Travel has always been intriguing to me. My wife, Linda, says I have true wanderlust. So, when we were invited by our friends Pat and Kristin to go on a cruise to Greece, Croatia and Italy, it didn’t take long for us to say yes. Even though we’re not cruise people. Well, we weren’t cruise people. Andy maybe we’re still not cruise people because it’s hard to describe a Silversea experience with the word cruise. It’s more like they took a resort and floated it from exotic port to exotic port. With just over 350 guests and nearly as many staff on the Silver Whisper, it felt like you were on your own private yacht with a few of your friends. Never did we have to hustle to find a seat, get a cocktail or whatever. Most of the staff knew our names by the second day and knew our preferences when it came to just about everything.

A flight from Philadelphia non-stop to Athens on American was the start. While American isn’t a great airline, they got us there without incident and on time. And that’s when the amazing started. Silversea means it when they say, “door to door.” Clearing immigration, there was somebody there to meet us, and that was a theme throughout the trip. Somebody was always there. No matter what we were doing, somebody was always there. A bus ride to the Grand Bretagne hotel, set up by Silversea, and there was somebody waiting there to check us in and give us instructions and the itinerary.

Having been to Athens a few times, it was fun to see Pat and Kristen there for the first time. I’ve always said Athens is just a “day and a half” town, and I still believe that. A walk to the original Olympic stadium followed by a stroll through the Plaka (maybe including a meal), a visit to the Parthenon and a tour of the Acropolis Museum is just enough as a precursor to heading to the Greek Islands.

I spent some time that afternoon with my friend Pagniotis, a fellow pilot who I flew with on one of our trips to Greece. He lives in Athens, but he got his MBA from JU, so we have a lot to talk about and we did just that for a few hours over some Greek, “Alpha” beer. He has a Cessna 182 that he keeps in Athens and does a lot of flying for their version of the Civil Air Patrol, looking for fires in the countryside. He also makes some trips to the islands, and I keep threatening to come back and fly to my family’s island of Ikaria one day soon. As he left, he brought me some Galaktoboureko, a Greek dessert my grandmother used to make. Very kind.

That evening we did take the advice of the hotel’s concierge for a restaurant, and it was pretty amazing. On a veranda at the base of the Acropolis with a view of the Parthenon, it would be hard to imagine it any better. Follow that with some authentic Greek food, including moussaka, and it proved to be a perfect jumping off point prelude to the next two weeks. As in, I ate too much.

Breakfast on the veranda of the hotel, again overlooking the Acropolis, was a buffet combination of the things you’d expect and Greek specialties.

And again, somebody was waiting for us when we made our way to the lobby to catch the bus to Piraeus, the port of Athens to meet our ship, Silver Whisper.

“Are Mr. and Mrs. Rainey and Mr. and Mrs. Kouvaris on board?” was the question asked by the Silversea representative who boarded the bus when we arrived in Piraeus. We figured we might be in some kind of trouble but unbeknownst to us, Pat’s company does some work with Silversea and a few of his colleagues had called ahead to let them know we’d be on board. I’d say we got some VIP treatment, but everybody on board gets VIP treatment. Julio, the Hotel Director, escorted us on the ship and each day checked in with us to see how it was going. We felt connected for sure as he arranged for a “back of the house” ship tour (which was amazing) and a tour of the bridge. I’ve been on the bridge of a few US Navy ships in my job as a reporter and Pat made a 26-year career out of the Navy, so the bridge was particularly interesting with very few people up there and lots of cool technology. Pat was particularly impressed, and took special notice of the hour-long checklist used each time we got underway.

There are thirty nationalities represented among the staff on the Silver Whisper. Literally from all over the world, but we didn’t meet one staff member from the US. As we listened to Julio talk about the crew, it was obvious they’re spending a lot of time, effort (and money) training and retaining the best people. It really struck me how everybody seemed to really like their job. Without fail, and without hesitation, they fulfilled every request across the board and did it all with a smile. Julio’s assistant, Matteo, became a quick contact and a friendly face we leaned on throughout our experience. Maybe he’s that way on every trip, but we seemed to hit it off almost immediately and he never acted too busy to sit and chat and occasionally share a cocktail with! It seemed like we’d been friends for years. Same with Julio, same with Dinesh and even with the Captain.

Traveling with another couple for more than two weeks could be tricky, but the easy and comfortable nature of our friendship made it simple from beginning to end. As is generally the best policy, everybody does their own thing, and everybody’s invited. Lucky for us, we all did most of the same things together and enjoyed the experience and the company.

With Linda and Kristin not feeling particularly well on back-to-back days to start the trip, Pat and I passed the time hanging over the 10th deck railing watching the Captain and the local pilot navigate out of Piraeus, sitting on the “fantail” and watching the world go by. Luckily, both of our wives recovered quickly.

Generally, the Silver Whisper sailed at night for this cruise. The first port of call was Santorini. While it’s a Greek island, it’s not very representative of the rest of what’s happening in the Aegean. Pat and Kristin had an all-day excursion planned and with Linda not feeling well, we stayed on board. I decided to venture out to meet them in Oia, a familiar spot on the island, having been there several times. Santorini has always been tourist-y but recently, it’s exploded. I boarded the tender around 12:30, only to be greeted by the sight of three massive, 5,000 passenger cruise ships in the caldera. (Basically, Santorini Harbor). There’s a cable car that takes visitors up the sheer face of the island that was torn apart by the volcano blast in 1600 BC. They used to allow buses and taxis down to the port, but no more. It’s the cable car, the famous, or infamous donkeys, or walk. When I arrived, the line for the cable car was about 2 ½ hours long. I passed on that and looked for the stairs. While the temperature was 96 in the shade, the humidity was Jacksonville-like as well. So, after about three switchbacks, drenched and looking for shade, navigating the donkeys carrying tourists up and avoiding the ones coming back down on their own, I was questioning my decision-making. After my foot being stepped on by a donkey for the second time, I had a serious discussion with myself about turning around. But I pressed on, a little dizzy from the heat and the smell of donkey dung. By the way, if you want to hear complaining in just about every language, do this one time!

At the top of the climb in the town of Fira, (the Greeks also call the island by that name), I figured I’d grab a cab. Pat and Kristen had settled into a nice, shaded, outdoor café near the main church in Oia, so they’d be easy to find. Problem was that the mass of humanity in Fira made it nearly impossible to navigate. With a little bit of the Greek, I know coming back to me, I managed to ask a shop owner where the taxi stand was. Another ten minutes, up and down stairs and downing a giant bottle of water, the friendly cab driver told me in both Greek and English, “It’s a big car. We need to wait on more people.” I wasn’t up for that and decided to head back to the ship.

Not willing to walk back down, the line for the cable car was only about an hour, so I joined in with the other folks headed back to their ships. If you’ve traveled in Europe, you know that certain parts have their own ideas about getting in line. Sometimes it’s a free-for-all, and others it’s very orderly. This line snaked around a building and up to a gate and seemed to be going pretty well. As I approached the entrance, a group of Romanians came from the side and squeezed their way through with no regard for the line or the people in it. The group of Japanese in front of me were none too happy and even the Italians behind me, not normally know for queuing up were pretty vocal. That didn’t deter the line cutters who ignored everybody around them. When Pat and Kristin made it to the line, it was also about an hour, but they befriended a Hungarian who appointed himself the line police. “Nobody got by him,” Pat said with a laugh when they got back to the ship.

We left Santorini around ten, and with our wives recovering, Pat and I sat on the back of the ship watching the lights of the island fade into the darkening night. Santorini allegedly is going to restrict the number of tourists to 8,000 starting next summer, which will alleviate some of the issues we encountered. “What’s the deal on those big ships,” Pat asked. “They’re just massive!” “In some cases, they qualify as Dante’s Fifth Level of Hell,” I answered. That’s pretty snarky I know, and snotty as well, but wow, those people were having a very different experience than ours.

A scheduled day at sea followed as we made our way around the west coast of Greece. Onboard, Matteo and company had noticed our interest in vodka, and not just drinking it. They set up a “vodka” tasting for us, and while our wives declined, Pat and I eagerly made our way to the restaurant “Le Dame” to see what they had in store. The Chef had put together a beautiful presentation of all the accoutrements that go with a vodka tasting. Starting with a tin of caviar on top of a beautifully molded bed of ice, he had and side dishes, of chopped eggs, tomatoes, onions, basil and just about everything else you could think of that could top a serving of caviar. Dinesh brought three different bottles of vodka: Ciroc, Grey Goose and Kettle One, and explained the history of each, the distilling processes and ‘purity’ for lack of a better word. We did a tasting and were surprised at the difference in taste each offered, which was best on the rocks or chilled and neat and which was best for mixing (Kettle One.) Who knew! The fun part was having several officers of the ship along to witness including Chef, Julio, and Matteo. It must have been something different because the Captain showed up and sat with us for twenty minutes or so. Being of Polish decent, but not a vodka drinker, he gave us some background nonetheless, as well as some of his history. Fascinating stuff.

We found ourselves in Corfu (or Korfu or Kerkira to the Greeks) the next morning. We docked on the east coast of the island. I had been to the west coast, a very different experience than the bustling business, tourist and economic engine of the island. It felt like we were in a movie as we boarded a bus for the morning excursion. Our guide was very friendly and knowledgeable, but she looked, talked and acted like she was right out of central casting. “I guess we’re now ‘boat people,”’ Kristin said as we all laughed in agreement. We wound our way up to the “Mon Repos” (My Rest) palace, stopping along the way at scenic vistas. It was fun to see airliners on final approach to Corfu International go by from a thousand-foot perch overlooking the harbor and the airport. Yugoslav dictator Marshall Tito visited Corfu once and it was interesting to see a security bunker he had built for his visit. Apparently, he wasn’t happy with the safety the Greeks could supply and was so fearful of assassination (from his own people) that a fortified building had to be erected for his visit. We finished with a visit to a distiller. It seemed pretty hokey at first, but we ended up buying some limoncello you can’t buy here in the States.

There are thousands of years of history in Corfu and the culture is a mix of Greek and Italian as well as influences from many of the other conquerors of the island. Near the main fort, Kristen made a reservation at the Corfu Sailing club for lunch. Getting there was tricky but what a hidden gem! We ate right on the water where hundreds of boats were docked. The food was fresh and authentic, and the Greek white wine was just right. Drinking Greek wine can be somewhat of a roll of the dice. If you catch the right bottle, it’s delicious. But quality control isn’t their strong suit.

Traveling on a small ship has its advantages as far as navigation. You can go to ports where other ships can’t or aren’t allowed. That’s the case with Kotor, Montenegro. Kotor is well inland but accessible through an inlet and then the length of Kotor Bay. Never heard of it? Not to worry, not a lot of American’s are aware of it or even could point Montenegro out on a map. Navigating through the straight early in the morning was tricky but beautiful with mountains rising directly out of the water on both sides. There were plenty of apartments, condos and hotels along the coast on the way in, occupied throughout the year by Europeans, the Brits and even the Chinese in the winter months. It was stunningly beautiful. Silver Whisper was assigned the premier docking spot, pier side right by the Old Town. Another cruise ship was moored well off the harbor, a 45-minute tender ride to shore. Having been part of Yugoslavia and Serbia through most of the 20th century, the country was hidden from tourists from the west and particularly from Americans.

So. as visiting Montenegro is new to us, we’re also new to them. They admit American tourists are something new and somewhat of a novelty. Pat and I walked around Old Town, a walled city full of shops and eateries. It was very hot that day, so we sought some shade and headed back to the ship. Kristin likes to research restaurants in different spots, so we headed to “Moments” for dinner. Normally a five Euro cab ride, it was 40 euros to get there at rush hour. Tucked on a main street overlooking the harbor, the restaurant was eclectic, and we ate on the second-floor garden veranda with a great view. You could tell we were somewhat of a novelty to the wait staff. I walked down to the bar to see what kind of vodka they might have, and the bartender was guarded and defensive at first. His English wasn’t great, but when he finally realized I was just generally interested and not criticizing anything, he was very engaging. They had some Beluga Vodka, and I found out they had just opened a distillery in Montenegro, so you couldn’t get much more local than that.

Dinner was fresh and fun with a local family with two young kids seated nearby. Before we paid the bill, the young owner came out and spoke with us. He was very engaging and while his English was very good, as occasionally happens, he couldn’t quite find the right phrasing in translation, so he blurted out “Why are you here?” Processing what he was actually asking, we figured out he was curious how four Americans ended up in his restaurant. We explained how Kristin had found it online and how great our experience had been.

“We’re getting better,” he said referring to the country as a whole while explaining he had been open only three months. “You know, the politicians are bring us out of it,” he explained. “Pretty much our whole country was built on the drug trade in the past,” he sighed. “Oh, kind of like Miami in the ‘80’s,” I said with a laugh, which seemed to lighten his mood. It was fascinating to have a conversation with a young entrepreneur who was really trying to make a go of it. Hope he makes it.

Our excursion that day was a fast boat ride out to the “Blue Cave.” Cruising through Kotor Bay was beautiful, and we noted the number of condos and apartments lining the waterfront. The Blue Cave was interesting, a slightly downgraded version of the “Blue Lagoon” off Capri. The boat stopped and some folks jumped in the water. We waited for the beach stop, about 20 minutes later and were rewarded with clear water and a refreshing swim in the sea. Since the Adriatic doesn’t have any waves, the beaches are all dirt and rocks, some artificially brought in. That makes it hard to walk around and get into the water. (Pro tip: Bring water shoes!) I did manage to make it into the water and really enjoyed it. On my way out, I was clearly struggling, new knees and hips and all, so a nice Australian fellow traveler came down the shore and threw a towel down so I could more easily walk out. Somewhat embarrassing, but when he said, “No worries mate, that’s what I brought it for,” I felt better. A bit like Dudley Moore in “10,” without a vision of Bo Derek in my head.

Departing the port, our wives called it a night so Pat and I sat on the “fantail” watching the navigation through the bay and the channel in complete darkness. There were times where there wasn’t much room to fit the ship through. When we mentioned to the captain the next day what a good job the navigator did, he smiled and said, “I did that. Pretty tricky to find the channel at night.” We all laughed. With plenty of respect.

