A giant Razorback flag hypes up University of Arkansas fans during a game at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.
As we recorded the most recent edition of the 3 Old Geezers podcast, the subject turned to college football and the over/under for number of wins for OU and OSU in the coming season.
So, as a life-long University of Arkansas fan, I decided to weigh in with my over/under prediction for the Hogs.
“Why are we even talking about Arkansas any more?” fellow Geezer Ed Godfrey demanded. “They are irrelevant in football.”
Ouch! I went into defensive mode.
“They will be relevant … some day,” I stammered.
Then fellow Geezer Steve Buck challenged me with an insightful question.
“How is that going to happen, Jim?”
I grasped for the only credible answer that I could come up with.
“They buy players,” I replied. “If Texas Tech can buy players, why can’t Arkansas use some of that Sam Walton money and buy some good players.”
Whew. These are dark days in the Ozarks for the Razorbacks and their fans. They went 2-12 last year and ended the season with an interim coach after firing Sam Pittman midseason.
And in the last decade, the Hogs have gone 55-80 and had 5 head coaches, if you count two interim coaches over that span. Their best coach over the past 10 years might have been Brett Bielema, who went 8-5 in 2015 and 7-6 in 2016 before getting fired after a 4-8 season in 2017.
Maybe Arkansas’s athletic overlords didn’t realize what they had in Bielema, who has gone 19-7 over the past two seasons while leading lowly Illinois.
Or, perhaps, they didn’t realize that Arkansas was slowly becoming irrelevant in college football and Southeast Conference play.
Yes, I said the ‘i’ word.
I am an Arkansas native and fondly recall that the Hogs were a major player on the national college football stage under Frank Broyles in the ’60s and ’70s, followed by Lou Holtz in the ’70s and ’80s and then with Ken Hatfield from 1984-89.
But that was then. These are now the dark days for the Arkansas program, and the Hogs seem to have hit the bottom rung of college football. I mean, apparently Vanderbilt has passed Arkansas in the national pecking order.
By contrast, Texas Tech made itself a contender in 2025 by investing in a talented roster with the financial support of billionaire oil and gas entrepreneur and alumnus Cody Campbell. The Red Raiders went 12-2 last year and made the college football playoffs in the fourth season under Joey McGuire.
That makes me wonder why Arkansas can’t play that financial game and build a winner in the current free agent era of college football. Players are free to transfer to any other school after any season and can earn multi-million dollar salaries.
If athletes are willing to take their talents to the flatlands of Lubbock, Texas, I’m pretty sure they would love Fayetteville, Ark., by comparison. Arkansas has a beautiful campus with facilities that are on par with any peer school.
If only the pot of money was there.
So, I asked my friend Greg Spencer, a Springdale, Ark., resident, Arkansas alum and long-time season ticket holder, why haven’t the Razorbacks gone big into roster payroll, assuming they haven’t.
“I really don’t know,” Greg replied. “The rules have changed so much since the courts decided that the players needed to be rewarded to be there.”
Greg does have some thoughts on how players can be compensated in a manner that make more sense.
“Maybe the players need to be rewarded after they have performed,” he said. “How about a flat fee for showing up, and a reward for contribution?”
So, then Arkansas might become an ongoing success once again, I asked?
“Not on a continuing basis,” he said.
Oh, thanks for the optimism, Greg.
One caveat for Razorback fans is that the Hogs now play in the rugged Southeastern Conference, when the state of Texas was their most fertile recruiting ground back in their Southwest Conference days. Not sure how many talented Texas high schoolers are looking to the Ozarks these days.
However, I’m afraid that the window of roster-investment opportunity may be closing on the Hogs. Legislation known as the Protect College Sports Act is making its way through Congress with the potential to rein in spending, among other impacts.
The Athletic summed up the legislation’s potential in a recent newsletter:
“The bill would allow the NCAA to limit transfers and eligibility, enforce a spending cap, give conferences the ability to pool their television rights and prevent coaches from leaving their teams before the end of the season. It also includes language to limit future power-conference realignment and prevent a private equity-backed ‘super league.'”
Then again, all that might level up the playing field for the Hogs.
So a new college football season approaches and brings optimism with it to fans everywhere, even in the Ozarks. Here’s hoping my Razorbacks begin the long road back from ‘irrelevance’ in the 2026 season.
Wait a minute. It just occurred to me that my fellow Geezers never let me actually predict Arkansas’ 2026 record. I’m predicting a dramatic improvement to 6-6 under new coach Ryan Silverfield, whom they lured from Memphis. Silverfield completed his Memphis tenure with a 50-25 overall record.
Take that, Geezers. Wooo Pig Sooie!
BONUS CONTENT — If you aren’t familiar with the 3 Old Geezers podcast, it’s produced by three (mostly) senior citizens who bring offbeat, grumpy and often times unintentionally humorous perspective about sports and world in general. The hosts are Steve Buck, who bills himself as Cameron University’s last college football play-by-play announcer, along with Ed Godfrey and Jim Stafford, two retired newspaper reporters. I invite you to sample an episode here.
Lu Dort went from undrafted two-way player to a fan favorite as an Oklahoma City Thunder. (Photo credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images)
My wife, Paula, and I were sitting in our living room, commiserating a few days after the stunning trade of Lu Dort to the Atlanta Hawks by the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The trade hit us hard. Dort had endeared himself to us because of his hard-nosed, aggressive defensive play and timely 3-point shooting for the Thunder. He played a key role in the team’s 2025 NBA championship.
“I think Dort’s number should be hung in the rafters at Paycom Center,” she said.
I thought about her statement for a few seconds. I know it came from the heart.
However…
“I think there are several other player numbers that might go up before Dort’s,” I replied.
“Well, Nick Collison’s number is already hanging up there,” she finally said, implying, perhaps, that Collison didn’t have the impact that Dort had.
We went back and forth on the topic for a couple of minutes. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Lu Dort, but …
There’s no right answer to this debate, but it got me to thinking whose number(s) really belong in the rafters above the Thunder’s home court.
I’m pretty sure Collison’s number 4 was retired because his career spanned both the team’s Seattle era and well into its OKC tenure. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, Collison was known as “Mr. Thunder” and also played a key role as the team gained its footing here and became a force in the NBA Western Conference and playoffs.
Here’s who I see as most deserving of seeing their number hanging above the Thunder playing floor. In addition to Collison, you can count them on three fingers.
Russell Westbrook. Why not? Russ played a critical role in the team’s rise to prominence in the early 2010s, then committed to OKC after Kevin Durant bolted in 2015.
Kevin Durant: Yes, KD broke our hearts when he ditched the Thunder to join Golden State, but there’s no question about the impact he had on the team’s rise to prominence.
Shai Gilgeous Alexander: SGA is a long ways from retirement, but he brought us a championship, two MVPs and continues to play like a champion.
Who might be long shots for consideration?
