The Big One’s Blog
October 27, 2008
For the past few days whenever I go out I have people coming up to me and fussing about having politicians on Good Morning Up Country. You know, I can understand them wanting to be entertained but this is probably one of the most important functions of WLBG and Good Morning Up Country, and that is to present the candidates to the voters so they can make a decision based on information that they hear on these political interviews. The day of just voting a straight party ticket are over. We are blessed to have good candidates running in both parties and to make a good decision on whom to vote we need information on their views, their ideas, and their goals. So the next time you hear a politician on GMUC just remember that we are blessed to live in a country where for now we are still free to bring you programs like these. Plus, it’s only for a few days, it’s not like it is weeks upon weeks of non-stop politicians.
Friday Night is a huge night for Raider fans. The dreaded evil empire is coming to town and I still remember the SOLO cups. We need a huge crowd at K. C. Hanna Stadium cheering the Raiders as they try to wrap up a home play-off game. Be there, wear your green and gold, yell and stomp your feet, and be the 12th Raider. These guys are in the midst of a very special season and we need to do all we can to encourage them as they work hard to return the Raider football program to greatness.
Sometimes we take things for granted that we shouldn’t. Thursday the City of Laurens Recreation Department will be putting on “Boo in the Park.” It will be a safe haven for children to come trick or treat in a safe environment at an event sponsored by local businesses and orginizations. Maybe you have not thought about it, but trick or treating is a hazardous activity. Kids can pull away from parents and run into the street, some pervert may be hiding behind a door waiting for a lone child to knock on their door, the list goes on and on. With “Boo in the Park” our kids are safe, and will get more than enough candy to give them bellyaches for several days. Kudo’s to the city Fathers, (And city mothers, you know we have a lady mayor and two city councilwomen), the City of Laurens Recreation Department headed by Jason Pridgeon, his assistants, PRTC for being the name sponsor, and to all the businesses and civic organizations that support “Boo in the Park.”
Finally, I am so excited so excited about the upcoming Hall of Hero’s ceremony on November 11th at the High School. The folks at the veteran’s affairs office are doing a bang-up job organizing this year’s event. You got to Cary Bolt and his staff, every year has topped the prior years, and this year will not be any different. I am not giving away any secrets, but I can tell you I am gonna be there!!!
Lastly, Don’t forget to Vote next week! No matter who you support, if you don’t vote you have no right to complain. While you are at it, pray that whoever gets elected will be led by God to lead our nation through these difficult times. No matter who is elected next Tuesday, beginning January 20th they are our president and need and deserve our prayers.
That’s it for now, God Bless!!!
The Big One
Monday, October 27, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Laurens County folks help our own!!!
The Big One’s Blog
October 19, 2008
This past weekend a good thing happened in Laurens. Just as I have witnessed over and over and over, Laurens County folks came together to help one of their own. Laurens County folks may fuss and fret with each other about just about anything but when one of our own needs help, we get to work on helping them out anyway we can.
Saturday at the Little River Amphitheater several Sunday School classes of Chestnut Ridge Baptist Church put on a benefit to help out one of our younger residents and her family. Lucy Wilbanks was born with a heart defect and have to have open heart surgery before she was even a month old. Thank God that her condition was diagnosed and she successfully underwent the operation and now is on the way to being a healthy, happy toddler. That’s the good news! The bad news, her family was swamped with medical expenses. Here is where the good folks at Chestnut Ridge stepped up.
Beginning at 1:00 p. m. and throughout the afternoon into the evening the good folks worked their rear ends off raising funds for little Lucy and her family. They had jump castles and slides, cake walks, sold hot dogs, cakes, cotton candy and had a fun time entertaining all the large crowd that came out to help the cause.
They also had a full afternoon of entertainment for the folks too!!! A local dance troop came out and entertained the folks, Gerald Douglas and his trio entertained the folks with a collection of both beach and gospel music. Days Off Screen appeared and performed a couple of new songs they have been working on as well as some crowd favorites. To wrap up the entertainment, The Chase from Seneca wrapped up the evening with a great set. One of the members was a cousin to little Lucy. All in all a good time was had by all.
