The Sunrise Lowdown

Putting the news into perspective

YOU CAN'T HELP BUT BE SADDENED: by the news of the 7 deaths at Ocean Isle, NC on Sunday morning.  The biggest thing that entered my mind while reading the news Monday morning was how the community would react, especially the USC community since 6 USC students lost their lives.   The story also made me reflect on the worst part of our jobs, trying to track down information about people who have lost their lives and having to try to contact the families of victims.  I can honestly say the part of the job I hate the most is having to contact victim's families, I've always felt uncomfortable bothering people during their most painful times. 

THIS FIRE STORY MADE ME THINK: About fire safety inside any home.  Judging by the home video you can only imagine many of the victims were trapped inside and unable to easily get out of the windows of the home that was 3 stories high because of the stilts the home sits on.  It also has to be difficult for the fire departments in those beach areas (most of whom rely on volunteers) to battle such a big blaze on a structure larger than most residential homes.

HOW CAN WE PROTECT OURSELVES? is a question worth asking after any tradegy.  There are devices out there that are in essense temporary ladders that can be used on windows.  Living in a home with a 2nd story bedroom, this tragedy certainly gives thought to getting one of those devices.  Here's what one of these things looks like in case you're curious. http://www.firesafetysource.com/site/948848/product/468094

(Beter slip in the lawyer speak here: the above link is no way an endorsement of either the weblink, or the product itself, nor does it mean the fire in Ocean Isle could have been any less tragic if this were in place, it's just something to think about.)

HERE'S AN INSIDE LOOK AT THE CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES: A former colleague of mine in Raleigh is now a producer for The Weather Channel.  Whenever there's a big weather event she gets to go and be in the middle of it.  Check out this gallery, courtesy of Kerrie Cassani.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?Uc=7o7orlr.ag4vsf7b&Uy=jzmqxy&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1

IF YOU HAVE ANY THOUGHTS ON HOW WIS-TV SHOULD COVER THE AFTERMATH OF THE FIRE TRAGEDY, I'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU, CLICK ON THE COMMENTS LINK BELOW.

Wildfires, Hockey and World Series TV Memories

AMAZING IMAGES OUT OF CALIFORNIA: You can’t help but be amazed watching the news, or in my case delivering the news, about the situation in Southern California.  Imagine trying to clear out Williams-Brice stadium 11 times.  It’s estimated now that 900,000 people have been forced or asked to evacuate around the San Diego and LA metro areas.

THIS SITUATION PROVIDES A GOOD BACK-UP PLAN: No one wants to have to deal with a house fire, but perhaps this situation across the country gives a good reminder to us all to make sure our smoke detectors work and copies are made of important documents.

MY SKATE WITH THE COLUMBIA INFERNO: hit the airwaves in the full version Wednesday morning.  And unfortunately my tryout ended with just one skate. It was a little unfair since most of the Inferno players are 18-20 years old, while this journalist is beyond the 30 mark already.  The amazing thing about the sport is how fast it goes when being on the ice.   I would say that both hockey and NASCAR and great sports in person but don’t seem to translate nearly as well on TV.  Still, while being in a full hour practice was a bit humbling, I hopefully didn’t embarrass myself too much.

In fact, the team and “my people” had an intense round of negotiations to add me to the club.  But the Inferno was unable to meet my demands for a private dressing room, chauffeured limo to all games, sparkling water in properly iced bottles, personal assistant and monogrammed silk robe for post game lounging!  (Ok, folks, I’m kidding here…really, the robe could have been terry cloth and we could have sealed the deal!)

WORLD SERIES IS TONIGHT, DO YOU CARE? This is my question to you folks today, please respond in the comments section below.  Maybe it was just being a kid that big time sporting events on TV were a big deal.  Somehow baseball seemed larger than the world when the weather cooled down and you had the legendary Vin Scully doing the playoff games on NBC.  So, with the fall tradition upon us and I am waxing nostalgic, how about we take a look at some old school NBC baseball clips, thanks to youtube.com  My favorite is this first clip, which indicates that the 1982 World Series on NBC is sponsored by “Colecovision.”  Wow, that’s really turning the clock back!   Apparently Major League Baseball has forced Youtube to pull the famous Kirk Gibson homerun from the 1988 World Series that Vin Scully so wonderfully called.  But here are some interesting gems from NBC baseball nonetheless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7EZbfq9oTY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fG1tNO0_Pk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8oWvBZEBnI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7-oDfjIBvw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7-oDfjIBvw

MY FAVORITE BASEBALL CALL OF ALL TIME: belongs to the late and great Jack Buck (father of FOX's Joe Buck)  During game 6 of the 1991 World Series, with the game in the 9th inning and the Minnesota Twins down, Kirby Pucket came to the plate and hit a game winning homerun to win the game.  Buck's call was simply, "and we'll see you tomorrow night!" Sorry folks, couldn't find it on youtube.

