GOBBLE-GOBBLE, MEMORIES OF WHAT I'M THANKFUL FOR, VIN SCULLY and IT'S TIME TO ELIMINATE THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE!!!
THANKSGIVING!!!
VIN SCULLY!!!
And somehow, I hope to sensibly tie the two together and make it personal!
This is being written late in the afternoon on November 26, 2008. This will be posted sometime this evening just before I'll be making a guest appearance on Wayne Powers' radio show which is broadcast on 1110/WBT, an AM 50,000 watt clear channel blowtorch in Charlotte, North Carolina which is heard up and down the East Coast at night. I'm scheduled to be on for 10-15 minutes around 7:30 or so, Pacific time. If you live outside their listening range, you can hear it on your computer at http://www.wbt.com/
By the time some of you begin to read this blog, it will probably BE Thanksgiving and with that in mind, I hope that you and yours have a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
Does anything YOU'RE thankful for, come to mind?
Has anything happened ON or NEAR a Thanksgiving that you're especially thankful for?
Seeing Vin Scully this past Friday and thinking about Thanksgiving which would be six days later, made me think about the story I'm about to tell. I'll get to the Scully angle in a minute.
I arrived in Los Angeles on Friday, the day AFTER Thanksgiving in 1979. I had left my "dream job" as the afternoon talk show host on KMOX in St. Louis to join Gene Autry's legendary KMPC here as a talk host. In addition to having a stable of stars on their airwaves (Radio Hall of Famers Robert W. Morgan, Gary Owens, etc.), KMPC also carried the L.A. Rams, the Angels, and UCLA football and basketball. I was there to be a part of KMPC's sports team.
Again...This was the day after Thanksgiving, 1979. Less than 2 months later, the Rams were playing against Pittsburgh's Steelers in Super Bowl 14 at the Rose Bowl. Terry Bradshaw would end up being the game's MVP as the Steelers won their 4th Super Bowl.
I was assigned to do the radio half time show of that game. Before I went on the air, a surprise guest stuck his head in the door and said, "Hi, Scott! I'm Vin Scully! Welcome! I've been listening to you! You're going to do very well here!"
You have to understand something. For a young broadcaster like me who was a raw rookie in L.A., to hear THOSE words...Coming from THAT man was like getting a blessing from GOD!!!
WELLLL....In addition to being of deity status, Mr. Scully turned out to be a little bit of a prophet regarding me. I've had my ups and downs like anyone else, but while here, I've shared microphones with multiple radio, television and sports Hall of Famers, I've had the pleasure of spending many years as a television sports anchor, fill-in television morning show host, I've had small and substantial acting roles on television, small roles on major films, starring roles on films that became bargain basement films on VHS and DVD before anyone even know they had been made and yes, along the way, I wondered if I would ever work again, but that's true with all of us, isn't it?
Overall, I've been a very lucky guy who has a LOT to be thankful for as we think about Thanksgiving and that brings me back to Vin Scully.
I'm a member of an organization called, "PACIFIC PIONEER BROADCASTERS". This past Friday (the 21st), our President, Chuck Southcott threw a standing room only luncheon at The (very famous) Sportsmen's Lodge in Studio City, California and presented Vin Scully with our organization's highest honor.
After a number of distinguished guests spoke, Scully spoke and proved once again what a "WORD MAGICIAN" he is!!!
When the event had ended, I went to the dais and spoke briefly with Scully for the first time in quite a number of years. When I told him I have never forgotten the "welcome" he had given me those many years ago, he finished my sentence for me by telling me where and when it was.
How does a guy who knows you (only) casually remember something that happened 30 YEARS AGO?!? I asked that question to Entertainment Tonight's long time producer/director Kevin Gershan and he said, "THAT's why he's VIN SCULLY!!!"
Here's the deal, gang. The economy sucks, a lot of people are having to take pay cuts, in some cases, multiple pay cuts, and that's if you're lucky enough to even have a job, but if you're blessed with good health and aren't too lazy or scared to try to get work, as a rule, things will work out for you and like me, you'll have a LOT to be thankful for.
