random facts, tidbits, articles and most importantly my thoughts about things that i find while aimlessly surfing the web...
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Architecture, College Football, Baseball, Hockey, March Madness, The Economy, Corporate Corruption, Incomptent Leadership, Tulane, Atlanta, Florida, etc.
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travacado's thoughts
or at least "others'" thoughts that I find interesting...
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Tuesday, July 30, 2002
$8 million 'Bama donor led eccentric life
Yellow Pine, Ala. --- He corrected anybody who called his place a trailer. It was a mobile home. When it rotted, he repaired it with duct tape --- unlike the house he'd lived in next door, which he let literally collapse around him. His neighbors once were startled by a crash when a bathtub he sat in dropped through the floor. Yet every year he purchased a pair of identical new cars: If one didn't start, he had another one ready to go. Alton "Ikey" Scott wasn't the University of Alabama's biggest donor --- the $8 million his estate handed the school this month was second to the $16 million bequest by late NFL team owner Hugh Culverhouse --- but he was possibly its most eccentric. (By Drew Jubera, Atlanta Journal-Constitution) View the entire article
TIDAL 11:31 AM
Friday, July 26, 2002
A memorable marketing ploy
Baseball is trumping up its 30 most memorable moments voting, but their list is full of non-moments, ignores history and panders to political correctness. (By Rob Neyer, ESPN.com) View the entire article
If Bobby Thomson's home run isn't the greatest moment of all time then the American baseball public has become as stupid as the players AND owners!
TIDAL 8:01 PM
Thursday, July 25, 2002
Now it will just be "The Coliseum"
I have tons of stuff with Adelphia Coliseum on it because I was an inaugural season ticket holder for the Tennessee Titans. Now this bankrupt company is my cable/internet provider. It was nice the see the Rigas criminals handcuffed and arrested. But, where is Ken Lay and Enron? Oh wait they are from Texas... Bet you that we see Worldcom officers in handcuffs before anything is even thought about Enron. Don't worry America we will definitely not forget...
The Rigases are arrested
The linkage, tenuous as it was, between Nashville and Adelphia Communication Corp. gives this city reason to be particularly irked at Adelphia's scandalous operation and particularly pleased at yesterday's arrests of the culprits.
Federal officers arrested former Adelphia CEO John Rigas and two of his sons, Timothy and Michael, and two other former executives, charging them with a variety of bogus accounting practices. In addition to the criminal charges, the SEC has brought a civil suit against the Rigas family in which it describes their misdeeds as ''one of the most extensive frauds ever to take place at a public company.''
Because of the naming-rights agreement made three years ago between the Tennessee Titans and the communications company, ''Adelphia'' not only appeared on the city's NFL stadium, the name was used in virtually every story and every broadcast of a Titans home game. Though the linkage between the city and the company was in name only, ''Adelphia'' became identified with Nashville.
That linkage was officially severed in May, two months after Adelphia filed for bankruptcy protection. In that sense, Nashville is far luckier than Coudersport, Pa., where Adelphia is based, or Buffalo, N.Y., where the Rigases' hockey team, the Sabres, is based, or the entire state of New York, which gave Adelphia $50 million to build an office tower in Buffalo.
And Nashville's predicament is nothing compared to Adelphia investors. According to the SEC, the Rigas family, which owned a majority of stock, excluded billions of dollars from Adelphia's liabilities at the same time they inflated the company's earnings. One federal official said yesterday that the family used Adelphia like ''a personal piggy bank.'' The current management of Adelphia says the Rigas family used company funds to buy the Sabres, to invest in a golf course and buy timber property.
Memories are short. In a few months, people will stop referring to Nashville's stadium as Adelphia. The link between this city and a corporation mired in scandal will be broken. Given the plight of most of Adelphia's victims, we're getting off easy. (Editorial from the Nashville Tennessean)
TIDAL 10:53 PM
Monday, July 22, 2002
I wished that I lived in California, Nevada or Arizona
Because then I would be able to enjoy the wonderous IN-N-OUT Burger! But, since I live in Georgia I can go to the In-N-Out Burger's official website until my next voyage out west.
