Are you going to see the total solar eclipse on April 8?
After enjoying the excitement of the last one in the United States in August 2017 and sitting in total daytime darkness for a couple of minutes in an elementary school yard in Spring City, also on a Monday afternoon, I had wanted to experience one again.
Unfortunately, this one is actually much farther away from Chattanooga than in 2017. With this one running in more of a slanted pattern from New York to Texas, about any place along the path of totality is at least a seven-hour drive from Chattanooga.
That is different from just going up the road 40 or so miles for a half day, as many of us here did in 2017.
So, after my more practical wife, Laura, reminded me of the long traffic jam we had on U.S. Highway 27 just getting the short distance back home with her son’s family after the 2017 eclipse, I am as of now reluctantly planning to sit this one out. I will do that knowing that my spirit of adventure is eating at my heart.
But I hope those who do go enjoy it, and I know I will be jealous watching the news reports on it afterward and seeing the excited observers.
One aspect about the 2024 eclipse that is closer than the 2017 eclipse – at least to me -- deals with time. 2024 ended up arriving a lot more quickly than I thought it might in 2017 when I was thinking about the next one. I was 57 in August 2017 and about to turn 58, and with the seeming blink of an eye, I am now 64.
Yes, the last six-plus years flew by like a comet, but thankfully I don’t feel that much older than I did at 57, although I guess I am much more conscious of my internal time clock ticking away!
The next total solar eclipse to hit the contiguous United States when it comes across the Northwest will be Aug. 23, 2044 – a Tuesday – and, yes, right now that seems like a long time away! And I will be a seemingly ancient 84 then, if the good Lord and fate allow me to be around then, but I am already thinking about traveling to see it!
Age is definitely relative, and one fact I have noticed is that we all show our age when we write and reflect! I remember my old News-Free Press city editor and Sunday columnist Julius Parker, who was then already about 70, once remarked that humorist Lewis Grizzard was a great columnist, but he showed his young age when he wrote. Since I was about 12 years younger than Mr. Grizzard then and only in my 20s, I had never realized that. But now I do when I read what someone who is not close to my age has written.
Besides the eclipse and the sun and the moon, another round object we have been following closely has been basketball, or March Madness more specifically. We are all excited about our teams, our brackets, or wanting to see upsets.
Tennessee survived a scare against Texas and advanced to the Sweet 16, and fans are hoping the Vols can make their first-ever Final Four this weekend and not experience yet another disappointment. Coach Rick Barnes is also hoping to get a monkey off his back, even though he once took Texas to the Final Four.
I remember they used to say coach Dean Smith at North Carolina could not win the big one, and he finally won two national championships before retiring. I had been pulling for North Carolina this week before Alabama under rising coach Nate Oats gave Crimson Tide fans a memory to last a lifetime by knocking off the No. 1-seeded Tar Heels by two points late Thursday.
And I must confess as a University of Georgia alumnus that I did not realize the Bulldogs were playing in the NIT tournament until after they had already won a game. They have won two since – at Wake Forest and at Ohio State – and I have been cheering them on as if they were in the NCAA Sweet 16. If you also did not realize Georgia was in the Nobody’s Interested Tournament, as the NIT has been dubbed, I forgive you, since, of course, I did not know, either!
Basketball coaches have also been in the news a lot. UTC women’s coach Shawn Poppie left for Clemson after a successful two years in Chattanooga. And some are wondering if Kellie Harper should stay as coach of the Lady Vols after a second-round exit in their NCAA Tournament, despite a valiant effort against former Moc coach Wes Moore and N.C. State.
She has a likable manner and represents the program in a positive way and briefly lived in Chattanooga as an assistant at UTC, but the UT women have a rich legacy started under the late coach Pat Summitt, and standards are high. It is like Alabama football obviously not being satisfied with an 8-4 season and a minor bowl bid, even if the coach was voted Friendliest in high school.
One former Lady Vol doing well this year in the coaching circles is Duke coach Kara Lawson, who led the Blue Devils to an upset of Ohio State and a trip to the Sweet 16. Coach Lawson was also uniquely a Torchbearer at UT in 2003. It is an unusual award that not all colleges have and is given to those who lead by academics, service, and example. As its name implies, they figuratively light a positive way for others to follow.
As a sidenote, I this week recently learned that two of my former students in the adjunct journalism classes I have been blessed to teach at UT were among only seven students throughout the whole university named 2024 Torchbearers. And in an interesting twist, they were both in the same class of 20 students I had in the fall of 2021. I wish I could say I helped them bring out their untapped potential, but they were already on the way to doing well even back then.
