Nashville, TN

The Titans have informed Pacman Jones that he can’t participate in the TNA wrestling because it would violate his contract.

Of course, it’s not like that clause has ever stopped anyone before…(::cough::cough::Ben Rothlesberger::cough::cough::)

Which it’s a shame…I might have paid to see Pacman wrassle….

Ok, not really, but now that he’s not going to, I can say that.

As promised, a few things about home that I didn’t miss in Panama:

traffic
election advertisements
my job
the parking lot at the Brentwood Target shopping center
celebrity gossip
Pac Man Jones

Quick story: on Friday the 20th, we were headed to our departing gate at BNA. I noticed a little boy - no more than about 50 pounds - running full speed ahead towards me….just barreling through the crowds and coming straight for me. He was gaining speed the closer he got, and then at the last second, before wiping me out at the shins, he made a bee line to the left around me. Whew! As I looked up from whence he came, I noticed his family lagging behind him. A good looking family…the father was tall, dark, bald, and…Eddie George. And then my heart stopped.

I knew at that moment, it was going to be a good trip.

I returned home from a week in Panama at 9:48 Saturday night. The trip was wonderful and cannot be fully described in words on any blog. But in case I happen to come close to doing it any kind of justice, check here periodically as I will be posting stories and pictures of things I experienced and people I met.

In the mean time, here is a list of things I missed about home while I was away:

Air conditioning
cold water
diet coke with lunch and dinner
not being sweaty all the time
my family
my friends
English
toilets that I could flush toilet paper in (we had to throw our t.p. in the trash in most places)
non-mangy dogs

I know these things are not necessarily unique to homelife in Nashville, but it never hurts to be thankful for the little things once in a while…

Stay tuned for things things I did NOT miss about home.

Just when you think this whole Adam “Pacman” Jones saga can’t get any more strange…it does.

TNA Wrestling signed the suspended Titans’ player to a pro-wrestling contract.

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, alrighty then….

I did love the line about how the Titans had no problem with this. For some reason, that really amused me.

There are two blogger meet-ups coming up

Saturday, July 28, is the monthly meeting of the Middle Tennessee Bloggers and Podcasters group in lovely, downtown Smyrna, TN. It kicks off at 2 p.m. CST.

it is a pleasure to formally announce the meeting this Saturday at 2:00 p.m. for the Middle Tennessee Bloggers and Podcasters’ Group. The meeting will be held in the 2nd floor conference room at my business: Bob Parks Realty, 557 Sam Ridley Drive in Smyrna.

We have invited Alderwoman Senna Mosely from LaVergne to talk about our grassroots efforts (via the blogging community) to start a Beautification Committee in Smyrna’s sister city. We’d love for people in Smyrna to also attend to share your experiences with the folks from LaVergne.

Sunday, August 26 is the blogger picnic, organized by the social committee over at Music City Bloggers.
Let’s get together and celebrate our blogging community!

We’re gonna have a picnic at Sevier Park in Nashville on Sunday, August 26 from 1pm until 6pm.

This is an All-Skate. Families, kids, doggies, kitties and small farm animals are all invited.

Please bring a covered dish…or two. A grill will be provided for those who would like to fire it up. Sorry, no alki allowed at the park, but there is a great playground! (I’m sure a game of challenge-kickball will break out, as well.)

We will be under the covered pavilion…it has picnic tables, but you may want to bring a lawn chair along.

Sevier Park is located at the corner of Granny White Pike (12th Avenue South) and Kirkwood Avenue. Feel free to e-mail me at GingerSnapsTN-at-gmail-dot-com if you are unclear as to where that is.

If you did not receive an “official” Evite from me, PLEASE send me an e-mail so I can send you one.

We hope you can make it!!!

This evening marks the final concert in the Ryman’s Bluegrass Nights series for the summer. The show has an opening act and two headliners, including popular act the Grascals.

I can’t wait to see it. I am eager to hear the Grascals live and from what I’ve gathered from other blog posts I’ve read they put on a great show.

I am a bit sad the series is ending. It’s been five great weeks (well, OK all but one act has been great–Cadillac Sky was disappointing at best) and I’ve enjoyed the music. I will definitely make plans to go next year and I encourage you to think about tickets for next summer’s bluegrass series.

You have to admire the optimism of some sports fans–Cubs fans, for example.

Or locally, the fans of Vanderbilt football.

I love how every year about this time, they’re so optimistic. “This is the year,” you’ll hear them say. “We’re going to have a big year. We’re going to a bowl game.”

I just smile nicely and wonder what’s in the Kool-Aid they’ve been drinking.

I would love to see Vandy do well becuase it goes to show the greatness that is SEC football (best conference in the nation, hands down….don’t even try to argue with me you Big 10 people….you can’t even count how many teams you’ve got correctly). Yesterday, the City Paper had an article that this could be the year…Vandy could go bowling.