TIDAL 8:55 PM
Tuesday, July 16, 2002
Officials Unveil Plans for Rebuilding Trade Center Site
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey unveiled six preliminary plans today for redeveloping the World Trade Center site, all of which include a memorial park as the centerpiece to commemorate the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Some designs include the footprints of the twin towers in the memorial. Others call for at least one soaring tower that evokes the oversize presence of the trade center in the Lower Manhattan skyline. (By Edward Wyatt and Charles V. Bagli, New York Times) View the entire article
In my opinion, I'd go with the "triangle" plan. It pays memorial to what occured on 9/11, maintains the (pre)existing street grid of lower Manhattan and the density of the buildings follow the surrounding area. But what do I know?
TIDAL 9:00 PM
Sunday, July 14, 2002
Harken Papers Offer Details on Bush Knowledge
Motive for Stock Sale In '90 Remains Unclear
So Bush sold most of his Harken stock -- 212,140 shares at $4 a share, or $848,560, on June 22, 1990. Two months later, Harken announced huge losses for the quarter ending June 30, and its stock price plunged. The Securities and Exchange Commission investigated Bush for insider trading but found no case.
Although Bush has maintained over the years that the size of the losses took him by surprise, interviews and internal Harken documents provide a newly detailed picture of how much Bush knew about Harken's financial straits when he sold the stock. (By Mike Allen and George Lardner Jr.,Washington Post) View the entire article
Is the outrage finally coming? Where is the SUCCESS in the "War on Terrorism?" Does anyone see the parallels between the current Bush administration (Bush 43) and the first Bush administration (Bush 41)? Maybe the Republicans are starting to regret their attack dog tactics during the Clinton administration (Whitewater, Paula Jones, Monica, etc.)...
Get ready, Georgia, for the water crunch
In Georgia, a state usually blessed with almost 50 inches of rain a year, water conservation has all the appeal of a damp dishrag.
Even during the long drought Georgians have been free to shower and soak, wash dishes and clothes, flush fire hydrants and toilets. We've had to observe outdoor watering restrictions, but we haven't made serious lifestyle shifts.
That's likely to change, and soon. (By Jingle Davis, Atlanta Journal-Constitution) View the entire article
TIDAL 11:40 PM
Friday, July 12, 2002
Deconstructing Buffy
They're writing theses, calling conferences and compiling essays... The academic world can't get enough of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. But it's a kids' show, isn't it? Not quite, says Robert Hanks, who knows why Buffy has the critics by the jugular
View the entire article
More than just a pretty face
I was immediately hooked. I began visiting several team pages and quickly learned the prototypical cheerleader is 5-foot-3, 105 pounds, is usually described by her friends as energetic with a contagious smile, and enjoys romping with her dogs "Honey," "Baby" and "Honey Baby." Kimmie, a member of the Gold Rush Girls (the 49ers cheerleaders) has five cats, two dogs, two fish, one bird, and one rat. I'm guessing she might have had more rats, but that would have been before she had the five cats. Kimmie is attractive, but can you imagine turning the lights down low in her bedroom and having 10 neon green eyes peering at you in the dark, while some bird does play-by-play, and the rat scratches at the wall? There's not enough Viagra in the world. (By Bob Halloran, ESPN.com Page 2) View the entire article
TIDAL 4:03 PM
Thursday, July 11, 2002
Bowling isn't what it used to be, but thanks to rock 'n' roll, it's not headed down the gutter.
Cool article about bowling from the Los Angeles Times
Too bad it isn't Rock 'n' Bowl at Mid-City Lanes!!!
Mid-City Lanes Rock 'n' Bowl®
A SUCCESS STORY - ROCK ‘N REVIVAL
New Orleans, Louisiana may be known as the birthplace of jazz. But the new sound in that town is called "Rock ‘N’ Bowl."
There are more than 100 clubs for live music here in the Big Easy, but only one place to find Rock ’N’ Bowl: the World famous Mid City Bowling Lanes.
While other centers might stage occasional "rock ‘n bowl" type promotions, Mid City Lanes’ owner has acquired exclusive rights to the Rock ‘N’ Bowl name, and the place is defined by the concept. Literally, locals and tourists alike go to this 18 lane center to dance until two or three in the morning, where the air is filled with sounds of crashing drums, honking saxophones, rolling bowling balls and falling pins.