I know that I have not named hardly anyone that helped put this event on, but you could tell it was a team effort. The Chestnut Ridge folks worked hard to pull this together. Many local businesses donated a whole slew of prizes to give away, many dear ladies cooked their hearts out making cakes to sell and give away for the cake walks. Folks were pressed into duty as hot dog makers and cotton candy sellers; the list goes on and on. All in all it was an amazing event. A lot of people had a great time and a lot of money was raised to help a little girl and her family. It don’t get no better than that!
Just like I have told people time and time again with pride, I am from Laurens County, where people may fuss a little at each other about the silliest things, but when the chips are down and one of our own needs help, we will rise to the occasion and do what it takes to help them out.
It’s pretty cool to live in a place like Laurens County isn’t it!
God Bless,
The Big One
October 19, 2008
This past weekend a good thing happened in Laurens. Just as I have witnessed over and over and over, Laurens County folks came together to help one of their own. Laurens County folks may fuss and fret with each other about just about anything but when one of our own needs help, we get to work on helping them out anyway we can.
Saturday at the Little River Amphitheater several Sunday School classes of Chestnut Ridge Baptist Church put on a benefit to help out one of our younger residents and her family. Lucy Wilbanks was born with a heart defect and have to have open heart surgery before she was even a month old. Thank God that her condition was diagnosed and she successfully underwent the operation and now is on the way to being a healthy, happy toddler. That’s the good news! The bad news, her family was swamped with medical expenses. Here is where the good folks at Chestnut Ridge stepped up.
Beginning at 1:00 p. m. and throughout the afternoon into the evening the good folks worked their rear ends off raising funds for little Lucy and her family. They had jump castles and slides, cake walks, sold hot dogs, cakes, cotton candy and had a fun time entertaining all the large crowd that came out to help the cause.
They also had a full afternoon of entertainment for the folks too!!! A local dance troop came out and entertained the folks, Gerald Douglas and his trio entertained the folks with a collection of both beach and gospel music. Days Off Screen appeared and performed a couple of new songs they have been working on as well as some crowd favorites. To wrap up the entertainment, The Chase from Seneca wrapped up the evening with a great set. One of the members was a cousin to little Lucy. All in all a good time was had by all.
I know that I have not named hardly anyone that helped put this event on, but you could tell it was a team effort. The Chestnut Ridge folks worked hard to pull this together. Many local businesses donated a whole slew of prizes to give away, many dear ladies cooked their hearts out making cakes to sell and give away for the cake walks. Folks were pressed into duty as hot dog makers and cotton candy sellers; the list goes on and on. All in all it was an amazing event. A lot of people had a great time and a lot of money was raised to help a little girl and her family. It don’t get no better than that!
Just like I have told people time and time again with pride, I am from Laurens County, where people may fuss a little at each other about the silliest things, but when the chips are down and one of our own needs help, we will rise to the occasion and do what it takes to help them out.
It’s pretty cool to live in a place like Laurens County isn’t it!
God Bless,
The Big One
Monday, October 13, 2008
A Good Man is Canned!!!!!!
The Big One’s Blog
Oct. 13, 2007
Sometimes just being a good man is not enough. Former Clemson Head Football Coach Tommy Bowden could be described as a good man. He is a devout Christian and not afraid to talk about his faith. Many players and their families have stated that one of the main reasons that they went to Clemson was because of their coaches, and the staff’s faith. He even got on the ACLU’s bad side because he had a annual team lets all go to my church this Sunday day where all the players on the team were invited to attend church with Coach Bowden.
However, just being a good man is not enough in the high stakes world of college football. The mantra is still win, win, win, and some schools would do whatever it takes to win. Look at some of the schools that have had success in the past and look at the troubled athletes that were members of their team. Take Miami for example, back several years ago their players stayed in so much trouble they were nicknamed Thugville U. Even at in-state schools like South Carolina under Lou “Granny Clampett” Holtz many troubled athletes were recruited and you see the results. Steve Spurrier has had to weed out some of the bad apples, and change the attitudes on others. And no, he is not perfect in his recruiting; he has had a few discipline problems too.
