Bits and pieces......

From today's Midland Reporter-Telegram I've gleaned the top stories.

The biggest story has to be the death of famed animator Joseph Barbera, creator of Yogi Bear, The Flintstones and The Jetsons. His work originated in the 1930's and lasted until only recently. He had a profound influence not only on the world of animation but also on a generation of little dweebs like me who drove our parents crazy with years of "Hey BooBoo" and "Yabba Dabba Doo".

Known for weeks now is the fact that Johnny's Barbeque was purchased by a foreigner...from Odessa! Today his diabolical plans for change were announced. He will actually change a wall. This is unheard of at the historic joint. Moreover he plans to have a drive-thru window and serve breakfast in addition to "expanding" the menu. This probably irks Johnny to no end; his motto has been, "hey it was good enough in 1959, it's good today". But making up for this massive upheavel in tradition is the fact that the new owner promises to keep all the long time employees, many who came to my Dad's recent funeral. After all it's people like Luther, who make Johnny's, Johnny's.

And hey sports fans, it's college bowl season again! While reading the listing for this years ever expanding number of bowl games the thought occured to me, "I wonder if this is about money". Surely not. But I wonder what your favorite bowl will be? Back in the good ol' days [when the Flintstones were on] the bowl names were simple, direct, meant something in regional terms and they rolled off the tongue; Sugar Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl. Most good ones were named after plants. The road downward probably started with the now, I guess, defunct Tangerine Bowl. Someone thought that the fruit named bowl route was the way to go and since Orange was taken, hey the next best fruit is a tangerine. The rest is history. But back to my favorites. The two I won't want to miss are the PapaJohnsPizza.Com Bowl and the Meineke Car Care Center Bowl. You could name all the Flinstone era bowls in the time it takes to say that one. And tonight it's the Poinsetta Bowl, at least it's back to a plant name. And TCU will be playing so I'll probably catch part of that one. I like TCU, almost went to school there and have 5 people I know who played football there. Two of whom went on to play Pro ball. Ross Montgomery from Midland High [Bears] and a good business and hunting buddy of mine, Jim Vanderslice, in Dallas who went on to play 8 years with the '49's. I'll watch in tribute to Ross and Jim. But God forbid and I make a mistake and turn on that bowl that has the blue field, it hurts my head.

And that's the news for today....