OK, Stephen Adams, for one. A big fan favorite and a big impact player during his time here. Serge Ibaka, my favorite player ever out of the Congo. Lu Dort, of course. It’s a shame he was traded for draft picks in a salary dump.
I can’t go much deeper on my list. Of current players, it appears that Alex Caruso, Ajay Mitchell and Cason Wallace all show jersey-retirement potential if they can bring us a few more titles.
Now, let’s consider rafter-worthy Thunder players from my friends Ed Godfrey and Steve Buck. They are also co-hosts with me of the 3 Old Geezers podcast.
Ed Godfrey
“Westbrook as soon as he retires. SGA when he retires. No one else. Durant at some point but not immediately. He has to pay a penance for leaving. SGA is a two-time MVP and led the team to a title. He could not score another point and deserve it.”
Steve Buck
“Collison, Russ, KD, SGA. Criteria: 10 years with team or league MVP. Sam Presti and Mark Daigneault get banners, too. All players from 24-25 team go up on a shared banner. Only four retired numbers.”
Steve sets a pretty high bar. I guess we all do. But it’s fun to speculate and debate in the off-season.
Thank you, Paula, for inspiring this post.
BONUS CONTENT: OKC Mayor David Holt may be the Thunder’s biggest fan. He can go deep on the team’s history, too (read his book Big League City). Anyway, Mayor Holt posted a stirring tribute to Dort on Facebook in the wake of his recent trade to Atlanta. Here’s the money quote from Holt’s post:
“Lu Dort was not just one of the 18 young men who brought Oklahoma City its first title in 2025, he was a key leader and contributor, and always a fan favorite for his suffocating defense on opponents. The Dorture Chamber will long live in Thunder mythology. Lu Dort will long live in Oklahoma City history.”
MORE BONUS CONTENT: I heard from a couple friends of mine after they read this post, and decided to share their perspectives. Thank for letting me publish these worthy comments, guys.
Kent Taylor is retired from the oil and gas industry and lives in Owasso:
“Love the post…have to agree with Steve…Collison, Russ, SGA…and yes, but still need time to heal…KD. I still remember (son) Clint running out to the backyard where I was sitting on my lawnmower mowing to tell me KD was gone. The sting’s gone…especially when rubbing the salve of our ‘25 championship and watching how that Texan can’t win one without GS’s dynasty players. Yes, there’s also probably some bias as an OU alum mixed in.”
David Ramsey is a retired, long-time sportswriter who lives in Colorado:
“The Lugster not so beloved here on Front Range. But … wish we had him on Nuggets roster. Fun to see how Presti is/was messing with the Nuggets by going after Spencer Jones, a solid player with weirdest shot on our planet, or any other. The salary cap is wonderful, except when it causes havoc with Your Favorite Team.”
Former Oklahoman managing editor Joe Hight kicks off the recent memorial service for long-time Oklahoman city editor and entertainment editor, Gene Triplett.
I was among a group of 40 or so Oklahoma Publishing Co. alums who attended a recent memorial service for Gene Triplett, The Oklahoman’s long-time city editor and entertainment editor.
It was a wonderful, upbeat celebration of Gene, emceed by the paper’s former managing editor, Joe Hight. Joe is the endowed chair of journalism ethics at the University of Central Oklahoma as well as director — and member — of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame, which is housed at UCO.
I won’t give a play-by-play of the service, other than to say we got to hear “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” which Gene Triplett considered to be the greatest rock song of them all. That was followed by maybe six former colleagues who took the mic to tell a favorite Triplett story or what he meant to their careers as a mentor or editor.
Gene’s son, Aaron, also shared some memories and played a video about Gene when he was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame. Watch it below.
Although I didn’t work directly with Gene on a day-to-day basis because I worked on a different desk, I still had a lot of interactions with him over the years. He had an unusually warm demeanor for a crusty old City Editor. I never saw or heard him snarl or yell at anyone.
That’s not to say that he didn’t, but I never witnessed it.
Anyway, Gene’s death tightens the circle of my fellow Oklahoman colleagues from the 1980s and ’90s who are still living. I’ve attended a growing number of funerals over the years.
Time marches on, but it’s always a reminder of my own mortality.
As we were leaving the service afterward, my friend and former Oklahoman colleague Ed Godfrey said that it’s too bad that all our newsroom reunions have to occur at funerals. I replied that I didn’t mind so much, because funerals provide the opportunity to rekindle so many lost relationships.
“Why a funeral?” he asked. “I would rather see everyone at a party,”
Well, yes, but I’m not sure how many former colleagues would drive from Tulsa, Dallas or Siloam Springs, Ark., for a party like they did for Gene’s service. They will make the effort to honor a former colleague.
It was a privilege for me to be among the group of former Oklahoman colleagues who gathered to honor the remarkable life and career of Gene Triplett.
BONUS CONTENT: My wife might tell you that “I can’t take Jim anywhere,” because of my inclination to make a social blunder along the way. I certainly committed an embarrassing faux pas at Gene Triplett’s service. As we were visiting outside UCO’s Heritage Room before the service, I noticed that people were signing a book that would be given Gene’ wife, Carol. So, I took my turn and signed it, as well. During the service Joe announced that the book had been signed for Carol by Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame members. Oops. I’m no Hall of Famer, so I can only apologize after the fact.
The site of the former Myriad Convention Center is empty as it awaits construction on new arena.
A few weeks ago, my friend Ed and I had an appointment in Midtown OKC when we decided to go take a look at the site of the Incomparable Myriad to see the progress made on its demolition.
As you probably know, the gigantic concrete box that opened in 1972 as the Myriad Convention Center was demolished to make way for a new billion dollar arena built for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Along its 53-year journey, the name transitioned from the Myriad to the Cox Business Center and finally to the Prairie Surf Studios.
I admit I was surprised when we approached the 2-square block site of the Myriad and there was nothing but a gigantic empty lot. The site looked even larger to me than it actually is, because now it’s a sea of dirt stretching from E.K. Gaylord Blvd. to Robinson Ave.
Ed slowed down to let me jump out to take some photos while he drove around the block(s). When I got back into the car, we shared some of the experiences we had at the old arena.
Then Ed said, “you should write a blog post about your Myriad memories.”
So, that’s the purpose of this post. I’m sharing my favorite memories of the building that date back to the late ’70s. But I’ve also asked Ed and several other Oklahomans to share their Myriad memories.
I’ve got three memories that stand out to me.
My first visit to the Myriad took place in roughly 1979 or ’80 when I accompanied a group of folks from Fort Smith, Ark., to attend the National Finals Rodeo. I was a young sports writer at the Southwest Times Record and was sent on assignment with the Fort Smith Old Fort Days Rodeo committee to experience the NFR.
What stands out in my mind is the location from which I witnessed the rodeo. They stationed me on the actual arena dirt behind the protection of metal fencing. So you might say I had an up-close-and-personal look at the National Finals Rodeo.
