Scattershooting / It's Not A New Airport, But It'll Do

On this Labor Day weekend, I guess it's about time again to do another round of Scattershooting for all to read. As hard as it is to believe that fall is almost in the air, you know that you'll have plenty of options to keep you cool. Let this column be one of them....

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Lubbock's Preston Smith International Airport may actually see a possible upgrade in the next couple of years. Heck, everybody else in Texas has had or are undergoing some kind of overhaul at their airports. Dallas and Houston have had their makeovers. San Antonio, too. Even Wichita Falls had gotten into the act. Now, it looks like it will be Lubbock's turn. Next up is the link:

http://www.kcbd.com/story/36257114/l...lift-next-year

Lubbock Preston Smith definitely needs big change. I only wish that they could expand with more gates and include more airlines. Hopefully, we might see that with the new project, but don't hold me to that idea. What will happen, once all designs are finished, is a total visual makeover of the entire terminal, including possible relocation of different facets of the terminal to better serve the needs of travelers.

Let's hope that those behind this project won't sell the city short. They must dream big.

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The Classmates.com website has put together a new look, but still needs to work out some kinks. It's actually getting harder just to be able to browse different schools' yearbooks. You'd think that a website, when it makes changes, would make things easier for people....

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Houston is still trying to get past Hurricane Harvey with the feel-good story of great people helping people in the rescue and recovery process. And the hometown baseball team, the Astros, has certainly more than delivered to put smiles on people's faces. They won both games in Saturday's double-header against the New York Mets. And the acquisition of Justin Verlander is the most significant event of a season chock full of significant events. Wouldn't it be something if the Astros had a red-hot September, with Verlander helping get them into the playoffs, win the American League pennant, and win the World Series for the first time, culminating in the feel-good story of the year?

Stay tuned for what may be some of the most dramatic moments in Major League Baseball this coming month. The divisions won't have any trouble wrapping up, but the Wild Card will be where the real races are, including eight AL teams competing for two spots.

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Also more Houston Astros talk: The Astros have had many injuries to a bunch of key people this season. So much so that even radio broadcaster Robert Ford is also on a temporary "disabled list". Ford is recovering from an appendectomy. He'll return to the booth in a couple of weeks.

Speaking of returns, superstar shortstop Carlos Correa is back with the team today.

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Do you think that toilets are just too small? I do. I have a small toilet in my apartment. There needs to be a new decree: Toilets all over America need to be elongated. Period. When I'm hunched over on my toilet, it's a real squeeze trying to keep "the parts that matter" over the circular opening. Face it, sports fans, it's just not comfortable.

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Labor Day is about to come and go. This year, however, it will do so without Jerry Lewis. Even though the long-running MDA telethon has been off the air for a few years now, this Labor Day will be the first to take place since Lewis passed away August 20 at the age of 91. With all the attention given to the Harvey recovery efforts, you can bet that there will also be lots of giving and shelling out to the MDA for that cause.

One thing's for certain: Labor Day will never be the same again.........without Mr Labor Day, Jerry Lewis.

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Lubbock radio station KJTV-AM (950 AM and 100.7 FM) had an unusual format for the past few years, with news and talk in the mornings and early afternoons, and sports talk in the afternoons and nights. They had the best weather theme music of any Lubbock radio station.

All that changed a few weeks ago.

Now, 950, perhaps the most formidable competition for KFYO-AM (790 AM and 95.1 FM), decided to flip their format to all-sports. It had been the perfect talk station for the Hub City, but this is the new direction they're going, turning Lubbock into the only West Texas city to have three sports-talk outlets on the radio. Gone is their affiliation with Fox News, so now, that's up for grabs among the remainder of Lubbock's other stations.

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Spotted at a Lewisville, Texas, car wash: A sign that sez the gate "will close at midnight with it opening next at 6 a.m". Then it has a sign that reads "To open the gate, call xxx-xxx-xxxx".

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The city of Houston and the surrounding areas may have taken all the attention away from Corpus Christi during the last week. We must not forget the happenings in Corpus, where lots of wind damage from the Category 4 has decimated portions of the area.

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Frisco's Wakeland High School band is doing the right thing for Friday night halftimes. Nowadays, most schools are forsaking the idea of wearing uniforms for the performances early in the season because of hot Texas temperatures in August and early September. Not Wakeland. Band director Tanner Smith has his Wolverines donning their u-nees in game one of the season. This, really, is how it should be with high school bands. They should be in uniform when the games matter for the football players, what with all the money the school district takes on and funds raised by boosters to have those uniforms in the first place.

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Enjoy the early tastes of fall, everybody. We'll do some more of this later on.

And there you are.