I know. There are some days, weeks, months and YEARS when you might question that, but as long as you keep "pumping", reasons to smile are just around the corner.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYBODY!!!
AND NOW, SOME OTHER STUFF:
GAS PRICES!
In the San Fernando Valley, where I live, unleaded regular's lowest price is $1.99 a gallon. And the oil companies are STILL making a fortune!!!
BAILOUTS!!!
Isn't it time to simply let some of these terribly run companies go bankrupt and start over? I mean, how much money are we going to continue to print so these companies can go back to doing business as usual? You know who ends up paying for this, don't you?
YOU AND I DO, THAT'S WHO!!!
TIME MAGAZINE's FIVE POSSIBLE TITLES FOR PRESIDENT BUSH'S MEMOIR:
(1) STANDING TALL AND TALKING GOOD
(2) CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE UNILATERAL SOUL
(3) THE GEORGE W. BUSH AUTOBIOGRAPHY (by Karl Rove)
(4) TWO TERMS OF ENDEARMENT
(5) MY YEARS AS GOVERNOR
WHY DO WE STILL HAVE THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE?!?
Wasn't what happened in 2000 bad enough? Al Gore got the most votes, but because of the Electoral College (and the Supreme Court), George W. Bush was handed the presidency.
Do I think that Al Gore would have been a GOOD President of the United States?
No I don't think that. But I KNOW that President George W. Bush has been a HORRIBLE President of the United States.
We like to tell everyone that "every vote counts!"
OH, YEAH?!?
If we eliminate the Electoral College, every vote WILL count!!!
THOUGHTS and or COMMENTS? Please write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net. I write back to everyone. If you write to the blog, I won't see your email address so I CAN'T write back to you!
LIKE THE EMAIL THAT WAS WRITTEN TO THIS BLOG FROM "ANONYMOUS" WHO TOOK SOME CRITICAL SHOTS AT ME!!!
Yo, "Anonymous"! I don't mind "shots" from readers. This is an "opinion" blog that I write. I welcome views that differ from mine. And I have ongoing dialogues with readers. In some cases, dialogues that have been going on since I began writing this blog in March of 2007.
In addition to talking the talk, I do walk the walk when it comes to (my) listening to views that are different from mine. I was that way as a talk show host and I'm that way with this blog.
That's why I KNOW that the whining done by Rush, Hannity and others about the (boo-hoo) FAIRNESS DOCTRINE is bogus!
Anyone who is worried about the "Fairness Doctrine" is (to me) a cult leader wannabe. A communicator with a one and ONLY "one point of view" agenda, is a person who deep down is espousing a dictatorial society.
BACK TO THE EMAIL FROM "ANONYMOUS"...
As most readers know, all of my previous blogs are easy to access. "Anonymous" sent me comments about stuff I wrote on June 25, 2008 in a blog that was headlined, "NO PARTICULAR PLACE TO GO!"
In that blog, I wrote (among other things) about what I wrote in the above paragraphs regarding some of our current talk hosts. But what I just NOW wrote is a little stronger than what I wrote in May.
In his email, "Anonymous" accuses me of being "a vacuous liberal" who wants the government to do what I (and my so-called "ilk") can't do on their own.
"Anonymous", first of all, I'm a lifetime Republican. A Goldwater Republican, if you will. Still am. Yeah, I voted for Obama. But before that, I voted for the current President Bush, who to me, has surrounded himself with a group of "Republicans" that THIS lifetime Republican doesn't "get" AT ALL!!!
Write to ME, "Anonymous". Who knows? Maybe you'll change my mind.
On the other hand, maybe I'll change YOUR mind!
After I post this blog, I will post the email from "Anonymous" right under the June 25, 2008 blog. The email is not a long email.
THE NEXT BLOG?
Up in the air right now. I might write another one next Wednesday which means it would be posted late that afternoon or early/late Wednesday evening.