My second Myriad memory is attending a John (Cougar) Mellencamp concert at the venue in February 1986. I’m not a big concert goer, but I was (and am) a fan of John Mellencamp’s music, so I enjoyed being part of a full house, both on the floor and in arena seats. I was struck by how awesome the violinist (fiddler?) was who accompanied him on several songs.
Finally, my favorite Myriad memory is that of New Years Eve 1990. I took my future wife, Paula, to see the Oklahoma City Cavalry on our first date. I know, I’m a real romantic. Turns out, Paula may be a bigger basketball fan than am I, and has seen far more OKC Thunder games at Paycom Center over the years than I have.
Now I’m turning this over to 10 Oklahomans who share diverse memories from their experiences at the Myriad over the decades.
First up is Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt, who is also Dean of the Oklahoma City University School of Law and author of the book: Big League City: Oklahoma City’s Rise to the NBA
If you get a little misty-eyed about the Myriad, it’s understandable. It may not have been much to look at, but it was the center of our community’s life in a unique way that will never happen here again.
The Myriad opened in 1972. Until the opening of the Ford Center in 2002, it was the city’s primary arena. Until the opening of the Oklahoma City Convention Center in 2021, it was also the city’s primary convention center. And until the city’s explosion in growth around the time of the Thunder’s arrival in 2008, the demand on the Myriad’s schedule was mostly for community events. All of this is worth noting, because it means that for about four decades, practically every major moment we experienced as a resident of this city was at the Myriad. The Myriad occupied an emotional place in Oklahoma City life that no venue will ever occupy again. In 2026, we utilize many venues to host that which was once held at the Myriad. And increased demand for national entertainment events and conventions means that community events once held at the Myriad are less likely to occur at its successor venues.
It is probably also worth noting that the prime decades for the Myriad were some of the worst decades in the city’s overall history. From a historical perspective, we can appreciate that. But within that narrative, we were living our lives. The milestones of our individual lives were largely unencumbered by the greater challenges facing our city. And those milestones occurred at the Myriad. Any OKC resident born between 1950 and 1985 is going to have a very long list of personal experiences tied to the Myriad. For me, it will always be the place I graduated high school, took the Bar exam and delivered my first two State of the City addresses. It was where I attended countless memorable athletic events and concerts. It was the focal point of our city’s shared experience. We’ll each carry those warm feelings forward as we experience the glorious new future destined for this site in the heart of our city.
Ed Godfrey is a now-retired longtime reporter at The Oklahoman who shares an unforgettable memory of the Myriad from 26 years ago.
Memories of the Myriad? There are many. I recall a great Whitney Houston concert there in 1987 and a tremendous Reba McEntire performance the following year.
But my most vivid memory came on March 13, 1998. I was the county courthouse reporter for The Oklahoman newspaper and covering a trial when the jury went out to deliberate that afternoon.
I left my pager number with someone in the judge’s office and asked to be paged when there was a verdict. With time to kill, I made the short walk to the Myriad to meet some colleagues from work and go to an NCAA basketball tournament game between 13th-seeded Valparaiso and 4th-seeded Ole Miss.
Thankfully, the jury didn’t reach a verdict before the end of the game, because it allowed me to witness one of the greatest buzzer beaters in NCAA history.
Valparaiso trailed 69-67 with 2.5 seconds left and had to inbound the ball from under its own basket and go the length of the court. I thought the game was over, as I’m sure everybody in the Myriad did.
I mean, how would Valparaiso even get a shot up, other than a Hail Mary, with just 2.5 seconds left? Ole Miss put a defender in front of Valparaiso’s Jaime Sykes, who was inbounding the ball.
Sykes heaved the ball over the halfcourt line to a leaping Bill Jenkins, who caught the pass and tossed it to Bryce Drew, who was streaking beside him, before Jenkins’ feet even hit the floor. Drew caught it and immediately fired up a 23-foot 3-point shot to win the game.
The Myriad erupted. No one could believe what they had just seen. I don’t remember the verdict that day in the trial I was covering. I don’t even remember who was on trial or what it was about.
But I will always remember that shot and the noise in the arena at that moment
Don Mecoy had a long tenure at The Oklahoman as both a reporter and editor, closing out his career as the newspaper’s managing editor.
The Myriad, while incomparable in name only, was a happy place for me. I attended scores of events there over the decades, including graduation ceremonies, sporting events, business conferences and concerts.
I even worked there. As a reporter, I covered a 1991 appearance at the downtown arena by the Rev. Jesse Jackson. I was posted at a table along the front of the stage, with the 12,000 attendees at the National Baptist Conference seated behind me.
At one point, Jackson asked all the men in the arena to stand. I am a man, so I stood.
“Look at all these beautiful Black faces,” Jackson implored the crowd. I am not Black, so I eventually sat back down.
But I digress. My favorite event that I ever attended at the Myriad was a Yes concert. I was a pretty big fan of the prog-rock band. But the performance, delivered from a rotating round stage in the middle of the arena floor, was much better than I had expected.
I even looked it up to make sure my memory hadn’t been faulty. It was indeed at the Myriad on June 5, 1979.
Coincidentally, that’s my wedding anniversary – just 14 years before the fact, and about six years before I even met my wife.
Scott Munn is also an alumnus of The Oklahoman, toiling for decades on the sports desk as both a reporter and an editor.
There were a few people who suggested that I keep a cot in a closet. For a few years in the early to mid-1990s, I was at the Myriad every night of the winter, covering either the Blazers hockey team or the Cavalry basketball team.
The Blazers would play Friday night, the Cavs on Saturday, etc. I was able to see Ryan Minor’s brief stay with the Cavalry before he went on the play baseball for the Baltimore Orioles and become the answer to a trivia question — who replaced Cal Ripken Jr., after he ended the consecutive games played record?
I witnessed Smokin’ Joe Burton develop from a rookie forward into the greatest player in Central Hockey League history. Fights. 10,000 people in the stands almost every game. The atmosphere made you feel like you were at an NHL game.
The Myriad had typical arena smells. Fried onion burgers, hot popcorn and Little Caeser’s Pizza. Even the parking garage under the arena had an odd, indescribable smell, which I think was a combination of automobile fuel and mold.
I really hated to see the Myriad go down. I saw a lot of games, stood for my share of national anthems — both American and Canadian (yes, I can sing “Oh Canada”). I tried to get one of those orange folding chairs from press row, just for memory-sake. But my “connection” never got back to me, so I figure those chairs went to the landfill like the rest of the grand old place.
Larry Newman is retired from a long career in the technology industry, but also worked part time on The Oklahoman’s sports desk while an OU student in the early 1980s.
My favorite memories of the Myriad involved time spent with my dad. We had season tickets to the Oklahoma City Blazers and Stars for about seven seasons in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
We rarely missed a game and enjoyed watching many great players when Oklahoma City was the farm club of the Calgary Flames and Minnesota North Stars.
Dad went to heaven three years ago, but the cherished memories remain vivid.
Steve Buck is a longtime friend, avid sports fan and public servant who worked for two governors and now is CEO of Care Providers Oklahoma.
