TERRE HAUTE —
When one of the first people you meet is Tammy Wynette’s stepdaughter, when you’ve stepped on the feet of people you haven’t met while trying to navigate Ernest Tubbs’ old Silver Eagle tour bus, and when the activities director of your resort is, well, Elvis, you might be vacationing in Nashville.
Yes, it was spring break for the girls last week — Ryan was with his grandmother and going to baseball practice — and even though Jenny and I aren’t what you’d consider country music buffs, we had an awfully good time in the Music City.
The GPS system I predicted I’d be given after last spring’s frantic — and, as it turns out, unnecessary — sprint to Texas worked like a charm once we learned its programming quirks, and the weather was great — except for that tornado, of course.
Part of the reason for our good times was Wyndham Nashville. I mention the name because, as vacation companies go, Wyndham seems to be a pretty good brand if our week is any indication. And those good times started with our welcome party on the second night.
Jenny and I have been to a few of these (they’re Welk-um parties if you’re out west at a Lawrence Welk resort) and this was easily the best of them all — presentations by some of the musicians (like Tammy’s stepdaughter plus the Eagle Creek band, obviously an omen for somebody who grew up in Lake County’s Eagle Creek Township), tour guides and representatives of other tourist venues around the city.
Jenny won two free tickets to Bobby Green’s Good Ole’ Nashville Tour, which was a money saver, and as the evening which had been nicely choreographed by John and Debbie from our resort neared its end, John was brought to the stage — and revealed to be the performer for “A Tribute to the King” every Monday and Thursday. After hearing a quick rendition of “Jailhouse Rock,” we signed up for the following night.
Monday afternoon, however, the weather got a little dicey. We got a little nervous sitting in our suite when one of the chairs on our porch blew past from left to right and then, not 15 seconds later, another chair blew by right to left, but the storm at our place was a quick one — although it did knock out our power.
I saw John on duty when I went to the office to get a flashlight, and he admitted he was unsure if the show would go on that night. As it turned out, the power was down in the entire neighborhood for about nine hours, which meant supper was burgers from Fat Mo’s — had to drive about five miles to find anyplace with lights — and our entertainment was playing Uno by flashlight instead of watching Elvis.
By Tuesday, however, the weather was back to gorgeous. We broke out the GPS to find the Loveless Cafe for lunch — their biscuits have been televised by Bobby Flay and Conan, to name two — and then, since we were already out and about, went downtown to wait for the hockey game.
I bought Predators tickets back in the fall, as soon as we’d booked our trip, and had been rooting all season for both them and the Atlanta Thrashers to remain in playoff contention so we could see a last-week-of-the-season game with desperation involved for both teams. The Thrashers didn’t hold up their end, but Nashville’s 6-3 victory gave us nine goals and a fight, converted JoJo into a huge hockey fan (I knew it would) and even brought Jenny and Darcy around a little bit.
Wednesday was our Redneck Comedy Bus Tour with Tater and Gil. Earlene, who was a scream at the welcome party, was unavailable — because of a court date, the guys said — but it was two hours of tour, laughs and redneck certification. We learned that “Bless your heart” isn’t always a positive expression and to say “God rest his (or her) soul” anytime a deceased star’s name was mentioned — something that happens fairly often in the city.
The girls also got to visit their first saloon, the Whiskey Bent, along the way, where we saw a blue-haired fiddle player wearing purple tights. Afterward the girls and I hit an arcade (since JoJo was too short to drive a go-kart), the Cooter Museum (for all the “Dukes of Hazzard” fans) and the Willie Nelson Museum.
By Thursday we were in full vacation mode: Darcy built her own stuffed animal at one of Debbie’s activities in the morning, then it was downtown for lunch and the Country Music Hall of Fame (well worth it even if you aren’t a big fan), then Elvis. John and his wife Darlene have put together quite a show, even though nothing could induce the older people around me from getting up and boogeying (so I could).
Friday was our tour with Bobby (everybody is on a first-name basis after about 24 hours in Tennessee, you’ll notice, which is one of the reasons I like it). He filled us in on the homes of the stars (and a few other people), the gossip and the history; took us to places like the Ryman Auditorium (formerly the Union Gospel Tabernacle, thus nicknamed “the mother church of country music”) and the girls’ second saloon, Tootsie’s (where Willie and Kris Kristofferson, among others, occasionally lived); and showed us the entire town and surrounding area.
Bobby — who is a big Larry Bird fan — has a tour I’d recommend highly, although if you hear a song called “A Woman’s Touch” (Bobby’s currently pitching it to Alan Jackson — whose house is very substantial, by the way) on country radio soon, he might be too rich to conduct it anymore.
I wouldn’t say that everybody in Nashville has some kind of musical aspirations, but if you walk down Broadway you can’t swing a guitar without hitting, well, another guitar. Maybe the only one who doesn’t is former Hautean Ron Howes, who is still doing the weather for the city’s Channel 5.
• GLARING error — Got home from said vacation to find a couple of week-old e-mails alerting me that my system for doing the Amey Teams had at least one bug in it.