To his credit, Tommy Bowden did not have near the problems that most schools do. He has had a few problem players but they are few and far between. He just seemed to have a natural sense of who would be a good kid as well as a good recruit.
Unfortunately, that does not always win football games. This year the Clemson faithful had their heart set on an ACC and then a National Championship, all wrapped up in an undefeated season. Clemson had loads of talent, and then the injury but bit and bit hard, and suddenly the Tigers are three and three and sporting a two game losing streak in the ACC. All the dreams of the fat cat donors were dashed and only a sacrifice would suffice to keep them happy and their money flowing to the program, and you know the rest of the story…… Bowden is fired and the Clemson football program begins yet another rebuilding process.
Tommy Bowden is not mad, maybe a little upset, but not mad at Clemson. He is a good man who loves his players, and loves Clemson. Plus he has three and a half million reasons not to be mad. He will go gently into retirement and join the list of Coaches who could not measure up to the lofty goals of the fat cat donors at Clemson. Sorry guys, but there is only one Danny Ford, and he don’t want to come out of retirement for any amount of money. That’s my opinion, but what do I know, I’m just the fat guy.
God Bless,
The Big One
Oct. 13, 2007
Sometimes just being a good man is not enough. Former Clemson Head Football Coach Tommy Bowden could be described as a good man. He is a devout Christian and not afraid to talk about his faith. Many players and their families have stated that one of the main reasons that they went to Clemson was because of their coaches, and the staff’s faith. He even got on the ACLU’s bad side because he had a annual team lets all go to my church this Sunday day where all the players on the team were invited to attend church with Coach Bowden.
However, just being a good man is not enough in the high stakes world of college football. The mantra is still win, win, win, and some schools would do whatever it takes to win. Look at some of the schools that have had success in the past and look at the troubled athletes that were members of their team. Take Miami for example, back several years ago their players stayed in so much trouble they were nicknamed Thugville U. Even at in-state schools like South Carolina under Lou “Granny Clampett” Holtz many troubled athletes were recruited and you see the results. Steve Spurrier has had to weed out some of the bad apples, and change the attitudes on others. And no, he is not perfect in his recruiting; he has had a few discipline problems too.
To his credit, Tommy Bowden did not have near the problems that most schools do. He has had a few problem players but they are few and far between. He just seemed to have a natural sense of who would be a good kid as well as a good recruit.
Unfortunately, that does not always win football games. This year the Clemson faithful had their heart set on an ACC and then a National Championship, all wrapped up in an undefeated season. Clemson had loads of talent, and then the injury but bit and bit hard, and suddenly the Tigers are three and three and sporting a two game losing streak in the ACC. All the dreams of the fat cat donors were dashed and only a sacrifice would suffice to keep them happy and their money flowing to the program, and you know the rest of the story…… Bowden is fired and the Clemson football program begins yet another rebuilding process.
Tommy Bowden is not mad, maybe a little upset, but not mad at Clemson. He is a good man who loves his players, and loves Clemson. Plus he has three and a half million reasons not to be mad. He will go gently into retirement and join the list of Coaches who could not measure up to the lofty goals of the fat cat donors at Clemson. Sorry guys, but there is only one Danny Ford, and he don’t want to come out of retirement for any amount of money. That’s my opinion, but what do I know, I’m just the fat guy.
God Bless,
The Big One
Monday, October 6, 2008
Random thoughts from a Random Mind!!!
The Big One’s Blog
Oct. 6, 2008
Well, how is everyone? I trust that you are all well. Where do I start? How about some random thoughts.
I talked to my brother John Sunday about the price of gas in his hometown of Canton, Ohio and got a shock. Regular unleaded is $3.11 a gallon, $.69 cents cheaper than our prices! That ain’t right, somebody is performing an act of sado-buggerism on us when it comes to gas prices around here!!!
The fireworks at Squellin’ on the Square were great!!! I can’t see how they will ever top them next year, but you just wait, I bet the committee will figure out a way to make them ever bigger and better than this years show.
