Braves, TBS parting waysStation's 30 years of telecasting team's games is ending in style
Over the past three decades, thousands of Braves games have been televised nationally on TBS. Just 10 more to go. Sunday's Braves-Cardinals game and nine others will end a tradition that began in 1977, when Ted Turner had the seemingly outrageous idea of bouncing his bad baseball team's games off a satellite and across the nation. It was an idea that would help shape the fledgling industry of cable television, as well as the business of sports media. For a while, the ubiquitous Braves even earned the moniker "America's Team." But after years of declining ratings for Braves games outside the Southeast, TBS next season will replace the team as national programming with a package of Sunday afternoon league-wide games. TBS also will carry postseason games for the first time starting this fall, airing all four division series plus the National League Championship Series. Braves games will continue to air locally next season on over-the-air channel WTBS, which will be renamed Peachtree TV, as well as on regional cable networks SportSouth and FSN South. First, though, TBS will mark the end of an era.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Martha's Place
I had the opportunity to eat at a really good restaurant in Montgomery on Friday. I had fried fish, black eyed peas, macaroni and cheese, cornbread, and strawberry shortcake. It was delicious and the atmosphere was great. It was almost like visiting an aunt in downtown Montgomery for a home-cooked meal. Two thumbs up!
Get more than a meal at Marthas
Matha Hawkins' Website
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I once was lost but now I'm found!
Sometimes the best-laid plans go South. Friday morning was one of those times for me! Let me back up a little bit. I had been out of the office most of the week. I had Microsoft Excel training two days and I has court another day. Friday I had a committee meeting in Montgomery at the Office of Prosecution Services for the Alabama District Attorneys Association. Even though I have been to that building each of the last five years for the same meeting, I thought I better print out driving directions, just in case. The only problem was that I was in court all day Thursday and I didn’t have time to print out directions. Thursday’s court deserves its own blog entry later!
As I mentioned in the previous blog entry, the boys and I were up rather late Thursday. Friday morning, David and I awakened extremely early, around four o’clock. After he took a shower he asked me if he could play a GM career mode baseball game on his Xbox. I asked him if he thought he could stay awake and alert in school if I let him play the game. Of course he said that he could. I decided to say “yes”. I couldn’t get back to sleep so I laid there by him as he played. His game was over by about five so he and I played a college football game on Xbox. I was winning halfway through the third quarter when we had to quit in order to get ready for school and work.
Matt woke up on the wrong side of the bed! Usually he is really good in the morning, but not on this day. Because of that we were running late (which is very unusual). I got them to school at 8:00. Then I had to high tail it to Montgomery.
I had enough time to make it to my 10:30 meeting in Montgomery as long as I drove 70-75 mph and didn’t run into any trouble. Actually, if I didn’t get lost, I would have been at least 15 minutes early. That didn’t happen! My first mistake was attempting to forward voice mail messages to my workers as I was driving into Montgomery. I passed the exit to I-85, and went about 7 or 8 miles out of the way before I made it back up to I-85. Then I had a brain cramp. Instead of looking for Perry Street, I looked for Perry Hill Road. I have had meetings on Perry Hill Road too, but I soon realized I was in the wrong place. Then my mind went blank. Yes, I am getting old! I went further east through Montgomery for several miles until I realized that I was going the wrong way. I had to turn around at AUM. By this point I was completely confused and had absolutely no clue where Perry Street was located. I had already attempted to call one of the other committee members on his cell phone, to no avail. It was 10:45 and I was about to give up!
I actually decided that if I was anything over 30 minutes late before I found the place, I would just have to drive home with my embarrassed tail between my legs. I commenced to praying! Actually I had prayed some already but now I got more serious about it. I said, “Lord, there is no way I will find this place unless you take me straight to it. Help me listen to you, somehow, for guidance. Please help my lack of faith.” I really didn’t believe I would find it on time.
At times like this you may be tempted to think, “I could just go home and take leave for the day.” Then you think how wrong that would be. Besides that, I already left my colleague a voice mail regarding my problem. I decided that if I found the place I would hold my head up, laugh at myself, and not worry about what others may think any longer. Lo and behold, I saw an exit, and I thought that it might be the correct exit. Then as I went down the ramp I saw the sign for Perry Street South! I knew where I was. I made it to the meeting 25 minutes late. No one was mad! No one ridiculed me. I just caught myself up to speed and contributed a lot in the meeting. It was great. This meeting was about selecting statewide award winners for our professional association. One of my colleagues said something about nominating me for one of the awards. Of course, I rejected that notion as a member of the awards committee, but that made my day. It made me feel better about myself after I had been beating myself up about getting lost and being late.
Thank you Lord for getting me there!