Growing up in Altus, going to the Myriad was a magical treat. Even as I aged, I could never call it anything but “The Myriad” (sorry Cox). I experienced so many great events from hockey matches to CBA Hoops (Go Calvary!) and NCAA tournaments to State FFA conventions.
But the concerts are the events I remember the most. I saw some great ones, but by far the most historic was the May, 1991 event dubbed as “Farm Fest ’91”. One of my good friends helped organize the event to support our state’s farmers and the line-up of Oklahoma connected country superstars was unbelievable … Garth Brooks. Vince Gill. Restless Heart. Joe Diffie. Just an incredible night of music and an extraordinary reflection of the star power that calls our state home.
Marc Anderson and his wife, Michelle, served as Den Masters to my son’s Cub Scout Pack in the late 1990s.
I moved to OKC in 1991 and as I became entrenched in the community I would attend games at the Myriad with friends. Here are some core memories of the arena:
The May 1999 tornado and being evacuated to the parking garage during the game (Blazers?).
Also, graduations! My son, Reece, graduated in May 2014, daughter Quinn in 2016 and youngest son Beck in 2017, all at the Myriad.
There are some secondary memories, as well. Blazers hockey games, Oklahoma Calvary games and the arena’s final days as the Prairie Sky Studio, because my son, Beck, worked there for two years.
Kent Taylor is another longtime friend who is retired from a career in the oil and gas industry.
As an Okie who grew up watching football, baseball, and basketball, I was introduced to hockey at the Myriad Convention Center. An older couple from our church first invited my wife, Jamie, and me to our first game. Over the years, we attended a number of Blazer games.
I also recall attending the men’s gymnastics competition during the Olympic Festival in 1988 or maybe it was 1989. The Olympic Festival provided the opportunity for Oklahoma City to showcase itself to the country. Maybe the Olympic Festival was the springboard that birthed the renewal of downtown OKC.
Steve Hill served as Chief of Staff to two Oklahoma City mayors, Mick Cornett and David Holt, and before that was a renowned newspaper columnist and cartoonist.
I saw so many great shows at the Incomparable Myriad.
I saw Queen, twice. I also saw ELO, Neil Young, Thin Lizzy, and Whitney Houston. I think tickets were $12 for most of those shows.
I interviewed UB40 in the Green Room at the Myriad. By “interviewed,” I mean recording a conversation fueled by a ridiculous amount of Heinekens.
UB40 was opening for the Police. Mickey Virtue, the band’s keyboard player, told me to come sit on top of the on-stage speaker monitors during their opening set. So I did. Stayed there for the Police, eliciting a funny look from guitarist Andy Summers. Best seats ever.
I was friends with the Cavalry ownership group when the CBA came to OKC. I wound up selecting and playing the music during games.
OKC’s Steve Burtt was checking into a game. As he waited for the ref to motion him in, he told me he liked the baseball cap I was wearing.
“You want it?” I asked.
“Yeah!” He replied.
I tossed him the hat off my head. He grabbed it and ran back to the bench to stow it before checking in.
The CBA.
Best part of the Cavs experience was lunchtime pick-up games on the Myriad court with my buddies Mick Cornett, Dean Blevins, and other media guys.
I forget the OKC Barons played at the Myriad/Cox Convention Center in its latter years — that team was insane with future NHL stars Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall and Justin Shultz starting for the Barons. Loved going to Barons’ games.
Russ Florence is a longtime friend, music aficionado, writer and all-around renaissance man who also serves as OKC-based partner, President and CEO of the consulting and PR firm, Schnake Turnbo Frank.
Russ wrote a story for The Oklahoman last year about a 1977 concert experience he had at the Myriad as a 13-year old. Here are some key paragraphs and a link to the entire story on The Oklahoman’s website:
Afterward, Gary and I walked out the north doors of the Myriad, into the downtown streets with thousands of long-haired fans. We were probably the only ones looking for our parents. Neither of us recalled instructions about where to meet them. Just, you know, “find us afterward, somewhere.”
Amidst the revelry and the traffic, we looked toward the corner of Sheridan and Robinson, and Gary pointed. “There they are,” he said. Indeed, there were his parents, idling in their giant Ford LTD, cigarette smoke rolling out of their windows. They didn’t have a care in the world. How did they know when the show would be over? How did they know we would find them? Where did they go while Gary and I were at the concert? I’m envisioning a couple of Crown and Cokes at a dark, wood-paneled restaurant on the city’s west side, or a little beer joint that played George Jones on the jukebox.
“How was she?” Gary’s dad asked.
“He,” Gary said. “Alice Cooper is a ‘he.’ He was good.”
Thanks to these fellow Oklahomans who shared their memories of the Myriad Convention Center built across decades of sports events, concerts, graduations and more. And thank you, Ed, for suggesting this post.
If you have your own memories of attending an event at the Myriad, please share them in comments below.
Aerial view of the brand new Myriad Convention Center in 1972.
I was listening to a late-night sports talk radio show recently when the host began talking excitedly about ‘robo umps’ coming to Major League Baseball. He was totally opposed to the concept because, as he said, ‘it takes the human element’ out of the game.
What?
In my mind I saw images of a menacing, out-of-control robot standing behind the catcher.
Turns out that Major League Baseball IS implementing the Automated Ball/Strike Challenge System in the 2026 season. But there’s no resemblance to a robo ump.
Yet, that’s how it’s presented by broadcasters and headline writers across the World Wide Web. I wince every time I hear or see the words ‘robo ump’ used to describe the new system because of how misleading it is.
A sample of ‘robo ump’ returns from a Google search
So, what is the Automated Ball/Strike Challenge System, also known as ABS, if it’s not a robotic replacement for home place umps?
If you’ve attended any OKC Comets games at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark over the last couple of years, you’ve seen the ABS system in action. You may not even have noticed, because an umpire is still behind the plate calling every pitch.
However, each team can challenge two pitches per game, and then the ABS system takes over. Multiple cameras focused on home plate reveal whether the pitch crosses through the strike zone, and the results are shown on the park’s video board.
The whole process takes only a few seconds, is very low key, and the game quickly resumes. There are no hitters and catchers loudly complaining or angry managers charging home plate.
Don’t ask me how it works, because geometry is above my pay grade.
“The ABS Challenge System monitors the exact location of each pitch, relative to the specific batter’s zone. Players can request a challenge of a ball or strike call they feel the umpire got wrong, and, when they do, a graphic displaying the result is then transmitted over a 5G network from T-Mobile’s Advanced Network Solutions and nearly instantaneously shown to those in attendance via the videoboard and to home viewers via the broadcast.”
The MLB article goes on to describe the ABS System as a way to ensure calls are correct while keeping the human element.
“The Challenge System is seen as a way to get more of the most important calls correct without dramatically altering the sport overnight. It is a middle ground between full ABS and tradition,” MLB says in the article.
