I’m not yet one of those retirees who sits around all day watching cable news and getting upset about it.
But due to some dental surgery last week, I spent more time than usual in the easy chair over a three-day period.
I’m pleased to report that by Friday I was able to return to the golf course, just catching snatches of CNN and Fox News on my XM car radio while driving to and from local destinations.
Even that gets redundant.
I know a lot of people don’t, but those addicted to cable news shows, especially the commentators and panelists, should switch back and forth between those two to get some sort of balance.
The CNN folks spend most of their time reporting bad news on President Donald Trump, and Fox is just the opposite in defending him.
Neither, in my view, is “fair and balanced.”
Where they are helpful, though, is on breaking news such as the military plane crash in Leflore County and on live coverage of some of the congressional hearings as well as big events like Trump’s visit with the president of France in Paris.
Especially interesting to me was the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on Trump’s nominee to become the next FBI director, Christopher Wray. He was impressive in his answers to probing questions, and it looks like he will be confirmed with wide bipartisan support.
One positive thing about Trump is that, with a few exceptions, he’s making some good appointments, and Wray obviously is one of them.
Too bad the president himself doesn’t have the same moral compass and knowledge of the Constitution that Wray displayed.
Let’s get to the fun television — the SEC Network and SEC Media Days of which I consumed probably too much. Fun, I say, unless you happen to be Ole Miss Coach Hugh Freeze. I watched both Mississippi State Coach Dan Mullen and Freeze in their presentations and as they fielded questions from the media.
I thought they both handled themselves well, as they should, since they are paid around $5 million a year, mostly for winning football games, but also for making a good appearance in venues like this.
Freeze was hammered with questions — which were legitimate and not particularly unfriendly — about all the drama around the Ole Miss program stemming from the NCAA investigation.
Among other issues is a lawsuit filed by former Arkansas and Ole Miss Coach Houston Nutt on the eve of Freeze’s appearance at the media days. Nutt claims Ole Miss engaged in a “false and misleading PR scheme” to place most of the blame on him instead of Freeze for Ole Miss’ NCAA troubles.
The merits of the lawsuit will be decided in court, if it gets that far, but either way it goes there isn’t much love lost between most Ole Miss fans and Nutt, who left the program in shambles when he was fired in 2011 and then got a $4.35 million buyout.
Some of the fans’ reaction probably is reflected in a tweet from Romaro Miller, a former Ole Miss quarterback. The Oxford Eagle, in an editorial headlined, “tweet funny, but also valid,” quoted Miller:
“Can I sue Houston Nutt for stealing $ from Ole Miss? He owe me money for lack of effort. Dude literally quit!”
