My Take
By Mark McGee
For those who follow this column, and I thank you for reading, you may have noticed that with rare exceptions of late I have bordered on the melancholy
My daughter and my mother say I have more than bordered on being melancholy. In their opinion I have crossed the border into despair. They both say they are embarrassed.
Neal Gordon, high school teacher at Shelbyville Central and a key part of our Saturday morning sports talk show on WDU-FM (93.9) along with Gary Dearing, calls me “Johnny Raincloud”.
Well, I do have a positive side and this week I am writing about some things that make me happy. Some of these items may also bring a smile of recognition to you as well.
My column is a stream of consciousness event so here we go in no particular order:
*Hearing my daughter’s voice, even when she asking for money. Though the money part dulls the happiness a bit.
*Knowing that my mother is still alive and a month away from celebrating her 88th birthday. We have our moments, but she has always been a driving force in my life.
*Realizing that God is watching over me.
*A hockey game. Any sort of hockey game will do, but for the past 25 years I have reveled in being a part of and attending Nashville Predators NHL games. For some unexplained reason, I have been a hockey fan since early childhood.
I was also a big fan of the Montreal Expos who moved to Washington, D.C. and became the Nationals. Montreal, Quebec is one of my top favorite cities to visit. Maybe I was supposed to be a Canadian and God sent me on a detour to the South.
*Music from the 1960s and 1970s. I often say there has been no good music since 1979, but I will admit under pressure there are some exceptions.
*Baseball, especially an afternoon game. I have been lucky to attend spring training in both Florida and Arizona often.
*Prime rib. Most any kind of seafood except mussels and oysters. Lobster bisque. Cheesecake. These are some of my favorite food things that make me smile.
*Horses, especially Tennessee Walking Horses and Thoroughbred races. I don’t think I have ever missed the last Saturday night of the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration, especially the World Grand Championship class. Watching my daughter ride for several years was especially enjoyable. I was able to cover several Kentucky Derby race weeks when I was a full-time sportswriter. It is one of the premier sports events. Hugging Secretariat was a highlight of my sports writing career.
*Traveling. Whether by car or airplane I am ready to go. I always enjoyed going to the airport in Nashville even when I wasn’t traveling anywhere. There are so many places left to see for the first time and just as many to go back again to see.
*Movies. Particularly “It’s A Wonderful Life,” “The Wild Bunch,” early Marx Brothers movies.
*The “Castle” TV series.
*Reading and research. I enjoy spending time studying historical events, especially sports-related ones. I have been blessed to speak at symposiums on baseball in Arizona during spring training and at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
Well, to steal a line from Julie Andrews in “The Sound of Music”, these are a few of my favorite things.