When MLB implementation of the ABS Challenge System was made last September, Alex Freedman, Broadcaster/Communications Director the OKC Comets, tweeted his support of the technology. He’s seen every Comets game in which it has been used, so he would be aware of any potential glitches.
“I’ve been a fan of the challenge system since it’s been implemented in Triple-A. Among players and coaches, it’s not unanimously loved, but the large majority likes it,” Freedman said on his X (formerly Twitter) feed.
I discussed my disdain of the term ‘robo ump’ to describe the ABS System on the most recent 3 Old Geezers podcast in which I participate. My fellow geezers scoffed at my dislike of the term, saying it’s no big deal.
Ed Godfrey said he objects more to the ‘ghost runner’ used in extra innings, but that argument can wait for another day.
Ed also reminded me that a ‘Robo Niner’ mascot once roamed All Sports Stadium back when the team was known at the 89ers.
So, call me the Robo Ump Police then, because I hate the term.
Here’s what Dan Patrick, my favorite sports broadcasting host, had to say about the ABS System and the way it’s been described on the Dan Patrick radio show, which is also simulcast on the Peacock Network:
“You still have to have an umpire. There’s not going to be a robot out there. It’s not going to be a robot; it’s going to be automated balls and strikes. Everybody thinks (it’s) like that Fox football robot’s out there.”
Yep, that’s how it’s presented in countless headlines and on sport talk shows. Go ahead and do a Google search for ‘robo ump,’ and see the dozens of headlines and videos proclaiming the coming of the robot
Well, it’s not. But the robo ump hype and hysteria is real, even if the robots are not.
I’ve been everywhere, man I’ve been everywhere, man Crossed the desert’s bare, man I’ve breathed the mountain air, man Of travel I’ve a-had my share, man I’ve been everywhere — “I’ve been everywhere” as sung by Johnny Cash
If you ask Stigler, OK, native Hershel Prentice where in the world he’s been lately, he’ll gladly tell you.
“I was in Croatia, Albania, Bosnia and Montenegro about a year ago,” he told me.
I listened with awe as Hershel recounted some of his travel experiences as I sat down with him at the home of our mutual friend, Ed Godfrey. Ed, with whom I worked for many years at The Oklahoman newspaper, is also a Stigler native and has known Hershel for even longer.
“I’ve been to about 90 countries so far,” Hershel said. “I’ve stood in Red Square in Moscow. I stood in Tiananmen Square in Beijing and I’ve been on the Great Wall of China.”
Did you catch that? Hershel has visited 90 — 90!– countries around the world. He told me that he lives out of hotels about half the time.
How does this happen, a country boy from rural Oklahoma literally traveling across the nation and the world virtually nonstop for decades?
A couple of things to note: Hershel is retired after 29 years of service with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. A graduate of Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, he has no living immediate family.
Hershel said he often made road trips with his grandparents as a child, which sparked his love of travel, seeing new places and meeting interesting people.
“And I like maps, globes, far away names, Budapest, Istanbul,” he said. “I’d hear those names and knew I would go someday.”
His parents, who owned a trucking firm, are deceased, as well as a sister, his only sibling. He lives in the Stigler house that belonged to his parents, although it seems to be only for temporary respite between trips.
Hershel has a philanthropic side, too, in support of his hometown. He funds a scholarship for Stigler high school graduates to support their college education. And he’s a regular at Shelly’s Cafe whenever he’s in town.
“I’m the first customer,” he said. “5 a.m.”
When I asked Hershel how old he was, he was reluctant to reveal his age.
“I don’t do chronological things, I do situations,” said this International Man of Mystery.
So, what year were you born in?
“Just pick a number.”
All right, 1950. “OK,” Hershel said to the random number that I pulled out of the air. I’ll go with it. That would make him 75 years old, or somewhere in that neighborhood.
Never married, Hershel said he prefers to travel alone.
“Fast and free that way, when you’re alone,” he said.
Yeah, but don’t you get lonely?
“Not really.”
Hershel’s travel is arranged by a Fort Smith, Ark., travel agent. Most of his world travel is done as part of group tours with a set itinerary. That ensures he’s not totally alone on his sojourns, although he said he uses free time to explore on his own.
How has he been treated as an American tourist in all these foreign lands? He says he’s been treated well everywhere and never feared for his safety, including in Cuba, where he went as part of a program arranged by the U.S. Treasury Department.
Here are some fun facts about the International Man of Mystery’s travels both here and abroad:
Hershel has visited all 50 states, visiting famous and little known museums, national parks, Civil War battlegrounds and much more. He’s seen baseball games in all but eight Major League parks, along with dozens of minor leagues parks across the country. He’s been to NBA, NFL and college football games, NASCAR events, toured multiple halls of fame, every presidential library and points of interest like the site of Custer’s Last Stand in Montana or the big ball-of-yarn museum in Kansas. He’s visited every county seat in Oklahoma, as well as in Arkansas.
He’s made friends and met many interesting people along the way. Sometimes, he’s run into fellow Oklahomans in, say, Europe or Asia.
“People that you meet who are visiting Auschwitz, people that would go pay money and time to go do that, they’re gonna be pretty interesting,” he says. “Or you’ll have a common factor. If I meet someone on a trip, I tell them I’ve been by their house, because wherever someone is from, i’ve been by there or near there.”
The most interesting country Hershel has visited?
“Probably Cuba,” he said. “It’s just amazing how they live there, how it was for a long time and how it is now. They don’t have Internet, you couldn’t use a credit card; they didn’t have that infrastructure. We had to use pesos or American money or Euros. They like the Euro more than the dollar.”
He visited Havana, along with the infamous Bay of Pigs, Hemingway’s home, and coastal areas along the island.
I became acquainted with Hershel Prentice a few years ago through Ed when we all went to an OKC Dodgers (now Comets) game together. Hershel’s also a big fan of the OKC Thunder, and sent me a photo of himself at a recent game at Paycom Center. He has called Ed from many museums, ballparks and foreign cities. He often brings him souvenirs from his travels.
Hershel showed me a set of refrigerator magnets decorated to represent the flags of about a half dozen Scandinavian countries. Of course, he’s been to all of them.
So, what’s on Hershel’s travel itinerary for 2026? For now, he’s looking at traveling to Uzbekistan and Kaspiysk, located in former Soviet Union territories and now independent Russian states.
Still, I wanted to know what compels him to stay on the move. His answer was about modes of travel as much as about locations. He likes planes, trains, trolleys, subways.
“Anything that moves,” he said. “I like it when it takes off, that little thrust, the movement. Here we go to a new place, new time, new day, new people. Being free.”
Hershel, you really are the International Man of Mystery.
Hershel Prentice at the Dardenelles Strait in Turkey in 2024.
A screenshot from the 3 Old Geezers recent podcast recording session
Along with my friends Steve Buck and Ed Godfrey, I will celebrate a special anniversary on Nov. 6. Two years ago we launched the 3 Old Geezers podcast, which took years of sport debate via group text messages to a worldwide audio forum.
