Motorcycle Accident in 2007

     It's one of those moments in time that you just can't forget and move on with life. To this day I have flashbacks when I travel the same intersection. It probably was the closest I have ever come to death and maybe that is the cause of the permanent mark on my memory bank...
     It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and I had spent a couple hours in my garage changing the oil and filter on my custom 1999 Harley-Davidson Nightrain.. Previous postings on the bike will show you what a show-stopper it was.. It was a beauty wrapped in glossy black and lots of chrome...I couldn't take it anywhere without it becoming the center of attention.

         I finished the oil change and cranked it to warm up the engine and also to check underneath for any leaks. I opened the door to the house and told my wife I was headed for the service station to fill up with gasoline so the Nightrain would be ready to carry me to work the next day. I wiped my hands with a Harley-Davidson bandana and thought to myself,.'the service station is only four blocks away,...I don't need no stinkin' helmet.'  With that thought ringing in my head, I tied the bandana around my sweaty brow and eased the Nightrain down the drive-way and onto the city street.

        
       Man,...those Screamin' Eagle pipes sounded good as the old Evolution engine revved up and I shifted into second gear. I never get out of fourth gear in the city limits as I refuse to be one of those knuckle-heads that allow their bikes to lug down and chatter the valves.
    I stopped at the stop sign on Morton Street and allowed a couple of cars to go by before I joined the traffic flow heading west. Two blocks and I would be at the Chevron Station and safe from the crazies they allow to drive cars these days... I never made it!

   Pottsboro Road intersects Morton Street at the same time as Layne Drive joins them both. The car in front of me turned into the Comet Cleaners just before the intersection and I slowed to allow him time to make the turn. I had just down shifted to second when I spotted a Ford Taurus coming from Layne Drive....and it was coming pretty fast. I moved to my left and got into the inside lane of Morton Street,..but the Taurus kept coming. My brain flashed me an instant message..'gas on this puppy and get through the intersection.' I twisted the throttle and the modified engine jumped at the chance to be free of the city confines. Still, the Taurus struck my Nightrain on the rear wheel and sent me spinning on the left side of my bike. The Lord saved me from the impact and pain as suddenly everything went black....

          
       I remember a woman's voice screaming and me being jostled around. A fire station was two blocks away and the paramedics were on the scene within sixty seconds. A scrub nurse by the name of Hawkeye was the first person I saw when I opened my eyes.. He told me I had been in an accident and they were going to take good care of me. I had no memory of what happened and could not understand what was going on. The staff at Texoma Medical Center reacted professionally and with great speed. I looked down and a female nurse had a pair of electric scissors and was cutting my blue jeans down the front of both legs to expedite their removal. When she finished with the jeans she headed for my tee-shirt... Whoa! I pleaded with her as it was a brand new Kevin Harvick shirt I had on for the first time..

      She granted me that favor and cut it off by going down the side under my arm and across the shoulders. You can see the blood on the front of the shirt and on the jeans. One of the paramedics had gone thru my wallet and found my home address and called my wife to notify her I was at the hospital.
      

I had road rash on all four limbs, a dislocated shoulder, a cracked skull, concussion, and two teeth knocked out by the pavement when I hit the concrete. I also received seventeen stitches above the left eye where my mirror stem stabbed me. Doctor Buckner told me if I had been going just a little faster the stem would have taken my eye out, and if I had been going a little slower it would have struck me in the temple and turned out the lights permanently.                  

The paramedics stayed with me to relay the story back to my wife and me. The Ford Taurus actually had run two (2) stops signs to hit me, and luckily the car behind her was a police officer on his way to work. He turned out to be the perfect eye witness (he too was a Harley rider). Another man who witnessed the accident was just exiting the Comet Cleaners and was one of the first to reach me. He got the woman driver to stop screaming and also used a pillow case to wrap my head in an attempt to stop the blood flow. Paramedics changed the bandage when they arrived and said it was squirting pretty good. I had to spend most of the day at the hospital, but was allowed to come home that night. The very next day the insurance agent of the Ford Taurus came by my house to see the damage to me and let me know his policyholder was at fault and they would cover all expenses.                                                                                           

My wife was my nursemaid for the next week, along with our Fox Terrier Tinkerbelle. It took about four or five days for my left eye to open again, but my dentist told me I had to wait six months for the swelling in my mouth to go down before he could install new teeth. So much for me,..but what about my Nightrain?                  

My thanks also go out to my buddy Mike Putman,..he dropped everything at his Cycle Shop to get to my bike before the city wrecker could damage it even more. His shop, along with Harley-Davidson, repaired my bike back to showroom condition. The bike won a couple of shows after the accident, and my new teeth work great... so I guess all's well that ends well.                                      

This was taken one week to the day after the accident. I also owned a Honda Magna and I rode it to the bike shop to see how the Nightrain was coming along. Both of us fared as well as could be expected, and now Momma won't let me leave the house without my helmet...  She also wrote to Kevin Harvick and told him about the accident and how hospital officials had to cut off my shirt.

Harvick sent me a new shirt and an autographed cap as a replacement...

... and Momma made a pillow out of the old shirt and jeans from the accident....

Thank you Lord for watching over me.

Dallas Cowboys QB Decision for 2016

   The 2015 regular season of the National Football League has come to an end and some teams are headed for the playoffs in pursuit of the ultimate...a Super Bowl Championship.