IF NOT? Then my next blog would be written on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day.
But for now, HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYBODY!!!!!!
VIN SCULLY!!!
And somehow, I hope to sensibly tie the two together and make it personal!
This is being written late in the afternoon on November 26, 2008. This will be posted sometime this evening just before I'll be making a guest appearance on Wayne Powers' radio show which is broadcast on 1110/WBT, an AM 50,000 watt clear channel blowtorch in Charlotte, North Carolina which is heard up and down the East Coast at night. I'm scheduled to be on for 10-15 minutes around 7:30 or so, Pacific time. If you live outside their listening range, you can hear it on your computer at http://www.wbt.com/
By the time some of you begin to read this blog, it will probably BE Thanksgiving and with that in mind, I hope that you and yours have a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
Does anything YOU'RE thankful for, come to mind?
Has anything happened ON or NEAR a Thanksgiving that you're especially thankful for?
Seeing Vin Scully this past Friday and thinking about Thanksgiving which would be six days later, made me think about the story I'm about to tell. I'll get to the Scully angle in a minute.
I arrived in Los Angeles on Friday, the day AFTER Thanksgiving in 1979. I had left my "dream job" as the afternoon talk show host on KMOX in St. Louis to join Gene Autry's legendary KMPC here as a talk host. In addition to having a stable of stars on their airwaves (Radio Hall of Famers Robert W. Morgan, Gary Owens, etc.), KMPC also carried the L.A. Rams, the Angels, and UCLA football and basketball. I was there to be a part of KMPC's sports team.
Again...This was the day after Thanksgiving, 1979. Less than 2 months later, the Rams were playing against Pittsburgh's Steelers in Super Bowl 14 at the Rose Bowl. Terry Bradshaw would end up being the game's MVP as the Steelers won their 4th Super Bowl.
I was assigned to do the radio half time show of that game. Before I went on the air, a surprise guest stuck his head in the door and said, "Hi, Scott! I'm Vin Scully! Welcome! I've been listening to you! You're going to do very well here!"
You have to understand something. For a young broadcaster like me who was a raw rookie in L.A., to hear THOSE words...Coming from THAT man was like getting a blessing from GOD!!!
WELLLL....In addition to being of deity status, Mr. Scully turned out to be a little bit of a prophet regarding me. I've had my ups and downs like anyone else, but while here, I've shared microphones with multiple radio, television and sports Hall of Famers, I've had the pleasure of spending many years as a television sports anchor, fill-in television morning show host, I've had small and substantial acting roles on television, small roles on major films, starring roles on films that became bargain basement films on VHS and DVD before anyone even know they had been made and yes, along the way, I wondered if I would ever work again, but that's true with all of us, isn't it?
Overall, I've been a very lucky guy who has a LOT to be thankful for as we think about Thanksgiving and that brings me back to Vin Scully.
I'm a member of an organization called, "PACIFIC PIONEER BROADCASTERS". This past Friday (the 21st), our President, Chuck Southcott threw a standing room only luncheon at The (very famous) Sportsmen's Lodge in Studio City, California and presented Vin Scully with our organization's highest honor.
After a number of distinguished guests spoke, Scully spoke and proved once again what a "WORD MAGICIAN" he is!!!
When the event had ended, I went to the dais and spoke briefly with Scully for the first time in quite a number of years. When I told him I have never forgotten the "welcome" he had given me those many years ago, he finished my sentence for me by telling me where and when it was.
How does a guy who knows you (only) casually remember something that happened 30 YEARS AGO?!? I asked that question to Entertainment Tonight's long time producer/director Kevin Gershan and he said, "THAT's why he's VIN SCULLY!!!"
Here's the deal, gang. The economy sucks, a lot of people are having to take pay cuts, in some cases, multiple pay cuts, and that's if you're lucky enough to even have a job, but if you're blessed with good health and aren't too lazy or scared to try to get work, as a rule, things will work out for you and like me, you'll have a LOT to be thankful for.