Given this atmosphere, it doesn’t take long for a bowler to start doing the Twist on the approach. By midnight or so, the jitterbuggers start to command the pits.
When a familiar couple waltzes on the bar, regulars smile knowingly. It’s owner John Blancher and his wife, Deborah.
It’s the signal to the fact that Rock ‘N’ Bowl, Blancher’s way is in full swing for another night.
Blancher is a lanky 38 year old New Orleans native, the type of man who’ll shake your hand as quickly as he smiles. He grew up around Mid City Lanes, but never dreamed he’d one day own the place. In fact, as he readily admits, he never really went bowling.
The story of Rock ‘N’ Bowl, in fact, has an unusual genesis. As Blancher explains it , it started with a lucky pilgrimage to Medjugorje, in what was then Yugoslavia, in the fall of 1988.
"New Orleans was buzzing about these apparitions of the Virgin Mary that people had seen," says Blancher. "I wanted to see it for myself."
He witnessed nothing unusual. But before going back, he placed a petition on a mountainside altar for a secret dream he’d been harboring.
"Help me find something that would get my whole family involved.," he wrote, and went home.
"Later that year," remembers Blancher, "someone asked me if I wanted to buy a bowling alley.
It was Mid City Lanes that was on the block. Opened in 1941, it is New Orleans’ oldest center. Originally locate across the street from Pelican Stadium, Mid City enjoyed glory days in a busy sports neighborhood. But pro baseball moved out of New Orleans, and the city razed Pelican Stadium in 1958. Larger, more modern bowling centers opened in surrounding suburbs, and this seemed to seal the fate for the small old- fashioned Mid City Lanes.
By 1988, the local chapter of the Knights of Columbus found itself saddled with a failing bowling center and looking for a buyer.
"I stopped by to see it," recalls Blancher, "My first impression was that it was a beautiful place. It was painted kind of piecemeal with whatever colors were handy, but besides that, it was just like something out of 1958.
"But, " he continues, "no operator in the city would touch it."
By that time, Blancher- a self professed jack- of- all- trades-- had already tried his hand at teaching, catering, selling insurance, and even modeling. He thought Mid City Lanes had a rustic charm that would make it ideal for catering parties. Securing a personal loan, he made an offer. For $25,000, Blancher found himself the owner of the bowling center, the fixtures, and equipment.
"I heard through the grapevine that every bowling operator thought I was a complete fool for taking it over," he smiles.
The skeptics had their reasons. The year before Blancher bought it, Mid City Lanes posted a $50,000 loss. On Halloween Day, 1988, the center did a gross sale of only $29, including bowling and bar. The following morning, Blancher took it over.
Deborah Blancher says that she thought her husband was a little "nuts".
Indeed, Blancher almost proved his critics right. Two months after he bought Mid City Lanes, he was talking with his lawyer about bankruptcy proceedings. His bank turned him down for another loan. Still, he kept the lanes open, hiring local artist Tony Green to paint an optimistic mural depicting the former Pelican Stadium. And rather than add amenities such as underground ball returns or automatic scoring, he changed the impact pinsetter to a magic eye.
I wanted the place to look just like 1958," he reasons.
At first, a few folks trickled in. Actors from a nearby theater would stop by after rehearsals, and a transient piano player named Billy Burke played for tips. Then one year after buying Mid City Lanes, Blancher thought he’d try booking a band on a weekend.
Nobody knew it then, but it was the birth of Rock ‘N’ Bowl.
Louisiana rockabilly singer Joe Clay appeared in one of those early bands. It was his first gig in a bowling center. "To be honest, I didn’t think it would work," he acknowledges. "But after the first hour, people started jumping around on the dance floor- even where they were bowling.
"Now," says Clay, "everybody wants to play here. This place is unique, man."
A FLAIR FOR THE OFFBEAT
Blancher competes with other music clubs by offering low cover charges. He seldom goes above $5 for admission. His real drawing card however, has been a flair for offbeat promotions and an obvious love for bad, bowling related puns.
There are, er, leagues of examples. Mid City Lanes offers free corned beef on St. Patrick's Day and calls it "Shamrock and Bowl." Thanksgiving means "Pluck and Bowl" for a turkey that cries "gob-bowl, gob-bowl." A benefit for families of troops stationed in the Persian Gulf was called, of course, "Iraq and Bowl."