On a side note, I thought I saw Shad Khan’s new yacht, Kismet, going past Corfu. I sent him a note when I realized it was docked in Montenegro. Shad keeps the boat for himself when he wants it but makes it available for lease in the weeks he’s not on board. “I know it would be a small chance we both were in Montenegro at the same time but are you here?” I asked. “Small world. I just got off the boat. Safe Travels,” was his response. I don’t know who was on board, but Shad has mentioned in the past that Kismet “has become popular in those circles.” Those circles, at $3M a week to start, include Bill Gates and the King of Saudi Arabia. Small world indeed.

It was a short sail to Hvar, another one of those small ports we were treated to because of the small nature of our ship. “It’s the new Portofino,” Julio said when asked about the town. “You’ll see all kinds of yachts there.” And he was right. Roger Penske’s yacht along with several that were registered to Russians were in port. A tender ride dropped us off in the town square. Pat and Kristin had gone ahead to do some shopping, so Linda and I went off on a walk. As we are wont to do, occasionally we just keep walking. And in this case, we ended up at the top of the town at the fortress overlooking the Adriatic and the city below. You could say it was a bit of a hike, but well worth it. We met them at a lunch spot Kristin picked out, and again, not disappointed. Eclectic and built into a hillside, the food was fresh and delicious. Must be something about the water there.

A trip across the Adriatic was uneventful to the port town of Monopoli. Situated between Brindisi and Bari, Monopoli has a walled city adjacent to the harbor with plenty of shops and restaurants inside. It again was stifling hot, but the occasional nice breeze made it bearable. At least the visitors all acted like Floridians and realized the best tables were in the shade. The town is surrounded by big concrete slabs piled in the water. Their “beach” was comprised of each slab, that usually had a couple perched on top with towels, sunscreen, snack and drinks. The swimming in the Adriatic was fun, even off the back of some large boats anchored offshore. Pat and Kristin found a small café/restaurant in the old town for lunch. They raved about the meal, so much so that Pat has tried to replicate it in his own kitchen! Monopoli is becoming more popular as a spot for local Italians to vacation. Nice, quiet and small, ideal for a stop for a small ship like the Silver Whisper.

Because of the way Silversea scheduled this trip with most of the sailing done at night, it was exciting each morning to throw open your curtains and see where we were. It was nearly breathtaking our next morning when the sunrise revealed Dubrovnik and its shoreline simmering in the near distance. Even if you’ve only seen a snippet of “Game of Thrones,” at first glance when seeing Dubrovnik you think, “That’s Kings Landing.” Although the producers, through movie magic, made it about ten times its size, Dubrovnik was unmistakable with its position on the coast and the red-topped roofs from the old harbor to the hills.

Both the included and the ad- on excursions on this trip were well done by Silversea. It’s clear they vet the tour providers and with tourism the lifeblood of most of the Adriatic’s coastline economy, tour guides and operators are doing their best to accommodate the guests. Our pre-arranged walking tour of Dubrovnik started early, which was fine to avoid the mid-day heat. Our guide, a young woman who was multi-lingual, (she spoke at least English and Croatian and taught French in school near the city) was knowledgeable and polite as she guided us through the narrow streets and history of the 1300-year-old city.

Pointing out one of the many historic buildings and churches inside the city walls, she casually mentioned, “And this is where my family hid during the war.” Wait, what? “Oh yes, my mother and my sister were up this street with our cousins while my father was off fighting,” she explained, as if she was talking about going out for gelato. “But then it got too dangerous here and we fled to an island for a year and a half.” Pressed for more she offered, “When we came back, I was laying on the beach over there with some of my friends when some shells came over our heads and landed in the sea. We grabbed our stuff and ran to a shelter.” We were just shaking our heads, especially realizing this was in the early 1990’s, not some distant conflict where the details are forgotten.

As a fighter pilot in the US Navy, one of Pat’s missions was to enforce the “no-fly zone” over the Balkans during that war, flying off an aircraft carrier in the Adriatic. So, if you connect the dots, it’s entirely possible that he and his squadron mates were, in some part, responsible for this girl’s safety. Listening to her talk deepened our desire to be travelers and not just tourists.

More cobbled streets and steps followed, and led us to a convent/monastery built in the 1500’s. Any thoughts of “ho-hum, another church,” were allayed when she explained that the well in the courtyard, built there over 400 years ago as a safeguard against invaders, had never been used until the siege of Dubrovnik, just 30 years ago.

That conflict is still evident as you walk the narrow streets and alleyways. While the buildings have been mostly repaired from damage caused by ordinance lobbed into the city during the siege, there are still pockmarks on the walls from shrapnel flying three decades ago. We found a nice, shady spot for lunch, and while drinking Croatian white wine and waiting for pizza, Pat found a website on his phone that outlined the spots where shells hit during the attack. “This one is right there,” he noted, pointing not ten feet away from where we were sitting. Amazing. And chilling.

Looking for some artwork, Pat and Kristei strolled through town, eventually finding what they were looking for and even went back into the city that evening to meet the artist and have dinner. Linda and I opted for getting cleaned up and watching the sun set over Dubrovnik from the fantail (officially called the Panorama Lounge.)

Living in Florida, we see plenty of violent weather with crackling lightning, crashing thunder and slashing rain. You watch it go by; generally glad you weren’t caught outside without some shelter. So, at sea on the overnight trek from Dubrovnik to Split up the Croatian coast, I was glad to have met the Captain and knew his level of experience and confidence. Our cabin had some front facing windows as well as a sliding glass door out to the balcony and those widows gave us a vision of the light show and the kind of weather I’m sure you only see at sea. Lashing rain, dramatic lightning and thunder cracks that woke me up were part of the show in the middle of the night. While the Silver Whisper was plenty stable and sturdy, the weather was all over the place. One minute you couldn’t believe how hard it was raining, the next it seemed as calm as a spring morning. Only to be followed by a lightning bolt that lit up the night and a crash of thunder that rattled the windows. And I guess this is normal at sea, it was over. Whatever system we were sailing through was now behind us, and a few more hours of shuteye beckoned.

Opening the drapes in the morning revealed a dreary, rainy day in Split. While we were pier side, the harbor was bustling with activity, ferries carrying passengers and vehicles coming and going with regularity. We had a scheduled excursion so after a quick breakfast and coffee, we grabbed the Silversea provided umbrella’s and ventured out into a light drizzle.

Undeterred, our tour guide handed out listening devices and started us on a walk through the scenic parking lot. As the rain grew harder, we all looked at each other with an “I don’t know,” shrug and kept moving. The guide was happily chatting away, and honestly, I couldn’t really catch a word she was saying except, “The castle is over there, across from the bus stop.” Not much on history but at least instructive.

As the eventual retirement home of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, the castle was in remarkable shape, especially the lower, underground rooms, recently excavated after centuries of serving as a waste dump and landfill. It’s no wonder they figured that was the best use, because the humidity had to be 100% while we were in there. I’m sure it was just as humid in the 3rd century when they were building it. Seeking any kind of fresh air, we were glad to finally climb to the surface. There, the residents of Split have commercialized almost all of the castle with shops and gelato stands. Some high-end retail is also there but because of that, it wasn’t impressive at all.

And for all his accomplishments, and there were many, Diocletian isn’t highly regarded in the history books because, one of his last acts as Emperor was to ban Christianity. That didn’t work at all. He also tried price controls to curb inflation, and that was a failure as well.

“I think she’s a sub,” was the consensus from our group. The guide didn’t quite meet the Silversea standard so we figured the regular guide must have called in sick that day. Once we arrived at the “Taste of Split” portion, an olive oil tasting, we were at least out of the rain and in their version of AC. While we were seated, the guide trolled by three times looking for a gratuity, but none was forthcoming. At least the Croatian olive oil tasting was educational, and we even bought some to bring home it was so delicious.

It didn’t seem too inviting to stay in Split, so we headed back to the ship. That’s one of the good things about the whole Silversea experience. The ship is always an option. Whether it’s lunch, a cocktail, dinner, the gym, a nap or just sitting by the pool, the atmosphere, the food and the service are unparalleled. Within a day, every one of the service personnel called me by name. They knew I liked a lemon, and Pat liked a lime in our cocktails. They knew the difference between a Hugo Spritz and an Aperol Spritz and prepared them expertly. They knew we liked potato chips. Sounds silly, but when you’re on board for eleven days, the personal touch makes it very comfortable.

There are four restaurants aboard the Silver Whisper. All with plenty of variety and plenty of space to accommodate everyone onboard. Which is probably why we ate most of our dinners on the ship.

“Le Dame” is the only restaurant with an upcharge ($60 per person). The food is French, and fancy and the service is over the top. I’m glad we went there one night for the experience (and the Dover sole was fab) but I didn’t need to eat there more than once. You can dress up for dinner on the ship, and you can even go very dressy on “formal” night but generally the only requirement is long pants and a collared shirt. Pat and I wore a suit one night and sport coats a few others, including the night we had dinner with the Captain.

That meal was in “La Terraza,” an Italian restaurant that’s a staple on all Silversea ships. Well prepared Italian dishes where the lasagna was a favorite in our group. Simon, our waiter, seemed genuinely pleased every night we showed up. We ate there plenty and it’s a place you could eat every night. Francesco, the sommelier, chose nice wines to compliment the evening dishes, all included. And if you decided you wanted something more specific, the wine list had plenty of great, and somewhat affordable options.

When we inquired about wines a few nights in a row, Francesco suggested he put together a wine tasting for us during the trip. One afternoon, he hosted a very nice get together with eight passengers and a tutorial on French Bordeaux’s. Complete with a small charcuterie board at each seat, he passed along a lot of knowledge without getting too far in the weeds. As good as they were, both from the right and left bank, and as proud of those wines the French are, I’m still stuck on Italian. Somebody needs to drag me out of that.

They’re trying something new at “The Grill,” their restaurant that’s on the deck of the pool, transformed with white tablecloths to the floor in the evening. They heat stones to cooking temperature and put them in front of each patron, placing your order in front of you, cooking before your eyes. It’s novel, but between wearing a smock and all of the commotion, we agreed that giving the option to have the meal cooked tableside, or even in the kitchen would have been nice.

Calling the open seating restaurant, “The Restaurant” doesn’t do it justice. It’s the only place that doesn’t require a reservation because it’s big enough to handle whoever happens to wander in. It’s a beautiful room at midships, and with a different menu each night, including local dishes from the port you’re in, there would be plenty of variety to eat there every night if you liked. The service was also fabulous.

Looking out the window the next morning, a flatter coastline and the city of Zadar stretched out across the bay. It was the first time the ship has docked at the pier on the starboard side, so I wasn’t sure what the town looked like until I made my way up to the gym on the ninth deck. Zadar (pronounced ‘ZA-dar’ with a little emphasis on the first syllable) is another one of those tiny ports that only a small ship can get into. We were docked next to a public space that included a solar powered night light show, a sea organ (where the movement of the water against the dock forces air through different size holes in the pavement, creating music) and a public swimming area on the waterfront. The Adriatic is so clear, and blue on that side, that laying a towel down right on the sea walk and jumping in is pretty normal.

We cancelled our excursion that day in favor of our own stroll through the old town. A cool little city with a very historic church dating back to the 10th century. St. Mary’s church had a fresco that was in good shape that was more than 500 years old. And it had an altar dedicated to the souls in purgatory, something I’d never seen, even in my years as an altar boy.

Pat had arranged for a “tuk-tuk” tour around town at sunset. Our guide was a 20-year-old history student at the University in Zadar, who wanted to be a history teacher. Really informative, inquisitive about The States (Is it safe?) and made it to a hilltop just in time for sunset. It must be a famous place to see the sunset, because there were plenty of other folks there as well. Our guide informed us that Alfred Hitchcock said it was the most beautiful spot for a sunset in the world. So, they have a Hitchcock festival in town every year. It was spectacular. We asked about sports in Croatia, noting that their World Cup Soccer results are outstanding. “We’re good at football,” he explained, “But we’re a basketball crazy country.” That’s when he pointed out all of the courts in town, the indoor facilities and stadiums dedicated to basketball. “The average male height in Croatia is 6’1”, so we all play basketball.”

Our next morning found us in the harbor off Rovinj. It’s a Croatian town on the Istrian Peninsula and right across the Adriatic from Venice. Since the Venetians ran this part of the world for centuries, it’s no surprise that Rovinj (or Rovenia as the Italians call it) has Croatian and Italian as their dual official languages. Pat and Kristin went on a tour of the town while Linda and I had signed up for sea kayaking through the archipelagos off the coast. A fast boat ride to a nearby beach lined with kayaks was the prelude to a safety and instruction briefing and off we went into the Adriatic. We made our way around three islands and to a remote beach with an observation tower. “That small island is where they stopped ships during the Plague,” our kayak guide explained. “We did the same during Covid,” he deadpanned. Unmatched view and our guide even climbed up a grapevine trellis to grab bunches of grapes for each kayak off the vine. We had an hour on the beach, so we got in the water, refreshing, and buoyant. Now knowing to wear shoes, I had my boat shoes on, and much to my delight, they floated my feet right to the top of the salty Adriatic. I swam a bunch and floated plenty, only checking occasionally that I wasn’t being swept out to sea. Returning to our kayaks, the trip across the strait against the tide and against the wind was tricky, but by then we had gotten the hang of it.

Pat and Kristin found a small café for lunch and went exploring. They got a little lost, which is part of the fun, but found their way back without incident. “I could live here,” Kristin said without hesitation that afternoon. “There’s something about this place that really appeals to me.” And you could see why. Balmy and beautiful with a mix of cultures, the residents there were living the Croatian version of “La Dolce Vita.”

Over to our disembarkation point in Venice overnight, we woke early to the Silver Whisper slowly navigating a canal from the Adriatic to the port of Fusina. It’s as close as any cruise ships are allowed these days. When they were letting the big ships cruise right by St. Mark’s square, they realized the vibration from the engines was shaking the foundation of the city. So, they put a stop to that. As we left the ship, we gave a heartfelt thanks to Chris, our butler, and Daiwa, our steward. Silversea assigns a “butler” and a steward to every cabin, and while the designation might be accurate, there must be a better word for what they do. Chris had the right mix of helpfulness and friendliness, blended with a respect for our space and time. He let us know the schedule each day, arranged meals and anything else you could think of. Usually before you thought of it. He couldn’t have been better if you had built him from scratch. And I know Pat and Kristin thought the same about their butler, Adolph.

