Growing up in Indiana, I remember Tom Carnegie fondly. Mr. Carnegie was ONE of a kind person, in his field. Mr. Carnegie, was the son of Baptist minister, and made many moves in his youth. Born Carl Kenagy in Norwalk Connecticut on Sept 25 1919. He died Feb. 11, 2011, a resident of Zionsville Indiana. Just a few miles Northwest of Indianapolis. He graduated in 1942 from William Jewel College, (located Liberty Missouri) where he played baseball until a polio-like illness sidelined him his Junior year, with partial paralysis of a leg. At that time he turned to extemporaneous speech and debate competitions. He entered a Sports Radio competition, (which he won). As the son of Baptist minister they moved around often Mr. Carnegie credits his years in Iowa listening to Ronald Reagan doing sport broadcasting as his inspiration to enter the sports broadcasting field. Upon graduating from William Jewel College in 1942, he accepted a position at Fort Wayne Indiana as a sports announcer. During his tenure in Fort Wayne he became the broadcast announcer for the then Fort Wayne Pistons. No the Pistons were not always in Detroit, Mr. Carnegie later accepted a position in Indianapolis Indiana. It was during this time Tom Carnegie would announce Antique Car Shows. During one of these events in 1946 he was approached by Tony Hulman, the new owner of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mr. Hulman asked Tom Carnegie if he would be the PA announcer for the track. Tom accepted and worked approximately 16 years without pay. His popular catch phrases included during a qualifying attempt was “…..aaannnd heeees’s ON IT”. Following a very successful attempt it was “….iiiiittttt’s a nnnnneeeeew traaaack record”. And unfortunately for Mario Andretti it was “…..and Mario is slowing down on the backstretch.” In 1953 he became the sports director for WFBM, now WRTV . A position he held until his retirement in 1985. Nor only did he announce the races, he also announced the Indiana high school Basketball Tournament, held at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Butler University Campus. Even before it was renamed in honor Butler’s long time coach Tony Hinkle. Mr. Carnegie also had movie credits in the movie HOOSIERS in which (get this he played a PA announcer for the final game). My family made it annual tradition to travel to Speedway Indiana to witness at least one day of qualifying for the Indy 500. I remember how his vocal tone and cadence came across the archaic Pa system so clearly. I also remember how when someone else tried to relieve him and you could barely make out a word here or there. He truly was gifted. Knowing that someday Mr. Carnegie would need replaced the speedway began updating the PA system. I met the legend once. I found him to be an unassuming and personable man. Although our meeting lasted only a few minutes. I asked him, (because it was quite cold with a light drizzle that day, and he was in his eighties at the time), we all had on winter coats. My question was “Why are you down here on the track instead of in one of the heated enclosed booths”? His reply was, “I want to experience the event the same way the fans do.” Well that is about all I know about Carl “TOM” Carnegie. I don’t know if Tom was even a given name or just an assumed name for professional reasons. I do know that he is a LEGEND in sports announcing. And will be greatly missed. That Is How I See It Views: 122
Category: NEWS
Social Security Shortage
The GOVERNMENT keeps harping on the fact the Social Security Fund is running out of money. Why? Because we have more people drawing Social Security. Well that is a partial truth. This is what I have learned. 1. There is no Social Security Fund. The money collected for Social Security actually goes into the General Fund. 2. We have more people drawing upon our Social Security that have never paid into Social Security. These are the two big drains. The way I have been informed is the Government makes “LOANS” from the General Fund. That is to say MONEY is taken out but rarely if ever is paid back. I surmise that if pressed to do so, our Government could not even account for all the money taken from the General Fund, which was intended to be Social Security Funds. The money has been so intermingled, ‘LOANS’ to other agencies, not actually accredited as coming from collected Social Security monies. Poor Bookkeeping???? Our Legislators spend this money with only an IOU then rely on taxpayers to pay off the IOU. It is a vicious circle Whether the Government will admit it or not there are many Illegal Aliens, and probably others that collect but do not contribute. Is there an answer? YES! Our Government needs to track all of these “LOANS” and have the agencies, or whoever borrowed the money pay it back with INTEREST. Track down the non-contributing recipients, collect the money, with INTEREST . Will this ever happen. NOT LIKELY, That would probably make too much sense. The way our Government operates they would probably spend more money researching, diagnosing the research, discussing the diagnosis, and paying someone to pretend trying to collect the money, than would be recovered. Any way We The People will PAY. That Is How I See It. Views: 125
