I started this blog four years ago this month and today I’m noticing I’m hitting the 100,000 visitor mark.

That’s cool and everything, but the last six months haven’t been, um, active around here. As I have said before, I blame Twitter.

I think I’ve gone from blogging to micro-blogging.

(UPDATE: My 100,000th visitor arrived at 8:41am this morning from Reading, Berkshire in England doing a Google search on “lottery ball machines”.)

Maybe Claiborne County Sheriff David Ray should find another sport. A hunting trip a couple years ago led to rape charges. This week he was busted for hunting without a license.

I’m following sandranista on Twitter as she travels to the site of last week’s coal ash disaster in Roane County.

I was listening to Martha Quinn’s Like, Totally Awesome Rad Holiday Special on SIRIUS XM’s 80s on 8 this morning where the original MTV veejays Mark Goodman, Nina Blackwood and Alan Hunter were reminiscing about working on a video with Jon Anderson of Yes for his version of I Saw Three Ships.

Hunter had no recollection whatsoever of working on it (ah, the 80s…). Blackwood recalled being called onto the carpet by MTV execs for saying “Merry Christmas” at the end. They said it wasn’t “cutting edge”. But then neither was this video which they all now freely admit.

I looked it up on YouTube…

Christian has made a terrific suggestion: Tennessee Bloggers for Education.

Fortunately, it was nothing like this….

But it was pretty dang good BBQ. Thanks, boss!

Fans of local high school basketball may have noticed we are carrying Lady Cougars basketball on the air again. There was some outcry when we made the decision to air only the boys varsity games this season.

From a business standpoint, it was an easy decision. Yes, as a local radio station we are there to serve the community but we are also a business. To be blunt: we’re there to make money. It’s how I’ve earned a living for the last two decades.

Initially, a decision was made to not air Cougar basketball this season. The money just wasn’t there as far as advertisers go. Another victim of this recession depression economic downturn. Then a compromise was made to go with boys varsity only after a few local advertisers stepped up at the last minute.

After the first two or three broadcasts, the emails and phone calls started coming in. Even our announcers at the game were being hounded by fans wanting to know why the Lady Cougars were dropped. And, again, to be honest, we were lucky to be doing anything at all.

Rumors swirled that an AM competitor was going to pick up the games.

Then one day last week I got a call from someone who shall remain anonymous (but it’s someone well-known and an important figure in this community). This person said they could probably get us some advertiser support to get the girls games back on the air. After a day or two of working out the details with our sales staff, we had a deal. A local business, wishing to remain nameless, basically wrote us a check to cover the cost of covering the Lady Cougars. And in return they wanted no ads or mentions of any kind.

It’s only for ten games at this point, however. I think they wanted to do more (there are about twenty games left) but they really came through and we’re back on the air with the games for now.

You see, it costs less to do only the boys games. You have to pay the announcers extra to work the girls games, the producer (me) gets paid by the hour, there’s the cost of the phone line and the time that you use it, gas mileage, etc. We also invested a lot of money in new equipment before football season that gives our sports broadcasts that clear, in-studio sound rather than that tinny cell phone signal. We invested in our own static IP address for it.

Problem is, soon after we did all this, advertiser support dwindled simply because many businesses have had to cut back on their advertising budgets. We have a terrific sales staff but they were hitting roadblocks when getting folks to commit long-term to a 30-game season.

But thanks to the generous (and anonymous) benefactor, Lady Cougar basketball is back on the air. And right after we announced this, another advertiser came on board.

After having produced Cougars sports on the radio for sixteen seasons (…and am just realizing some of these kids weren’t even born when I started!!!…) I know all too well what local sports means to this community. And I really enjoy working the games from the studio.

Welcome back, ladies.

Hello? Is this thing on?

Yeah, it’s been a while. Shame on me. Good thing this blog isn’t my kid or else the DCS would’ve taken it from me by now.

It’s not that I have nothing to say. I’ve been pretty active on Twitter lately. Actually, I fear I’m finding I like using Twitter more than long-form blogging. Sometimes less is more. That’s the beauty of Twitter.

I’ve been busy at work. Yesterday (Saturday) was my first day off in about three weeks. That includes Thanksgiving and weekends. And that’s just a statement of fact, not a complaint. I am not only grateful to have a job but also for the particular job I have. Not everyone can say that these days.

Anyway, let’s talk Titans!

Today they can clinch their first AFC South title since 2002 with a win over the hapless Cleveland Browns at LP Field. And it’s only Week 14, people! Eat our dust, Indianapolis!

While the final game of the season at Indy may not have any bearing on getting in to the playoffs, I fully suspect the Colts will be right there in the mix come January and we could very well knock heads again with a trip to the Super Bowl as the prize. Or even worse, we’ll have to face Baltimore again. I think that’s a rematch we really don’t want. Either way, it’s still a long road to hoe so us Titans fans will enjoy these “easy” games against Detroit, Cleveland and Houston (are the Texans ever really easy?) before we get down to some real business. By the way, the home game against the Steelers in two weeks should be a barn-burner. Looking forward to that one. In fact, I’m surprised the league hasn’t moved that game up to prime time yet.

I’m doing OK in my fantasy Pick ‘Em league on Yahoo! Sports. I’m tied for fourth place.

Not so good over at my fantasy team league….

And I’ve got Eli Manning, DeAngelo Williams, Randy Moss, Ronnie Brown, Michael Turner and Reggie Wayne just to name a few. I’m just a lousy manager. I’m a much better prognosticator.

Oops… gotta go. Someone’s knocking on my door. I think it’s the DCS.