Go Team!

I've often pondered the "Go..." phrase that's used in sports.

“Go, Tigers!”

“Go, Rockets!”

“Go, Astros!”

Frankly, the metaphor's meaning escapes me.

Go??

Go where?

Go how far?

Do you want them to come back?

Or just Go and stay?

While they're going, do they need to stop and pick something up on the way for you?

"Go Flyers..." unless you can't fly. Or the TSA stops you.

Would you still yell, "Go Flyers," knowing that it might involve an invasive x-ray scan of your body?

Would you still tell the Flyers to "Go" if you thought they'd be held up at the security check point? Should you instead say, "Go, Flyers, once you've passed security"?

If the Flyers are doing really well, why would you even want them to leave?

If they "Go," when would it be appropriate to return? 

Perhaps the time to tell a team to "Go" is when they're losing. 

Or their season really sucks.
Like "Go Texans."

Git.

Merry Stinking Christmas, ChaseBank

The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram reports ChaseBank is telling a business banking customer to remove a Christmas tree he donated to the Chasebank Branch where he does business. Merry Stinking Christmas, Chasebank.

Apparently, some people were offended by the tree, according to an e-mail from JP Morgan Chase. How freaking ridiculous is this?

There are TWO Christmas trees in the lobby of the CBS Broadcasting Complex and Deli. According to “Advertising Age,” 91% of Americans celebrate Christmas this time of year. So we’re going to take down a tree in a bank for the other 9%? 

That’s insane.
Get a grip, people.

You know what Chase’s official stance is? The Christmas tree supplied by the business man isn't a part of the decor supplied by the company to its bank branches. What, you might ask, does Chasebank supply its bank branches in the way of decorations? Why, they get “stickers that resemble Christmas lights,” according to the bank spokesperson, whom I know, and choose not to identify here for fear of embarrassing him because this is such a ludicrous issue.

Wait-wait--stickers that resemble Christmas lights. Sorry, Chase--if you cannot condone a Christmas tree, then what’s the rationale behind Christmas light decals??

What’s next on the agenda--are we going to remove “Christmas” from the calendar because it might offend too many people?
I am not a Chasebank customer, thank goodness. If you are, drop by your bank branch, and let them know what you think about this.

-------------------------------------------

This just in--Chase changed its mind about having a Christmas tree in its lobby, and has put one up at its own expense...because the original tree donor took his $3,000 Christmas tree elsewhere. Apparently, others are taking their business elsewhere, too.

Five-years Cancer-free

Those are magical words to a cancer survivor.
I know.
I am one.


Five years ago today, a doctor carved out my cancerous prostate, sewed me back up with a couple of tubes hanging out for drainage, and sent me home a few days later. 
My life was changed. I believe it was extended.


I remember the first week at home was a painful blur.
The second week, I went back on the air, broadcasting from a makeshift studio in the "solarium" of The Clanton Hacienda--what I euphemistically called my bedroom.

Brent Clanton behind the mic
at The Clanton Hacienda
December 2005

My Bride was the best nurse in the world, even when she slept through the shows I performed not 5-feet from the bed.
My convalescence was not textbook ordinary. I had several complications, a few "re-takes" in the surgical suite to repair some plumbing issues.


Would I do it the same way, all over again?
Given the same set of circumstances, probably so.


If it were to happen today, however, I think the outcome would be vastly different. Prostate cancer is one of the most treatable soft-tissue cancers around. The key is early detection, which in my case came about as the result of a simple blood test. I was 50-1/2 years old when diagnosed.
That's pretty young.


Doctors used to think you didn't have to really worry about checking for prostate cancer under the age of 50. Guess they're re-thinking that...and if you have a history of cancer in your family (like my son now does), the wisdom is earlier and earlier testing.


Men with my diagnosis today don't necessarily have to even face the kind of surgery I endured. The technology has moved so quickly within the past five years, that if you must have surgery, it's done laproscopically, for that least-invasive feeling when you awake. Or you can opt for other treatments that have been developed that do not require surgery.


The point here is, get checked, fellas.
Do the blood test.


Now for my next challenge--finding health insurance coverage, since I'm Five Years Cancer Free!