As I’ve mentioned a couple of times, it’s the small personal touches that set Silversea apart on this trip. The head of the concierge team, Alessandra, told us not to worry about our transfer from the port to the Maritime Terminal to get our luggage. She also said not to worry about a taxi from the Terminal to our hotels. And as far as leaving the ship she said, “You’re with me, don’t worry about that.” So, after a leisurely breakfast, we disembarked at nine. And like every other time, there was somebody there. They grabbed our luggage and put it in a Mercedes van. They dropped us off at the Terminal, where somebody met us to escort us to the water taxi. And they boarded the taxi with us for the trip to the hotel. It had been a while since I’d been in Venice, so I’d forgotten that using the water for transportation isn’t an option, it’s the ONLY option. You do get a sense of what the explorers and traders have seen for centuries as you approach the city by boat. It took us down a canal and right to the entrance of our hotel. Where, yes, somebody was there to meet us.

We stayed at Ca’ di Dio, right on the waterfront, a short walk to St. Mark’s square. Pat and Kristin stayed at the Hotel Daneli, about a 5-minute walk from us. Both hotels were great. Daneli is a bit more traditional with a beautiful lobby and hotel bar. C’a di Dio suited us perfectly. A little informal, beautiful rooms and a very friendly staff. We found both of those, by the way, on the AMEX travel website.

That afternoon was our “vacation from our vacation” just resting and reflecting on our trip. That evening was a different story.

Pat and Kristin are acquaintances of Joel Silver, a movie director/producer who lives near their home in Beaufort, S.C. Silver had always told them if they were ever in Venice to eat at a specific restaurant and to be sure to tell the owner he sent them. Pat and I called them a month before our trip, only to be told they’d be closed while we were there. But they gave us a suggestion for another restaurant, so we booked that. Little did we know it was on the other side of town, with the only way to get there realistically was to walk. A lot. We walked through St. Mark’s square, through small side streets, over the Rialto Bridge and along what can only be called “alleys.” Pat was guiding through his phone when he turned a corner and came to a stop saying, “Don’t go down there yet.” “Why,” we asked. “Because the guy in front of us has stopped to pee.” While it seemed strange, it didn’t seem completely out of place. When the gentleman finished, we made our way around a few more corners to a solitary restaurant on a very small street. It was obviously a local’s place, perfect for what we were looking for. Nice atmosphere, good food, and we were the only English speakers there. Except for somebody who appeared to be the owner who told me as I was looking at the wine list, “You don’t have to spend a lot of money to get a good bottle of wine here. It’s Italy. Drink this one.” And she was right. Despite the distance, there and back, it was a memorable evening with some of the best octopus we’ve had.

The next day we had arranged for a walking tour of Venice in the afternoon through our friend Amanda Nimnicht. “Meet between the columns in St. Mark’s square,” were the instructions. My mistake that we got there 30 minutes early, so we sat at the nearby café and ordered coffee and wine. I’ve always wanted to have a coffee in “San Marco” since seeing George Segal sitting there in the ‘70’s film “Blume in Love.” Kristin spotted our guide, so she jumped up and brought her to the table. We asked her if she’d like to join us, and she obliged with a bit of trepidation.

Not knowing exactly what we wanted, she started giving us a history of the square and the Doge Palace. Figuring we’d be there at least a few more minutes, we ordered another bottle of wine and listened to her dissertation regarding the centuries of history presented before us. She was rightfully proud to live in Venice and recounted the customs and traditions as well as the riches her predecessors amassed as traders in that part of the world. Two famous columns frame San Marco square from the sea and she pointed out that between them is where justice was handed out after rulings came from a small balcony at the Doge Palace. “Venetians never walk between the columns,” she noted, handing over a pro tip. “That’s where they executed people, it’s bad luck,” she explained pointing to a spot not thirty feet away.

We walked through St. Mark’s Basilica with our guide explaining the artwork on the walls and ceilings, the history of where the different materials came from and the storytelling, mostly of Christianity, that adorned the building. The closer you got to the altar, the more intricate the marble and the artwork. Linda joked you could take a whole semester of a class on the Basilica alone. “Yeah, but when you’re that age, you’d go, ‘Nah, I’m not taking that,’” I said with a laugh. I’ve been to a lot of churches, especially in Europe. That one really stands out.

We walked with our guide through the streets of Venice, onto a rooftop with a view of the city that was pretty special. She pointed out the best gelato in Venice, but the line was too long, so we moved on. We made our way back to the waterfront where a traditional wooden boat awaited for an on the water tour of the Grand Canal. It’s amazing that places built as residences in the 1300’s in Venice are still occupied as apartments. As American’s, it takes a minute to wrap your head around that. The boat tour was fabulous. Highly recommend.

That night we were looking forward to our farewell dinner rooftop at the Hotel Daneli. The atmosphere didn’t disappoint, with the skyline of Venice stretching out in front of us. It’s a shame the service and the food didn’t match. Perhaps the only disappointing meal of the trip. It’s such a nice hotel I couldn’t help but think they must sub the restaurant out to somebody else.

The next morning, the water taxi transported us through town, down the Grand Canal and out into the channel to the airport. Again, by water is the only way to get there, so we enjoyed the ride, and I had to laugh when I saw the more than thirty water taxi parking spaces next to the terminal. It was an easy airport to navigate, with the Marco Polo lounge on the second floor a nice respite before the flight home.

Again, American Airlines is a middling carrier, clearly with a mission to move people from one spot to another, just above a “no-frills” status. It did take them 24-hours to get us home between delays and crew assignments. But safe and in one piece, planning for our next trip.

As we celebrate the 244th anniversary of our Nation’s independence today, we’ll hear a lot of patriotic songs. It might be the only day we hear John Phillip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever.” We’ll sing along with Katherine Lee Bates’ and Samuel Ward’s “America the Beautiful.” And many of the celebrations will begin with our National Anthem, Francis Scott Key’s “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Originally written as a poem by Key as he observed the U.S. Flag still waving over Fort McHenry at dawn after the Battle of Baltimore in September of 1814, the words weren’t set to music until later that year.

And it was a long time before the Anthem was tied to any sporting events.

The Star-Spangled Banner was first played at a sporting event on May 15, 1862, at a baseball game. It was played, sporadically at sporting events through the rest of the 1800’s and early into the next century. It gained some traction during World War I and even more during the run up to World War II as patriotic displays surged.

President Woodrow Wilson made “The Star-Spangled Banner” the National Anthem by executive order in 1916 but it wasn’t until 1931 that it became the country’s official anthem by congressional resolution. Post-World War II, it became common place to have The Anthem to be played before every sporting event.

Whether you stand at attention with your hand over your heart or exercise your right to free speech while The Anthem is played, there’s no question it’s become a part of American sports that’s not going away.

You might have noticed they’ve added “And gentlemen please remove your hats” when they ask everybody to stand for The National Anthem. Many team owners were dismayed that wasn’t happening and realized that guys weren’t being taught that at home nor in school, so they’ve added that as a reminder.

One night at a banquet I theorized that I might have heard “The Star-Spangled Banner” more than anybody else based on the number of sporting events I attended through the years as part of my career.

“I’d have to challenge you on that,” my friend and former owner of the Jacksonville Suns Peter Bragan, Jr. said from across the room.

We both laughed and the conversation turned to how many times we’d heard The Anthem.

I’m sure facility and field workers, JSO officers and probably security guards here in town have heard The Anthem more than anybody. They’re at every event at every venue, so Mary, the very kind elevator operator I see everywhere, probably hears the anthem nearly three hundred times a year.

Bragan theorized he heard The National Anthem about a hundred times a year during his thirty-one years as the owner of the Suns. Between seventy home games, listening to auditions for singers, going on the road with the team, a trip to major league parks, football games and other sporting events, ‘Pedro’ developed a routine around The Anthem.

“As the owner of the team I’d always know when it was going to happen,” he explained. “Usually, I was just at the bench in the stands. It was usually a pause and analyze what was going on in the stadium.”

During his four-year college baseball career, Bragan said he had a different thought process.

“As a player, for some reason, it always caught me by surprise. I’d do a quick turn to face the flag and take my hat off. As a player I did think about the founding of our nation, and the flag flying over the ramparts, George Washington crossing the Delaware and things like that.”

Pedro did ask me to sing The Anthem one night before a Suns game. Knowing that I occasionally front some of the ‘Big Bands’ in town, He put me on the schedule in mid-summer. It’s a bit disconcerting because in a space that large, there’s a half a beat between when the sound comes out of your mouth and when it comes through the PA system. You must concentrate on singing and not listening, that’s for sure.

How many times have you heard “The Star-Spangled Banner?” We used to have a chance to hear it every day when television stations signed on or off the air. The first and last thing on the air was the playing of our National Anthem. But stations no longer sign off, now on twenty-four hours.

While I thought hearing The Anthem about a hundred and fifty times a year during my career was a lot, my friend Rick Wilkins chuckled when I mentioned that number.

“At least two hundred times a year,” Wilkins said, recalling his eleven-year Major League Baseball career. “Between the regular season and spring training, plus the other events I’d go to with my kids, maybe more.”

With that as a regular part of the game, it has to become a part of any professional athlete’s routine. They put their uniform on, they warm-up and they’re ready to play. But then there’s this two-minute pause before play begins.

“When I played for Bud Grant, we practiced how we were going to line up for The Anthem,” said Greg Coleman, who spent ten of his twelve years in the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings. “At attention, feet at a 45-degree angle, helmet under your right arm on standing the sideline.”

Admittedly an emotional player, Coleman, recently inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame said he would take that time as a player to refocus.

“It was the last solace of peace and a chance to calm yourself before the storm,” the Raines High grad explained.

Now part of the Vikings television broadcast team, Coleman, an ordained and licensed minister, delivers a “Pregame Preach” on TV right before kickoff. He has about 30-seconds after the Anthem to organize his thoughts for the spontaneous ‘sermon.’

And now, during The Anthem?

“You still have those times to reflect,” he said. “It takes you from a wide range of emotions. As a man of color, it forces you to think about how far we’ve come, but also about how far we have to go.”

Wilkins explained that in the Majors they don’t stand on the foul lines other than Opening Day and in the Playoffs. But the players were required to be on the field for The Anthem if they were on the active roster.

“I’d use that time to calm myself down,” Wilkins said of those two pregame minutes. “I would quiet everything down; eliminate external distractions and I would do that by focusing on The Anthem. It’s the calm before the storm.”

With his baseball career behind him, Wilkins admitted his thoughts during The Anthem have changed.

“I think more externally now,” he said wistfully. I think about my grandfather who flew in WWII. I think about my teenage kids who are ready to go into the world, stuff like that.”

Before September 11, 2001, you pretty much only heard The National Anthem before a sporting event if you were there live. Television always used those two minutes to go to a commercial break.

As the play-by-play announcer, I’d hear the producer say in my headset, “OK, pitch to break, they’re about to do The Anthem.”

There were many times I’d be doing a live report for the news, and they’d come to me while The Anthem was playing. I thought it would be disrespectful to talk during The Anthem so there would be a lot of yelling in my ear, “You’re live!” by producers back in the booth. Not sorry for that.

Seeing The Anthem on TV was reserved for the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the World Series or before games in the Stanley Cup Finals (where they’d also sing ‘O Canada’). Whitney Houston’s rendition at the 1991 Super Bowl and Marvin Gaye’s during the 1983 NBA All-Star Game are most memorable.

In fact, it wasn’t until after September 11th and officially mandated by the league in 2009 that NFL players were on the field for The Anthem. Before that, they did some final preparations in the locker room.

You’d think if you were in the service, you’d hear The National Anthem a lot. But that’s not the case

“We hear Reveille and Taps every day,” Captain Pat Rainey, USN Retired, explained. “When you’re in the Navy you hear The Anthem maybe forty times a year.”

It’s been interesting watching the Euro 2020 matches where the playing of the two national anthems is as much a part of the match as the opening kickoff. The fervor that the fans in the stands and the players on the field sing their anthems with is impressive.

You hear that here at home occasionally, but the playing of The Anthem perhaps has become so routine that some of the luster has been diminished.

But not for everybody.

During my limited athletic career, I’d use The Anthem as a time to focus in on what I was going to do in the game to execute the things I practiced. In my career as a reporter, that changed. I stand at attention, hand over my heart, thinking about how special it is that we live in this country, and we get to go to sporting events and have the freedoms we have, thanks to the sacrifice of so many. I thank my grandfather for coming here. And as I’ve gotten older, I usually shed a tear.

Which, much to my surprise, according to most of the people I talked with this week, isn’t unusual.

“As a service member the words in the national anthem mean so much,” said Rainey, who saw combat, flew with the Blue Angels and was Commander of Air Group Three (CAG3) during his twenty-six-year career in the Navy. “If you think about service to your country and the people who have given so much to make us what we are, it’s hard not to get emotional. Happens to me every time. Ask my wife.”

When Key penned the words to The Star-Spangled Banner he was being held on a British ship in the harbor because he knew of their plan to attack. So, the last line he wrote, looking for the Flag “By the dawn’s early light,” is a question:

“O say does that star-spangled banner still wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”

“When I was in uniform and they’d play The Anthem, I’d think of that line,” Rainey explained. “One of my shipmates once pointed that out as a question and asked: ‘Are you putting forth your best effort to make this come true.’ That’s pretty powerful to me.”

Happy Fourth of July!

Standing in line at the hardware store the other day, the guy standing next to me started up a conversation with, “You know, I don’t watch the news anymore, especially the sports.”

He said he recognized me from my nearly four decades on television here in Jacksonville and stopped watching when my career was ended. He added he was just disappointed the way news is being presented in general and specifically how sports have “gotten away from the games.”

In the course of our conversation, the gentleman, who happened to be Black, was particularly frustrated with how politicized sports had become.

When I’m out, I hear that a lot. Is it true? Are people watching less news, less television and less sports?

The big answer is yes. The ‘Why?’ answer is a bit more complicated.

“I’m not happy with the NBA, or Major League Baseball,” one member of the luncheon crowd told me last week after a presentation I was asked give to his civic group. “How do I let them know I’m not happy with what they’re doing,” he said, implying that political overtones were fueling his displeasure.

“Do you watch the NBA?” I asked.