The Raiders are gonna be fine. We just have to keep the faith and keep supporting them. I mean really, at the first of the season if someone had told you that Laurens would be 5 and 1 going into the region wouldn’t you be tickled pink.
Rev. Sims and Rev. Aiken’s Gospel talk show on Saturday Morning is one of my favorite shows on WLBG. Those guys are great together, and man when they get after each other it is wild. These guys are something else. If you are not a regular listener, tune into their show on Saturday Morning and you will see what I mean.
A sandwich is a sandwich, but a Manwich is a meal!!! Ha Ha Ha!!!!!! Just seeing if you were still paying attention.
It’s almost the holiday season, I wonder when we will get our second request to play “White Christmas” by the Temptations? Our first request was left on the answering machine in early August.
We used to play a lot of Gospel story songs like “A Childs Blood,” Hattie Mae’s Daughter,” and “When I Need Him Most,” or as I call it the turkey song, you know it’s the one where the poor widow lady and her kids are starving at Thanksgiving and she prays to the Lord for help and right then there is a knock at the door and it’s the deacons and they have brought a load of food. There were hams and turkeys, and somebody brought a vat of Ice Tea. Man, I love those songs, we have got to get Brother Wyatt to get them on the new system so we can start playing them again.
Where did the time go? It just seems like Ann and I were bringing our sons home from the hospital and they are grown men starting to make their way in the music world. I can’t believe the time has gone by so quickly. Man. Sometimes I feel so old!
Speaking of time flying, my ten year anniversary at WLBG came and went on September 20th. Where did all that time go?
Well, that’s it for the Big One’s random thoughts blog, I hope it gave you some food for thought.
Til next time, God Bless!!!
Big Gene
Oct. 6, 2008
Well, how is everyone? I trust that you are all well. Where do I start? How about some random thoughts.
I talked to my brother John Sunday about the price of gas in his hometown of Canton, Ohio and got a shock. Regular unleaded is $3.11 a gallon, $.69 cents cheaper than our prices! That ain’t right, somebody is performing an act of sado-buggerism on us when it comes to gas prices around here!!!
The fireworks at Squellin’ on the Square were great!!! I can’t see how they will ever top them next year, but you just wait, I bet the committee will figure out a way to make them ever bigger and better than this years show.
The Raiders are gonna be fine. We just have to keep the faith and keep supporting them. I mean really, at the first of the season if someone had told you that Laurens would be 5 and 1 going into the region wouldn’t you be tickled pink.
Rev. Sims and Rev. Aiken’s Gospel talk show on Saturday Morning is one of my favorite shows on WLBG. Those guys are great together, and man when they get after each other it is wild. These guys are something else. If you are not a regular listener, tune into their show on Saturday Morning and you will see what I mean.
A sandwich is a sandwich, but a Manwich is a meal!!! Ha Ha Ha!!!!!! Just seeing if you were still paying attention.
It’s almost the holiday season, I wonder when we will get our second request to play “White Christmas” by the Temptations? Our first request was left on the answering machine in early August.
We used to play a lot of Gospel story songs like “A Childs Blood,” Hattie Mae’s Daughter,” and “When I Need Him Most,” or as I call it the turkey song, you know it’s the one where the poor widow lady and her kids are starving at Thanksgiving and she prays to the Lord for help and right then there is a knock at the door and it’s the deacons and they have brought a load of food. There were hams and turkeys, and somebody brought a vat of Ice Tea. Man, I love those songs, we have got to get Brother Wyatt to get them on the new system so we can start playing them again.
Where did the time go? It just seems like Ann and I were bringing our sons home from the hospital and they are grown men starting to make their way in the music world. I can’t believe the time has gone by so quickly. Man. Sometimes I feel so old!
Speaking of time flying, my ten year anniversary at WLBG came and went on September 20th. Where did all that time go?
Well, that’s it for the Big One’s random thoughts blog, I hope it gave you some food for thought.
Til next time, God Bless!!!
Big Gene
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