I hope it turns out to be true….again, it helps the SEC in terms of having more money for revenue sharing.

But this morning, I heard a prediction that almost made me drive off the road laughing. I flipped over cause Rick and Bubba were in a break and heard a guy call into 104.5 the Zone and predict Vandy would go 8-4. At this point, I busted a gut laughing.

I know one thing–Vandy ain’t going into God’s House (Neyland Stadium) and beating the real state school again. You had your one win for the next 23 years…so that weekend it might be best to whip out that DVD and re-run it. Cause that’s about the only way you’re winning that game. And looking at the schedule, I can see that Vandy has some other difficult road games. You can’t tell me y’all are going to the Swamp and going to win either.

So, 8-4…I don’t think so. I think bowl eligible would be a good year for y’all….

As I watch this whole Michael Vick situation unfold, I have to wonder–how long will it be before Pacman sues to get back in the league.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has a “no tolerance” policy for off-the-field incidents, leading to the suspension of Adam Jones and two other players.

But then along comes Vick. He gets indicated on charges and instead of taking a stand, the NFL is playing wait and see with Vick.

Is it becuase Vick is a marquee player? Is he getting special treatment?

Is this how Pacman’s lawyers will argue when they inevitably sue?

Titans training camp opens today.

Hallelujah!

Perhaps, at last, we can put on the back burner the whole “Pac-Man” thing and start getting some discussion of how the team might do this year. At least now we’ll have some substantial stories to read about the team and where they are. I’ve heard Coach Jeff Fisher say in radio interviews that he’s happy the way the team came together in the second half of the season last year has carried over to this year and that he’s optimistic. And that the team has the goal of getting to the playoffs.

I call that goal optimistic as well. I think the team has taken a step backward by losing the wide recievers we did and letting Travis Henry go. I think it will be a struggle this year for Vince Young to improve upon his stellar first season, but that said, I’d love it if they proved me wrong. Realistically, I recall the Titans went 8-8 their first two seasons in Tennessee and then became one of the NFL’s elite teams for the next several years. So, if we can have this year as a building block to the return to glory, I could live with that.

But that’s all just speculation, for now. Let’s all just be happy that the Titans are back and we can finally start talking about a real sport….

I was downtown last evening for the bluegrass show at the Ryman and noticed there were a LOT of people out and about with Preds jerseys, t-shirts and hats on.

From media reports, I see that Governor Bredesen and his wife, Andre Conte were in attendance and bought four more season tickets. Bredesen joked they needed to find some more friends to share the tickets with.

It’s good to see the support for the Preds after all these weeks of agonizing and the will they or won’t they nature of who will buy the team and will it stay. I am glad it turned out well and I hope it shows the businesses in our community they need to step up and support the team as well.

Watch this video about Safe Haven Family Shelter . “Watch while I’m waiting for what?” you may ask. Well, you have to get to the end of the video to find that out.

I won’t say anything more about them, because this video says it all perfectly. Just give them 7:43 minutes of your time and then, who knows…you take it from there.

I’ll see all y’all in a week. I’m off to Panama! Keep coming back each day though while Michael holds down the fort.

The Nashville Predators are hosting a Save our Team rally today at the Sommet Center.

Get on out there for food, fun, and fan-slaving. And while you’re out there, don’t be afraid to chain yourself to the team as the proverbial wrecking ball falls in full swing down the center of our crumbling hopes of keeping the Preds in town. I, unfortunately, cannot make it. Although I would have no problem chaining myself to this. Or this.

The Commander-in-Chief will be in Music City today. He’ll be touring a bakery and delivering a speech on the economy.

The visit to Nashville’s Nashville Bun Company (which supplies buns to McDonald’s among others) will take place mid-morning. The speech will take place after that out at Opryland.

There will be, of course, protesters at both stops for the President.

There will also be the usual security measures in place. If you have to travel via the airport today, you can expect delays if your times of travel are near the landing or takeoff for Air Force One. Similiarily, traffic flow in the areas Bush visits will be affected.

The WaldenBooks in CoolSprings Galleria will close permanently on July 26th.

Growing up, I always used to look forward to going to WaldenBooks when I’d go to the mall with my family.

Now it seems they’re all closing down…

::sigh:::

Adam “Pacman” Jones could be a training camp?!?

Color me befuddled…

Seems his agent things this would be a good idea. Yeah, I guess it would be a great idea to have your big meal ticket in camp, earning his salary instead of being cut by the Titans and having them go after his signing bonus.

I think having Jones in camp is a huge mistake. Jeff Fisher says the team has moved on and this would show they have. And they’ve given this guy more than enough chances to straighten up and fly right. Nothing he’s done has shown any willingness to change. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me eleven times, shame on me.

I can’t help but recall how divisive Jones was in the locker room and how this young team doesn’t need that distraction. They need to focus on finding a running game and people for VY to throw the ball to. Not on a guy who has been nothing but a distraction to the team since he got here.