California: Why I love it

It’s fashionable these days to knock the Golden State. High unemployment, high taxes, high cost of living. Well, my response is that everything has a price.

I lived there for 22 years, in San Diego and Orange counties, and still rank that time as my most memorable, professionally and personally. (My moving away had nothing to do with California.) My recent vacation there restored the dormant warm fuzzies, and whetted my appetite for more. Something about wearing shorts in November …

But it’s not just good weather that makes California a state without peer. I’d like to pass along some insight on other extras. So, five things I really like about California.

– Pacific time: I was watching the recent Monday night football game between Atlanta and New Orleans. In the second half, it was still only 8 pm. On the East Coast, it’s all I can do to stay up for the conclusion of an important game.

– Excellent sporting landscape: Both the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Los Angeles Angels (residents of Orange County, where the Angels play home games, dislike the LA name on their team) made it into baseball’s final four teams. And the USC Trojans have been one of college football’s dominant teams in this decade, and have a memorable tradition. Don’t forget UCLA’s basketball team, still a national power. And John Wooden can still tell you about it.

– News you won’t see anywhere else: During my recent visit, a front-page story in The Orange County Register told of medical-marijuana dispensaries in Dana Point being ordered to hand over records to city officials. Also, a news story reported that a serial-murder suspect who is defending himself in a death penalty trial pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Only in California …

– Great natural beauty: My above video shows some of the natural wonders of Catalina Island, technically part of Los Angeles County. Hey, sometimes schoolchildren there have to take “mud days” off. There are many other examples. Environmentalists can throw some red tape at building projects in California, but they have a lot to protect.

– People: The stereotype is La La Land, of course. But hey, everyone in the South does not resemble a Jeff Foxworthy joke. California is a melting pot, and I can point out plenty of natives who eat three meals a day, raise children and pay taxes just like people everywhere else. As the song says, you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.

Falcons stadium: A taxpayer caveat

Falcons owner Arthur Blank, left, after recent Atlanta Press Club speech

Add Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank to the lengthy list of pro sports owners who are tactfully telling taxpayers that they want their funds to help build a new stadium.

And for the first time, include me among those who don’t think it’s such a great idea.

Pitts, “60 Minutes” and Dan Rather

"60 Minutes" correspondent Byron Pitts, left, speaks with Steve Schwaid of CBS Atlanta

Byron Pitts recalls meeting with fellow “60 Minutes” correspondent and broadcasting legend Dan Rather before Pitts was to go to Afghanistan. “Who are the people you love?” Rather asked Pitts. After thinking about it and responding, Pitts said Rather continued, “Write them a letter and tell them you love them. Because when you go to a place like Afghanistan, you might not come back.”

Pitts discussed Rather, “60 Minutes” and other television matters recently in an Atlanta Press Club speech (10/13/09). And his tone was markedly different from the attack mentality that often prevails on “60 Minutes.” For instance, Pitts was open about his Baptist faith, and he told of being diagnosed as functionally illiterate in his youth. So he is appreciative of his position and the obstacles he has had to overcome.

UGA’s Munson forever young in book

The thing about reading a book on someone who is famous for words or music (or both) is that you wonder whether a book alone can do the subject justice. I once read a book about Mick Jagger and I almost expected to hear an outrageous version of “Sympathy for the Devil” when I opened the front cover.

But after reading “From Herschel To A Hobnail Boot,” a biography/memoir of legendary Georgia Bulldogs announcer Larry Munson, I could almost hear echoes of those memorable calls and that gravelly voice. It was double fun when Munson and co-author Tony Barnhart (ajc.com blogger and CBS-TV commentator) included a CD of Munson’s greatest calls with the book. At last, something to listen to besides Miley’s climb and that Black Eyed Peas song.

Falcons’ Blank speaks (on Vick, too)

It says something about the Atlanta Falcons’ history that their winningest coach, Dan Reeves, has an overall record under .500 with the team. And that the second-winningest coach, Leeman Bennett, was fired after a playoff game.

But that’s the case. Now the Falcons are 3-1 in 2009 and coming off a playoff appearance in a season in which they went 11-5 under a rookie QB, a first-year head coach and a new general manager.

“Holy Roller” and Dawgs-LSU

“Just tell yourself,” Dan Fouts once said, “that if you had played better, you couldn’t be beaten by one play.”

Fouts, the former San Diego Chargers QB, was referring to the “Holy Roller” play in a 1978 game between the Chargers and Raiders. In that game, the Raiders’ Pete Banaszak and Dave Casper appeared to intentionally kick and bat the loose football, “fumbled” by QB Ken Stabler, into the end zone for the for the winning touchdown. (Hey, the Raiders’ philosophy is “Just win, baby.”)

Jimmy Carter, Kidd and federal court

I'm right with state Sen. Culver Kidd, left, as he leaves court in Macon in 1978 after acquittal.

There are Habitat for Humanity and efforts in the Mideast. But the legacy of Jimmy Carter as president and very active former president includes an event that riveted Georgia and provided a moment that then was unprecedented in American politics.

In 1978, Carter, who recently turned 85, was a prosecution witness in a criminal trial involving a political foe, state Sen. Culver Kidd of Milledgeville. It was the first time in the 20th century that an American president had testified in a criminal trial. It also marked the first time a president had testified via videotape.

Wrestling with the past

Randy Savage (later the "Macho Man"), right, Roberto Soto have me in their sights

So, Atlanta, which has hosted Super Bowls, World Series, the Olympics and eventually will be home to the College Football Hall of Fame, wants Wrestlemania, too. Can’t get enough of a good thing (money), I guess.

New media, old problems

Click back to 2003. Several people in recession-weary California, including me, were gathered to hear Christopher Cox, then a U.S. congressman from Orange County, speak about business matters. At that time, neither YouTube nor Twitter existed, but Cox — a pro-business Republican — still addressed the effect of the Internet on business.

Atlanta flood of 2009: Twitter survives

My pic of a collapsed retaining wall at a strip mall in suburban Atlanta

 It had been raining for several days in the Atlanta area, already a strange occurrence. But when the skies opened up in overnight hours of Sept. 20-21, 2009, it set off quite a bit of havoc in roadways and residential areas. And it set off memorable efforts by citizen journalists, including myself.