Once Blancher celebrated Elvis’ birthday by having a local impersonator emerge from behind the pins in a cloud of smoke. It was so popular that now he does it twice a year, on Elvis’ birthday and "deathday."
This year, the local newspaper balked at one of Blancher’s promotions. It was a Good Friday show by a local gospel group, and the editors wondered about the appropriateness of a bowling alley church choir. Blancher explained all about Medjugorje. The ad ran.
"People tell me they look forward to my ads each week," he shrugs. "I figure if they don’t get a laugh, at least they get a groan."
And, as the former salesman quickly points out, Mid City Lanes gets attention. Along with regular crowds numbering several hundred (much more during Mardi Gras and other holidays), this one of a kind bowling center attracts filmmakers and has been featured in music videos, and Miller Beer commercial. Blancher recently acquired exclusive rights to the name Rock ‘N’ Bowl" and is considering franchising.
Rock ‘N’ Bowl still means long hours, but after four years, Blancher can claim a $36,000 salary while the lanes turn a $25,000 annual profit. But even more important, he says, his family can work for the center. doing everything from cleaning the pits to typing the monthly "Rock and Bowlletin."
It is, he believes, an answer to his prayer.
The catering experience has paid off, too. Mid City Lanes features a late night kitchen that serves such delicacies as fried alligator sausage. There’s a tradition in New Orleans of lagniappe , which means "a little something extra."
Team bowling at Mid City Lanes includes a gay league, a yuppie league, and a mentally handicapped league, but Blancher discourages some serious bowlers from coming to a place that might not be- well, serious enough.
"This will never be a big- league alley," he admits cheerfully. "But the recreational bowler loves it here. People who have never bowled before come for the music. "Do I have to bowl?" they ask. Ten minutes later they’re putting on shoes and the next thing you see is they’re bowling, and jumping up and down and screaming about it."
According to Blancher, the easy-going atmosphere at Mid City appeals to the first- timers. "The lights are down and the music’s playing, so who really cares what your score is?" he reasons.
It’s Blancher willingness to experiment with new ideas that has breathed new life into a historic New Orleans bowling center. " If I hadn’t bought it, I believe these lanes would not be open today," he says.
Judging by the response, New Orleans is glad they’re open, too. For Rock ‘N’ Bowlers, these are the good old days. (By Michael Tisserand, Bowler’s Journal: November 1992, pgs. 100-102)
TIDAL 7:18 PM
Wednesday, July 10, 2002
Bud-fest just plain cheesy
First 9/11, then Enron and Arthur Andersen, then the Roman Catholic Church, now baseball. Of all times to test the nation's tolerance quotient, this is surely the worst. At the risk of sacrilege, a side of me wants the sport to go poof. It actually might be fun, in a perverse way, to see so many contentious, arrogant, greedy and unappreciative people shrink into weebles as America tunes them out. Suddenly, these players and owners wouldn't be known as great athletes and ultra-successful businessmen.
They would go down, forever, as the fools who gutted baseball. (By Jay Mariotti, Chicago Sun-Times) View the entire article
All that was missing at the end was Tanner running around the field from The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training. The Miller Park crowd was yelling "Let Them Play, Let Them Play!!!". Even Bob Watson (Yankees GM), the Astros player who started that chant in the movie was in attendance!
Of course, the irony is that the last time that the MLB All-Star Game went into extra innings was 1994. Just think of what we have to look forward to this October! At least there will be the NFL and most importantly COLLEGE FOOTBALL...
TIDAL 3:45 PM
Monday, July 08, 2002
Business Scandals Force GOP to Consider Broader Reforms
Policy: Bush's speech on Wall Street may mark a change from his party's anti-regulatory stance.
Mounting public concern about the new wave of business scandals is forcing President Bush and congressional Republicans to consider a more intrusive government role in monitoring the private sector than they have been willing to accept.
For months, Bush and fellow Republicans have held the line at relatively limited federal action in response to accounting abuses and controversial financial practices, blaming problems on a few corporate bad apples and contending the business world was already stepping forward to clean up the mess.