Awards Shows
How many of you watch or even pay attention to awards shows. NOT ME. It has been my observation that the shows or actors/actresses. I think now it is more political correct to call the female actresses actors. What ever that has to do with it. If they are to be called actors then why have two categories. Just have best actor. Back to my original thought. I can only remember one BEST PICTURE, award that I could agree with. Most of the nominated pictures, I would not even watch on TV for free. Most of the TV shows nominated I only watched once and they stunk up the screen so badly I never watched them again. This is so true with all awards shows. I can’t understand anyone watching them. ACTORS. It has been proven that anyone can act. Unfortunately it seem the worst of the group is the ones who get the nominations. (Not always, just almost always). I truly believe these awards are merely a scam to stimulate interest in bad entertainment to put it loosely. As far as movies, I LOVE good movies. I can’t count the movies I have watched. I used to go 2-3 times a week, for many more weeks than I can count. I have never seen a remake that was better than the original. Wait, I do think the Dracula movies from the 50’s or 60’s (whatever the years were) was better than the one with Bela Lugosi. But that was due to the advances made in film effects. As a fan of the older movies. Face it. We no longer have the caliber of a John Wayne, Percy Kilbride, Francis the Talking Mule, Clark Gable, or Spencer Tracey. Actresses, like Audrey Hepburn, Kathryn Hepburn, Sophia Loren, or Marjorie Main. So many of the actors just sort of walk through their lines. I’m surprised that Refrigerator Perry didn’t made more movies. He could walk through them just like Leonardo DiCaprio. Probably the best job he did was on Romper Room, which he was kicked off for being disruptive. Actually best job he did was “Catch me If you Can” Very worst was in Growing Pains. But he was just a kid. I don’t know what happened in “Catch Me If You Can” Great performance. Rest is all downhill. That Is How I See It. Views: 158
More Money NASCAR Winners
I just read an article stating the men of NASCAR want more money paid to the winners of each race. I don’t know how the pay goes now. I assume the drivers are under contract and receive a base salary, plus a percentage of winnings. But now they are supposedly asking for a payout of about $1 MILLION to win a race. They claim Golfers often win as much as $1 Million. To give an example. January 16, 2011. The “Sony Open in Hawaii”. Matt Wilson won $900,000.00 (official money) for his win. Professional Tennis. U.S, Open winner in 2010 won $2,700.000.00. That is a lot of money. They, like the NASCAR drivers, have contracts with support companies that provide them a pretty much guaranteed salary. But I do not believe they split this with the contractors and as far as I know they have no “OWNER” Admittedly NASCAR drivers face more risk at a contest than do Tennis Players, or Golfers. I’m sure the crowds at a tennis match or golf tournament are smaller than the crowds that attend a NASCAR race. Where do these sports get that much money to pay out. The only thing I can think of is “CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP”. I don’t pretend to know how the finances of these sports are funded. I haven’t checked how much NASCAR gets for naming rights to the various races. I don’t know how much SONY paid to have their name on the Hawaiian Open. I rarely see a sponsor name on the Tennis matches. Where their money comes from is a mystery to me. I know Tennis players get sponsors that guarantee them money, usually for using and promoting their equipment. The same as Pro Golfers. With less and less interest in NASCAR racing, I really don’t see them being able to match the payouts of Pro Golf or Pro Tennis. If I were a betting man I’d bet a substantial amount of these purses come from TELEVISION contracts. But as I said I really don’t know. Good Luck NASCAR drivers. That Is How I See It Views: 151
Lockout Insurance
Have any of you received money, a lot of money. I’m talking about $4.5 BILLION, for doing nothing? The way I understand it now; that is exactly what the NFL owners are looking at. It seems that they made some concessions to the Television networks that would allow them $4.5 BILLION even if there is no games played next season. Hopefully we will have a full season coming up. The way I understand it Television money is to be split between owners and players (or players union) The players union went to court to fight this and was given a small award. Which I understand they appealed the ruling. The Players Union want this money placed in escrow until a contract agreement can be reached. The owners want to have total access to the money. Now the current Contract expires March 4, 2011. So, as I see this situation, if the owners have control of this $4.5 Billion they would be able to have LOCKOUT INSURANCE. This