More Info On This Weekend's BBQ Showdown

OUR FRIENDS AT THE SC BBQ ASSOCIATION: have been gracious enough to invite me to judge some tasty BBQ this weekend in Lexington.  But even better, you get to sample a ton of BBQ too (all 4 styles native to SC) and some of the proceeds will be going for a good cause.  I'LL SEE Y'ALL SATURDAY.

HERE'S THE LOWDOWN FROM THE CHILDREN'S CHANCE

Zig the Pig Cheers on Kids battling Cancer as they Compete for Best Backyard BBQ!

Columbia

,

SC

–

October 27, 2007

: On

Saturday, October 27^th, 2007

starting at

10am

, at Hendrix Farms in

Lexington

, families who have a child with cancer will compete in the 4^th annual Carolina Q Cup Backyard BBQ Division to see who really has the best backyard BBQ. Events of the day will include children with cancer, their siblings, and parents, who are served by Children’s Chance, cooking chickens donated by Hudson’s Smokehouse, competing for cash prizes and awards, and hanging out with Zig the Pig, the lovable Zebra striped Pig who is the ambassador for Children’s Chance, all in an effort to provide a fun event for these families who are experiencing the trauma of pediatric cancer. Cooking will begin at

10am

, the judges will come around to taste the BBQ creations at approximately

12:00 pm

, and prizes will be awarded at

3:30 pm

.

“I am excited to be a part of providing this opportunity to these deserving families in SC. Pediatric cancer affects all aspects of family life, and I am proud to partner with the SC BBQ Association to show these families a fun filled time”, says Samantha Higgins, Public Relations Director for Children’s Chance. “This is the 3^rd year our families have participated in the BBQ competition, and it is wonderful to see the smiles on their faces and know we are helping them through a tough time”. There will be cash prizes available for first-fourth place winners. Children’s Chance will also accept donations, as well as sell items such as Holiday T-shirts, to benefit this great cause.

Admission to the 4^th Annual Carolina Q Cup event is $10.00 and children under 12 are free. To learn more about the event, please visit www.carolinaqcup.com.

Founded in 1996, Children’s Chance is a non-profit organization that raises funds to assist SC children with cancer and their families. Children’s Chance is the only statewide organization that provides support focused solely on non-medical needs of children and families facing pediatric cancer, to include financial assistance for non-medical bills incurred during treatment, counseling programs, teen support groups, art therapy, special events, etc.

To find out more about Children’s Chance or this event please call (803) 254-5996

or visit us online at www.childrenschance.org

My Attempt At A Job On The Side

THERE’S A GREAT PHRASE HERE IN THE SOUTH: that we use to make sure someone isn’t getting too big of an ego, when we say someone is “getting too big for their britches.”  Well folks, this journalist has been duly humbled recently.  My friends at the Columbia Inferno ECHL hockey team www.columbianiferno.com  gave me the chance to try out for the team earlier this week.  I went through the same routine as the players, including a morning breakfast, video session, off-ice workout and then a 1-hour practice on ice. 

YOU CAN’T IMAGINE HOW FAST THESE GUYS ARE: when you either watch a hockey game on TV or even attend an Inferno game.  The biggest thing I gleaned from skating with the team was just how fast the players could go from simply standing still to skating full speed.  In essence, they’re like sprinters while my style was more like a distance runner, a lot slower out of the blocks.  Now the biggest thing out this whole experience is just imagining how incredible the NHL players must be.  No disrespect to the ECHL, but it is 2 steps below the NHL (the AHL is hockey’s top minor league)  A smaller percentage of ECHL guys will play in the NHL, but that percentage is again, small.  Still, those ECHL guys can fly, so there’s no telling what it must be like to skate with the NHL’ers. 

THE STORY WILL BE ON TV SOON: we’ll not only show my attempt to make the team, but we’ll take you behind the scenes to get a real feel for what it is like to play for the Inferno.  Plus, we’ll take you on the ice and show you what it is like to skate in practice, and you’ll hear from some Inferno players and Head Coach Troy Mann.  Well, you’ll hear SOME of what the coach has to say.  Let’s just say at one point during our shoot, the coach wanted to get a point across to his players and we’d get in big trouble if we aired his comments in their entirety. 