I know. There are some days, weeks, months and YEARS when you might question that, but as long as you keep "pumping", reasons to smile are just around the corner.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYBODY!!!
AND NOW, SOME OTHER STUFF:
GAS PRICES!
In the San Fernando Valley, where I live, unleaded regular's lowest price is $1.99 a gallon. And the oil companies are STILL making a fortune!!!
BAILOUTS!!!
Isn't it time to simply let some of these terribly run companies go bankrupt and start over? I mean, how much money are we going to continue to print so these companies can go back to doing business as usual? You know who ends up paying for this, don't you?
YOU AND I DO, THAT'S WHO!!!
TIME MAGAZINE's FIVE POSSIBLE TITLES FOR PRESIDENT BUSH'S MEMOIR:
(1) STANDING TALL AND TALKING GOOD
(2) CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE UNILATERAL SOUL
(3) THE GEORGE W. BUSH AUTOBIOGRAPHY (by Karl Rove)
(4) TWO TERMS OF ENDEARMENT
(5) MY YEARS AS GOVERNOR
WHY DO WE STILL HAVE THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE?!?
Wasn't what happened in 2000 bad enough? Al Gore got the most votes, but because of the Electoral College (and the Supreme Court), George W. Bush was handed the presidency.
Do I think that Al Gore would have been a GOOD President of the United States?
No I don't think that. But I KNOW that President George W. Bush has been a HORRIBLE President of the United States.
We like to tell everyone that "every vote counts!"
OH, YEAH?!?
If we eliminate the Electoral College, every vote WILL count!!!
THOUGHTS and or COMMENTS? Please write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net. I write back to everyone. If you write to the blog, I won't see your email address so I CAN'T write back to you!
LIKE THE EMAIL THAT WAS WRITTEN TO THIS BLOG FROM "ANONYMOUS" WHO TOOK SOME CRITICAL SHOTS AT ME!!!
Yo, "Anonymous"! I don't mind "shots" from readers. This is an "opinion" blog that I write. I welcome views that differ from mine. And I have ongoing dialogues with readers. In some cases, dialogues that have been going on since I began writing this blog in March of 2007.
In addition to talking the talk, I do walk the walk when it comes to (my) listening to views that are different from mine. I was that way as a talk show host and I'm that way with this blog.
That's why I KNOW that the whining done by Rush, Hannity and others about the (boo-hoo) FAIRNESS DOCTRINE is bogus!
Anyone who is worried about the "Fairness Doctrine" is (to me) a cult leader wannabe. A communicator with a one and ONLY "one point of view" agenda, is a person who deep down is espousing a dictatorial society.
BACK TO THE EMAIL FROM "ANONYMOUS"...
As most readers know, all of my previous blogs are easy to access. "Anonymous" sent me comments about stuff I wrote on June 25, 2008 in a blog that was headlined, "NO PARTICULAR PLACE TO GO!"
In that blog, I wrote (among other things) about what I wrote in the above paragraphs regarding some of our current talk hosts. But what I just NOW wrote is a little stronger than what I wrote in May.
In his email, "Anonymous" accuses me of being "a vacuous liberal" who wants the government to do what I (and my so-called "ilk") can't do on their own.
"Anonymous", first of all, I'm a lifetime Republican. A Goldwater Republican, if you will. Still am. Yeah, I voted for Obama. But before that, I voted for the current President Bush, who to me, has surrounded himself with a group of "Republicans" that THIS lifetime Republican doesn't "get" AT ALL!!!
Write to ME, "Anonymous". Who knows? Maybe you'll change my mind.
On the other hand, maybe I'll change YOUR mind!
After I post this blog, I will post the email from "Anonymous" right under the June 25, 2008 blog. The email is not a long email.
THE NEXT BLOG?
Up in the air right now. I might write another one next Wednesday which means it would be posted late that afternoon or early/late Wednesday evening.
IF NOT? Then my next blog would be written on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day.
But for now, HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYBODY!!!!!!
posted by Scott St. James at 4:13 PM
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