9 OCT 05: TIGERTOWN
Saturday was a big day in Columbus, as the 70th annual showdown between Tuskegee and Morehouse took place. Tuskegee has the Golden Tigers. Morehouse has the Maroon Tigers. And Auburn fans presume none of the players are good enough to play for THEIR Tigers.
The Tuskegee-Morehouse event is much more than a football game. The activities started Wednesday night with an alumni basketball game at South Girard School in Phenix City. Admission was only two dollars -- and the players probably were as familiar as the Atlanta Hawks coming to Columbus in a couple of weeks.
Then there was the Tuskegee-Morehouse golf tournament Friday. No, I don't think the colleges have golf teams -- this was for the alumni who actually turned their degrees into something productive.
The action moved inside Friday night, with a Tuskegee-Morehouse "battle of the bands and step show." I was unfamiliar with step shows before I moved to the South - and would have guessed they were fashion shows for Payless shoes.
Tuskegee's "Crimson Pipers" were declared the winner of the battle of the bands. I'm not sure who judged this contest or how. Did that band turn back and forth faster than Morehouse's?
Saturday's events began with a Tuskegee-Morehouse parade downtown. I could hear the drummers playing as I took a walk in South Commons -- so it's nice to know the bands had a curfew, and weren't tempted by those Broadway bars.
Then the big crowd gathered at McClung Memorial Stadium. Well, really it gathered OUTSIDE the stadium for pre-game grilling. Hopefully the fans heard about what happened in South Commons last January, and didn't bring any bananas to eat.
The afternoon brought the main event - and for some people, it may not have been the football game. Actor Denzel Washington showed up on the sideline, because his son plays for Morehouse. So if D.J. Washington ever fakes an injury late in a game to stop the clock, we'll know where he learned it.
D.J. Washington wound up with more than 130 yards of offense, but Morehouse still lost to Tuskegee 34-24. The score was 31-0 after three quarters - and the stands became so empty, you might have thought Spencer High School's team showed up.
The "after-party" event for Tuskegee and Morehouse fans was a concert at the Civic Center. Clear Channel Radio declared the main event was the "mega old school" band Cameo. It's not enough to be simply "old school" anymore?! How big are the singers' waistlines?
The Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau told WRBL the Tuskegee-Morehouse events bring more than $60,000 to the local economy. About 20,000 people attended the football game - so that computes to only three dollars per person?! Maybe that 20-dollar ticket price was set simply to impress people.
So what about you Confederate flag-wavers around the Columbus area? What are you doing to bring in a football game, to balance Tuskegee-Morehouse or Albany State-Fort Valley State? Can't you come up with enough money to have Brigham Young be one of the "white teams?"
Elsewhere, Georgia's football team remained unbeaten Saturday by topping Tennessee 27-14. Is it just me, or is that Tennessee coach Philip Fulmer's little boy appearing at the end of those new Winn-Dixie commercials?
SPAM-A-RAMA: As if President Bush doesn't have enough to worry about, we received e-mail the other day suggesting he was the anti-Christ! And no, this was NOT from a Christian conservative group upset about his latest Supreme Court nominee....
A "former Polish diplomat" named Slawomir Borowy claims F.B.I. spies had his wife fired from a Sunday-only job at a Washington episcopal church. Her work was "serving coffees and doing emergency cleaning" - so maybe she was snooping around the wrong dumpster.
Slawomir Borowy claims "F.B.I. informants" are on the board of this Washington episcopal church, and had his wife's cleaning firm dismissed without cause -- all this after the F.B.I. "possessed our apartment" a few years ago. This must be Washington's version of a "good ol' boy" network.
(Yet his e-mail also admits the church's attendance is in decline, and the income of members is "lower average." Is the F.B.I. secretly telling Episcopals to turn Baptist?)
But wait, there's more! Slawomir Borowy accuses Republicans involved in the F.B.I. of forcing his family to live in homes of F.B.I. informants, which he likens to slavery. I hear some Columbus people say this same sort of thing - but I don't think The Ralston really is THAT bad.
This e-mail was timed for a visit by Poland's President to the White House this coming week. Slawomir Borowy calls him "atheist and neo-communist." But doesn't this show our "born-again Christian" President is evenhanded -- even if the Muslims who have visited for Ramadan didn't convert?
E-MAIL UPDATE: Here's a follow-up to a Columbus police incident we mentioned here the other day. It comes from TV reporter Ashley Nix:
For the record, WTVM did not say Officer Tracey Giles shot the man...
We said he shot AT the man.
Thanks!
Hopefully that will settle the issue - at least for six months, while Officer Giles sits at a desk doing paperwork during a G.B.I. investigation.
Now for other notes from a very nice holiday weekend:
+ Alabama Governor Bob Riley announced he'll run for a second term. He'll face Roy Moore for the Republican nomination - so watch for Mr. Riley to unveil his 12 Commandments sometime next year.
+ Houston handled Atlanta 7-3 in game three of their baseball divisional series. The Atlanta bullpen has an earned run average of around 15 [true/Fox Sports] - almost as if they're trying to match Jeff Francoeur's age.
(Whoever wins that series will face St. Louis, which eliminated San Diego 7-4 in a game which lasted until after 2:00 a.m. Columbus time. You knew it was a late night when Cardinal radio announcer Mike Shanin read a web site address with a "backlash.")
+ A Loretta Lynn concert at the RiverCenter was called off, because Lynn fell and broke her foot. I'm assuming Sissy Spacek of "Coal Miner's Daughter" fame was too busy to fly in and be a substitute.
+ Instant Message to the Fourth Quarter restaurant near Peachtree Mall: About that musical act "Jaded Soul" you presented this weekend - I didn't know Jade Hindmon had a second job.
COMING MONDAY: A "Blog of Columbus" Day special....
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