Jamey Tucker’s BlogSquat

It’s one of those sweeps stories that gets told and retold every few months. It’s used alot because it works.

Out of Utah, one of the better news pieces I’ve seen in quite a while. I didn’t care for the live intro using the signs (remind anyone of Dylan?) but the story was powerful.

Can’t embed it…but watch it here.

Another composer of the soundtrack to my life has passed away. Paul Davis was 60 when he died Wednesday of a heart attack in Jackson, Mississippi.

His biggest song, “I Go Crazy” played on my 8-track and cassette players for a countless number of “car dates”.

You remember this one…”Hello girl it’s been a while. Guess you’ll be glad to know that I’ve learned how to laugh and smile”.  In my teen years if you didn’t get to first  or second base with Paul Davis or Dan Fogelburg on the radio, you should just take her bowling.

Rest in peace Paul Davis…and thanks for the music.

It woke me up around 4:40. It felt like one of those strong thunderstorms with wind that we’ve had roll through the last couple months. But after a few seconds it dawned on me: Earthquake!

It lasted long enough for my wife and I both to sit up and try to process it. She asked me at least three times “what is that?” It lasted long enough for me to get up and look out the window.

Turning on the tv my station, was the only one in Nashville talking about it. Even now, 30 minutes later, one station is a story on their “teacher of the week” or something like that.

Here’s what I know right now. 167 miles away near Evansville, Indiana there was a 5.4 earthquake.

We were spoiled by living around Memphis the past 8 years. The water, even right out of the tap tasted as fine as any storebought H2O. The first time I swigged a glass of water from our faucet in Hendersonville….  bleaauch.

Even after boiling, the water tastes like you’ve opened your mouth while swimming in a lake.

So when the travelling salesman left a calling card promising a free gift just for hearing his pitch for a whole house water system…I figured we had to do something.

He was good. Maybe the best salesman I’ve ever seen. But he also lied.

We paid several thousand dollars for a Hague Water System. It makes our water taste as good as what we had in Memphis. We also get all the shampoo, bar soap and dishwashing liquid that we could possibly want. The system works fine. But service after the sale, like a lot of places these days, makes me want to tell everybody about the lousy and deceitful folks we’ve been dealing with the past year and a half.

Our salesman told us once they installed the system, we wouldn’t have to pay for any maintenance the next 5 years. A year later, we get a call saying a new filter will cost us $100. Then this morning the system was beeping. I called the service number printed on the system and the man on the line said he’d send someone over.

That technician discovered that the water pressure coming into our house is higher than normal and that’s what caused the system to shut down. He said the system should have had a regulator of some type installed when it was first put in service.

He wanted to charge me $130 to install the $65 piece of equipment they should have put on the system when they first installed it. He also was charging me $95 for the visit. So…$225 for a $65 part.

And we were told that we’d never have to pay for maintenance on the system for the first 5 years.

Buyer beware. A salesman will impress you with how their filtered water will soap up easier and taste better. They’ll tell you that the soft water will add years to your plumbing. They might even tell you that “if you buy this system before I leave today, I’ll knock off $500.” They might tell you you can have all the soap and shampoo you can use and tell you that you’ll never have to spend a dime on maintenance.

But don’t believe all of it. Yes…the water does taste better. Yes, I’m up to my knees in free soap. But I’m going to need all of it.

They’ve taken me to the cleaners.

I’ve got a monkey on my back. And its name is Facebook.

Oh, believe me…I know I’m probably too old for these social networking sites. I set up a MySpace page a few years ago but it annoyed me. A visit to a friends page was often an assault. Loud music blaring through my computer speakers barely before the page finished loading.

But Facebook….ah….so clean and crisp and quiet.

I jumped on it a few weeks ago, mainly to network with church people and podcasters; but now I go online to find former colleagues, classmates and buddies. It’s tougher to find people in Facebook but that’s a good thing.

So far I’ve got about 40 friends on Facebook. Most of them are former classmates in college and current business and work associates. I’ve not found many people using Facebook in Memphis but then again, it’s hard to find people without invitations. I have found a good number of friends in Memphis through Linked-In which is a cool networking tool too.

But Facebook is where it’s at. I never thought I’d get all a twitter to learn what someone I know is doing at “that precise moment” but I’m finding that I check the updates on Facebook to learn just that. I don’t know why.

But if you read this blogsquat and you have a Facebook account, look me up sometime. Gimme a poke. I don’t know what that means exactly and I can’t tell you how to find my profile, but a search of my name ought to call up only a few people who spell it the same way.

Go ahead…try it. But don’t be surprised if you like it too much.

Fox may have American Idol, but the network with the best original music has to be CBS.

This week is a good example. Last Monday night, “One Shining Moment” played behind the highlights of the NCAA basketball tournament. The song, written by David Barrett was first used by CBS after the ‘87 championship game. One of the best sports songs of the last 25 years.

And then this weekend, CBS is using another classic sports theme for The Masters.

I’m sure you’ve heard the instrumental under pictures of azaleas and dogwoods, but in case you don’t know what I’m talking about…

Now I’ve heard this song for years but I didn’t know anything about it…until today. Written by David Loggins, the song “Augusta” actually has lyrics though CBS uses only the music.

David Loggins, the same guy who sang “Please Come to Boston” wrote the song after visiting Augusta National.

Two really cool pieces of music that airs on one network in the same week. Until I hear them…there is no spring.

Darn it. The Memphis Tigers were a few seconds and a few free throws away from their first National Championship but couldn’t nail it down. I never really became a Memphis fan when I was living there. When it comes to college sports, I pull for one set of Tigers. In the other games I pull, not necessarily for a team, but for the players or coaches.

I was pulling for Coach Cal in this one because, well I like the guy. I was also pulling for Memphis because of what a National Championship would mean to that city.

I lived and worked in Memphis 25 years after the Tigers lost to Bill Walton and UCLA and people were still talking about what that team did for the city. Still bragging about Larry Finch and Larry Kenon and Gene Bartow.

That 1973 runner-up finish still means a lot to Memphis. It put the city on the map for something other than  the assassination of Martin Luther King Junior and the bathroom death of another King.

This loss will hurt. The game was won. Free throws would have put it out of reach. Make 1 and the city would have its first national championship ticker tape parade. One free throw might have been able to do more to unite the city than anything or anyone in the past 40 years.

Congratulations Memphis on a terrific season. Wish it would have ended with a win.

One of my favorite newspaper men retired today. John Pruett of The Huntsville Times said in his last column that “the time is right” for him to step away from his career as a sports writer. I couldn’t disagree more.

Of course, I’m being selfish.

I’ll miss his columns and his reports from the press boxes in Auburn and Tuscaloosa. Mr. Pruett has a way of writing that is sorely missed in many newspapers today. He puts words together in a way that makes writing look like the easiest thing in the world. I know it isn’t as easy as it seems.

I will miss your work Mr. Pruett. It was a pleasure working in the same press box with you at Joe Davis Stadium. It was a pleasure to pick up a newspaper and read about what you saw at those ballgames. And it was even a bigger pleasure to talk with you whenever our paths crossed.

Thanks for choosing to be a sportswriter.

John Pruett’s Final Column