“Not anymore,” he said.

“How about baseball?” I queried since the season had just started.

“Not after what they did with the All-Star game,” he said, referring to MLB moving the game out of Atlanta as a political protest.

“Then you’re letting them know by not watching,” I explained. “If enough people agree with you, they’ll react.”

And the numbers bear that out.

In a recent poll by Yahoo News/YouGov, 34.5 percent of respondents said they watched less sports now because of social justice campaigns. TV ratings for all sports declined in 2020, almost a counter-intuitive statistic considering we were mostly homebound because of the pandemic.

Some of that has to do with the jumbled schedule. Even The Masters, playing November for the first time, saw a drop in viewership.

The NBA was hardest hit. Playing in a bubble, they lost 49 percent of their television viewers for the championship finals compared to 2019. While they had an uptick at the beginning of this season, the ratings have steadily declined since the opener. Less than six million people watched the All-Star game, an all-time low.

“My sense is there will be some sort of return to normalcy,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said before the season when asked about social justice messages on the playing floor and on players jerseys this year. “That those messages will largely be left to be delivered off the floor. And I understand those people who are saying ‘I’m on your side, but I want to watch a basketball game,’” Silver added.

There are no political messages on NBA courts this year, and soley players names have returned to the back of their jerseys. While the league has responded to the economic pressure brought to bear by advertisers and disgruntled fans, they say they’re still committed to community change.

“We’re completely committed to standing for social justice and racial equality. It’s part of the DNA of this league,” said Silver.

An increase of political commentary outside of the political arena and its negative effect on viewership is nothing new. The Oscars and the Super Bowl traditionally have been the highest rated shows on television year after year. As Hollywood has become more vocal politically in the last three decades, the Oscars viewership has dropped precipitously. Last year’s Super Bowl was watched by more than 100 million people. The Oscars had one fifth of that audience.

Perhaps the NBA is the league least worried about television watching in the United States because of their international digital presence. The league has more than 150 million followers across all social media platforms, more than the other US leagues combined. In the last three years, their social media views have jumped 43 percent.

Watching a highlight on one of your social feeds is monstrously more popular than actually watching the games.

It seemed that Major League Baseball was trying to offset any thoughts that their viewership might be down when they sent an extended press release touting the number of “streaming minutes” viewers were using through the first three weeks of the season. Their traditional watching viewership is also up over last year’s shortened 60-game, delayed-start season even if the World Series was the least-watched in MLB history.

With the smallest drop in viewership, the NFL was down just seven percent last year, and recently signed a more than $100 billion media deal that will take them through the next decade. (If you’re doing the math, that’s $312M per team, per year before they sell one hot dog, one beer, parking space, sky suite, sponsorship, well, you get the point.)

An aging fan base could be one easy reason for the decline in viewership. The average age for an NFL viewer went from 44 to 50 years old from 2000-2016 according to the Sports Business Journal. Yet the NFL had forty-one of the top fifty rated television slots last year.

It could be that with overall reduced television watching, sports broadcasts become a more valuable commodity. Even though they have a fixed starting time that doesn’t fit into the current flexible work environment most companies have adopted, sports fans will find their games and their teams. That’s why they’re so coveted by advertisers.

Viewing habits now dictate If you want people to watch, you have to make it available when they want it. Streaming services specialize in just that. Cord cutting has reached 31 million households in the US, diminishing the overall viewership pool. That’s why Nielsen estimates streaming is up nearly 75% year to year.

If you follow sports, you’ve no doubt heard of the number of layoffs ESPN has had over the past few years. It’s easy to explain when you see that the all-sports network was in over 100 million homes in 2013: That number is now around 83 million.

All of that trickles down to local viewership as well. On a good day, the local newscasts at six o’clock currently combined will have about 265,000 viewers including all channels. That number is down sixty percent from just 10 years ago.

Nielsen counts North Florida as the forty-first television market in the country with about 690,000 households. Using an average of 2.5 people per household, that adds up to 1.725 million people, meaning approximately only fifteen percent of area residents are watching the news live.

And the smaller numbers are not limited to the news. Overall television viewership is down. People are watching and doing something else, and on different devices.

Netflix holds their ratings very close to the vest, but their growing numbers have siphoned off traditional viewers year after year. Prime time shows on network television have seen their audience cut in half in the last five seasons.

Sports-wise, I know personally that local teams winning has an immediate impact. The highest rated shows I ever appeared on during my television career were centered around the Jaguars when they were winning. When the Jaguars aren’t doing well, like last season, those shows get ratings known in the TV business as “chicken scratch.” No discernible numbers. As in, not enough viewers to count.

Will overall viewership ever come back? Probably not centered on one platform with so many different options available to find information and highlights. Television viewing and especially sports television numbers are always highest in the fourth quarter of the year. If stadiums are full, that’ll be a good indicator of where the TV numbers might or might not go.

But the one common thread will be that sports fans will watch sports, somewhere. If there is a diminishing overall number of people watching television, a bigger and bigger share of that number will be sports fans watching a live game.

This week’s column had been on the books for months. I had penciled “Kentucky Derby” into the calendar for this Sunday since yesterday I was supposed to be in Louisville. Excited about writing about the Derby, it would have also been the first live sporting event I’ve attended since Thursday of this year’s Players.

“Everything I’ve been looking forward to, the Derby, The Masters, everything’s been cancelled,” lamented my friend “Wooly”. The last time I was in Las Vegas with Wooly, his nephew, “Big Handle” had invited us to sit in his box at the finish line at Churchill Downs for the rescheduled Kentucky Oaks and The Derby. Just a few weeks ago they called that off. Both Wooly and I were disappointed, but we had talked about just getting together for a weekend watching sports, including the Derby, somewhere here in town.

But we agreed, watching sports on TV right now is weird.

“Those virtual fans and those cutouts, they don’t do anything for me,” Wooly explained. “I do like the different camera angles, like the one running the length of the court. I like the sound of the ball and the squeak of the sneakers. But I’m a different audience.”

He was right about the appeal of the actual competition. That might be the attraction for him, but for a lot fans of when they go to an arena, the game is secondary. Going to a game is now an entertainment experience instead of a competitive experience. Right now, the different leagues are trying to make the games kind of “look” normal because they are anything but.

The NBA has collaborated with Microsoft to create virtual fans in the stands at the Disney arena in Orlando. They’ve installed 17-foot video boards behind the benches.

Numerous Major League Baseball teams have put “cut-outs” in the stands. But most of that is a side-show, not close to the real thing.

“I want to see the Kiss-Cam and the Dance-Cam and the Weiner races,” my friend ‘Ghost of Chuck’ told me this week. “Baseball is tough to watch without the instant fan reaction. Basketball doesn’t seem to have any enthusiasm. And in hockey you don’t see the fans anyway.”

Among the MLB teams using cutouts, the Atlanta Braves are selling them to fans for $50, and they’re sold out. Watching a game the other night, the Ghost thought he saw a friend behind home plate.

“I was looking from the center field camera and recognized my friend ‘Thurman,’ Ghost said with a laugh. “So I called him and sure enough, he had bought one behind home plate.”

A member of the “A-List” as a Braves season ticket holder, Thurman was offered a cut out when the season started for $25.

“I have friends call me from all over the country,” he explained. “Luckily I’m not right behind home plate or my phone would never stop ringing”.

Placement of the cutouts was a totally random by the Braves PR staff. Thurman ended up behind the on-deck circle. So he gets plenty of ‘face time.”

“It was just a goof,” he said with a laugh. “I thought it would be the funniest thing. Kind of a once in a lifetime thing.”

Buying the cutout was a total lark for Thurman. While he got a kick out of getting his cut out at a Braves game, some of my friends were less enthusiastic.

“Not at all,” the “BQ” said flatly when I asked if he’d be interested in being a virtual fan at a game. “I guess there are people who will be a part of history. You know, ’I was at a game when you couldn’t go to a game.’ That kind of stuff.”

“Those people are reflective of our society,” was Wooly’s take. “You can pay for your 20 seconds of fame. The only people looking at the cutouts are the people who bought them. Although when I saw Dwayne Wade as a virtual fan at the Heat game, I thought that was funny.”

I don’t know, I thought the whole thing was funny.

Several NBA teams have enlisted some of their former players as virtual fans. Bill Walton, Paul Pierce, Dirk Nowitzki and Steph Curry have all appeared in the “stands.” Shaquille O’Neal spent an entire day as a virtual fan watching every game.

MLB teams are doing the same, and taking it a step further. The Dodgers have former “Entertainment Tonight” host Mary Hart in her regular spot behind home plate, The guy in the panama-hat, Dodgers scout Mike Brito, is there as well, holding a radar gun. Celebrity spotting is still a sport at Chavez Ravine. The Dodgers have placed plenty of Hollywood types in the “crowd.” Most asked for their traditional seat. So far the Dodgers have sold 8500 cutouts raising $1.5M for local charities.

The Twins have gone with the “Big Head” approach instead of cutouts. It’s their 60th anniversary so to celebrate, for one game they had 80 former players “at” the stadium.

The A’s have had some fun trying to give the Oakland Coliseum a “home park’ feel. They have cutout sections for pets, visiting fans, their mascot, the mule “Charlie O” and even Tom Hanks dressed in his old uniform selling hot dogs with his voice blaring over a loudspeaker. That’s the first job Hanks had in the ‘70’s.

The guy from “Weekend at Bernie’s” has made an appearance and some clubs have followed Seattle’s lead trying to keep fans engaged. If a foul ball hits your cutout, a staff member verifies it actually hit you, retrieves the ball and sends it to you.

Cut outs run from $35 in Philadelphia to $299 at Dodger stadium. Most of the money goes to charity.

“It’s like watching a sitcom,” BQ added when asked about flipping on a game. “Canned Laughter, the whole thing. I don’t have a lot of enthusiasm about sports right now. I’m following along but there’s a lot that’s distracting from the game right now.”

That seemed to be the consensus among my friends, but they all also agreed that golf might be the big winner.

“The way the courses are presented, in their normal state, that’s really nice,” “Pliers” told me last week. “Getting to see them without fans, without ropes or hospitality tents really shows them off.”

When you see the Stadium Course on television for The Players, it looks completely different than it does the other fifty-one weeks of the year. And it plays differently as well.

“I’ve loved golf without fans,” Ghost agreed. “You get to see more of the course. Even from the green to the next tee. Plus when they miss a fairway, the ball runs out. It doesn’t hit anybody.”

Maybe the virtual fans in the stands aren’t there for our viewing pleasure at all.

“I figured they put them there for the players,” ‘Jaguar Fan’ told me. “But they’re grown men, paid professionals. Fans or no fans, it shouldn’t matter.”

Give teams credit, trying to keep fans as part of the game. And they’ve made it fun for some.

“I’ll have this goofy cutout from this terrible pandemic year forever,” Thurman said. “Maybe I’ll get some players to sign it someday.”

You might remember I talked with Joe Namath recently about his book, “All The Way.” During some small talk in our conversation, I mentioned I had my hip replaced at the end of last year.

“I’ve had both knees and a hip,” Joe responded. “They’re great. Do the rehab. Those cats know what they’re talking about.”

Namath had celebrated knee problems during his career but three joint replacements? Apparently these days, that’s not unusual.

Ten-time Grand Slam tennis champion Tony Trabert also has two artificial knees and a new hip. He had his knees replaced two months apart twenty years ago.

“I haven’t had one ounce of problem with any of them, I don’t even think about it, Just do the rehab.” Trabert explained.

Former Jaguars offensive tackle Tony Boselli has had both hips replaced.

“Best thing I ever did,” he said.

Namath is 77 years old. Trabert is 90 and Boselli is 48. All are former professional athletes who used their bodies in extraordinary ways. It wouldn’t be unusual to think they put undue wear and tear on their joints as part of their professions.

But it’s not just professional athletes who are choosing to get new knees, hips and shoulders. In 2020, an estimated 1.1 million people in the US will have a joint replaced. That number is expected to nearly double in the next twenty years. More women, 62%, than men have joint replacements and although the average age is creeping down each year, 95% of the patients are 45 and older. It’s the number one elective surgery, by far, in the US and the UK.

“Baby Boomers, no question, “ Dr. John Redmond of Southeast Orthopedic Specialists said when asked about the fastest growing population of people needing joint replacement. Redmond has seen research that says the number of people who will elect to have joint replacements could triple to over three million by 2030.

“Ten years ago If somebody who came in for joint replacement was under 50 we told them there was a 40% chance of it wearing out in 20 years,” Redmond explained. “There’s a new plastic that we use now and some ceramics. The failure rate now is far less than 5%. Somebody comes in now at 50 years old, I can say I’m pretty confident it’s going to last the rest of your life.”

“There are so many ideal candidates coming in these days,” agreed local orthopedic surgeon Dr. Paul Shirley also of SE Orthopedic.

“Baby boomers are coming in to continue an active lifestyle. When it hurts, people have to give up a level of participation that they still enjoy. They don’t want to do that.”

Shirley completed his first joint replacement as an assistant in Gainesville in 1972 to Dr. John Charnley, the British surgeon who pioneered the modern hip replacement procedure. A lot has happened in medicine since then.

“I wasn’t particularly interested in that,” Shirley said. “I wanted to do more arthroscopy and do preventative. At the time there wasn’t anything that lasted more than ten years. Now with all of the scientific advancements, the new metallurgy and materials, using computers. They get it perfect and reduce the stresses, they could last 30 years or more.”

Medical experts have seen a generation of people being active into adulthood for the first time, not just as school kids or into their 20’s and 30’s. That leads to injuries and arthritic damage. There’s also a change in the expectation people have of their activity level into their 50’s and beyond.

Former Georgia, NFL and USFL quarterback Matt Robinson, who turned 65 in June, is having his knee replaced this month after limping around for several years.

“I held on as long as I could,” Matt said of his lingering knee problems from his football career. “It’s having a negative effect on the active lifestyle I want to have. I want to hunt, fish, scuba dive. I want to keep active.”

Surgeons agree that playing sports, especially professional sports, takes a toll on your body,

When he originally saw the surgeon Matt was told, “Your knee is terrible.”

“I was hoping for a more clinical diagnosis,” he said with a laugh. “So he said, ‘Ok, your knee is horrible.’”