   Others are already hard at work preparing for the April college draft in hopes of improving their team for 2016. Such is where we find the Dallas Cowboys ! A season that saw Dallas win only four
of the sixteen games on the schedule rewards them with the fourth overall pick in the college draft...

And that brings us to the crux of today's post.. What will Dallas do with that lofty selection? The multiple injuries to the Cowboys will explain some of the pain of the 2015 season, but team owner, general manager, and Grand Poobah Jerry Jones is already on record saying he expects quarterback Tony Romo to play another four or five years. Romo, who will turn 36 years old this year, has a history of injuries that reads like the Magna Carta in length. Twice he went down this season with a broken collarbone on his non-throwing shoulder, and this was in addition to past injury prone seasons.

      So..... I say now is the time to take advantage of that high draft pick and select a quarterback to guide the team in the future. Romo might have a season or two left in his career and could be a valuable teacher for the new quarterback. 
    The Tennessee Titans have the first pick in the college draft, but they have Marcus Mariota, who they drafted last year. The Cleveland Browns have the second pick and they could be quarterback hunting after Johnny Manziel's road show has gone south for them. San Diego's Chargers have the third pick and need defensive help, besides Philip Rivers has years ahead of him. Dallas is fourth and San Francisco has the fifth pick. Colin Kaepernick is out in the Bay Area and the 49'ers definitely will be shopping for a new quarterback. 
     There are two quarterbacks currently standing head and shoulders above the crowd in April's draft,..both juniors who have forfeited their senior seasons in order to become available for a professional career.

    PAXTON LYNCH of the University of Memphis stands six foot seven inches tall and weighs in at 245 pounds. In three years at Memphis he threw for almost nine thousand yards, fifty-nine touchdowns, and had passes intercepted on 23 occasions. 

     Despite his height, Lynch has good agility and mobility for a big man, and shows an ability to run with the ball when forced from the pocket. His passing velocity has been called excellent and sometimes looks like he is throwing a dart rather than a football, a trait sometimes applied to former Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback Terry Bradshaw, and just remember how many Super Bowls they attended.

       Lynch will turn 22 years of age on Febuary 12, 2016 and despite growing up in Florida he has another factor that might make him more attractive to the Cowboys... He was born in San Antonio!

      The other quarterback under consideration for succeeding Romo is current University of California quarterback JARED GOFF.

       Goff also is a junior coming out a year early. He is six foot four inches tall and tips the scales at two hundred and ten pounds. He re-wrote the California high school record book while playing for Marin Catholic High School. He turned down offers from Boise State, Fresno State, and Stanford to play for the Golden Bears of Cal as did his Dad. Goff became the first true freshman to start at California and in three years at the helm he passed for over twelve thousand yards, 96 touchdowns and had 30 passes intercepted. He was a first team selection to the All Pac-12 Conference Team.

       In the 2015 Armed Forces Bowl game last month Goff was named the Most Valuable Player after he threw six (6) touchdown passes and accounted for 467 yards in a 55-36 win over the Air Force Academy. Goff has faced a higher caliber of competition than Lynch and that might be the deciding factor. That and the comparison to another quarterback the Cowboys took out of California back in 1989 might tip the scale in Goff's favor...

       Troy Aikman was the top pick in that draft out of U.C.L.A. and led Dallas to three Super Bowl Championships. Maybe Goff or Lynch can duplicate that kind of leadership and ability.
     It is a decision that has to be made and when April rolls around I want the Dallas ownership and coaching staffs to remember one image as they contemplate that fourth pick.

       No one plays the game forever and Tony Romo has given Dallas fans plenty of great memories over the years,...BUT it is time to plan for the post-Romo years. Dallas fans have suffered through inept back-ups this past season as each tried to fill the shoes of Romo without success.... Hello.. Why do you think other teams let them go?

     It's time to plan for the future. The competition will be looking for a weak spot on the Cowboys roster and unfortunately it will be the shoulders of Romo. Draft a quality quarterback while we can and use the remainder of the draft to find help on the defensive side of the ball. Time is not on our side but a decision has to be made. Dallas,..  You're on the clock.

Another quarterback has popped up on the radar screen of the Cowboys.... and he might be the sleeper of the entire NFL College Draft.

CARSON WENTZ has played four years at North Dakota State and as a starter, Wentz has led the Bisons to their 4th and 5th consecutive FCS National Championship. In last month's title game, North Dakota State defeated #1 seeded Jacksonville State for the championship.

 Wentz is six foot five and weighs in at 220 pounds. In the 2015 season he connected on 130 of 208 passing attempts for 17 touchdowns, and had only 4 passes intercepted. He broke his wrist back in October, but now doctors say he is fully healed. Another point in his favor is he will be playing in the Senior Bowl Game,...and his North squad will be coached by the staff of the Dallas Cowboys....so they will have a good preview of him. Dallas' coaching staff also had the same preview of DeMarcus Ware, DeMarco Murray, Zack Martin, and James Harris in the Senior Bowl and then drafted them in the April college draft.

Wentz is said to have excellent delivery on the ball and the ability to pick out secondary and third choices on passing plays. Some experts are calling him the most 'ready to play' quarterback in the draft and say he will be the first qb picked in April.