gives them unfair leverage against the union. They could choose to not negotiate in good faith. Lockout the player,. NO GAMES, NO PAYROLL. $4,500,000,000.00 (that is a lot of zeros, and they say zero means nothing) in the bank, probably drawing interest. Would the owners split with the players if no season were played? DOUBT IT! Only if they were forced to. In a previous post I have stated that players are overpaid and so are the owners. For me it has become a detriment to my FANDOMSHIP (?) I prefer to watch high school Sports. At any rate I agree with the players. The money should be put in escrow until an agreement is met. The owners should not be allowed to have this LOCKOUT INSURANCE. Hopefully the appeal will see this as the only fair thing to do. Thus not upsetting the balance of power during negotiations. That Is How I See It. Views: 165
A Little Lesson on Media Spin
As I watch the NEWS or read the NEWS. I have often noted how the media tells me I didn’t hear or see what I watched happen. Have any of you noticed that too. To be short and to the point if you read my Super Bowl Special you will notice that I correctly predicted the Green Bay Packers by 2. I really did. Some of you may have thought I was talking 2 points. But by putting NEWS media spin on what I said was “Because of that heart I give the win to Green Bay by TWO”. (field goals). See all of you who thought I goofed were misunderstanding what I said. I really was referring to to points. But you see how the MEDIA can twist things. It could have been 2 points, 2 field goals, or 2 TD’s. I would have still been right (Per Media Spin) Trust what you see and hear (in person). Not what the MEDIA says you see and hear It was probably one of the best Super Bowl Games in a long time. It went to the wire. That Is How I See It. Views: 158
Super Bowl XLV (Special Edition)
Super Bowl XLV (Xtra Large Vista)? The eyes of almost all NFL fans are on Dallas Texas. Who will emerge from the battlefield with the coveted title “SUPER BOWL CHAMPION’ Title of 2011? The reason I said almost all NFL fans, Some are not real NFL Fans. You have your TEAM fans. If their team is not playing they just aren’t into it, and could care less. Unfortunately for the TEAMS base fans. they have to travel halfway. or more, across the US to attend this event. Face it fans would it not have been nice if Dallas and Indianapolis could have swapped years? The proximity of Indianapolis to both Green Bay and Pittsburgh would have certainly made it easier to attend. We can’t count the weather in this equation, as both cities have had plenty of bad weather. However I must admit I believe the Hoosier State has more experience dealing with this weather. The proximity of all facilities to Lucas Oil Stadium would have been a tremendous asset to visitors. But, now it is time for all to select a winning team. Some will pick the Steelers because they are dedicated Steelers fans. Others will choose the Packers, because they are Packer fans. If you are not a Packer or Steeler fan you may have a favorite of the two. Or you may look at the stats and select a team. Believe it or not some of you will wish for one team to win but if you were betting you would bet on the other due to statistics. As I look at the statistics they seem very equal, even though the Steelers have a better record, remember neither team were supposed to be here according to the Experts. (Green Bay even more so). I look at the Steelers see an experienced Super Bowl Team. A team with more power, general experience, and a lot of desire to win another Ring. I look at Green Bay and I see a team that has overcome odds to reach this plateau. I see a team owned by their fan base. I see a hungry team with nothing to lose, But most of all I see a team that has GREAT HEART. Because of that heart I give the win to Green Bay by TWO. That Is How I See It. Views: 109
Indy 500
Let start by saying this is only a RUMOR, I heard about 3 or 4 months ago. Rumor only. What I heard is that after the ousting of Tony George, as President (or whatever position he had), There was movement to divest the Hulman family’s ownership of the fabled track. Reason is unknown to me. I suspect the family had grown too large and for some reason wanted to collect the money and split it. Or perhaps their other holding were in trouble and this is their way of propping up those other businesses. A report in the news media has stated the family has been drilling for oil on their properties. I don’t know. The move to open offices in California seems to add fuel to these reports. It was said that the sale would not be announced until near INDY 500 race time. I suppose we will just have to wait and see. At any rate if they sell all the holdings of the INDY 500 It would be a massive bill. Because of the surrounding real estate that it owns is humongous. Just the sale of the Track facilities would be (given just land prices) would probably reach billions. Like this is just a RUMOR I heard 3 or 4 months ago. There may be nothing to it. This Is How I See It. Views: 123
Dying Cities/Towns
