Month: November 2025
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MY GRIDIRON DAZE
What I learned from football . . . the good, the bad, and the ugly It was an overcast November day in 1947. My dad Mack Mulkey, a student on the G.I. Bill at Southern Methodist University, was bursting with pride as we made our way to our bleacher seats at SMU’s Ownby Stadium for…
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Papa’s words ringing in my ears
“Papa’s words ringing in my ears, son, you got to get tighter with your tears.” As I listened to these lyrics of the Willie Nelson song, Old Fords and a Natural Stone, I was transported back more than half a century to my Tullahoma (TN) High School graduation. Our graduation took place on the evening…
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The Death Rattle of an Old America
In so many ways, Donald Trump represents the death rattle of an old America, and it’s loud and it’s violent. When Eddie Glaude Jr. shared these words in 2021 — quoted in I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year by Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker — the country was still reeling…