Contemplating on the computer …
It sure doesn’t pay for most of us to be a football fan in Northeast Florida this year.
Most of us are used to being fooled by the Jacksonville Jaguars' false promises, but I don’t think anyone expected a 0-4 start or for the team to be so anemic on offense, especially in the red zone.
Florida and Florida State compound our football misery. The Gators are the best of the bunch at 2-2, while FSU is 1-4, including a 42-16 loss last week at SMU …
I heard from an old NASCAR buddy, Greg Biffle, Sunday night. He flew supplies to Asheville, North Carolina, earlier in the day in his helicopter. He said the damage from Hurricane Helene was unbelievable. While as many as 100,000 people may not have drinking water for another week, he said the greatest need is gasoline to run generators. The problem is there’s no way to get fuel into Buncombe County since nearby Interstate 40 is shut down. Speaking of Asheville, seeing Coleman Pressley on television during Sunday’s NASCAR race was a relief. He’s the spotter for Joey Logano’s car and the son of former Busch and Truck series driver Robert Pressley. Coleman was in Kansas because his father survived the storm …
The WNBA found out what life was like without Kaitlin Clark last weekend when it played Round 2 of the playoffs without the Indiana Fever. Clark’s team was eliminated 2-0 in a best-of-three series with the Connecticut Sun. During the regular season and first round of the playoffs, the WNBA averaged 1.19 million viewers a game, a 170% increase compared to the 2023 season before the Fever drafted Clark. There were a record 1.8 million viewers during the playoffs last week when Clark’s team was eliminated, but when the Sun moved on to play the Minnesota Lynx Sunday in the second round, viewership dropped by 91% to 161,000. Sunday’s game was on ABC, but starting last Tuesday, the schedule was shifted to ESPN2.
Paul Wane’s Duval County Line released “Hammer Stone” last week and put another spotlight on the soulful Southern musical roots of the area. Like so much of the music that rose from the swamps to take its place in American culture, “Hammer Stone” is a direct and unapologetic collection of raw energy and talent. Songs like “Southern Breeze,” “Bring the Pain,” “Trick Slicker,” “I’m Free” “Time” have solidified the band’s presence in the Southeast. Added with new music released in the past year from the Curt Towne Band (“At it Again”) and the album scheduled to be released on Nov. 22 by brothers Donnie and Johnny Van Zant, “Always Look Up” will keep the area in the forefront of the musical prominence. “Hammer Stone” is available at all download services like Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, iHeartRadio, YouTube Music, Pandora and Deezer. “At it Again” is available at thecurttownband.com and “Always Look Up” will be available at Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, TIDAL, DEEZER, SOUNDCLOUD, audiomack, iTunes Store, talkshoplive and YouTube Music …
I’ve learned to dread October because since I turned 65, I get inundated by unsolicited offers for Medicare. I’m happy with my agent at Green Insurance Agency in Orange Park, but it got worse with the General Election. Now I’m getting flyers pushing the agendas for the Florida Constitutional Amendments. What’s worse, nobody’s on solid ground on Amendment 4 – the one that would expand abortion rights – because the language of the amendment is so vague. The wording said an abortion would be allowed until the fetus/baby would be “viable,” or generally considered 24 weeks, but it doesn’t define viable. You assume that means it can survive outside the mother’s womb. It does allow for an abortion “to protect the patient’s health as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider,” but it doesn’t specify whether that’s a doctor, nurse or midwife. There are also no exceptions for rape or incest.