Growing up in a rural area, I remember traveling to our county seat. (The Big City). At that time they had they had 2 drive in theaters. 3 root beer stands, A DQ, 3 indoor theaters, a roller skating rink. Two bowling alleys. A Borden’s milk delivery service, a Maplehurst milk delivery service, a bread delivery service. For you who don’t know what these were, Milk and bread were delivered directly to your door. The biggest high school in the county, with 6 grade schools. They, unlike our rural schools, even had kindergarten. They had 2 pool rooms, and about 5 drug stores. Not like your Walgreens or CVS, etc. These were small stores where they also had fountains for you to get sodas and ice cream and sit around and talk. Very popular with the tweens, and teens. Downtown had 3 hotels. Large ones. Two or three book stores. Large factories, Enough to employ a large portion of the county residents. A YMCA, a Boys Club, that had actually fees that were low enough that any boy could belong, Not like the rich kids country club they now call the BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB. Fees were like $5 , now I believe it costs about $25-$30 each. It was located where kids could walk to after school, and have fun. The leagues they had set up cost about another $5 to join. (this was just to cover the T-Shirts to separate the teams. Now it cost about $40 plus for the same events. The kids have to walk about 2-3 miles to get to the club (which is located across the street from the county jailhouse. Now the multiiple hard ware stores and lumber companies have been replaced by 1 Home Depot. No more root beer stands, no skating rink, 1 bowling alley, Which is so expensive I can no longer afford to bowl. I used to bowl 2l leagues, Tuesday, and Thursday, 1 on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Saturday and Sunday were reserved for pot bowling and tourneys. Many closed Factories, and high unemployment. Thanks to Wal*Mart (our only place to shop, As they cut prices until competition run out of town. Now we pay more for items than in towns/cities where Wal*Mart has competition. Theye used to have a gas station on about every corner, they actually came out pumped your gas, checked your oil, tire pressure, and washed your windows. If needed they repaired your car, washed it, and fixed flats. Now they have lost most of the Industries. Lost all of the entertainments, they had. Closed about half of the schools. People moving out because there is no jobs to be had. The Electric Company just announced that their revenues are down because there is so many vacant houses, and the loss of industry, and business. To stay in business they will have to raise their rates. The factories, that are left are paying less because there is more demand for jobs than jobs available. The only thing there is more of is Motels, and eating establishments, (mostly fast foot). When I want a good meal I have to travel about 30 miles to eat. Oh yes. The local and only hospital has just announced there will be no more births at their facility because they could not justify the 13 employees they had. So now if you live in this area you will have to drive 30 t0 40 miles to have your baby born in a hospital. The town has so many empty buildings setting, just deteriorating. They would be better to adopt a plan like some of the surrounding communities. If the building sets vacant for over a year or two. The owner must have it removed. Portrait of a dying City/town. Yes they had a thriving town. Many small businesses. I remember they had 3 butcher shops. When Church was over although there were about 10 sit down restaurants, you usually had to stand in line to get a seat. That Is How I See It. Views: 135
Coach Irresponsible and Unreasonable
Just a short story I heard. A high school coach, A 14 year old boy. Temperature of 16 degrees. A school located in the country. A busy highway. Coach misunderstands boy. Ejects boy from practice. Gives him 15 minutes to be off school property. Enlists another teacher to watch to be sure he is off property, Parent works this shift. To leave, has to contact supervisor, gain permission to leave, drive across city, and out to country school, Impossible to make in 15 minutes. Meanwhile 14 year old boy standing outside in 16 degree weather. By the time his parent would arrive he would have to be standing next to the busy highway after dark to comply with being off school property. Is this the type of person you would want coaching your teenager or even teaching your teenager in school classes? I think this shows UNREASONABLE, IRRESPONSIBILITY, and IMMATURITY on the coaches part. If this were my son I would have been after the coach, the school, the abetting teacher, the athletic director the superintendent and the school board. If you did this to your child you would most likely be charged with CHILD ENDANGERMENT. That Is How I See It. Update: I understand the School has addressed the issue with the involved parties. No mention of reprimand was made. But hopefully the afford said coach and his cohort will see the ramifications of such an act involved Views: 95