Robinson added that his knee pain had kept him away from staying in the kind of physical condition he’d like

“I stayed away from the weight room and other stuff because I didn’t want to make my knee any worse than it is,” he explained,

Weight gain in America also seems to be playing a role. Fifty-four percent of hip patients and 79% of knee patients have a body mass index greater than 30. In other words, they’re considered obese.

“It’s like putting one ton of stuff in a half ton pickup,” said Dr. Steve Lucie a 40-year veteran of orthopedic surgery, currently with Jacksonville Orthopedic Institute.

“The weight hastens the deterioration of the joints by overloading them. If you could lose a little weight before getting a replacement done, that makes it a lot better.”

We’re lucky in North Florida to have so many options to choose from when it comes to joint replacement. Between Southeast Orthopedic, Jacksonville Orthopedic Institute, the Mayo Clinic and others, some of the best orthopedic surgeons in the world are right here in our backyard.

“Because of the training programs in town at UF Health, Nemours and Mayo, Jacksonville is a bio-medical hotspot,” said Dr. Steve Lancaster who recently retired from JOI after nearly forty years as an orthopedic surgeon.

“The improvement is in technology and techniques like using robotics.” Lucie explained. “It allows us to make the replacement be more balanced, more precise. That’s what we’re hoping makes patients knees back closer to what their expectations are. Plus, the pain management is so much better.”

“If I see x-rays of a knee replacement I did five years ago it’s not near as precise as what we’re doing now,” Dr. Redmond agreed.. “I use robotics for 100% for my knee procedures now. It’s almost routine that the knee looks perfect. Inherently there’s human error, but with the robotics we don’t rely on our eyeballs as much as the machine.”

All of this expertise and advancements in technology comes at a price. Joint replacements are generally covered by insurance and can run between $70-$100K. With the number of procedures being done, it’s big business.

“The nature of a surgical practice is doing stuff,” Dr. Lancaster added. “We don’t get paid to not due stuff. Athletes destroy their knees, shoulders and hips and that’s when they come to us to consider surgical options.”

When you factor in all of the different people, hospital staff and procedures necessary to complete a joint replacement, the numbers add up.

“I get calls from patients asking about paying for lab results, the pathologist, the x-rays,” Lancaster explained. “Patients wonder why they’re paying all these different people.”

“Medicare is driving the numbers,” he added. “Whatever number they’ll pay for is where the dollar number is for the doctors. The average here in town is probably about $2K for a procedure for the surgeon.”

Nonetheless, choosing to get a joint replaced rather than limp around is now nearly routine.

“Surgeons are getting more confident,” Redmond added. “If you take a look at quality of life between 50 and 60, it’s generally higher than between 70 and 80. To tell a patient to live with a bad hip for ten years now is bad advice.”

“More and more people are doing well,” Lancaster agreed. “Even with higher expectations. We would have never have considered putting anything in somebody under fifty fifteen years ago.”

And Redmond said patient expectations are very high.

“I saw an 80 year-old woman yesterday who said she wants to get this fixed as soon as possible because she wants to play tennis every day.”

As sports begin to dip their toe into what their post-pandemic product will look like, fans haven’t been a part of the equation. NASCAR, UFC, some European soccer leagues and now the PGA Tour have held competitions, but no “in-person” fans have been allowed.

Without fans, races have been won, fighters have had their hands raised and money has been doled out to golfers. So do they even need fans?

Watching the Colonial this week on television I didn’t miss seeing fans there. Charities in Ft. Worth won’t benefit from money generated by the tournament, but the actual competition didn’t suffer. As an individual sport, most of the players in golf naturally “social distance.”

They’re reportedly going to allow fans at The Memorial in Ohio next month. Early indications are that about 8,000 will be spread out over the 18 holes at Murifield Village allowing everybody their own space.

When the first UFC event was held here, former NFL player Greg Hardy won his match and said afterwards, “Thank God for not having the crowd,” Hardy explained after winning a unanimous decision. He was able to hear the announcers next to the octagon doing the broadcast and took some advice.
“Shout out to D.C. (Daniel Cormier) I heard him tell me to check him, so I started trying to check him. Game changer.”

Professional wrestling had its stars in the era of Bruno Sammartino, Jim Londos and Gorgeous George Wagner but it wasn’t until it moved onto television did the sport gain any traction. In fact, most regional wrestling groups started as a “studio” sport: no fans, just the performers and the announcers in a television studio.

That popularity led to the massive crowds that are on hand now at every appearance. It spawned the movie careers of Dwayne Johnson and John Cena. But if need be, wrestling could go right back to a TV production and not skip a beat.

For decades, the NFL has fought against being a studio sport. You’ve probably seen and heard the commercials produced by the Jaguars about “being there.”

It’s true, the sights and sounds and even the smells of being at a sporting event give some context to what that sport is about. That doesn’t translate through the television screen.

I’ve often said everybody should go to at least one Daytona 500. The spectacle of that day is jarring to the senses and gives you a sense of how invested fans are in the sport. To see the coordination of what happens on pit road and in the garage is impressive. The smell of grease, gasoline and burnt rubber, the sound of forty cars coming across the start/finish line make it unmistakable that you’re at a racetrack. You don’t get that on television. Seeing it in person is a whole different experience. But even without fans there, the racing, the pit stops, the preparation all happens the same way.

In 2017, the New York Knicks played half of a game against Golden State at Madison Square Garden presenting the game in what they called “it’s purist form.” No music, no PA announcer, no iconic organ in the background. Just ten players on the floor, shoes squeaking and the trash talking that goes on between teams.

Everybody hated it.

“It felt like church,” Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr told the media outlet The Ringer.

Draymond Green was more direct

“That was pathetic,” he said. “It changes the flow of the game, it changed everything. It was ridiculous. It just helps you get into a certain area. It takes you to a certain place.”

Perhaps that’s why the NBA is considering piping in crowd noise from their NBA 2K video game when they resume their competition, without fans.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has told teams there’s a real possibility that no fans will be allowed at games through next season as well. Will they use paper cutouts or perhaps robot dolls as some teams in the Korean Baseball League have?

“There’s no excitement. There’s no crying. There’s no joy. There’s no back-and-forth. …” LeBron James said on the “Road Trippin’” podcast in March when asked about playing in front of empty arenas.

“That’s what also brings out the competitive side of the players, to know that you’re going on the road in a hostile environment and yes, you’re playing against that opponent in front of you, but you really want to kick the fans’ a** too.”

We would get a little closer to the games with no fans according to Steph Curry. “It would be raw,” he said on the Jimmy Kimmel Show. “This would take it a whole ‘nother level of just pure insanity of what we say on the court. That trash talk that happens. That might be something that’s really appealing from a fan perspective to get real up close and personal with what we do on the court.”

Hockey could probably do the same as basketball because it’s indoors. Pipe in crowd noise, have music and the PA announcer to give it the right ambience. But it still might have the feel of a glorified scrimmage once the players take the ice.

How many times have you been watching an event on television and heard the broadcaster, who’s in the arena say, “You can really feel the momentum shifting here.” None of that would be a part of the competition.

Could sports get along without fans from an economic standpoint?

Every viable professional sport has a television contract that makes it a profitable enterprise. It’s not whether the teams and the owners will make money; it’s only about how much.

In the NFL, the TV contract the league has and shares with the teams covers the total operating cost of running the franchise. Ticket sales, parking, concessions, club seats, sky suites, local radio and TV contracts and in stadium sponsorships all go right to the bottom line. It’s why the Giants and the Jets owners will always make more money than the Jaguars owner.

The local broadcast money available in in New York alone dwarfs what’s available in Jacksonville. It’s why the Jaguars, sellouts or no sellouts, will always be in the bottom half of revenue earners in the league.

Ticket sales in the NFL account for around fifteen percent of their total revenue. A 65,000-seat stadium, sold out at an average ticket price of $50, (which is probably a low number), brings in $3.25 million. Multiply that by ten games and you get a sense of how much money is flowing through that sport. They could get along without fans, no problem.

Minor league baseball and college football are a different story. With no major television deal and small rights fees, if any for radio broadcasts, minor league owners around the country rely on ticket sales, concessions and in stadium sponsorship to stay in business.

College football television contracts mostly are negotiated with the conference. It’s why college football programs count on ticket sales and in stadium purchases for 75% of their revenue. When you look at how many other programs on campus the football program supports, you can see how they need fans in the stands to flourish.

As we move into the summer, the prospect of Major League Baseball having a season becomes more remote. It’s not that they couldn’t play, but the players and the owners can’t come to an agreement on how much money both sides will make. Player’s contracts are guaranteed for the season if only one game is played. But the owners don’t want to pay full salaries for a limited number of games, which are moneymaking opportunities. Both sides have rejected the other’s offers.

“It’s going to be strange,” Angels All-Star outfielder Mike Trout told FOX Business when asked about playing with no fans. “I think any baseball is better than no baseball, so if we have to do it, we have to do it. It’s definitely something to get used to. It’s the world we’re living in right now.”

And as much as they’ve talked about fans or no fans, all of the team sports are also dealing with the health of the players with Covid-19 still around. The leagues are putting out guidelines on how to do things, social distancing and cleaning, but the team sports we’re talking about are all “contact” competitions in one way or another.

So there’s a risk to the players no matter what precautions are taken. But fans or no fans, with the money there is to be made, no doubt games will be played.

You might have to tilt your head a little, and maybe even squint a bit, but it appears there is a light at the end of this pandemic tunnel we’ve been living in.

It feels like forever, but it’s been about two months since the first calls from politicians to try and “flatten the curve” mandating we have smaller gatherings that eventually led to the “stay at home” guidelines issued by the city and the state.

We’ve seen hundreds of celebrities on television and on social media telling us “we’ll get through this together, and we’ll come out stronger on the other end.”

So with an optimistic eye toward that end, will we be stronger? What will we look like anyway? Besides our hair looking like something out of the ‘70’s, gyms and parks have been closed, social distancing has been in place and people’s routines have been upended.

As we look back on the past two months, what did we do? Did you fulfill your goals to lose weight, learn a new skill, or do those things you’ve been putting off? Which direction did we take our lives, our fitness and our mental health?

“From a clinical standpoint, the world is turned upside down,” Frank Palmieri a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, explained this week. Palmieri has been walking more and doing more yard work with his free time and doing many of his professional tasks by video conference. But he understands how the coronavirus is a constant presence in the back of everybody’s mind.

“We’re constantly aware of the danger of something being wrong. The whole situation can be depressing. There’s a constant drumbeat about what we have to be doing with schools, work and staying apart. That can make people confused and disoriented.”

Anytime I go out, I see more people walking or running or riding their bikes than I have in the last thirty years. Some of that might have to do with the sidewalk project in Mandarin nearing the halfway point of completion but there are people getting out and doing stuff who haven’t thought about walking any further than to the refrigerator in years.

One of the people trying to manage the pandemic is Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry. He’s always been visibly engaged with the fitness level of people here in town as well as his own. What did he do?

“Molly and I got a Peloton for each other for Christmas so that couldn’t have been better timing,” the Mayor said this week. “I’ve spent a lot of time on that and I’ve been running some.”

Curry’s son Boyd has been lifting weights in the garage, and the Mayor has joined in.

“I get about 45 minutes in each day, and the mental health aspect is great,” he explained, noting it’s a family affair. “My daughters Bridget and Brooke are running in the evenings. And Bridget does a virtual dance class a few times a week.”

Curry had gone to a plant-based diet at the end of last year and was pleased with the results. But in the last two months he admits, his diet hasn’t ben great.

“Even though I’ve been working out I’ve gained weight. I want to get back to it,” he said. “I’ll tell you this though, when I’m coming home from work it’s great to see the neighborhoods in the evenings have families walking together, jogging, riding bikes, walking the dog. Lock down doesn’t mean don’t leave your house, it means get outside and be smart. I’m really proud of how people have handled this.”

With the NFL still operating, albeit virtually, Jaguars Head Coach Doug Marrone has still had his share of work responsibilities. He’s moved his entire office to his home and has tried to keep a routine, which he said was initially tough. But he added there’s been an unexpected silver lining.

“You get back into a family situation, as tough as these times are,” Marrone said. “We’ve been a lot more fortunate than a lot of other people.”

Both of Doug’s parents worked when he was young, so having dinner together was a family tradition, a time to catch up. He’s had a chance to do that with his own children.

“With three teenagers they’re always running out,” Marrone explained. “We’ve tried to take advantage of that. We’ll look back and hopefully understand, but if you’re looking for a positive, you can find things you appreciate.”

Marrone has caught up on some reading and has tried to stay in front of planning for mini-camps and training camp if they happen at all.

“I don’t want to be scrambling,” he said.

As somebody who jokes about his weight on a regular basis, Doug laughed when I asked him about keeping on schedule.

“I was on this big kick trying to help all of the local restaurants early on, so that didn’t help my diet,” he said with a laugh. “But I’ve gotten to that point last weekend where I have to get my stuff together. Normally we’ll be on the field and running around. But sitting at a desk doing virtual meetings? That’s not going to cut it.”

Former Jaguars linebacker Lonnie Marts has been juggling his professional and family life from home like everybody else. Marts is the Athletic Director at Harvest Community School and has been preparing as if there will be athletic seasons next year. At the same time all of his children are home, making for some challenging logistics.

“I’m enjoying my kids being home because I never expected to have this time,” Marts said of having his college age children back under one roof. “But we did have to come up with a family strategy how to survive with everybody in the house together.”

Marts partitioned off his garage, with one half acting as a gym and the other as a podcast studio.

“We’ve had college exams, podcasts and Tik-Tok videos going on all at the same time,” he explained.

Staying fit is something Marts and his family has paid attention to for the last two months. His son Gavin is back from the Naval Academy and has been designing body-weight workouts for the family. Lonnie says he’s been lifting in his garage and trying to walk a lot.

“I kind of over-did it with walking and my knee started swelling up so I had to back off,” he said adding that he’s maintained his weight with a little fluctuation. “But what’s the new normal? With gyms and parks closed we had to find something.”

That knee-swelling Marts experienced isn’t unusual according to Matt Serlo, the Master Physical Therapist at PT Solutions in Ponte Vedra. A lot of those “home gym remedies” have resulted in more calls to his clinic.

“I’m happy that people are doing that,” Serlo said of the uptick in many people’s activity level. “But I’ve gotten a lot of calls in the past few weeks from patients who’ve said, ’I think I over-did it!”