Not only did I leave a significant player out, it was a player I’ve known since he was playing T-ball — and a player whose family I’ve known an awful lot longer than that.
Be assured, then, that West Vigo’s Cody Thornton should have been on the boys Unsung Team for the many things he got done as an undersized power forward/shooting guard for the Vikings. I hope I’ve been able to get to him to apologize in person before he reads this.
• Tigers honored — Also learned that two members of the Paris boys basketball team were honored by the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association on its 1A/2A all-state teams. Dalten Temples was on the fourth team and Cory Cunningham earned honorable-mention honors.
Andy Amey can be reached after 4 p.m. at (812) 231-4277 or at 1-800-783-8742; by e-mail at andy.amey@tribstar.com; by mail at P.O. Box 149, Terre Haute, IN, 47808; or by fax at (812) 231-4321.
Amey Takes Aim
AMEY TAKES AIM: You’ll be having a good ol’ time on vacation with the Ameys
- Amey Takes Aim
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Amey Takes Aim: NHL playoffs to put TVs to good use
If Jenny had known, she probably wouldn’t have bought that TV.
But four or five years ago, my Fathers Day present — for those unfamiliar with Amey family traditions, the Fathers Day one is “let’s get something we all really want and pretend it’s a gift for Dad” — was a 42-inch Vizio. It’s been used even more than the cell phone I never would have bought for myself, or the TomTom that disappeared since Jenny’s smartphone arrived.
And it came with high-def.
I’m not going to insult you by telling you how great high-def is, because to do so would be to imply that you are even farther behind the technological curve than I am. I’m guessing, however, that not all of you have yet discovered what it does for hockey. -
Amey Takes Aim: Can’t bottle the joy of Amey vacations
The first bad sign was the Gatorade bottle.
In the Bataan-Death-March drive to Orlando that got the Amey family spring break vacation off to a bad start, seeing it between lanes of I-24 — as we zipped along at a 100-miles-in-five-hours clip — filled with an ominous yellow liquid was a little bit scary. And although we didn't stop to check for sure, I'm fairly certain I knew about its contents.
And the person stuck in the same traffic jam with us, the one with the existential license plate YMIHR4, couldn’t have asked a more pertinent question.
But, after seeing a lot more of Oak Grove, Ky., than we’d planned, and after enduring more traffic slowdowns in Nashville, we were on our way. Even some rain in the dark in the Smokies didn’t slow us down much, so you would think our first-day troubles were over.
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ANDY AMEY: Farewell to basketball
I believe you’ve heard me say before — just about a year ago, perhaps — that a boys high school basketball season that ends with the Tribune-Star in Bankers Life Fieldhouse can’t be considered a bad one, which is why we have a little celebrating to do thanks to the Linton Miners.
Lover of irony that I am, I’ve also got to point out that this season was another branch sprouting from the Wabash Valley’s most legendary coaching tree, that of Joe Hart.
Joe never got much credit for his work at Dugger, but he took Brody Boyd, Clark Golish and the Bulldogs to a state championship game in 2000, and since then three of his former players — Joe Pigg, Clint Swan and now Joey Hart, his son — also have coached teams in the final game of the season.
Joe probably wishes he could take credit for Doc Nash, another down-home type who gave a banjo lesson earlier Saturday in leading Borden past a bigger, more athletic Triton team (banjo lesson is a Howard Sharpism, for you younger readers), but his lineage is still the best I can think of around here. -
AMEY TAKES AIM: Maroons, Rox final a true Classic
I don’t make predictions nearly as often as I used to, but I had one several months ago that was proven correct last week.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Nitpicking aside, West Vigo Hall of Fame selections spot on
I can’t imagine a better first class of inductees into the West Vigo High School Athletics Hall of Fame than the one that was feted Saturday night in the Jim Mann Green Dome.
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Tough bunch of people
I’m getting my warm clothes ready for a trip to Linton this week, and if a few thrills from the Miners, Casey or North Vermillion happen the next couple of weeks, I hope I get to see them.
But high school football is over in Vigo County for the season — as coach Chris Barrett of Terre Haute North said, prematurely — and I’m sadder to see it go than usual.
Walking the sidelines and doing midweek or postgame interviews enables me to meet quite a few of the guys whose names you are about to read, and haven’t been more impressed than I was this fall. What outstanding groups of young men. What a tough, tough bunch of people.
Many know that one of my favorite athletic adjectives appeared consecutively in the previous sentence. -
AMEY TAKES AIM: A weekend to remember with ISU’s ’72 football team
They’re all still pretty hale and hearty, the boys of the fall of 1972 who returned to campus over the weekend to honor their former football coach.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: ISU reunion raises more questions than answers
One of the wrestlers I used to hang out with occasionally claimed to be a pretty good second-story man — although he may have just been talking, since I never saw any of the goods — and it was with him in mind that I was able to get access to the Indiana State Wrestling Alumni Reunion late Saturday night.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Deciding not to ‘vacate’ during ‘vacation’ – & other ventures
Flaunting the law, setting a bad example for the kids in other ways, grooming and acquiring dogs … not a typical Amey family vacation, but an appreciated one just the same.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Huntsville’s Stars, Havoc take back seat to GGS
The second-best thing about the Amey family’s spring-break trip to Huntsville, Ala., is that we left a lot of things on the table to do the next time we’re down there.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Rox well represented on Amey teams
If having the state finals in town makes it a successful girls high school basketball season, then certainly having a team to follow at the state finals makes it a very successful boys high school basketball season . . .