Steve serves as our host and keeps things on track, while Ed fills the podcast with humor and angry get-off-my-lawn rants about, well, anything and everything. I mainly serve as their foil because my perspective doesn’t fit in their neat little boxes.
I wrote about the 3 Old Geezers podcast back when we started at the end of 2023, and you can read it here.
We have no set agenda each week, except to cover the latest Thunder news, as well as that of other pro and college sports. We also may go off on an occasional non-sports rant.
Here are links to our two most recent episodes so you can discover for yourself what we’re all about. These links are to Apple podcasts, but we’re on Spotify or most places where you listen to your favorite content.
Here’s what my fellow Geezers say about the podcasting experience:
From Geezer Steve: “Having the opportunity to hang out with Jim and Ed regularly is something I cherish. Always spirited. Always funny. Just three guys who love sports bobbing and weaving through a conversation. When the idea surfaced one day that we should record our ramblings, the idea seemed like a natural. So, regardless our listener count, we keep going because its a chance to spend time with good friends. And time with friends is something I am learning to cherish more each and every day.”
From Geezer Ed: “Frankly, I am doing a podcast because I enjoy the company. And after 40 years in the newspaper business, I like telling stories, and now I can tell some whoppers. Besides, I can’t let Geezer Jim’s goofy opinions go unchecked. I enjoy the company and the conversation.”
My reasons for doing the pod are similar to Steve and Ed in that I enjoy hanging with the guys, as well as airing my thoughts on sports subjects, whether they are in line with conventional thinking or not.
For the most part, we’ve kept an every-other-week podcast schedule, except for an extended break we took over the summer, before relaunching the pod on Oct. 17.
We’re committed to posting a new episode weekly throughout the OKC Thunder season, which means we’ll have to do some remote when one or more Geezers are tied up with work or out of town. Episode 45 was recorded with Steve calling in from out of town, so we’re off to a good start.
I hope you listen to and enjoy the sample episodes using the links above. Then subscribe and keep up with our Geezer rants, raves and get-off-our-lawn takes.
The 3 Old Geezers podcast is presented through the generosity of MentaliTEA and Coffee in Bethany. I hope you will visit them and enjoy a coffee or tea and something tasty off their food menu.
A Mike Gundy-like OSU character was welcomed to SEC Shorts this week.
There was a time in my life when watching Saturday Night Live was one of my most important weekly routines. Sadly, age and the long ago retirement of the Not Ready for Prime Time Players greatly diminished my SNL viewing.
Now I click on weekly SNL highlights posted on Twitter/X to watch individual skits. Saves me time and allows me to go to bed hours earlier on Saturday nights.
However, I’ve adopted a new viewing routine in 2025. It’s a weekly show posted online every Monday during football season called “SEC Shorts.”
You should be watching, too, if you are a college football fan.
SEC Shorts is a weekly, fast-paced 5 to 8-minute show that satirizes the immediate past weekend results from Southeast Conference football games. The writers/producers/actors are comic geniuses, in my view, because each episode is not only hilarious, but right on target with its send-ups.
I discovered SEC Shorts during the 2024 season, so I’ve only watched a dozen or so episodes from last year and into the start of this season. And in my limited view, this week’s episode towers over all the others.
Why? I’ll just say that this week’s short centers on a farmer and his “Going for Two Second Chance Farm.” No spoilers, except to say that OSU and Clemson are both welcomed into the SEC Shorts family.
You can watch the episode below.
My friend Ed Godfrey also watched the latest episode and declared it “Oscar worthy.” Another friend, Steve Buck, declared them “masters” after last week’s episode. Their videos attract millions of viewers, according to the SEC Shorts website.
Here’s something astounding about SEC Shorts.
College football games are played on Saturdays, and a fresh SEC Shorts episode is posted the following Monday morning. That means the SEC Shorts producers have to create the concept, write the script, access props and film the entire thing in one day.
Since I knew so little about SEC Shorts background or how it got started, I found its website to catch up on who these guys are.
Turns out, the show was created by a couple of Alabama guys — Robert Clay and Josh Snead — back in 2014. They filmed their first episode and submitted it to the Paul Finebaum simulcast radio/TV show in September of that year, and the rest is history, as their website says.
Today, there’s a cast of 5, including Robert and Josh, who write, act and film each episode, with additional support from a few others as needed. The website also offers a ‘behind the scenes’ photo gallery of some of their productions in progress.
Here’s the lead paragraph from the “Our Story” section of their website:
“Who doesn’t want to see themselves on TV? It was this noble motivation that launched SEC Shorts in the fall of 2014. Robert Clay and Josh Snead were wasting away in the basement of a medical publishing company, where they spent all day editing gross medical lectures that would make even the most seasoned surgeons gag. As they sat across from each other in the Inverness Dairy Queen, eating their fourth chocolate dip cone of the week, they realized there had to be a better way.”
It’s obvious they don’t take themselves too seriously, unlike, say, fans who hail from Alabama, Georgia or several other SEC destinations.
If you are tired of hearing “SEC! SEC!” chanted during broadcasts of SEC teams, remember there’s a small crew of comic geniuses just waiting to poke a little fun at their Saturday heroes when the games are over.
Watching a fresh SEC Shorts episode each week certainly brightens my Mondays. It should be on your schedule, too.
BONUS CONTENT: Read the Frequently Asked Questions section from the SEC Shorts website below.
In 1968, my parents went to see a concert by Johnny Cash while we were living as a military family on the island of Okinawa. That should tell you how big of a star the Man in Black was in the ’60s, because my parents never, ever went to a concert unless it was Southern Gospel like the Gaithers.
Cash was an Arkansas native, as were my parents, so there was a connection. We were among the nearly 100,000 American military personnel and dependents living on the island that year at the height of the Vietnam war.
Johnny’s concert for military personnel on Okinawa occurred the same year that my dad bought the ‘Johnny Cash Live at Folsom Prison’ album, which got a lot of play in our house over the years.
Maybe because I heard the album so often I became a fan of Johnny Cash, although my knowledge of his song catalog from among his more than 100(!) albums doesn’t go very deep.
My friend Ed Godfrey can offer much more insight into Johnny’s music.
Johnny Cash began as sort of a rockabilly star in the 1950s, recording at the famous Sun Studios in Memphis. Then he became a genuine pop culture phenomenon in the 1960s when a wider audience embraced his music.
In fact, he starred in his own network TV show in the late ’60s and early ’70s, and recorded popular duets with his wife, June Carter Cash, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and many others.
If you saw the movie “Walk the Line,” you know that Cash had some well documented run-ins with the law in the ’60s because of a drug addiction. He revived his career with help of June Carter and the release of the Live at Folsom Prison album.
His star power dimmed a bit in the ’80s and ’90s, although it seems to me the impact and legend of Johnny Cash has only grown since his 2003 death.