COMING SOON: My friends at the SC BBQ Association will be putting on the annual Carolina Q Cup!  I have been invited to be a honorary judge at the event that takes place Oct 26-27 at Hendrix Farms in Lexington.  Best of all, for $10 you can chow down on BBQ from some of more than 60 teams and restaurants and proceeds will be going to charity!  I’ll talk more about the event on TV next week, but for now, here’s the weblink…. http://www.carolinaqcup.com/

CONDOGGED AND FRIED OUT: Are you like me, feeling like a stuffed turkey at Thanksgiving ready to explode with State Fair food?  I must say the recommendations of the Daily’s corndogs and Fiske’s fries were on the mark!  During a visit earlier this week I consumed fries, a corndog, elephant ear and tossed in a few mini doughnuts on the side.  Bottom line, we all will probably need numerous good workouts to recover from the fair.    Thanks to everyone who stopped by the WIS booth and provided me a warm welcome to the Midlands! 

Turn off the water & More Tidbits

I heard an amazing stat on our morning news that if you didn't catch, I thought I'd repeat it.  Our forecaster Alicia Roman told us South Carolina has a yearly rain deficit of nearly 17 inches.  Grab a tape measure and you'll get a good grasp of what we're talking about.  North Carolina Governor Mike Easley is urging people to turn off the spigot on lawn watering and for restaurants not to serve water unless folks ask for it.  Georgia's Governor is also asking for residents there to conserve.

HOW'S THIS FOR ANOTHER INTERESTING STAT: Baseball's Colorado Rockies have won 21 of their last 22 games en route to their big win last night and first franchise World Series appearance.   Just thought you'd be interested.

MORE NUMBERS: British oddsmakers report the odds for Prince William to be engaged this year is 5-2.  The odds get better for 2008, with a 2-1 chance. 

IMUS COMING BACK:  The Today show is reporting radio host Don Imus is coming back.  He's rumored to be returning to WABC in New York and perhaps return to syndication.   Rev. Al Sharpton, who led the push to get Imus booted says WABC should meet with the heads of the National Black Journalists Association before letting him back on the air. 

ANOTHER FELLOW RETURNING TO THE AIRWAVES: is our own Ben Tanner, albeit under much less controversey than Mr. Imus.   We've gotten a few emails asking where Ben has been in the past few days.  Well, always the man watching the skies, Ben will be returning on Thursday after attending a weather conference in Reno, NV.  He assured me he will not be blowing the Tanner family fortune at the casino's there.   

BACK TO THE WATER ISSUE: Since SC is down 17 inches of rainfall and not much is on the way soon, my question to you is: Should lawn watering be banned with the exception of newly sodded lawns?  Also, what do you do to conserve water?

WHAT, YOU'VE NEVER EATEN A CORN DOG??

THIS IS SIMPLY AMAZING: I was astounded to hear during my Thursday noon live shot at the State Fair that WIS Weathercaster Brooks Garner had never consumed a corn dog in his life.  Somehow he claims he never went to many state or county fairs as a youth and just never saw the need to have one. How can that be? 

HISTORY WAS MADE: Thursday afternoon, I made Brooks eat a corn dog live during the WIS Midday newscast.  He rather enjoyed it just after one bite.  Somehow one has to wonder how a fellow can go a lifetime without ever having enjoyed a corn dog. Well, Brooks, you can continue living a fruitful, albeit less healthy life now, after knowing you have tasted a Daily’s corn dog.

THE FAIR IS HERE, LET THE GLUTTONY BEGIN!

HAVE YOUR HEART SURGEON ON SPEED DIAL: That’s because it’s State Fair time!  This is the time of year where perfectly normal individuals lose all sense of healthy eating habits and go crazy at the Fair.  This journalist may indulge a little, I admit.

THE FUN THING ABOUT FAIRS: is simply where else can you find cows, farm equipment, rides and tons of fried food all in one place?  I have been to State Fairs in Minnesota, South Dakota, Alabama and North Carolina.  So we can now add South Carolina to the list.

