Way back in January, on the day that Alabama played Texas for the national championship, a Longhorn fan called.
Bob Brown is an Andalusia native and UT alumnus. He had a prediction: His alma mater would defeat mine.
Coach Saban had been coaching the ‘Bama team and nation all week about not being cocky.
“You may be right,” I told Bob. “But I sure hope you’re wrong.”
“Wrong” is not an adjective Bob Brown likes having tied with his name.
Hours later, after the game had been won; after I’d stood in line with the mobs for a new T-shirt; after we wrote the championship headline and kissed the paper goodnight, I thought I’d fix Mr. Brown.
So I created a new version of the front page. The top headline screamed “Bob Brown was wrong” and the story matched. Then I put an electronic version in the email in box of Bob and a few of his friends.
When Bob came to town last month for the annual Class of ’48 Foundation board meeting, he got me back. When he called the meeting to order, he presented me with a matching Longhorn T-shirt and cap.
Torn between using the nice manners my momma taught me and the flip answers I learned from my daddy, I compromised and thanked him for the contribution to the church’s yard sale.
So. Any takers? There’s a nice T-shirt and hat going to waste in my office if anyone wants it.

A couple of weeks ago, I ran in the Three Notch Market 5K race. Truth be known, I shouldn’t have. My exercise routine has been sporadic at best, but I was determined to give it a shot. Worst-case scenario, I figured, was that I would walk the race.
I did finish, but there was this funny thing that kept happening.
Eddie Rowell, who is a paramedic with Advanced EMS and a candidate for coroner, was running at about my (slow) pace.
After a while, it crossed my mind to be worried. I wasn’t sure if he were sticking close in case I needed a paramedic, or if he thought I might actually die. He was a good sport despite my quizzing him about waiting for a dead body, and we crossed the finish line at about the same time.

The Covington Regional Honor Flight organization is taking 115 World War II and Korean veterans and their guardians to Washington, D.C., today. My husband, who is a Vietnam vet, is signed up to be a “guardian” for our friend Vernon Ingram, who’s quite self-sufficient, despite the fuss his girls make over him.
If you can, come out to the airport tonight at 7:30 to welcome the heroes home again. It’s not every day a 737 lands in Andalusia, so there are two interesting reasons to be there.