Texas Glory 12 Years Ago.

The bewitching hour gets nearer for Super Bowl XLII and the halftime show with Tom Petty. Like the song says, 'the waiting is the hardest part...'

This day in 1990 was a blowout of a ballgame in New Orleans. The 14-2 San Francisco 49ers made mince meat of the Denver Broncos 55-10. Joe Montana cruised all day to an easy win after a 27-3 halftime lead. He would wind up being your MVP with 4 TD passes and no INT's...

It was also this date when Arizona would host it's first Super Bowl, a rematch of Super Bowls X and XIII in 1996. Super Bowl XXX would be a back and forth affair between the Cowboys and Steelers until Neil O'Donnell was unable to throw his way out of a paper sack with two late INT's as Dallas would prevail 27-17.

Something else happened on this day in 1986 that still remains engrained in the memory bank of snapshots...

It was early Tueday morning. I was at the beach getting my drink on. I was weeks from turning 22. There was a Space Shuttle launch that was to occur that morning despite cold temps at Cape Canaveral. Seven astronauts, including teacher Christa MacAuliffe were on that rocket.

Liftoff seemed to go well and the rocket began its ascension north, for 73 seconds. Then it happened...

An explosion. the first of two, would color the morning Florida sky with white and orange flame as the Space Shuttle disintegrated before our very eyes...plummeting into the Atlantic Ocean. I saw the replay later in the day. It was very hard to sleep much less drink.

My parents remember where they were when JFK was shot. People remember where they were when John Lennon was murdered and September 11th 2001 happened. For me, the images of the Columbia exploding into nothing jaded my mind as to the fragility of life and just how quickly it can be taken away.

I'll never forget in 2003 as we were nearing this very anniversary when one of my bartender buddies, David A said, 'Bro, aren't we due for another NASA disaster?' David said this on 1/31/03. The VERY next morning, February 1st, at 8 am CST in Texas there was another shuttle disaster, as pieces of the rocket fell through parts of Palestine and Texas and Louisiana. Those images would also sadden me. David felt bad afterwards as well.

What the space industry has accomplished in my lifetime has been amazing. I choose to remember those achievements a little more. The above mentioned are just a few of the many things that I remember off the top of my head. No sooner do I say that, names like Jim Lowell, Gene Cernan, and John Glenn come to mind. There! That's better...

10 pm in North Texas and the mercury reads 66 degrees...Nice!

Over and out in Big D

Mr Will