While his doctor referrals are down about 50%, in Florida you can see a physical therapist without a physician’s referral for thirty days. So he’s seen more “walk-in” business.

“I get calls saying ‘This is sore, I twisted this or I wrenched that’, I’m hearing a lot of that,” said Serlo who has kept his own routine up, getting in a workout at least three times a week in the morning before seeing patients.

I checked back with Jane Alred of First Place Sports and Phil Foreman at Champion Cycling here in town. With all of this new activity, demand for them is up.

“Our maintenance requests continue to go way up,” Foreman said of the service at their three stores. “We’re also selling a lot of bikes. We’ve literally run out of some bikes. Some bike deliveries were shut down in Asia so they’re eight weeks behind.”

More women are buying bikes than men and because of that their most popular bike could now take three months to deliver. Beach cruisers and comfort bikes are flying out the door.

“I’ve been in this business for thirty eight years and I’ve never seen anything like it,” Foreman said. “We’re just calling it ‘Groundhog Day.’ We’re pedaling as fast as we can from open to close.”

And the stress fracture in Phil’s right foot isn’t getting much better.

“I’m on my feet all day, doing repairs,” he said. “I’d love to be out riding my bike.”

At First Place Sports, their four stores were closed for six weeks but they’ve stayed busy.

“We did curbside and virtual fittings,” Alred said. “We were delivering shoes, painting buildings, pressure washing sidewalks, doing inventory. Our online is more robust.. Sanitize, sanitize, sanitize. Our stores have never been cleaner.”

Because of hospital closures, Jane’s previously scheduled foot surgery was put off for about a month. Her injury had limited her to walking 2-3 miles a day after being an active runner most of her life. And the combination of the coronavirus shutdowns and her foot problems had her focus on other habits.

“I’m much more cautious about what I eat,” she explained, adding that she’s been doing non-impact workouts on a Precor machine she bought her husband Doug for Christmas.

“I’ve been reading more, maybe watching Netflix at night. I get a little stir crazy. Sometimes I don’t want to get off the video calls I do for work during the day because it’s like the only human contact besides Doug.”

And no matter what happens with the re-opening of the stores and the economy, Alred believes she’ll be permanently changed.

“My new normal will be things like grocery delivery. I don’t know when races will start up again. I’m not sure I want to be around large groups of people right now.”

Two common threads emerged from the people I spoke to this week: Weird dreams and sometimes a feeling of the “blahs.”

“People who are optimistic by nature would find this strange,” Palmieri explained. “We are so used to going through our day automatically. We don’t have to think about what we’re doing. This compels us to think about every place we go, every person we talk with. We’re not relaxed. The process of change is uncomfortable. Every thing you do takes more mental energy.”

My guitar playing has gotten better. That’s what happens when you practice every day. My chainsaw and power tools have gotten a workout. I’ve been back on my bike after a hip replacement.

I got on the scale the other day, with plenty of trepidation, and I’m two pounds heavier than I was in mid-February. While that’s disappointing, at least it’s not the ten I thought it might be. And I think I know why; I had too much fun in the first month of the “stay at home” order. So that’s something I can fix.

I hope.

I have an eclectic group of friends.

My wife says that’s because they make me feel like I’m normal. That’ might be true. They’re a diverse group for sure. One thing that binds most of them is that they’re sports fans.

They’ve all laughed at this meme going around on social media:

Day Six Without Sports on TV: I noticed a cute girl sitting on my couch. Turns out she’s my wife. She seems nice.”

Checking in with friends has been suggested as a good mental health exercise during this somewhat “homebound” time. I did that this week to see what my normal group of friends has been up to, what they’ve missed and what they haven’t missed.

“I haven’t missed the XFL, that’s for sure,” my friend “The BQ” said when I asked him about his regular TV viewing habits. “I’ve really enjoyed how the NFL free agency season has developed. That’s been fun to follow.”

The BQ is single, but says he’s also been able to fortify his relationship with his post-college age daughter during this time.

“We’ve been fishing, just sitting around talking,” he said. “That’s really been nice.”

That sentiment seemed to be pervasive through all of the conversations with my friends.

“What it’s done for me has reinforced what I think is important,” ‘Baldy’ told me this week. ‘Baldy’ is retired, has kept playing golf pretty regularly and does some day trading as a hobby.

“I realized, again, most of this doesn’t matter,” he said. “I don’t need more than I have. Friendships, family, those are the important things. I’ve reached out to some of my old friends from years ago, back to high school. It’s amazing the response I’ve gotten.”

Almost all of my friends said they’ve missed watching the NCAA basketball tournament on television. You might remember my friend ‘Wooly.’ We’ve been to Las Vegas together a few times, spending time in the sports books. The NCAA Tournament is a big wagering enterprise but since there are no sports, there’s no sports betting.

And if you’re somebody who likes the ‘action,’ there is no action.

“Of course I miss the action,” Wooly said with a laugh. “If that’s something you enjoy, you miss it.”

I did some checking and you could still get ‘action’ from the sports books in the UK on: Soccer in Belarus, table tennis in Hungary and the weather in England. They’ll take action on what the high wind gust of the day will be.

“I miss going and watching the golf the most, frankly,” Wooly said. “It provides a level of relaxation I don’t get anywhere else. I always try and go to The Players, The Masters, and The Heritage. All of those, I value each one I get a chance to attend.”

“I haven’t missed watching sports on TV,” he added. I miss my buddies.”

Being in a business that’s significantly impacted by social distancing, Wooly has been working more this time of year than he normally would.

“That’s OK,” he said. “Everyday I appreciate the fact that I have a job to go to. I’m in a “no risk” job. I get to go to work everyday.”

Things haven’t been as good for my friend ‘Goose,’ at least not professionally.

Goose runs a company in town that would be called a “small business.” He’s been looking forward to Congress passing the stimulus bill because regrettably, he had to lay off his entire staff this week. He’s hoping that with the stimulus they all can collect unemployment and stay solvent. Most of them will come back to work, but in his business, there will be a significant lag before he’s back up to where he was two weeks ago.

“We’re shut down, and we have to react to that,” he added somewhat wistfully. “But everybody’s going through it so it’s not ‘woe is me,’ its ‘woe is the whole country.’”

While most of his time has been focused at work, Goose has been spending some of his extra personal time redoing a condo himself, ripping out floors, replacing the ceilings. His honey-do list is longer than ever, he says. Both of his college age children have moved back home so he’s been enjoying the time with his family.

“Our kids still kind of like us at this point, so it’s been fun to hang out with them a lot more,” he said of he and his wife who suddenly have two more adults living in their house.

“Like most guys, I miss watching basketball with my son. Watching golf on weekends. I always loved watching the 10 o’clock basketball game from the West Coast. I miss going to play golf, hanging out with some friends. But we’re getting along fine.”

At seventy-six years old, “Big Beef” is still involved with his business, a very big business. He says he’s been staying home mostly, being very careful.

“I’m very cognizant of the six-foot rule,” he said. “I’ve taken it very seriously. Being in my house isn’t all that bad. We’re not confined to a small apartment in New York or anything like that.”

“Beef” says his business is still going along pretty well. Some of his customers are looking for relief and he expects the government stimulus will be able to help them.

“This isn’t an economic problem with the country so we’re still moving forward and expect a good bounce when things work back toward normal.”

With a lot of options, Beef says he and his wife decided to stay in town. He’s misses traveling and some of the day-to-day contact in his office. But staying home has given him a chance to catch up on some things he’s been putting off.

“I’ve been going through old photographs. I’m doing business from home.” he said. “Taking life easy. I’m not anxious. I go out on the golf course in the cart. We’re getting take out and eating on the porch.”

“I think things will get back to normal and people will forget about this assuming they get a vaccine,” Beef said. “It has given me a new awareness of how serious the flu and things like it can be, that’s for sure.”

On the contrary, “True Blue” thinks this will have a long-term effect on how people think and act.

“My kid’s education will be much different. They’ll finish their school year online with their teachers. It’ll change the way we greet each other. Probably a lot less hand shaking. It’ll be long and painful enough that people will remember this.”

Blue works in the financial sector so he’s been working a lot more but he and his wife have school age kids that so he’s enjoyed spending some of this beautiful springtime with them.

“I’ve enjoyed the time with my family and I don’t mind the pace,” he added. “Once you calm down from the pace of what your typical day is like, you can enjoy time with your family. I’ve certainly gained a lot more patience.”

When my friends get antsy sitting around at home, they all have the same solutions: Go for a walk, get in the car and go for a drive. Blue is even making gourmet meals, doing things that take more time when you don’t usually have the time for.

And despite the total disruption of everybody’s lives, some things go on as normal.

“I took my son to get his drivers license,” Blue said with a laugh. “That’s a real right of passage. It was awesome. Of course he said that night he wanted to go out and I told him “no way.’”

Every one of my friends said they’ve had a chance to look around, and appreciate some of the things we all call normal.

“We have to appreciate all of the things we have,” Wooly said. “ When things get back to normal, “normal” will be appreciated with a higher value. I think that’s good.”

“This is a big deal,” said Baldy, who has enough of a scientific background to know. “The world won’t be the same after this. It’ll be a better place. I hope it helps relationships in this country and internationally. We’re going to get through this and we’ll be better for it.”

All of Jake Godbold’s time in office happened before the Internet and cell phones. Despite that, he was more connected than most people, certainly politicians, are today.

Connected to everybody. Not just people in his party. Not just to those who voted for him. Not just to his donors or his staff.

Connected to everybody.

So without cell phones, email or the internet, that meant to get to know something about or to get to know Jake Godbold, it happened face to face.

My first face-to-face meeting with Jake was at one of his regular places, Cotton’s Barbeque on Main Street. We sat in a booth, but not in the back. A booth in the middle of the restaurant with a steady stream of admirers, friends and well-wishers. It was my first hint that you never really got Jake Godbold to yourself. Because he belonged to everybody.

He grew up here and wanted to make his hometown shine.

“If you gave Jake a chance to live anywhere in the world,” former Mayor John Delaney said at Jake’s memorial service on Thursday. “If you paid him a million dollars. Switzerland, wherever, he’d pick Jacksonville.”

When he was elected Mayor, Godbold commissioned a survey to find out what would make his town better. He wanted the people who live here to like living here.

And he thought sports would be the perfect answer.

When Colt Fever happened in 1979, Godbold put Jacksonville on the map. Nobody outside of a two state radius even knew the Georgia/Florida game was played here.

When recounting the many accomplishments of Jake’s political career, Betty Holzendorf, his former aide and member of both the Florida House and Senate, said, “He didn’t do those things for himself. He did those things for the city of Jacksonville.”

Dreaming big, Jake put Jacksonville in the game to host a Super Bowl: without a team here. As crazy as it sounds now, it wasn’t that far-fetched at the time. The NFL was cultivating all kinds of cities as potential expansion sites. They were even looking for neutral fields to play the Conference Championship games on, looking to keep weather out of the equation after Cincinnati hosted San Diego in -63 degree wind chill.

The city was invited to make a Super Bowl proposal to the league at their owners meeting in Washington in 1983. I was standing outside the door of the meeting room, reporting on the proceedings, as the Jacksonville contingent walked in. Jake was the last in line and literally grabbed me by the lapel to pull me into the meeting. I’m still convinced he was looking for somebody else dressed in coat and tie to fill out the contingent.

When the formal proposal was over, the owners gave Jake a few minutes to speak. That’s when the real pitch started. The personal pitch from Jake directly to the twenty-eight owners. Jacksonville wasn’t getting a Super Bowl, but Jake had the owners’ attention. It wasn’t so much that he charmed them, but they just liked him. Jake was easily likeable.

When the meeting broke up, Jake invited me to sit with him and his Chief of Staff Don McClure in the lobby of the L’Enfant Plaza Hotel where the meeting was being held to debrief the presentation. I sat next to Jake on a couch to his right; Don was in a chair to his left. As we started talking, Billy Sullivan, then the owner of the New England Patriots, walked behind Don and said over his chair, “Hey Jake, you’re not getting a Super Bowl. Maybe you’d like to host a Jackson’s concert at the Gator Bowl?” Sullivan had acquired the rights to promote the Jackson’s upcoming stadium tour.

Jake turned to me and held his hand to the left of his mouth and in his version of a whisper said, “The Jackson’s?”

I leaned in and said quietly, “You know, Michael Jackson. Wears a glove, sings, dances.”

“You mean the kid from the Jackson Five?” Jake ‘whispered’ back.

“You know he’s not a kid any more,” I said.

“Would that be good?” Jake asked me.

“Very good,” I answered quickly.

With that, Jake told Sullivan that he’d be interested, and Sullivan invited us to his suite. When we got to the door he said to Don, and me “Would you mind waiting here?” as he ushered Jake inside.

Don and I bided our time for what didn’t seem very long in the hallway when the door opened and the Mayor and the owner of the Patriots came out laughing. Sullivan walked past us and as we followed Jake said, “We have a Jackson’s concert. They offered us three, what do you think?”

“Take them all,” I said.

And with that Jake called ahead and said, “We’ll take all three,” as we headed back to the lobby.

I peeled off to call the TV station, again it was before cell phones, and Jacksonville, Florida, hosting three concerts of the Jackson’s “Victory Tour” in the summer of 1984 was the lead story on that night’s six o’clock news.

I’d like to say that I was one of Jake’s friends and confidants and had something to do with his decision-making. But anybody who was around Jacksonville at the time would probably say the same. He made everybody he met feel that way. I know he did that for me.

It wasn’t long after I came to work in Jacksonville in 1981 that the phone at my desk would ring a couple times a week between the six and the 11 o’clock news and Jake would be on the other end. It was back when people watched local news and read the paper as their primary sources of information. Since I worked at what then was the dominant TV station in town, Jake wanted to make sure I had the story right. He didn’t always agree with my assessment of what he was doing and he let me know that sometimes when he called, right away.

“You need to be better than this,” he told long-time aide Martha Barrett early in her career. I laughed to myself as she recounted the story at his memorial service on Thursday. It was a retort I heard often from Jake early in my tenure in Jacksonville as well.

The most important thing to Jake was he was making Jacksonville better. Making me get the story right, he thought, was a key to getting people behind the ideas and moving the city forward.

