Monday, May 08, 2006

Rolling Stones ‘Sticky Fingers’

Well I went to my very first soccer game this past Saturday morning. Honestly, I don’t know if you can really call it soccer because the players were roughly around 5 years old. It resembled soccer, but I couldn’t really tell because there were no fights among the spectators.

Here are a couple of pictures from my outing…









And I learned something about myself last Saturday night… I cannot list out all 50 states in a 10 minute time period. Fortunately, I didn’t make a foolish bet with anyone.

I also went to the World Premiere of Chicks 101 at the historic Carolina Theatre in downtown Greensboro.

If you haven’t heard, it stars one of the DJ’s from our sister station 1075 KZL, Keith Harris.

Keith has been in such films as Junebug, Big Fish, and the NBC Television series Surface.

Personally, I thought the film was okay. It didn’t bowl me over, but it was cool seeing an Independent film at the Carolina Theatre. (They’re playing Jaws on Tuesday night! And no one wants to go with me.)

I felt as if the acting could have been a little better and the film could have definitely used a few more edits to move it along a little faster. But, it is a very good “shoe string” budget picture that was homegrown in Winston-Salem. It shows budding promise for a few of the stars and writers.

Chicks 101 uses the tired formula that cavemen discovered millions of years before the invention of the motion picture camera. Two very seemingly different people who distrust and loathe each other find love once they break the thick ice.

Hand in hand they end up dancing in the hallway surrounded by others celebrating the birth of a relationship. Cheesy, but yet fun to watch and if I were to grade it on the Netflix scale… I would go with 3 stars because I can’t give it 2 and a half.

Now for something that chaps large amounts of my hide…

The future of the War Memorial Stadium is up in the air again.

The City wants to throw a renovation plan on the ballot in November in a city bond package. The council is happy with a four million dollar makeover, but those folks that support the park want an additional 1.5 million of taxpayer money.

We’ve found the park mostly obsolete when it comes to professional baseball and we’ve moved on to the First Horizon Park. And as far as I know, the taxpayer isn’t footing the whole bill on that affair with business types and government.

And that is mainly my problem with the renovation plan… I don’t want to pay for it. Sure, I like the historical aspect of it all. I’ve seen a slew of players use the War Memorial Stadium as a gateway to stardom in Major League Baseball. Don Mattingly, Otis Nixon, and Derek Jeter are only a few that come to my mind.

But there’s a time when you stop sinking money into something that isn’t bringing enough money to support itself.

The surrounding neighborhood sees the Stadium as an asset to its community. I’m sure they have a fund raising committee supporting it and I believe that just about anyone that’s ever seen a professional game played there should kick in a few bucks here and there. I have a sense of history and preservation, but I don’t want everyone subjected to it in the form of higher taxes.

If they haven’t tried selling the naming rights, then do so. Although with what little business sense that I have, I wouldn’t sink a whole lot of dinero in the Stadium.

Why not make it a museum where actual games can be played?

Make a museum celebrating the Stadium’s contribution to baseball history. All donations can be tax deductible and you can still sell of the naming rights.

Don’t make all of the taxpayers pay for that joker on Yanceyville Street near downtown.

The bottom line is this… If the Stadium can’t support itself with paying attendance and concessions… And if the average citizen just doesn’t give a damn… Let it go peacefully.

Like all of us, the Stadium will have had its run and it will pass on.

Sad? Yes. But it’s a necessary fact of life.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous11:27 PM

    I can name all 50 states, in alphabetical order, in just under 1 minute. (Yeah, I'm such a goober that I've timed myself.)

    Does Letterman still have 'Stupid Human Tricks'? That might be my ticket to my "15 minutes."

    PS: You iz ignorant.

    ReplyDelete