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AMEY TAKES AIM: A feeling of pride, not disappointment, comes from watching Rox play
It’s not going to come as a startling admission that I — once the rest of the local opposition has been eliminated from consideration — am an unabashed fan of whatever team the Wabash Valley sends onward in postseason high school sports competition.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: This private school plays basketball the right way
Any girls high school basketball season that ends with state championship games in Hulman Center is a pretty good one — even though I wished I’d seen Riverton Parke and Seeger knock off a couple of private schools the week before to even the public school-private school battle a little bit.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Even 2 of state’s best once had doubts
Look at them now.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Getting ready for the dance
Terre Haute North got the good news Sunday night — or did it?
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Harrowing path for state hopefuls
The bad news is that the winner of Class 4A Sectional 13 in boys basketball heads northeast instead of southeast for regional play in March — to Hinkle Fieldhouse instead of Seymour as a result of Indiana High School Athletic Association’s changes.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: A superior all-star arrangement
I don’t work on Wednesdays, so I wasn’t able to attend the first Wabash Valley Football Coaches Association draft last week to set up the annual all-star game that will be June 23 this year.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: The biggest & baddest of a holiday classic
There are more things to love about the Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic than could fit in this newspaper, but one of this year’s best things was that for an hour or so on Wednesday, it was Justin Paddock’s world and we were just living in it.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Taking note of ISU’s latest football win
The biggest difference I’ve noticed, as I transition from the high school football beat to quasi-official status as the Indiana State football beat writer for a few weeks, is the length of the games.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: IHSAA playoff draw not as bad as it could have been
First reaction to the Indiana sectional football pairings drawn late Sunday by the Indiana High School Athletic Association? It could have been a lot worse.
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ANDY AMEY: Between the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame & a hard place
Just in case any of you noticed — with some anticipation — the recent lack of my bylines, I can tell you that your wish (and mine) did come true. It was vacation week for the Amey family.
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Amey Takes Aim: UFC fighter’s bloodines traced back to ISU brothers
As a mild-mannered reporter from a great metropolitan newspaper — or thereabouts — I admit I haven’t paid much attention to the burgeoning mixed martial arts scene.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Predators’ win is music to new fan’s ears
For many, many years, the number of live games televised on WGN has been cited as perhaps the main reason for the popularity of the Chicago Cubs (it’s got to be something besides masochism, right?).
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AMEY TAKES AIM: You’ll be having a good ol’ time on vacation with the Ameys
When one of the first people you meet is Tammy Wynette’s stepdaughter, when you’ve stepped on the feet of people you haven’t met while trying to navigate Ernest Tubbs’ old Silver Eagle tour bus, and when the activities director of your resort is, well, Elvis, you might be vacationing in Nashville.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: The Annual All-Amey basketball teams close out the prep season
The most encouraging boys high school basketball event I’ve attended so far in 2011 has been the Lafayette Semistate a couple of weeks ago.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Family remembers Cheryl Weatherman as caring grandmother
As far as Riley and Keely Davis are concerned, Cheryl Weatherman was simply their grandmother, and a pretty darn good one at that.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Honor to see Turkey Run girls close out memorable career
I don’t know if anyone in this part of the state could actually say they enjoy going to Fort Wayne and back, but I was glad to see the Turkey Run Warriors play one last time during the girls basketball state finals Saturday.
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So many matches, so many favorites
Go ahead, ask me anything about the 224 wrestlers who competed last week at the Indiana state finals — or at least about the 112 wrestlers who survived Saturday’s first round.
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ANDY TAKES AIM: A sportwriters’s lament: Oh, the games we missed
I was already tired of winter by the time that first bitterly cold snap passed through in mid-December, so it’s safe to say the season hasn’t grown on me.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Time of the season for teams to tough it out
In the last month or so I figure I’ve seen at least four boys high school basketball teams with legitimate state-championship dreams as the season heads into its dog days.
- More Amey Takes Aim Headlines
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Tiger on Sergio: 'It's Time to Move On'
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Paris, Prince Depositions Used in Jackson Trial
Family Tweets Say Kim Kardashian Gives Birth
Falling Cable Hurts 10 NASCAR Fans
Obama Renews Call for Nuclear Reductions
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Miami Heat Wins in Overtime
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Fists, chairs fly in restaurant brawl
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Hairy Leg Stockings Aim to Deflect Male Attention
Inside Kim Kardashian's Premature Labor
Three Charged for Enslaving Mother and Daughter
Raw: Huge Fire Near Yosemite National Park
Spurs' Popovich has no problem with Spurs' intensity
RAW: NSA Director Says 50 Plots Foiled
Paige Butcher Scorches on Hawaii Beach
Video: worst way to load cargo onto a plane
Never-before-seen footage of '08 Times Square bomber
