Fast Eddie Gives his TU-TU Pick
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The line is even longer this month and especially on Wednesdays. That's when Parkway Bakery and Tavern puts its blockbuster Thanksgiving po-boy on its menu for lunch. Layers of white and dark turkey meat with an entire slab of dressing and a thick smear of cranberry dressing on French bread. It is to die for, and my wife and I were not going to miss it this year.
Last year, we let the season catch up on us and missed my boss' favorite sandwich. It was not going to happen this time, as we got there at 10:00 a.m. this past Wednesday and the line was already winding its way up Hagan, which is where we found my "buddy" Fast Eddie. Or should I say, he found us. We had already stood there for a few minutes when I hear him calling from behind.
"Hey, Dougie!" I hear Eddie bellow as he walks up to us. "This is the day I plan for every year. If I could do this four times this month, I would, but my daughter can't have that much carbs. She's working out to join the wrestling team at school." She is standing next to her dad, waiting for him to conclude his conversation, waiting as patiently as a teenager can wait. "She's gonna make it this year," he says, hugging her from the side, the public display of affection by her father making her even more uncomfortable, which I didn't think was possible.
"Aren't you going to get in line with the rest of us?" I ask him.
"Nope," he says succinctly. "They've got that wheel you can spin to skip it, and I'm gonna spin the wheel. You gotta put up a hundred bucks, but to not be back there," he points down the line snaking behind us, "it's worth it."
Before I can ask where he was able to scrape together that kind of money, he answers me. It's almost like he can read my mind, which is sort of scary.
"The Greenies have made me some money this year," Fast Eddie begins. "Except for that Roadrunner game, I've pulled it in. Got to get my little girl here some nice duds," motioning to the jeans with multiple holes in the legs and her dangling ear rings, "and afford for us to skip the line today.
"I like what I'm seeing from the Greenies," my "friend" continues. "They're starting to string together some good possessions, and it's about time Hall started calling plays. I could tell from that first drive last week that it was him doing it. There was a flow to it, ya know? And the D put it together in the second half.
"Now, I know that was a crappy team," he said, whispering the word "crappy" hoping his daughter wouldn't hear it. She looks down and blushes slightly, embarrassed once again, "but a win is a win, no matter how bad the other guys are.
"By the way, they don't get hurricanes in Tulsa, do there?" Eddie inquires, asking about this weekend's Tulane opponent, really not waiting for an answer. "That's gotta be the dumbest nickname for a team since calling yourself a color like Stanford does." He starts to walk away. "I like the Greenies in this one and the points."
And Eddie and his daughter wander off toward the clicking sounds wafting from the patio behind Parkway, skipping the line to enjoy their po-boy before the rest of us.
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Doug has covered a gamut of sporting events in his fifty-plus years in the field. He started doing sideline reporting for Louisiana Tech football games for the student radio station. Doug was Sports Director for KNOE-AM/FM in Monroe in the mid-80s, winning numerous awards from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for Best Sportscast and Best Play-by-Play. High school play-by-play for teams in Monroe, Natchitoches, New Orleans, and Thibodaux, LA dot his resume. He did college play-by-play for Northwestern State University in Natchitoches for nine years. Then, moving to the Crescent City, Doug did television PBP of Tulane games and even filled in for legendary Tulane broadcaster, Ken Berthelot in the only game Kenny ever missed while doing the Green Wave games. His father was an alumnus of Tulane in the 1940s, so Doug has attended Tulane football games in old Tulane Stadium, the Superdome, and Yulman. He was one of the 86,000 plus on December 1, 1973, sitting in the North End Zone to seeTulane shutout the LSU Tigers, 14-0. He was there when the Posse ruled Fogelman and in Turchin when the Wave made it to the World Series. He currently is the public address voice of the Tulane baseball team.