After the meeting, we had an outstanding lunch at a place I highly recommend. I will mention that in my next entry!
As I mentioned in the previous blog entry, the boys and I were up rather late Thursday. Friday morning, David and I awakened extremely early, around four o’clock. After he took a shower he asked me if he could play a GM career mode baseball game on his Xbox. I asked him if he thought he could stay awake and alert in school if I let him play the game. Of course he said that he could. I decided to say “yes”. I couldn’t get back to sleep so I laid there by him as he played. His game was over by about five so he and I played a college football game on Xbox. I was winning halfway through the third quarter when we had to quit in order to get ready for school and work.
Matt woke up on the wrong side of the bed! Usually he is really good in the morning, but not on this day. Because of that we were running late (which is very unusual). I got them to school at 8:00. Then I had to high tail it to Montgomery.
I had enough time to make it to my 10:30 meeting in Montgomery as long as I drove 70-75 mph and didn’t run into any trouble. Actually, if I didn’t get lost, I would have been at least 15 minutes early. That didn’t happen! My first mistake was attempting to forward voice mail messages to my workers as I was driving into Montgomery. I passed the exit to I-85, and went about 7 or 8 miles out of the way before I made it back up to I-85. Then I had a brain cramp. Instead of looking for Perry Street, I looked for Perry Hill Road. I have had meetings on Perry Hill Road too, but I soon realized I was in the wrong place. Then my mind went blank. Yes, I am getting old! I went further east through Montgomery for several miles until I realized that I was going the wrong way. I had to turn around at AUM. By this point I was completely confused and had absolutely no clue where Perry Street was located. I had already attempted to call one of the other committee members on his cell phone, to no avail. It was 10:45 and I was about to give up!
I actually decided that if I was anything over 30 minutes late before I found the place, I would just have to drive home with my embarrassed tail between my legs. I commenced to praying! Actually I had prayed some already but now I got more serious about it. I said, “Lord, there is no way I will find this place unless you take me straight to it. Help me listen to you, somehow, for guidance. Please help my lack of faith.” I really didn’t believe I would find it on time.
At times like this you may be tempted to think, “I could just go home and take leave for the day.” Then you think how wrong that would be. Besides that, I already left my colleague a voice mail regarding my problem. I decided that if I found the place I would hold my head up, laugh at myself, and not worry about what others may think any longer. Lo and behold, I saw an exit, and I thought that it might be the correct exit. Then as I went down the ramp I saw the sign for Perry Street South! I knew where I was. I made it to the meeting 25 minutes late. No one was mad! No one ridiculed me. I just caught myself up to speed and contributed a lot in the meeting. It was great. This meeting was about selecting statewide award winners for our professional association. One of my colleagues said something about nominating me for one of the awards. Of course, I rejected that notion as a member of the awards committee, but that made my day. It made me feel better about myself after I had been beating myself up about getting lost and being late.
Thank you Lord for getting me there!
After the meeting, we had an outstanding lunch at a place I highly recommend. I will mention that in my next entry!
Back to blogging on this blog!
I have been posting so much on weather and Alabama football, I have been neglecting this blog a little bit. Since I have a little free time on my hands this Saturday night, I thought I would do a little writing while I listen to the Braves-Cardinals game on the radio. The Cardinals just came back from a 3-0 deficit to take a 5-3 lead on the Braves and pitcher Tim Hudson. Maybe we will pull this one out before it's over. The Braves are six games out in the NL East and they are 3 out in the wildcard standings. Things are beginning to look grim, especially if they don't get on a winning streak soon. Come on Bravos!
Thursday was a busy night. As soon as the boys got here we immediately started playing catch. I don’t know where all of that energy came from but after a long day of school and work, we all did well as we sweated in the 100 degree heat. We probably played about an hour. After coming in for a minute to cool off and change shirts we decided to go to the Vinemont-West Point jamboree football game. Because it cost $5 each to get in and I only had $3.00 in cash, we had to dig to find $17 worth of quarters to finance our game admission. Joe and I sat in the living room floor and counted out the money and we all cooled off in the process.
We walked over to the game. We saw several folks we knew from the little league ball park and children that the kids knew from school. I did make David and Joe sit with me for a few minutes, but they really wanted to socialize and I let them do that most of the game. Matt stayed with me. Vinemont defeated West Point 21-7. We are all excited that football season is here!
We got home around nine and it took us a while to get ready for bed. All four of us had to take baths, and get our clothes out for tomorrow. David and Joe fixed macaroni and cheese, black- eyed peas, and warmed up some leftover pork chops. Kudos to them for doing such a wonderful job helping Dad!
Joe sent in our online weather watcher report and we all watched the Alabama college football preview before going to sleep.
