Head coach title for sale, scary student COVID scores and recycling government waste
Well, everything has a price.
Want to put your name ahead of your college football team’s head coach’s title?
The bidding apparently starts at $20 million. At least that’s what one Pittsburgh grad from 1997 gave his alma mater for the strange, selfindulgent moniker.
So when Pitt comes to Knoxville next weekend to face the University of Tennessee Vols, the Panthers will be led by Pat Narduzzi, “Chris Bickell ’97 Head Football Coach.”
Seriously. You’re up, Big Jim Haslam.
OPT-OUT
IS STILL A COP OUT
As Hamilton County prepares for a couple of “snow days” in early September as COVID-19 numbers climb, the need for masks for students in school is more and more clear.
Details from the American Academy of Pediatrics tell a clear story that this half-effort approach for a mask mandate with the ability to opt out is less-than-half effective.
For the week ending Aug. 26, the U.S. has more than 204,000 new COVID-19 cases in children. Over the past month, new COVID-19 cases among school children have grown fivefold and accounted for more than 22% of our weekly cases.
Ponder those stats as we experience the September snow days.
GOVERNMENT JOBS
So there was a shortage of drivers for Chattanooga recycling.
OK.
So we’re going to raise their salaries by 40%-plus. OK.
But now comes the news that with the hike in pay, the recycling drivers are just going to drive to the landfill and not worry about recycling?
Hmm.
Almost double the pay for reaching none of the goal? Man, it sure does look as if Chattanooga’s new mayor is fitting right in with traditional governmental budget decisions.
OBIT OBSERVATIONS
There were many this week, but there are few people I am aware of who have done as much for one community as Skipper Fairbanks did for his hometown of Red Bank.
Skipper died recently, and I could fill every CARTA bus with someone who had their life touched in a positive way by the longtime youth sports legend and community pillar.
His obit in Friday’s paper was longer than the last book I read, and it still left out stuff that most of us would call lifelong achievements.
My heart and prayers go to his family. Their loss is immediate, but so is our community’s.
Because know this: We should all be concerned looking forward that the world needs more Skipper Fairbankses, not fewer.