The interesting thing about the fair is while the concept seems the same from state to state, there are a few differences.  For example, at the Minnesota State Fair, you can buy beer and drink in a designated “beer garden.”  South Dakota’s State Fair is in Huron, a small town in the middle of nowhere.  The big event in South Dakota is having the governor show up and give a speech.  In North Carolina, it seems they always have a NC State football game and either a hockey or basketball game all going on along with the fair (the football stadium and RBC Center are across the street from the fair, so it’s a huge mess)

IF YOU’RE CURIOUS ABOUT THE BIGGEST STATE FAIR: It’s in Texas.  I did some research off their website www.bigtex.com 

  Check out some of these stats about how they do things in Dallas… The TX State fair runs 24 days!  * Fair's economic impact on Dallas: approx. $350 million annually.
• Exhibit space: approx. 370,000 sq. ft. in six buildings.
• Amusement rides: 70-75.
• 212-ft. Texas Star is the tallest Ferris wheel in North America.
• Livestock entries: approximately 8,000. • Creative Arts entries: approximately 7,000.
• Food service locations: approximately 200. • Ride & food revenues: $26 million (2006).
• The Texas-OU football game has been played during the Fair every year since 1929.
• Corny dogs were invented in 1942 by State Fair concessionaires Carl and Neil Fletcher.

BUT IT’S REALLY ABOUT THE FOOD RIGHT? Why is it that a hot dog or any fried food for that matter seems to taste better at the fair than anywhere else?   This leads to my pretty easy question of the day….

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FOOD AT THE STATE FAIR?  I prefer mini-doughnuts, hopefully they’ll be the SC Fair. Imagine a really small version of a Krispy Kreme except it’s hot with sugar and cinnamon.

USC Wins, See, I Told You So!!

OVERRATED: is exactly what I said about the University of Kentucky football team earlier in the week on live TV.  Our weather guru, Ben Tanner, disagreed with me and it made for some good tv banter. Well, the results are in, Kentucky was no match for the Garnet and Black.  Things got so bad, UK’s fans even left the game early.  Kentucky had only 1 good win all year, a last-minute home win against Louisville, a team who is not as good as they were last year.  We’ll see how good USC really is when they have back to back road games at Tennesee and Arkansas later this season, then face Florida at home.

HERE’S WHAT THE KENTUCKY FOKLS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THE GAME: http://www.kentucky.com/295

BEN TANNER SAYS: Kentucky is still a good football team and will finish in the BCS top 15 when the season is complete.  I disagree, Kentucky is a basketball school and this team will be soundly beaten in the coming weeks by Florida and LSU.  If you saw any of Friday’s Sunrise, we had a good on-air discussion about this topic.  Ben is so convinced that Kentucky will be in the top 15, he bet me a whopping $5.00.  What do you think I should spend Ben’s crisp 5-dollar bill on folks?

NEWS, SCHMOOZE: I found it interesting that as a newcomer how crazy we get over USC football, how it becomes the top story on our 11pm and morning newscasts.  Not many other places in the country would devote so much time to college football, so it’s nice to be able to read about fun stories about football than reporting crime and punishment all the time. 

MY QUESTION TO YOU TODAY IS THIS: With tough games like Tennessee, Arkansas, Florida and Clemson still on USC’s schedule, how do you think the Cocks will finish?  An aside, are you worried about the team getting too cocky now…pardon the pun.

Prison Costs, Free Beer with a haircut and More!

ONE OF MY FAVORITE NEWSMEN: is the former anchor of ABC’s Nightline, Ted Koppell.  This will prove how big of a news nerd I am, but I would watch Nightline on a regular basis as a kid before flipping over to NBC to watch Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show.  Since I’ve bashed the Today show for talking too much about Britney Spears lately, I will now praise the show for having Mr. Koppell on this morning.  He was talking about a new documentary he’s done on the California prison system.

HOW’S THIS FOR AN AMAZING STAT: Ted Koppell said something today that astounded me.  Did you know the US has 2.2 million people in prison!  In California the state has 173,000 people in prison.  Koppel points out that the Golden State has a prison capacity of 100,000.  It would be interesting to see how many of those folks in California’s prisons are either A) gang members or B) illegal immigrants. 

SINCE YOU’RE CURIOUS, IN SC: the state DOC reports a prison population of around 24,000.  As far as a trend, the state had around 20,000 people in prison 10 years ago.  Here’s a link to the complete numerical list.  http://www.doc.sc.gov/research/SystemOverview/AvgPop19702007.pdf

HOW MUCH ARE YOU SPENDING ON PRISONERS?: Well, your TV pal has done the digging!  To house one prisoner in South Carolina, the DOC says the total cost is $15,156 per year.  That includes both state and federal money.  If you break it down, that amounts to $41.52 per day .