Now, their restrained approach has begun to give way as the scandals have spread to some of the nation's largest corporations, including telecom giant WorldCom, and as Democrats have mobilized behind tougher government action.
On Tuesday, Bush will move to seize a prominent place in the reform campaign by going to Wall Street to deliver a stern lecture on ethics to business leaders. He is widely expected to propose new or tougher criminal penalties, such as mandatory jail time, for executives guilty of misleading or defrauding stockholders. (By Richard Simon, Los Angeles Times) View the entire article
TIDAL 7:31 PM
Sunday, July 07, 2002
Senate panel blasts board in Enron fall
"The subcommittee does not accept the board's claim that it was out of the loop and can't be blamed for Enron's collapse," Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the panel, said. "The evidence shows that the board knowingly went along with Enron's high-risk accounting and off-the-books deceptions."
Enron attorney Robert Bennett said the report was "one-sided" and "unfair" and made selective use of facts. Hindsight, he said, "is a perfect science."
In preparing the 60-page report, the subcommittee issued more than 50 subpoenas, examined more than 1 million pages of documents and interviewed 13 Enron directors, all of whom have since left the board.
"Much of what was wrong at Enron was not concealed from its board of directors," the report noted. "High-risk accounting practices, extensive undisclosed off-the-books transactions, inappropriate conflict of interest transactions and excessive compensation plans were known to and authorized by the board." (By David Ivanovich, Houston Chronicle) View the entire arcticle
To find out more about the Enron debacle please visit The Daily Enron.
A smoggy forecast for Bush administration
There was an irony in the fact a Bush administration official found limited visibility in the Smoky Mountains last week. The administration has been shortsighted on the environment altogether.
EPA chief Christie Whitman appeared at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park with Sen. Bill Frist in an effort to espouse the administration's Clear Skies proposal, which is supposed to clean pollutants caused by power plant emissions by 70%.
Whitman's ascension with Frist to Clingman's Dome amounted to little more than a photo-op. Whitman didn't get to see very far herself, because pollution has cut visibility drastically. From a vantage point that used to offer views of 77 miles away, the EPA head could see only 15 miles. Whitman proclaimed that past efforts to clear the air just haven't been enough. She said the nation needs to take extra steps to improve air quality.
That sounds fine, except that the Bush administration's track record simply does not uphold the values the EPA chief spoke about. In fact, it is failing the environment in many ways.
In fairness, Whitman has been undermined in the past by her own boss and his advisers. The administration has caved in to plant operators by going easy on pollution controls, most notably by not holding them to tough standards known as new source review. Regulations are intended to force plant operators to upgrade equipment to reduce pollution. Instead, plants have ducked regulations by claiming patchwork repairs as nothing more than maintenance, avoiding the expense of modern upgrades.
Another factor in polluting the Smokies has been the presence of gas-burning automobiles, but the administration has not seen fit to push for tougher fuel economy standards, which would conserve energy. The Bush team's other efforts on the environment have been geared more toward helping companies drill and dig for fossil fuels, which has endangered the environment.
The pollution in the Smokies has been so pronounced it even poses health threats such as asthma to humans. It threatens the habitat, including plant species. Hopefully, Whitman saw just enough — or little enough — to gain a renewed commitment to cleaning the air in meaningful ways, including persuading her colleagues to the real dangers in the Bush environmental policies. (Editorial from today's Nashville Tennessean)
TIDAL 7:18 PM
Friday, July 05, 2002
Farewell, Teddy Ballgame
"Ted Williams, a Salvation Army worker's son who became an American icon as he realized his dream of the baseball world recognizing him as "the greatest hitter who ever lived," died today. The Red Sox legend, who hit .406 in 1941 to become the last player to break the .400 barrier, was 83." (By Bob Hohler, Boston Globe)
Boston Globe OBIT
ESPN SportsCentury Biography
TIDAL 7:44 PM
Thursday, July 04, 2002
Happy 4th of July! And on America's 226th birthday please welcome the birth of Travacado's Thoughts.
I am currently watching CNN's Newsnight with Aaron Brown. I think Aaron Brown is cool. I don't really know why except for the fact that I remember watching him on ABC's World News Now late into the night during my "pre-cable" college days.
TIDAL 10:42 PM
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