So I wasn’t surprised later that year when my phone rang and the Mayor was on the other end. I could tell he was a bit agitated.

“Sam, I’ve got a guy here who says he wants to bring a football team to town and I want you to talk to him,” Jake said in a more forceful voice than usual.

It was a time when Robert Irsay had been through here with Colt Fever, John Meacham, the owner of the New Orleans Saints had negotiated with the city to bring his team here and Bill Bidwell came through looking for a new home for the St. Louis Cardinals.

So I was skeptical, and being 27 years old and emboldened by the Mayor’s confidence in me I’m sure I was nothing short of insolent to Fred Bullard when Jake put him on the phone.

“Hey Mr. Bullard, don’t jerk us around,” I remember saying at the beginning of the conversation about the USFL. And at some point I said, “It takes $13 million to get this done, do you have $13 million?” I told you I was insolent.

Bullard was extremely good-natured, answered my questions and with a chuckle gave the phone back to the Mayor. (I cringe telling that story but Fred and I have laughed about it many times since, thankfully.)

“I’ll call you later,” Jake said.

Sure enough an hour or so later, the Mayor rang back at my desk and wanted to know what I thought about the USFL coming here. They had been in existence for a year and were looking to expand. They had a TV contract and some star players and looked to be a legitimate football league.

“I think it’s real Jake,” I told the Mayor as I went through the reasons the USFL seemed to be on stable footing.

Word that Bullard was in town and that the league was considering Jacksonville as an expansion city had gotten out earlier in the day. The afternoon paper, the Jacksonville Journal, had a sports columnist who had editorialized that the Mayor should run as far and as fast as he could from the idea of a USFL team, saying it would scare off the NFL. Jake was very concerned about that.

“That won’t matter,” I said flatly. “This league looks real and the NFL will pay attention to how we do with a franchise.”

“Alright,” the Mayor said. “We’ll have a press conference later in the week.”

This was typical of the relationship I had with Godbold, and somewhere in there during each discussion he told me what was on the record and what wasn’t. I remember reporting that the city was in negotiations with the USFL and in a blend of commentary, said on the air that I thought it was a good idea.

Talks with Jake Godbold were a big part my career and I’ve found out in subsequent years that talks with Jake were a big part of a lot of people’s careers in town.

“I had a great relationship with Jake,” my friend Tom Wills said Thursday. “You could call it a love affair: Jake loved to talk to me and I loved to listen to him. What made him such a great talker was that he was a great doer.”

In my last conversation with Jake we talked about going fishing. He lamented the unceremonious way my TV career was ended but was quick to say how much he enjoyed my Sunday columns.

I hope he’d like this one.

Lots of smart people come through the Jeopardy! pipeline but haven’t come close to what James Holzhauer is doing. Holzhauer is plenty smart and being a professional sports gambler, he knows how to play the odds but has the confidence and competitiveness of a top-level athlete.

It’s a rare combination.

It is impressive during Holzhauer’s streak, the amount of money he’s amassed, his breadth of knowledge, and as he says, the technique of hitting the buzzer at the right time so he could be the one answering the question. That might be the key.

Important? Absolutely.

On Tuesday of this week, the three contestants ran through Jeopardy and Double Jeopardy without missing one answer! They only didn’t buzz in on two questions but the rest they answered correctly. No wrong answers? I’m sure the statistics are pretty high for that happening so you’d figure the game would be close. Except Holzhauer won by over $60,000!

By somehow practicing how to hit the buzzer at precisely the right time, Holzhauer gets control of the board. He has the confidence that he’ll know the answer, the competitiveness to understand the stakes and amasses enough money to dominate early.

“You can see as soon as I get control of the board in the first game, I’m going for the $1,000 clues whenever I have the opportunity,” he told the New York Times, similar to a poker strategy.

“There are big advantages to having a lot of chips early on in a poker tournament. You can make plays that other people can’t.”
While Holzhauer is a game changer when it comes to playing the game, he’s also reshaping the image of a professional sports gambler. The stereotype of a dimly lit room with the racing forum and nicotine stained fingers has given way to a new type of pro gambler: college educated, statistically adept and fearless.

“This is an area that is shrouded in mystery,” Chris Grove, the managing director of the gambling research firm Eilers and Krejcik Gaming told the Washington Post. “I think Holzhauer demystifies it to a degree. This is a living, breathing relatively normal seeming individual.”

You might remember during my television career I did a popular segment called “Stump Sam.” For twenty or so years I answered questions, mostly submitted by viewers, live on the air asked by Tom Wills and Mary Baer. All told, I was asked over 2,000 questions before current management killed the segment, and as a credit to Tom and Mary, I was never asked the same question twice.

Answering trivia questions live on television is different than sitting around a coffee table having cocktails with friends playing Trivial Pursuit. Anybody who’s been in a trivia contest knows that one of the hardest things about answering the questions quickly is getting the answer that you know is wrong out of your mind.

In “Stump Sam” I had about 30 seconds to come up with an answer (usually with a producer yelling in my ear ‘wrap, wrap.” So my experience, while similar, is different than the contestants on Jeopardy!

I remember the first question I was asked:

“What team played the Montreal Expos in the first regular season MLB game played outside the United States.”

Finding the answer kicks in your deductive reasoning quickly: A National League team, in the Eastern division where the Expos played in 1969, probably a major market team, the Mets, or a traditional NL team like the Cardinals.

When I got it down to those two quickly, Tom said, “Aaaand?” So I knew it was one of those two. I guessed New York but the answer was St. Louis (they opened the season in NY but played their first home game in Montreal against the Cardinals.)

Only once did my mind go blank on an answer I clearly should have gotten. Late in the 1995 baseball season a pitcher threw a no-hitter and before his next start Tom asked me an easy question:

“Who’s the only pitcher in Major League history to throw back-to-back no-hitters?”

I’ve known the answer to that since I was about six but it just wouldn’t come up in my brain that day.
“Johnny Vandermeer,” Tom eventually said seeing me struggle and graciously added “Football overload,” as we had spent the summer in Stevens Point, Wisconsin with the Jaguars and were preparing for the their first game ever. Baseball was way off in the recesses of everybody’s mind, including mine.

Holzhauer knows the subjects, he knows how to buzz in, but he also knows how to play the game. Kind of like being a polo player. People in that community will tell you being a good horseman is important, but being a good game player is paramount. He’s a great games player and the way he runs through the board, from the bottom up might not be novel but it shows a confidence he has in the competition that reminds you of a 3rd-and-2 80-yard touchdown pass.

Being a professional gambler, going “all in” is usually a strategic move, and Holzhauer uses it with a competitive confidence that puts plenty of distance between him and the other two competitors.

Five-time “Jeopardy!” winner Eddie Timanus, who compiles the college coaches’ polls for USA TODAY says Holzhauer’s buzzer skills and aggressive money play sets him apart.

“Thanks to his ability to ring in first consistently and rarely miss, he usually has a considerable total built up by the time he uncovers a Daily Double,” Timanus said in USA TODAY. “He finds most of them since he’s able to maintain control of the board for long stretches, and, as we’ve seen, he’s not afraid to bet big.”

Jeopardy isn’t the first game show Holzhauer has competed on. He was on a show called “500 Questions” and although he didn’t advance he impressed the executive producer Phil Parsons.

“When we auditioned people, we did a ‘general knowledge’ test, and James, by far, scored the highest in that test,” Parsons told the New York Post.

“He was quite the tactician, and even in that way he was interesting to watch,” says Parsons. “A lot of people are talking about his top picks and concentrating on that, but the thing is you can’t get that far if you haven’t got the knowledge to back it up — and his range was astonishing.”

Record setting Jeopardy champion Ken Jennings was also on “500 Questions” but Parsons says, “James’ test score to get on the show was way better than Ken’s.”

“Jeopardy!” and host Alex Trebek are celebrating their 35th anniversary season. With a weekly audience of 23 million viewers, it’s the top-rated quiz show on television.

The original host, Art Fleming hosted the first version of the show from 1964-75 and again in ’78 and ’79. It was before electronics so somebody pulled a card with the money amount on it to reveal the answer: Seems quaint now. When asked to return as the host of the syndicated version in 1984, Fleming declined, saying the show had become “too easy.”

I don’t think there is anything easy about what James Holzhauer is doing.

It wasn’t until Heather Blanton had what she jokingly calls a “midlife crisis” that she became a painter.
She was about to turn 40.

The recession had hit. And her medium for more than 10 years — Polaroid manipulation photography — was on its way out.

“I needed to find something,” she said, standing in front of some of her work at the Plum Gallery in St. Augustine.

Although she played softball in middle and high school, sports was never really her focus. She watched football and baseball with her father, but she was never much of a spectator.

Still, the St. Augustine resident found her artist’s inspiration in an unexpected outlet: through those on fields of play.

“I have a twin sister who is an artist,” Blanton said. “She encouraged me a lot. She said, ‘I know you can paint. You just have to let go of your fear, and magical things will start happening.’ And they did.”
About five years ago, Blanton put brush to canvas for a commission from a cyclist who wanted original artwork around his sport. And that’s how it started.
Sitting in front of a blank canvas, the Sandalwood High graduate started creating cyclists as she saw them in her memory.

“I lived in Vilano Beach, and I would take A1A on Sundays to see my family,” she said. “I would get behind about 45 cyclists. So rather than be upset about being stuck in traffic, I tried to be grateful for all the colors that were in front of me.”

Blanton was less interested in the art being abstract or realistic, but more about conveying the energy she saw on the road onto the canvas.

“I try to not do too much planning because I’ve found that it’s better to allow the energy of the painting to move through me rather than a preconceived idea,” she said of her process. “I ask for some divine intervention to come and help me with a piece.”

There’s an organized randomness to her paintings. It’s not haphazard by any means, but there is a sense of what’s going on in that moment.

All of that inspiration, despite having no experience running, skiing, playing golf or cycling.

“I’ve never been on anything but a beach cruiser, usually with a drink holder on the front,” she said with a laugh.
From cycling, Blanton branched out to other sports, such as painting marathoners.

“There was just a calling to me about the mass numbers of runners. The marathon can be consistently chaotic,” she said. “I got a lot of feedback from people. ‘You don’t have the energy. Marathons are about chaos.’ So I tried to have more chaos in the feel.”

Most of her paintings come in one sitting, and if there’s a theme in any of Blanton’s work, a triangle makes its way into a lot of her paintings.

It can be seen in the form of golfers taking swings or snowboarders going for rides.

“It’s gone to some kind of geometrical form for me. I’m not sure why, but there’s something interesting about the lines for me,” she said. “It doesn’t have any real meaning besides that’s how I see it. I try to paint stuff I like and hope other people do. If you try to paint towards what other people want, I think you make yourself crazy.”

Others have found enjoyment in her work.

From a commercial standpoint, the Gaylord Marriott in Denver took her sixth painting of skiers and used it in 159 public spaces and common areas in the hotel. She is in numerous galleries all over the U.S., as well as overseas.

Blanton has met with the PGA Tour about doing some work when they open their new global headquarters in Ponte Vedra.

She and her twin sister, Holly, have collaborated on about 10 sports paintings and have sold them at the Saatchi Gallery in London. They’ve talked with Porsche about murals in their worldwide headquarters and would like to talk to the Jaguars about some of the collaborative work they’ve done that depicts football.

One shows a line of football players over an abstract background. “My sister did the background, and I came back over on top of it,” Heather said.

There are numerous colors and uniforms represented and plenty more than 11 players depicted.
“That’s not a line,” she said of the line of players across the center of the painting, “that’s more abstract. It’s not realism. Art is open to interpretation. It’s not about following rules. I’ve never been much on following rules.”

Said Holly: “Heather has the potential to be famous. There’s not a lot of images that come to mind when you think of sports fine art. There’s nobody else doing what she’s doing.”
Heather refers to her process as an “experience beyond words,” which gets her started and carries her through a project.
It can be a daunting feeling in front of a blank canvas, but she believes she’s as much of a “channeler” as a creator.

“The paintings I love the most take me the least amount of time,” she said. “When you are in that zone, when you go back to paintings, they don’t have that same magic. I try to do them all in one sitting. I almost feel a singing inside of me. It’s almost a harmonic.”
Often, even she is amazed when a work is complete.
“I don’t feel responsible for the finished product,” she said. “Sometimes, I stand back and just go, ‘Wow,’ I never would have come up with that.”

It’s always amusing to see which “celebrities” claim they’ll be moving to a different country if a candidate they don’t like wins an election. Cher recently said she’d “move to Jupiter” if Donald Trump was elected President. Sports stars haven’t gone that far, but support for political candidates and causes is embedded in sports culture. Michael Jordan was roundly criticized during his career for not taking a stand on political issues. “Republicans also buy shoes” was his answer for not supporting a Democrat candidate in North Carolina. (He denies saying that) Ronald Reagan leaned on his portrayal of George Gipp, “The Gipper” during his campaign and time in the White House.

In 2016, LeBron James introduced Hillary Clinton at a rally while Bill Belichick penned a letter of support to Donald Trump. Former Major League Baseball pitcher Curt Shilling was recently fired for airing his political views. ESPN has intertwined a litany of Trump jokes and references into their most recent coverage.

Prior to his time as the Republican nominee, Donald Trump spent plenty of time in Jacksonville. In the early ’80’s, Trump was the owner of the USFL’s New Jersey Generals. He signed Herschel Walker out of Georgia after the Heisman winner’s junior year. (Walker changed his mind and wanted to return to Georgia but had signed a contract and was ineligible.) The USFL held several of their owners meetings in North Florida, including one at Amelia Island. Jacksonville Bulls Owner Fred Bullard called Trump “charismatic” but also said that it was Trump’s ideas that put the USFL out of business. For the record, Trump did admit to trying to force the fledgling league into the fall to directly compete with the NFL, saying if they stayed in the spring they’d be “small potatoes.” (ESPN did a 30-for-30 on the USFL of the same name)

In the last 50 years, sports stars turning to politics as a career has not been unusual. Arnold Schwarzenegger served as Governor of California. Jesse Ventura did the same in Minnesota. Pitcher Jim Bunning was a Senator after he retired and Bill Bradley was a Senator from New Jersey. He ran for President in 2000. Steve Largent, Heath Shuler, Tom Osborne, Jim Ryun, and Ralph Metcalfe all won congressional seats after their athletic careers were over. Kevin Johnson is the Mayor of Sacramento. Ander Crenshaw played basketball at Georgia.

