Volunteering for Trouble

Got to be the shoes.

Today I’d like to tell you how my renegade wife got dismissed from her volunteer job.

Kim and my son sometimes work a concession stand at the KFC Yum! Center to raise money for his high school band. Volunteers are supposed to wear a white shirt, black pants and black shoes. Note there is no mention of neon pink.

My wife, the rebel band mom, showed up for volunteer duty wearing black shoes with a small, but pronounced pink stripe across the bottom. Although this may be trendy, it’s apparently very distracting to the paying public. (I still haven’t figured out why the paying public has such an obsession with people’s feet). Because of this, the supervisor of volunteers asked my wife to leave the booth while it was inspected. Aggravated but committed, Kim returned later, covered the pink stripe and dished out concessions.

This is proof positive that my wife is a better person than me. If I had been in the same situation, the supervisor likely would have gotten an earful as he saw my pink feet beat a path out of there.

Thankfully, there is a happy ending to this sad shoe story. Several days later, Kim wore the same shoes to the grocery store where a woman stopped her to applaud her bold choice in footwear. That’s one nice lady, but she’ll never make it as a volunteer.

A Maiden Voyage to the KFC Yum Center

You’ve got to give my dad credit. When he goes in, he goes all in.

Dad has been threatening to go the KFC Yum Center for some time now to see the beautiful new home of our beloved University of Louisville Cardinals. My sister recently called his bluff, offering him a ticket and a ride with my brother-in-law to see U of L play their archrival, the University of Kentucky Wildcats.

That’s a hot ticket with two ranked and storied teams fighting for state supremacy. So hot it would easily have brought several hundred dollars or more on the street. Nevertheless, I figured dad would take a pass.

Did I mention dad doesn’t love crowds? This explains why he generally eats dinner at Cracker Barrel around 3 p.m. In fact, I used to joke that the only thing that could possibly lure him out with the masses was the boat show.

To everyone’s surprise, dad said he would like to go, joking that he might as well take it all in at once. In other words, the guy who doesn’t love crowds would see U of L play UK in a new arena before one of the most rollicking crowds of all time. Aside from a monster truck trip to accommodate his grandson, dad probably hadn’t attended a sporting event since Vince Gibson was the Cardinals’ football coach.

I’d believe it when I saw it … and yet I saw it with my own eyes. There he was about 15 minutes before tipoff with my brother-in-law at the KFC Yum Center ready to root them on. He even claims to have had a wonderful time, despite the lopsided score. He raved about the amenities at the KFC Yum Center.

Maybe he’ll even make it out there again sometime … after a 3 p.m. pregame meal at Cracker Barrel, of course.

No Place Like Downtown

Ed Manassah was right.

Manassah, the former publisher of Kentucky’s largest newspaper, The Courier-Journal, served as visionary and head cheerleader for building the University of Louisville’s basketball arena downtown instead of alternative sites near the Louisville Water Company or at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center. For having this vision, Manassah was criticized more than a bad basketball team. When Manassah’s newspaper crusaded for the downtown site, people accused him of sacrificing his journalistic integrity. Others suggested there must be some kind of nefarious hidden agenda at work.

Manassah was undeterred by those criticisms as well as concerns about cost and parking. He said a downtown arena would add sizzle to Louisville’s riverfront, while bolstering downtown businesses. As a result of his steady leadership – and that of Jim Host and others -- the downtown arena gained momentum and became a reality.

Today, I drive by the magnificent new arena at least twice daily. I’ve had the pleasure of attending several basketball games there. I’ve ridden a boat from southern Indiana to these games. I’ve felt downtown abuzz both before and afterward. Clearly, the downtown arena has benefitted both states.

In fact, it’s hard to imagine it anywhere else. After all, you can’t take a boat to the Water Company or revitalize a Central Business District from the fairgrounds. Furthermore, because of its location at the community’s doorstep, the arena is like a 720,000-square-foot welcome mat to the city and its university.

Maybe that’s why you so rarely hear from opponents of the downtown arena these days. If you did, even they’d probably admit that Manassah was right.