Among other coaching news, as a high school fan of basketball, despite not getting to see any games in person this year, I was also interested to see that McCallie has a new coach. He is alumnus Kenneth White, who, unknown to me, actually played some for North Carolina 20-plus years ago. He has come from Boyd-Buchanan.
And my alma mater, Baylor, is looking for a new basketball coach after Mark Price decided to focus strictly on being athletic director in this era when the time commitments are big for both jobs. He has made that decision after a successful run at Baylor.
I ended up being on a text thread with some Baylor classmates and other Red Raider supporters, even though I try to text as little as possible, and one person remarked that it is hard to have a completely open mind about all sports as an AD when you coach one. I replied that the person made a good point.
Although I did not say it, I was not actually endorsing that fully, though, as I think Baylor fans would rather see him stay as coach. That is because good athletic directors are probably more numerous than good individual sport coaches who show an obvious aptitude for success, as coach Price did.
And I have also realized accused rules violation scandals on the college level cannot keep a good coach down. This year’s NCAA Tournament has featured at least three coaches who have had past serious violations accusations, yet they have returned to coaching and have had good seasons – Bruce Pearl at Auburn, Kelvin Sampson at Houston and former UTC and current McNeese State coach Will Wade. The three were forced to resign at Tennessee, Indiana and LSU, respectively, after allegations of rules improprieties.
As a fan of the Indiana men’s team, a once-proud program, I was aware of coach Sampson and his good won-loss record with the Hoosiers before his dismissal in only his second year for not following the rules regarding phone calls to recruits.
Redemption is a great gift, and hopefully these coaches have learned their lessons and are following the now-looser rules better the second time around.
And is it just me, or does basketball seem to have changed a lot the last decade or so. It seems like more and more the game is dependent on the three-point shot, and how hot or cold your team or the opponent is while shooting that shot can greatly affect the outcome.
The players are also increasingly athletic getting up and down the court so quickly, and the days of slowly working the ball around a lot and getting open from screens seem to be diminishing. And whatever happened to the glass backboard being used for shots of more than two feet away? Nowadays, it is only used for longer shots in an accidental way.
I also miss the regular jump balls, where they actually jumped instead of used a possession arrow, even though today’s overall style of play is certainly very entertaining.
Speaking of basketball, I recently ate for the first time at former roundball star Shaquille O’Neal’s new Big Chicken restaurant on Hixson Pike just north of Northgate Mall and enjoyed it. The chicken tenders I got were big and juicy and tasty, and the flat French fries and marinated jalapeno cole slaw were good, too, along with the sweet tea. The eatery also offered some milkshakes, which I would love to try some time.
More than one employee also walked past my table and asked if I was enjoying the meal, which was nice and kind of in the spirit of Chick-fil-A. Nowadays some of these fast-food places are lucky if they can get someone to run a cash register. Having an additional person for customer service is a pipe dream.
Although what I got at Big Chicken seemed just a little pricey compared to other places, it was good overall, and I will probably go back for at least the chicken tenders. I also personally like a little more of a sweeter, milder, and creamy cole slaw, as I don’t want to feel like I have the mouth of a fire-blowing dragon after eating.
Among the other fast-food news, I learned some bad and good news about McDonald’s. First I learned last Sunday morning that they no longer carry their cinnamon rolls for breakfast, which was a disappointment. But then I later heard they were going to start carrying Krispy Kreme doughnuts. It may be a while and I am not sure if the doughnuts will just be brought in or made on-site, which is an important question, but that is still encouraging news.
Krystal had also brought back its chili again briefly a few weeks ago and I enjoyed it once, although I am not sure if it is still available.
And I sure wish some kind of eateries would go in the old Hardee’s and Bojangles’ sites on Hixson Pike – preferably ones that serve cinnamon rolls and do not try to pass off a dessert-like turnover pie as a sweet breakfast alternative. Both still-empty buildings contrast sharply with the rapid construction primarily of apartments elsewhere in that part of town.
As a serious connoisseur of fast food, even though I just treat myself once or twice a week, I have actually started taking a nearly 15-minute drive about one morning a week up to the Hardee’s in Soddy Daisy from my Northgate Mall area home. Some Hardee’s don’t consistently have their dining rooms open these days, but this one always does, and that is why I frequent it. I also like my free Coca-Cola refills!
Usually there is a small crowd of retired or older men there amicably trying to solve the world’s problems.
Politics and sports are likely to come up, but whether future eclipses or the world of fast-food offerings are discussed, too, I don’t know.
If the latter ever does happen, I might just have to join them! Or maybe I will be one of them by the time of the next eclipse!
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Jcshearer2@comcast.net