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OMAHA + FURTHERMORE 2/1/2014 1:31:16 PM
I tried my very best to give away two Super Bowl comp tickets for Sunday, February 9, 2014 at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ . First off, I contacted a few relatives and friends, doctors, lawyers, grocery store baggers et al, etc., etc. with whom I am still on speaking terms, but all had previous commitments — or else they could not afford the airfare from their hometown, the only out-of-pocket expense the comps involved.
The ducats included 2 nights at the Waldorf Astoria, limo transport each way, meeting at Rockefeller Center with hosts Jim Nance, Al Michaels, and Keith Morrison, limo transportation to and from New Jersey, plus two seats in the NBC enclosed and heated Skybox on the 50-yard line with enough catered food and booze for an Army of starving Pollocks. All anybody could ask for. I racked my brain to find anyone who might make use of the comps — I even considered an Online Contest whereby I would establish an essay contest called Why I Want to Meet Keith Morrison! — but that was scrubbed by www.AuthorsDen.com, whom I had asked to be the arbiter.
So I wound up eating the comps.
Well, it was not a complete loss. My good wife and I had the opportunity of spending that Super Sunday afternoon and evening with Mr. and Mrs. A. Robert Fleming of Oakdale, Ontario, Canada, who not only are members of the Canadian Chapter of the North American Orthodontics Society, but they also hate football — particularly Peyton Manning of the Colorado Broncos. TV, it goes without saying, was out of the question.
As it turned out, Alphonse Robert Fleming was a close friend of my son-in-law, the dentist, Dr. Phillip H. Faucette (pronounced Faw’set when speaking of him professionally) and his wife, Alexandra, (our youngest daughter), the parents of our grandchildren Hutson and Elizabeth Anne Faucette.
Dr. Fawset, on top of everything else, is currently the president of the Birmingham Chapter of N.A. Orthodontic Society — so we had a great deal to talk about — so much so, I barely noticed the 60” flat screen TV remained black and silent, and made the room look twice its normal size. Even Debi Fleming looked fit and proper super-imposed over where I imagined Queen Latifah might be standing at the precise moment she sang God Bless America.
True, A. Robert Fleming is not a dentist — he is a world-traveller, having been, at one time or another, to every sun-drenched city in the State of Florida — even, according to Debi, he undertook a recent jaunt to Sarasota, of all places. As a non-dentist he is, in fact, quite vociferous in his arguments why so-and-so should hold office in chapters of the North American Orthodontic Society, and why so-and-so should not. The fact that Debi and Chris have been best friends since 1983 has nothing to do with it . The fourth quarter was nearly over by the time we finished dinner— my wife served the Flemings a Lobster Poutine, a quaint, 1950-ish Quebecois dish said to ward-off Canadian cold and contains such delights as chunks of cooked lobster, French fries, a rich beef sauce and big Cheddar cheese curds.
Its ingredients notwithstanding (it is delicious), the dish is a favorite among Torontonians — and afterwards we said our goodbyes.
Bob and Debi departed, at last, for Oakville, Ontario, by way of a late check-int at the Crowne Plaza near the airport (I hope, at 83, Buffalo, NY— or, for that matter, Rochester, again).
There was not much sense tuning in the TV except for the final score of the Super Bowl. Instead, I went into my office only a few steps from the living room, found my cell -phone among all the papers on my desk, and called Jim Nance; he answered as he was leaving the suite.
Omaha Yeah, he affirmed, Manning was great. So wasKnowshawn Marino. He caught all nine of Peyton Manning’s TDs.
The Broncos won? I naively asked.
Omaha! Yep. 77 to zip. Two were running TDs, one a 105 yard kick-off return again by Marino.
Wow! Wish I could have been there!
The late Jack Buck tried to arrange it for you, Jim admitted. Baby Joe always said you were his favorite sitter when his dad did the play-by-play for the Rochester Red Wings.
Wish I coulda been there, I repeated.
Omaha! . . . me, too, Nance breathed in my ear.
Robert A. Mills, Feb 1, 2014 Copyright 2014, all rights reserved. May not be re-written, published or broadcast without permission of the author. . ************************************************************ FUTHERMORE . . . Feb 1, 2014
It will be long remembered here in Atlanta as the disastrous winter storm of January 28 and 29, 2014, with particular venom reserved for our mayor and governor. One is s Republican and one is a Democrat, not that it matters much; it goes far beyond party issues. It has to do with MONEY, pure and simple.
What if we are found out? said one. We will deny it, said the other; worked okay for what-is-his-name. It was a snow, cold and ice storm of great significance and unnecessary inconvenience. After all, Mother Nature has its [her] own way: she works in a mysterious manner. . .
People, by the thousands, got off and started for home early and at the regular time, so there were a million cars and trucks on the Interstates and highways; schools, which could not decide whether to close Wednesday or not, waited until the last moment to inform radio and TV stations.
Consequently, tens of hundreds of children had to sleep on the floor in smelly gymnasiums at school — and be fed dinner, breakfast and snacks, if at all, with their teachers and others.
As a retired weatherman after 25 years with the NBC affiliate in Western New York, I totally agree with Chris Holcomb and his various cohorts that ALL prognosticators said we were in for one hell of a storm as early as Monday night!
Even our governor, once he learned that the infallible Weather Channel was located right in Atlanta, called his cable provider and asked it be included in his basic plan!
My blessed wife, Chris, — who dresses me, feeds me, bathes me and attends to my every need and inability — and I managed just fine. She was supposed to have blood drawn at a clinic nearby to determine the severity of her heart condition, but she opted to stay home with me instead, just in case I needed he (I did not).
400 is a mess, she told me; southerners just do not know how to drive in snow and ice! I turned around and came back.
(We heard on the TV of one nurse at Emory who had her last patient at 6:30 PM Tuesday and did not get home to take care of her twin kids until the next day! There is just no excuse!)
Our youngest daughter, Alex, and her two kids (and her dentist husband, Dr. Phillip Faucette, in Birmingham) are also fine.
Alex was visiting her nearby friend, Rachel, and opted to stay with her — Rachel’s one child remained at school; Alex stayed with the young mom, along with Hutson and Elizabeth Anne, where it was warm and comfortable.
Phillip remained at his friend Dr. Ben’s place until Phillip was motivated by his own family’s need for infant diapers; he left for Rachel’s when Alabama’s restriction on driving was lifted — the result of the storm.
Chris and I both agree: Georgia would do well, next time, to follow Alabama’s lead, not they or S. Mississippi fared much better!!
Robert A. Mills, Feb 1, 2014 Copyright 2014, all rights reserved. May not be re-written, published or broadcast without permission of the author.