Most use their name recognition to gain a foothold in the political arena. Once there, the rough and tumble world of politics makes competition on an athletic field look tame. Largent and Osborne lost bids for Governor in Oklahoma and Nebraska, the former falling short of the state house because of his stand on “cock fighting.”

When it comes to being athletes, American Presidents have a varied history. It wasn’t until the 1940’s that anybody paid attention to the President’s athletic prowess. Prior to that only Teddy Roosevelt, an avid outdoorsman was the only touchstone for athletes. (Of course, Abraham Lincoln split logs). Harry Truman was well known for taking long walks from the White House. He called it his “morning constitution.” Dwight Eisenhower was a well know lover of golf. They even named a tree after him at Augusta National. Winnie Palmer gave Arnold a weekend of golf with Eisenhower as a birthday present one year.

While there are a lot of theories about how John Kennedy defeated the sitting Vice President Richard Nixon in 1960, his vitality, backyard touch football games and a general “sporting” personality get some of the credit. Kennedy also played golf, and the President’s Council on Physical Fitness (and now Sports) was created during his Presidency.

Richard Nixon had a swimming pool and bowling lanes put in the basement of the White House. Gerald Ford played big time college football at Michigan.

Jimmy Carter liked tennis so much he took over the scheduling of the White House tennis court. Ronald Reagan was a swimmer and a college football player as well. George H.W. Bush was captain of the Yale baseball team. He loves golf and fishing and just about any kind of sporting activity. Bill Clinton’s dedication to golf is well documented. George W. Bush also plays golf but is an avid mountain biker as well. Barak Obama has played more golf in his eight years as President than any other who has ever held the office. But his first love is basketball, organizing a holiday game every year in D.C. His Chicago friends joked that while he was living there, he’d play basketball at the local gym constantly, only stepping outside to smoke a cigarette.

A running joke is that athletes want to be musicians and musicians want to be athletes. Some athletes want to be politicians, and most politicians know, being an athlete, no matter what kind, can help them get elected.

As one of the original communities in Ponte Vedra Beach, Sawgrass Country Club has seen all kinds of different weather. Its golf course sits virtually right on the ocean and was the original North Florida host for The Players in early March in the late ’70’s and ’80’s. The weather was so severe one over par won the tournament, forcing the competition back to late March before they moved across the street to the Tournament Players Club.

Despite it’s proximity to the beach, Sawgrass weathered Hurricane Matthew with minimal damage.

“Not much damage,” Ponte Vedra Beach real estate agent and developer Rob Kearney said on Saturday. “We were shocked at the amount of wind we had but just some trees down and a lot of debris. We didn’t see any damage with any rooftops or anything else.”

While water is a big hazard for golfers at Sawgrass, it wasn’t a factor for residents living inside the community. Their lakes and canals connect with Guana Lake and were able to drain without a problem.

“Overall it came up about 2 ½ to 3 feet around the community and the golf course over two days ago,” Kearney explained. “We see some water intrusion in this fairway (7 West) but that’s typical anytime we get a lot of rain here.”

Now making Sawgrass his permanent home, insurance executive Joe Braunstein was very pleased with how things turned out considering the force of Hurricane Matthew. His home along the golf course and on a wide lake handled the storm just fine. “It did, I was really surprised. No trees down, no water in the house, we survived it,” Braunstein said standing along the golf course waterways. “I think the community did a really good job heeding the warning of either evacuating or getting to a safe place.”

Originally from Philadelphia, Joe said this was a first for him, that things are very different in Philly.

“No, we get snow and we get the Eagles,” he said with a laugh.

Originally built in 1928 the Ponte Vedra Inn and Club is one of the most historic places on Florida’s east coast. Selected to host the Ryder Cup in 1939 and withstanding Hurricane Dora’s wrath in 1964, the Inn was 80% full as Hurricane Matthew steamed towards Jacksonville’s beaches.

“We informed our guests during the week and had a lot of cooperation getting people out safely,” Dale Haney, President of the Gate Hospitality group told us on Saturday.

Generations of families in North Florida have treated the club as their own, using it as a weekend retreat, a place to hold weddings or summer vacations. It’s no surprise Haney took calls before and after Matthew from residents and members asking about the club’s ability to survive.

“We’ve had calls since the storm was announced,” Haney said. “This is a second home for a lot of people and a big part of their lifestyle and an important part of their lives.”

Much like in 1964, the club itself survived the hurricane force winds. When Dora hit, it flooded inland. For Matthew, the seawall, the rooms on the ocean and the club itself kept the water on the east side of Ponte Vedra Boulevard.

“The structure held up fine,” Haney explained. “All the buildings are brick, the gym is on the second floor.”

“We do have pavers under all this sand,” Haney said light heartedly, adding, “It’s really a beach club covered with sand. I believe a wave came right through. The beach came to the club.”

For those of you who have followed by journey since my stem-cell surgery in November, first I want to say thank you. Somebody asks me about my knee, the procedure, the braces I wore or my rehab everyday, and I appreciate it.

Since the stem-cell procedure is so new in the US, the experts are still gathering information the rehabilitation process.

“It’s all over the map,” said Mike Ryan, the former Jaguars athletic trainer who now runs Mike Ryan Fitness in Jacksonville Beach as well as other projects and commentary for NBC Sports. “The physical therapists are coming up with ways to rehab from that procedure but there are a lot of different opinions.”

Mike’s right about that but from somebody who’s undergone the procedure, I can tell you the rehab is closer to coming back from knee surgery than anything else. The first two weeks are filled with a lack of mobility and a lot of soreness. As I mentioned in the original story the advice from my longtime friend and medical advisor Dr. Paul Shirley was “Ice and prayer.” So I did a lot of both.

As I’ve progressed through this process, I started an upward trend to feeling better with less knee pain starting at about two months and getting progressively better into month five.

“That makes sense,” Dr. Stephan Esser from SE Orthopedics said as I filled him in on my progress. “The stem cells are immature when we first line your knee with them and it takes a while for them to mature and start to replicate.”

I tried to follow Dr. Esser’s instructions on recovery and was probably an “80%” patient, probably being too aggressive on more than one occasion during the early stages of rehab. After four months, they cleared me for a step up in the intensity of my therapy and I had my good days and my bad days. I had lost some flexibility and mobility in my left ankle and my left hip in the beginning of the process so I had a lot of soreness through my hip flexors, quads and lower leg.

“No surprise,” was again the answer when I met with noted physical therapist Dr. Mark Baughman in Jacksonville Beach. Mark has his doctorate in physical therapy so when he put me through my first evaluation, he and I laughed when he said I was a “classic case of dysfunction.”

Finding the “links” to where my lack of mobility and soreness was coming from, Dr. Baughman worked from the ground up using the old phrase, “we’ll be chopping wood for a while” when he discovered the lack of flexibility I had in my left ankle and left hip. Through a series of sessions with Mark I’ve regained a lot of that but there’s still work to do. Sitting in a chair at work, in the cockpit of the airplane, the car or riding my bike promotes a shortness in just about every muscle in the front of my body so I spend a lot of time counteracting that with stretching, the Swiss ball and sometimes just laying flat on my back on the floor.

At right about the six-month mark I was experiencing some associated pain around my knee so Dr. Esser suggested I come in for some “nerve retraining.” I had no idea what that meant but found out quickly it was an aggressive form of acupuncture combined with some electric stimulation.

That’s always seemed a little bit like hocus-pocus combined with voodoo to me but I was quickly converted. Going to treatment five out of seven days, Dr. Esser worked on the muscles around my knee as well as some of the meridians flowing through my knee and gave me instant relief and results. Shortly thereafter I rode my bike in Europe for a couple of weeks, even climbing the iconic L’Alpe d’Huez with no ill effects. And if you’ve seen me, I’m not built for climbing! Stephan has suggested regular acupuncture and I’m a believer.

Recently I’ve started a cryotherapy routine looking for another nudge forward. Ice baths and cold therapy have been around for a while but this is supposed to be the next step in recovery or managing chronic, old injuries.

“We get it down to negative 302 Fahrenheit (degrees)” Beau Dominiak, the owner and trainer at Outlast Cryotherapy in Ponte Vedra told me before one of my treatments.

“It’s basically pulling all of the fluid out of your extremities, sending all of the blood back to your vital organs,” he explained of the three minute. “When you come out of there as you return to a normal state you’re sending fresh blood carrying nutrients and oxygen back to your extremities.”

Dominiak is a former pro soccer player in Scotland and uses the machine himself up to six times a week. “It’s great for chronic injuries I’ve had and sometimes I even use it before a workout as pre-hab.”

“Very positive results,” is how he described what his clients have talked about. “It’s intended to be an everyday tool, a couple times a week is probably ideal.”

I can tell you it’s had some positive effects using cryotherapy along with the other protocols in my rehab program. I can also tell you the first two minutes you’re chilly but it’s OK. The last minute, you want to get out.

“It’s that fight or flight response that’s what you’re looking for,” Dominiak said with a laugh. “It’s supposed to have your body want to protect itself. It’s promoting both body health and brain health.”

I’ll keep you posted on the results!

When you go to talk with Bill Murray, you know two things: 1) You don’t know what he’s going to say or talk about and 2) something funny is going to happen. I’ve had a chance to talk with Bill over the years since he’s been holding his annual Murray Brothers Golf Tournament here in North Florida at the World Golf Village. Bill has made himself available to talk at his tournament over the years despite the hordes of people who are following him, watching him play and asking for something. Friday was no different.

Starting on the back nine at the King and the Bear, there’s always a backup on the 14th tee, a combination of finishing a par 5, going to a par three, a bar and a TacoLu truck as a distraction. That’s where we caught up with Bill to talk between bites of his favorite taco and a chat with his brother Ed.

“What are you playing,” I asked, referring to the Callaway irons in his bag.

“Whatever will go on the green,” he said, sizing up the upcoming 147-yard shot.

Murray’s popularity attracts players from all over the country to his tournament. This year over 420 players are participating over three 18-hole flights. For the fourth year in a row they’re raising money for the Firehouse Subs Foundation benefitting first responders in the military, and police and fire departments.

“They really need that stuff,” Murray said while waiting on the tee. “You should see them when they get stuff like the high powered Jet Ski’s. They’re like, ‘Wow, we could have used this last year!”

“When I took him to a meeting with the Governor and some of the first responders receiving some of the things we’ve bought with money raised over the years I could tell that he gets it,” Robin Sorensen, one of the founders of Firehouse Subs and the head of the Firehouse Foundation explained. “We’ve raised over a million dollars in the first four years of being associated with this tournament and Bill knows the money’s being put to good use.”

A big sports fan, Murray was as interested in Jake Arietta’s no-hitter from the night before as he was his golf game.

“How’d you like that?” he asked as any Cubs fan would.

“All it did was make me mad,” I said. “Since I’m an Oriole fan and he was terrible when he played for us.”

“Because you didn’t let him pitch the way he wanted to. You tried to change him. So now we have him,” Murray quickly responded.

That exchanged quickly reminded me of how big a fan he really is, not just paying lip service to keep his popularity.

“I was trying to raise money last night while that (the no-hitter) was going on. I had to leave the stage,” he added. “Then somebody said from the audience, ‘he did it’ and I was like ‘Great, and I missed it.'”

As a guest on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” last week in LA, Murray was promoting his recent movie the remake of “The Jungle Book.” I happened to see him on there and complimented him on how he and his young co-star performed.

“I couldn’t figure out why he had such a huge dressing room,” Murray revealed about arriving at the Kimmel taping. “But then I realized he had his parents, both sets of grandparents, everybody in his family there. He’s from Long Island and they all came out. Nice kid.”

Somehow our conversation turned to the equipment the first responders’ use and Bill said, “Well, we’re all first responders aren’t we? To take care of ourselves? Unless you can’t,” he added. “Except for me, a bird is just going to come and take me away.”

“Oh really, a big bird?” I asked.

“Yup,” he answered. “It’s just going to come in and grab me and carry me off.”

Like I said, you never know where the conversation is going to go!

You might remember before Super Bowl XXXIX here in Jacksonville, then-Washington Post columnist Tony Kornheiser wrote a scathing review of Jacksonville as the host city. Since Channel 4 at the time was also owned by the Post, I invited Kornheiser to come on the air and explain his distaste for the city. He declined, but the higher-ups in Jacksonville and D.C. got involved and he was on our air the next day, via telephone, during our 6 o’clock news.

Having gone to high school and college in DC, I had read Kornheiser in the Post for years and always found his take pretty interesting. He once published a compilation of his columns and called it “Pumping Irony.” Nonetheless, I was interested to talk to him to find out why he was taking shots at my hometown.

Starting the live interview with a couple of basic questions, it became apparent to me during his answers that he really didn’t know what he was talking about.

“You’ve never been here!” I blurted out in the middle of one of his nonsensical answers.

“Well, I’ve been to the orange juice stand on 95,” he deadpanned.

“Are you at least coming to the game?” I asked.

“I’m sending (Michael) Wilbon to let him handle it,” was his answer.

After exposing the article as a farce, if not a fraudulent attempt at humor, Kornheiser spent the next couple of days on his radio show in DC ripping me, my high school and (short) college athletic career and it eventually went away.

When he was on the Pro Football Hall of Fame Committee, I used to sit by Mike Wilbon as he and Tony’s “hallway conversations” at the Post eventually led to their current show on ESPN, “PTI.” I don’t agree with much of what Wilbon writes, and we had that conversation several times. But I found him engaging and funny and always opinionated about what Kornheiser had to say.

“It’s about stirring it up,” he said as we left one meeting.

On Wednesday night’s edition of PTI, Kornheiser took the occasion to deride Jacksonville again, saying, tongue in cheek, that the league’s foray in to China was just an opportunity for “Jacksonville to play somewhere in a stadium that doesn’t have half of the seats covered with tarps.”

It’s an old story that’s never been true, but again trotted out by an entertainer who hasn’t done his homework and is just leaning on a perception rather than reality. We know why the stadium was built to the size it is, and by the way, just about every stadium built in the time since Jacksonville was awarded the franchise is in the 65-68,000 seat range.

That’s about the right size for any NFL team.