I think his legend endures because he was the complete package, great music, songwriter, deep bass vocals, the familiar guitar licks, the hair and, most of all, the courage to stand up for those rejected by society when that was far from the norm among entertainers.
Listen to his song, “Man in Black,” to gain some perspective.
In his final years, with his health waning, Johnny Cash covered other artists’ songs that I think are some of his best, even if he was frail and his voice had lost a lot of its force. My favorites are Hurt, and, especially, Further on Up the Road, an awesome cover of a Bruce Springsteen song.
Anyway, I decided to make a list of my top 10 favorite Johnny Cash recordings, whether written by him or covers of other artists. I’ve also invited Ed Godfrey to weigh in with his list, too.
Here are my top 10 songs recorded by Johnny Cash:
No. 1 — Folsom Prison Blues
A song he wrote in the early 1950s while still in the Air Force, it became probably his more popular recording and his signature song.
No. 2 — Ring of Fire
The horns, the imagery … a great song that was co-written by June Carter Cash before she married Johnny. Must have been a hot romance!
No. 3 — I Walk the Line
Cash’s deep bass voice, the guitar intro, Johnny’s hum at the beginning of each chorus, the pledge of fidelity — I love it all. Of course, the Gregory Peck movie based off this song was all about infidelity. Oh, the irony.
No. 4 — Sunday Morning Coming Down
I can just see a lonely, broke alcoholic ambling along on a big city sidewalk on a Sunday morning, longing for a life in this awesome Kris Kristofferson cover.
No. 5 — Further on Up the Road
Another superb cover, this one written by Bruce Springsteen. Ed says that he’s adding it to his funeral playlist. Me, too.
No. 6 — A Boy Named Sue
My dad and I had a great time listening to this song together back in the ’60s. Written by Shel Silverstein.
No. 7 — Girl from the North Country
A great song of lost love, and wonderful duet with Bob Dylan, the song’s author.
No. 8 — Jackson
Fun duet by Johnny and June Carter Cash; this got lots of airplay over the years.
No. 9 — Hurt
A late-in-life cover of a Nine Inch Nails song, Great guitar, piano that backed Johnny’s delivery.
No. 10 — The Man Comes Around
Johnny wrote this song and recorded it one year before his death. It’s obvious that he saw the end coming
BONUS SONGS
Don’t take your guns to town — Johnny had a way of telling a sad story; this one fits right in.
Five Feet High and Rising — Might not be everyone’s favorite, but I’ve liked this song for decades. I can just see Johnny as a kid with his family panicked over water that’s flooding the family’s hardscrabble acres.
Now, I present the Johnny Cash top 10 list from Ed Godfrey that you should really respect:
No. 1 – Sunday Morning Coming Down
When Cash first performed this on his TV show, network executives asked him not to sing the lyric “wishing I was stoned.” Cash sang it just as Kris Kristofferson wrote it anyway. I guess the network executives had no problem with having a beer for breakfast and one more for dessert.
No. 2 – Cocaine Blues
Cash’s version of this song on his “Live From Folsom Prison” album is just fantastic.
No. 3 – Ring of Fire
Cash said the idea to add Mexican trumpets to June Carter’s and Merle Kilgore’s lyrics came to him in a dream.
No. 4 – Unchained
Unchained is a song on Cash’s album by the same name produced by Rick Rubin. Their collaboration caused a resurgence of Cash’s career in the ’90s. Unchained is an album of covers and my favorite Cash album, even eclipsing “Live From Folsom Prison.” I have left instructions with my family to have Unchained played at my funeral.
No. 5 – I Walk The Line
Cash wrote the song as a promise of fidelity to his first wife. That didn’t work out, but the song is still great.
No. 6 – Flesh And Blood
I love the details in the lyrics of this song. It begins, “Beside a singin’ mountain stream, where the willow grew, where the silver leaf of maple, sparkled in the mornin’ dew.” Then in the next verse after the chorus, “I leaned against a bark of birch, and I breathed the honey dew, I saw a north-bound flock of geese, against a sky of baby blue.” I close my eyes and picture myself there.
No. 7 – Meet Me In Heaven
Another song off the Unchained album that I have asked to be played at my funeral.
No. 8 – Hurt
I am not a big fan of music videos, but this song is actually better and more powerful with the video. It was another collaboration with Rubin.
No. 9 – Folsom Prison Blues
I mean, this song has to be included, right? I can’t leave off Folsom Prison Blues on a list of best Johnny Cash songs.
No. 10 – I’ve Been Everywhere
Did I mention how much I like the Unchained album? This is another song off that album. Hank Snow first adapted it from a song originally written with Australian place names, but nobody performs it better than Cash.
Honorable Mentions: God’s Gonna Cut You Down and The Kneeling Drunkard’s Plea. Two more songs that came from the six albums Cash made with Rubin. The Kneeling Drunkard’s Plea also is on the Unchained album.
BONUS CONTENT FROM KENT TAYLOR:
You know Jim, I’ve been thinking about your Johnny Cash article since you posted it. I also grew up listening to my parent’s Johnny Cash vinyls. I’d have to put A Boy Named Sue at the top because it reminds me of my dad every time I hear it. He loved that song.
I thought that, as a kid, I had heard every JC song ever sung. However, it wasn’t until the past 10-15 years or so that I’ve heard songs I’d never heard before. One that I have grown fond of is Chicken in Black. If you’ve not heard it, I’d encourage you to listen to it.
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Don Knotts as Barney Fife from the Andy Griffith Show
EDITOR’S NOTE: My friend Ed Godfrey has memorized more word-for-word dialogue from The Andry Griffith Show than anyone I know. He can quote Don Knotts as Barney Fife from almost any scene. And they are some of the funniest lines in television history. So, I told Ed that if he would compile a list of his favorites, I would publish it in this blog. I’m proud to offer you Ed’s 15 favorite Barney Fife quotes:
By Ed Godfrey
The best sitcom character in the history of television is Barney Fife, played by the great Don Knotts. I’m sorry, if you don’t agree, you’re wrong.
I mean, that scene where Andy is explaining to Barney how he has to keep singing softer and softer into a “powerful” microphone until his voice is less than a whisper rivals Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s On First” routine in my book.
Jim’s blog about The Andy Griffith Show has been his most viewed blog this year, so I suggested he keep it going and rank Barney’s best lines in the show. He told me I was the expert and that I should write the blog, without financial compensation, I might add.
So here are my favorite Barney Fife lines. If I missed one, well, just remember I am not getting paid for this.
Number one has to be his most famous quote which he repeated in many episodes and which I have on a T-Shirt. NIP IT IN THE BUD! He’s used it when discussing romance, crime, parenting, etc. It was his go to phrase, but my favorite is when he was lecturing Andy about raising Opie.
“I say this calls for action and now. Nip it in the bud. First sign a youngster is going wrong you got to nip it in the bud… You go read any book you want on the subject of child discipline and you will find everyone is in favor of bud nipping.”
Number Two: Barney lays down the law to the new prisoners at the Mayberry jail.
