29 JUL 08: TV OR NOT TV

That was the question Monday at a meeting in Phenix City. And the people in the room seemed ready for TV. After all, one of the people around the table appeared to be Shelby Guest from the Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau - and she's already on TV every Friday.

The Phenix City Chamber of Commerce organized a meeting, to get ready for a big appearance on regional cable TV. In fact, downtown Columbus could have been on national cable Monday - but no Atlanta station came down with the F.B.I. agents for that announcement about Michael Registe.

Comcast Sports Southeast plans to televise a high school football game from Phenix City's Garrett-Harrison Stadium in three weeks. This is the same cable channel which is presenting back-to-back nights of "Major League Lacrosse" this week - so you have an idea of how desperate the managers are for something better.

CSS plans to show an exhibition game between Carver and Phenix City Central on August 21. But I didn't realize until Monday that showing the game on cable TV will cost more than $25,000. You'd think someone would build a more fuel-efficient production trailer....

CSS plans to sell about $10,000 in ads for the game at Phenix City Central. But another $18,000 in ads have to be sold in Columbus and Phenix City. And that could be a challenge, when you're competing with youth league baseball teams raising money for the regionals.

Victor Cross of the Phenix City Chamber of Commerce is optimistic about this opportunity. He says the August 21 game will put the city on display across the Southeast. As long as CSS promises not to show any clips from "The Phenix City Story," this should be nice.

But the skeptical side of me can't help wondering how effective this opportunity will be. For one thing, the CSS "Regional High School Football Schedule" from last year shows three games were presented from Greenville, South Carolina. Was anyone locally moved to travel to Greenville - unless you wanted a really conservative sermon at Bob Jones University?

Keep in mind that Carver-Phenix City Central will NOT be a regular-season showdown - but an exhibition. CSS is missing the Carver-Spencer rivalry which counts in the standings by a week. And the new lawn at McClung Memorial Stadium will never look greener.

On top of that, consider the sports competition that night. The Olympics still will be underway on NBC. Fox is showing a pre-season NFL game. And do you REALLY think the club down the street from my home will move up poker night to Wednesday for this?

Perhaps this exhibition game is a test by CSS, to see if there's a market for weekly local high school football games on cable TV. The network shows games "on demand" in areas such as Atlanta, Chattanooga and Tallahassee - which means they're pay-per-view. In Columbus, that might work on a really rainy Friday night....

You may remember when the old TV-16 showed regular-season high school football games - NOT live, but usually one to three days later. Of course, nowadays things are different on that channel. WYBU shows tape-delayed church services all the time instead.

Speaking of high school football, did you hear about the award Valdosta received Monday? ESPN named it the winner of its "Titletown USA" contest. That fact that Valdosta State graduate Amanda Kozak nearly won the Miss America title two years ago had to be the difference.

E-MAIL UPDATE: Another event in Phenix City brought a comment Monday -- and no, it wasn't that big church conference....

Richard, I'm not really surprised to hear that a local Christian radio station was promoting the Freddie Hart show as Freddie has been primarily recording gospel music for the past 20 years. And the Band "Whiskey Bent" was not an opening act but played after Freddie Hart. There were two opening acts - Garrett Miles and Tresa Street. There was a large crowd present in the amphitheater however there were some empty seats. I thought that was sad considering Freddie calls Phenix City his hometown. Concert Attendee

This explains why we haven't heard much from Freddie Hart recently, other than his local appearances. He's 81 years old now - and a man that age singing lyrics like "Easy Lovin' /So Sexy Lookin'" might be reported to the authorities.

I was stunned to learn online that Freddie Hart is not only a country singer, but "a master of karate." How many people would have guessed this? And he didn't even sing the old country song, "Tokyo Oklahoma."

Let's rosin up the fiddle now, and have a "foggy breakdown" (without the mountain) of other Monday news:

+ We finally found the campaign documents of "Be Smart Vote No LOST" at the Muscogee County Election Board web site. As of June 30, the opponents of the one-percent sales tax question had no contributions and no expenditures. That may not seem very effective - but keep in mind, every penny of that was tax-free.

+ WRBL showed Superior Court Clerk Linda Pierce motoring around the Government Center on a scooter. Pierce says she can get 100 miles per gallon on it. Of course, election opponent Reba Rae will ask for equal time - and show how she can do even better by walking.

+ The "Princeton Review" ranked the University of Georgia on the top ten of "party schools," at number seven. Florida is number one this year - so apparently mass celebrations in end zones in Jacksonville don't count.

(For some odd reason, the Princeton Review's list of the 138 "Best Southeastern Colleges" does NOT include Columbus State University - but DOES include Minnesota and Utah. Should we assume a Florida graduate was assigned this geography problem?)

+ Atlanta's baseball team put pitcher Tim Hudson on the disabled list, and the Journal-Constitution reported elbow surgery could put him out for the year. The way things are going, Hudson will beat the rest of the team to that by about two months.

+ Instant Message to Blue Bell ice cream: About your commercial asking, "What if they started making shorter rulers?" - I think the President of Iran already counts as one.

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