HOW’S THIS FOR A STAT: With the big football game on Thursday night, some lady claiming to be a nutrition expert on the Today show claimed that a light beer has 50 fewer calories.  She also said that cutting down 4 beers a week would save about a 6-pound weight gain.  Their stats, just thought you might want to know! 

WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THIS: Just saw another interesting story on the Today show, it profiled a haircut chain aimed at guys called “Knockouts.”  www.knockouts.net The hairstylists are dressed much like waitresses at Hooters, and customers are even offered free beer while waiting!  (I wonder if they’d let you just hang out and let people go ahead of you in line, just to grab an extra beer or two?)  Doing some more internet surfing, I have found there are a couple of other franchises trying to appeal to men this way. 

HANDS OFF OR ELSE: Wow, did you see former NBA player and now executive for the New York Knicks, Isiah Thomas was found guilty of sexually harassing a woman who worked in the team’s front office?  The jury awarded the woman more than $11 million dollars.  Looks like Knicks ticket prices will be soon going up.  Thomas maintains he didn’t do anything wrong.  Thomas won’t have to pay the bill himself, his employer, Madison Square Garden (the folks who own the Knicks) will have to dish out the cash, MSG plans to appeal.

MY HOT BUTTON QUESTION FOR YOU TODAY IS THIS: Is $11 million dollars for a woman who says she was improperly spoken to or even touched excessive, or does it send a strong message that any form of harassment is not tolerated.

Britney & Bird Droppings!

OK, I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE, NBC’s Today Show is up to it’s old tricks again, not giving us news but rather wasting more time on the Britney Spears saga.  They took a good 5 minutes during the 7am hour and now as I’m writing this I see they’re going to give us more Britney coverage.  What’s really sad about this, the show also has music legend Mick Jagger as a guest, but he has to wait until not 1, but 2 stories about Ms. Spears.  As if any of you care, Mr. Spears had her kids taken away after a judge ruled she’s basically a lousy parent (if you watch Sunrise, you already know how I feel about her musical “abilities”)

A LITTLE INSIDE INFO: Speaking of Mr. Jagger and his band, I had the opportunity to interview the keyboardist for the Rolling Stones, Chuck Leavell, www.chuckleavell.com a little more than a year ago.  At the time, he told me Jagger has a personal trainer who accompanies him on the road.  So much for those jokes about being old?  Talk about an interesting job, I emailed Chuck earlier in the week before their concert in Durham, NC not expecting a response, but not only did he email me back, but he made time on a Sunday morning after the Saturday night concert to chat with me.  Oh, in case you’re curious, the Stones were ranked as the top money grossing act this past year.  So hopefully they’re taking care of Chuck!

TODAY’S NEWS NUGGET: 92 US Senators voted for continuing funding for the wars in Iraq and Afganistan with three Senators voting against the bill.  In case you’re curious, the bill authorizes 150-billion dollars to the war effort.  This journalist is a little confused, since we seem to hear all this huffing and puffing from Washington about the war, yet 92 out of 100 Senators voted for it!

AN UPDATE ON YESTERDAY'S NEWS NUGGET: or perhaps we should call it a news dropping. Apparently the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals have decided NOT to shoot piegons at their stadium.  The pesky birds had been causing problems. The stadium manager is now quoted as saying they'll try other methods first.  Although Bengals fans may say they're the ones really being dumped on lately, New England trounced Cincinnati at home last night 34-13.

HOW ABOUT A GOOD QUESTION FOR TODAY: I can’t resist on this one, would you let Britney Spears babysit your kids?  If you answer “No”, why not? 

Hey Football Fans, You'll Love This Story

Ok folks, I spend a lot of time reading and listening to the news.  Perhaps it's my natural trait of wanting to be informed that lends to this.

  Well, you the viewer will be well served by this one.  Check out this recent story from the Associated Press:

Officials want to shoot pigeons pooping on Bengals fans

ASSOCIATED PRESS

CINCINNATI --Paul Brown Stadium officials want permission to shoot down pigeons that are pooping on Bengals fans' heads -- and in their food and beer -- during games.

Eric Brown, managing director of the stadium, sent a letter asking the city to allow stadium employees to kill the birds with an air-powered pellet rifle.

Brown says no shooting would take place on game days.

Bengals officials say fan noise used to drive pigeons away during games but apparently the birds have adapted. Pigeon poop is becoming a big problem throughout the NFL, but no one has come up with a foolproof solution yet.

Team officials say they're looking into other ideas to get rid of the birds, including the use of strobe lights, noise makers, fake owls and netting.