“Now men, there are a few things we ought to get straightened out right at the start to avoid any grief later on. Now here at The Rock, we have two basic rules. Memorize them so that you can say them in your sleep. The first rule is, OBEY ALL RULES. Secondly, do not write on the walls as it takes a lot of work to get writing off of walls.”
Number Three: Barney gets tangled up with a guy littering on the street and accidentally captures a fugitive. When Barney realizes what he has done, he turns into a peacock and starts strutting his stuff to the crowd who has gathered around, including his girlfriend Thelma Lou, who wants him to take the rest of the day off at Andy’s suggestion.
“I would like to, Thelma Lou, but I don’t guess I better… You just never know when another beast might come down out of the forest. You understand don’t you Thelma Lou? I really don’t expect you to. You see Thelma Lou, this is what we call the deadly game. I am in it for keeps.”
Number Four: In Barney and the Choir, Andy, Aunt Bee and Thelma Lou don’t want to hurt Barney’s feelings by kicking him out of the Mayberry choir before the concert, so they try to make him think he is sick because of the redness and lump they pretend to see in his throat. Barney immediately goes to the doctor to get checked out and returns with the good news after choir practice had ended.
“You know that lump you seen? That’s a uvula. Everybody’s got one. Did you know you had a uvula Andy? Open your mouth. Go ahead, open it. Yeah, there is a good ole’ uvula. They got a uvula. I got a uvula. All God’s children got a uvula!”
Number Five: In Opie the Birdman episode, a classic, Opie kills a mama bird with his slingshot and then starts caring for her orphaned young in a cage. Barney demonstrates how birds communicate with each other with their chirping.
“A bird that’s feeling chipper will chirp nice and chipper. Well, like, ‘Gee, I’m feeling good’… And then it works the other way around, too. When a bird’s feeling sick why he chirps, ‘Gee I’m feeling bad…Here comes a cat! Let’s fly away! OK.’
“Yep, the ways of the creatures of the wild are many and wonderful.”
Number Six: Barney sings A capella for Andy, thinking it is a song.
“A capella, a capella.”
Number Seven: Barney offers a comforting shoulder to Andy, who has been jilted by Peggy.
Barney consoles Andy with a heart-to-heart talk
“OK pal, there it is (tapping his shoulder). Cry all over it if you wanna. Get it off your chest. Talk it all out. That’s what a friend is for. It’s welling up inside of you so get it out…. I know you don’t want to but you got to. It’s therapetic.”
Number Eight. Barney offers another memorable line after unknowingly capturing a fugitive on the street.
“I might as well have me a look around town. You never know what might be coming up. You know Andy, I never thought our town would come to this. Mayberry, gateway to danger.”
Number Nine: Barney gets conned by a man pretending to be an FBI agent who is in Mayberry to give the sheriff’s office a reward for having a low crime rate. Barney explains why crime is so low in Mayberry.
“Well, I guess to sum it up you could say there is three reasons there is so little crime in Mayberry. There’s Andy, and me and baby makes three (while patting the gun in his holster.) Say, that is kind of a good phrase if you would like to write that down.”
Number Ten: In the Cyrano Andy episode, the first appearance of Betty Lynn as Thelma Lou in the series, Barney likes Thelma Lou but is too shy to tell her, so Andy calls on her on behalf of Barney. Thelma Lou makes Barney jealous by telling him Andy is interested in her, so Barney tries to even the score by paying a romantic visit to Elly Walker, Andy’s girlfriend. Barney, of course, gets rejected by Elly.
Barney Fife and Miss Elly
“I feel sorry for you, baby. You – you had your chance to fly with me but you wasn’t woman enough. Now the balloon’s gone up withoutcha.”
Number 11: In The Pickle Story, Andy and Barney swap out Aunt Bee’s homemade pickles for good store pickles, and Barney is dismayed when Andy suggests they are going to have to get rid of the store pickles and replace the jars with more homemade ones.
“You can’t be serious? You actually want her to make another batch of them kerosene cucumbers?”
Number 12: In Barney and the Choir, Barney drops a not-so-subtle hint to the Mayberry choir director about who could replace the first tenor who had to drop out (clip taken from same episode, but doesn’t include the quote).
“As my old voice teacher used to say, a choir without its tenor is like a start without its glimmer. You know who used to say that? My old voice teacher. That’s the teacher I had when I studied voice.”
Number Thirteen: In the episode Man in a Hurry, an out-of-town businessman whose car breaks down on a Sunday in Mayberry learns how slow life can be in the small town. He paces nervously back and forth on Andy’s front porch waiting for his car to be fixed while Barney contemplates how he will spend the rest of his afternoon.
“You know what I think I’m going to do? I’m going to go home and have me a little nap, then go over to Thelma Lou’s and watch a little TV. Yeah, I believe that’s what I’ll do. Go home. Have a nap. Then over to Thelma Lou’s for TV. Yep, that’s the plan. Right home. Take a nap.”
The impatient out-of-towner then yells at Barney, “For the love of Mike, just do it, do it! Go take a nap. Go to Thelma Lou’s for TV. Just do it:
Barney replies, “What’s the hurry?”
Number Fourteen: In the episode Barney’s Sidebar, Barney buys an old motorcycle with sidecar at an auction and sets up Checkpoint Chickie on the highway to catch speeders. His first traffic stop is a trucker who points out there has always been an understanding with law enforcement that they could go five miles over the speed limit to get over Turner’s Grade.
“Well, I tell you Eddie, I let you do 40 today, you will do 45 tomorrow. I let you do 45 tomorrow you do 50 the day after that. You do 50 the day after that, you’ll do 55 the day after that.”
Number Fifteen: Barbara Eden of I Dream of Jeannie fame guest stars as a manicurist and sets up in Floyd’s Barber Shop. She finally gets Barney to sit for a manicure, but Barney has one condition.
“Be extra careful with that one. That’s my trigger finger. You damage that and I might as well quit the business.”
SPONSORED CONTENT: Ed Godfrey gave this book, “Andy & Don,” to me as a birthday gift a couple years ago. I started reading and could not put it down. It’s that good, mainly because it reveals some behind the camera info on both Andy Griffith and Don Knotts, as well as other stars of Andy Griffith Show. For instance, Andy was quite the lady’s man, while Frances Bavier was not a fan of her role as Aunt Bee, nor of the show in general. Check it out on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4mb7RbA
Afterward, Gary and I walked out the north doors of the Myriad, into the downtown streets with thousands of long-haired fans. We were probably the only ones looking for our parents. Neither of us recalled instructions about where to meet them. Just, you know, “find us afterward, somewhere.”
I was listening to a late-night sports talk radio show recently when the host began talking excitedly about ‘robo umps’ coming to Major League Baseball. He was totally opposed to the concept because, as he said, ‘it takes the human element’ out of the game.
SPONSORED LINK: I purchased this 
SPONSORED CONTENT: Ed Godfrey gave this book,