the important decision on the Normandy invasion. France lost all of it's vineyards in the 1940's due to the war, and John Munson of Denison transplanted some of his vines and donated them to France...thus saving the French wine industry. So when you think you have to have a French wine with dinner,..just remember it has a Denison connection. Denison is also the hometown of actor John Hillerman, who is best known as the sidekick of Tom Selleck in the television series Magnum, P.I. Now days it is up to the high school football team to bring attention to Denison...and they relish in that job. A perennial powerhouse that goes to the post-season playoffs with the regularity of the sunrise. The Yellow Jackets were State Champions in 1984-85 and returned to the title game three times in the early 1990's only to come home second best. 2008 saw them eliminated in the Regional round of the playoffs and last year they made it to the Semi-Finals before bowing out....BUT next year is always another season.. Sting 'Em Jackets !!
Being a child of the 1950's I was enthralled by the novels of Ian Fleming at an early age. I would devote hours of school time to the adventures of Mr Fleming's main character, James Bond, a secret agent for the British Intelligence Service MI5. Bond was licensed to kill, and went by the code designation 007. In 1962 when the first Bond movie, 'Dr. No', came to town I was a senior in high school but still wanted to see how Hollywood treated the Fleming novel. Sean Connery was the perfect James Bond for me. Ruggedly handsome, suave with the ladies, and ruthless with the bad guys. Connery would sign on to do six Bond movies over the next nine years before deciding to "stretch his talent in other directions". Australian George Lazenby was signed on to do 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' in 1969 and he stumbled through the role compared to Connery. Roger Moore, who is actually three years older than Connery, was James Bond from 1973 thru 1985 and did seven Bond films. I never liked Roger Moore as James Bond because he gave the character an 'upper class' attitude that I disagreed with. I did like the work of Timothy Dalton, who played James Bond in two films in two years, but he was replaced by Pierce Brosnan in 1995. Brosnan was the face of Remington Steele on television and I never could make the transition to James Bond for him. He was James Bond in 'Goldeneye', 'Tomorrow Never Dies', and 'The World Is Not Enough'. By 2006 the producers wanted a new face for James Bond and an eighteen month search turned up Daniel Craig. He is easily the best James Bond since Connery introduced the character to film. Craig was born in Cheshire, England so he does not have to fake the English accent. His first movie job was in 1992 and by 2002 he co-starred in 'Road to Perdition' with Tom Hanks. His first movie as James Bond was 'Casino Royale', and fans & critics alike were impressed with his performance. His second Bond movie was 'Quantum of Solace' and again was impressive. The 23rd Bond movie was suppose to be released in 2010, but due to economic problems in Hollywood, it has been pushed back to 2011.
These James Bond actors have all been the main character in a movie about James Bond. In 1954 Barry Nelson played James Bond in a television episode of Casino Royale, and in 1967 David Niven played the part of James Bond in a movie where he was just a passing character and not the main item.
Happy Mother's Day to all mothers, and let me speak for all sons when I say we thank you for our lives.. I am a student of history and I'll bet a lot of people don't know how Mother's Day came to be.. During the War Between the States (Civil War) it was usually up to the women to comb the battlefields and tend to the wounded. It was also primarily a woman's job to prepare the dead for burial. In 1870 pacifist Julia Ward was an early advocate of celebrating the work of Mothers. In 1910 Sonora Smart Dodd thought up the idea of a national holiday after hearing a church sermon commending mothers. By 1912 Anna Jarvis copyrighted the phrase "Mother's Day" in a tribute to the passing of her mother. Just two years later President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation making Mother's Day a national holiday, coming on the second Sunday in May each year. I lost my mother at a very early age and have always been jealous of adults who still have a mother. My wife is the mother of our family and she knows that I will usually go all out to show her my love and appreciation.. Again,.. Happy Mother's Day !!
Earlier this week my wife's rose bush started to bud flowers for the first time this year... The plant is almost 20 years old and came with us when we moved 18 years ago. For the past several years the flowers have been red with streaks of yellow in them. This year the blooms are all yellow.... making them the 'Yellow Roses of Texas'. I did not know that rose bushes were so hardy. We have had many freezes over the years and some of our bushes and trees were lost to the cold temperatures,...but not this rose bush. My wife is one of those that could put nails in a bucket of dirt and it would bloom. My grandmother was the very same way, but not my mother. Poor thing ! If she bought a plant in a store it was the kiss of death and it would be dead within days. Indoors or outdoors, she never had any luck with plants or flowers. The bride can pick some plant from alongside the road and plant it when we get home....Whalla!.. Flowers or vegetables!!! Back to the rose bush,..I told you about the colors for the past few years, but there have been some years that it simply budded but never came to bloom. This year's yellow blooms are out in force and it looks like we will have a bunch more in the coming days...