Thursday was a busy night. As soon as the boys got here we immediately started playing catch. I don’t know where all of that energy came from but after a long day of school and work, we all did well as we sweated in the 100 degree heat. We probably played about an hour. After coming in for a minute to cool off and change shirts we decided to go to the Vinemont-West Point jamboree football game. Because it cost $5 each to get in and I only had $3.00 in cash, we had to dig to find $17 worth of quarters to finance our game admission. Joe and I sat in the living room floor and counted out the money and we all cooled off in the process.
We walked over to the game. We saw several folks we knew from the little league ball park and children that the kids knew from school. I did make David and Joe sit with me for a few minutes, but they really wanted to socialize and I let them do that most of the game. Matt stayed with me. Vinemont defeated West Point 21-7. We are all excited that football season is here!
We got home around nine and it took us a while to get ready for bed. All four of us had to take baths, and get our clothes out for tomorrow. David and Joe fixed macaroni and cheese, black- eyed peas, and warmed up some leftover pork chops. Kudos to them for doing such a wonderful job helping Dad!
Joe sent in our online weather watcher report and we all watched the Alabama college football preview before going to sleep.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
It just clicked!
Last Thursday
Have you ever had one of those days where everything just clicked? It did for the boys and me a week ago today. I had really been missing them because they had been with me for over two weeks in a row prior. By Thursday of last week it had been seven days since we were together. I remember specifically praying for the Lord to really bless our time together. I wanted them to be well behaved. I wanted to be especially patient and help them really enjoy their time. Without going into the details of what we did, the Lord answered my prayers. We had a terrific evening together. There was such a spirit of joy, fun, cooperation and love flowing among the four of us. I’m not trying to sound sappy by this. It was just a real special time together. Life is not perfect and neither are people. This was just one night that it all worked out really special and I thank You Lord for being with us!
Last Weekend
Saturday was our work day. First we went to Wal Mart and purchased some groceries and a few other things that we needed. When we got back we all shared mowing duties. It was a brutally hot day and I was proud especially proud and appreciative of David and Joe’s hard work. It was also a noteworthy evening because it was Matt’s first attempt at mowing. I walked beside him and I let him do a few rows solo. We are definitely going to have to work on not going outside or inside the proper line. He did ok for his first try though. After mowing I grilled out hamburgers, hot dogs, bratwurst, and corn on the cob. It was an awesome meal if I may say so myself!
Sunday was the University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team’s fan day. Again, the weather was very hot but the boys and I enjoyed watching the Tide practice, playing a little catch with the football in front of the stadium, and getting some autographs. I also saw a couple of friends, Craig and Gary who were in different parts of the autograph line. I heard that Coach Saban signed about 1300 autographs in about an hour. Afterwards we stopped at David’s favorite Mexican restaurant on the way home, Habaneras in Gardendale. I had a vegetarian combo meal, Joe and Matt each ordered cheese dip, and David had the bean and cheese nachos. We all ate way too many chips and salsa.
Have you ever had one of those days where everything just clicked? It did for the boys and me a week ago today. I had really been missing them because they had been with me for over two weeks in a row prior. By Thursday of last week it had been seven days since we were together. I remember specifically praying for the Lord to really bless our time together. I wanted them to be well behaved. I wanted to be especially patient and help them really enjoy their time. Without going into the details of what we did, the Lord answered my prayers. We had a terrific evening together. There was such a spirit of joy, fun, cooperation and love flowing among the four of us. I’m not trying to sound sappy by this. It was just a real special time together. Life is not perfect and neither are people. This was just one night that it all worked out really special and I thank You Lord for being with us!
Last Weekend
Saturday was our work day. First we went to Wal Mart and purchased some groceries and a few other things that we needed. When we got back we all shared mowing duties. It was a brutally hot day and I was proud especially proud and appreciative of David and Joe’s hard work. It was also a noteworthy evening because it was Matt’s first attempt at mowing. I walked beside him and I let him do a few rows solo. We are definitely going to have to work on not going outside or inside the proper line. He did ok for his first try though. After mowing I grilled out hamburgers, hot dogs, bratwurst, and corn on the cob. It was an awesome meal if I may say so myself!
Sunday was the University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team’s fan day. Again, the weather was very hot but the boys and I enjoyed watching the Tide practice, playing a little catch with the football in front of the stadium, and getting some autographs. I also saw a couple of friends, Craig and Gary who were in different parts of the autograph line. I heard that Coach Saban signed about 1300 autographs in about an hour. Afterwards we stopped at David’s favorite Mexican restaurant on the way home, Habaneras in Gardendale. I had a vegetarian combo meal, Joe and Matt each ordered cheese dip, and David had the bean and cheese nachos. We all ate way too many chips and salsa.
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