Fast Eddie's Take on Tulane-Temple
My long-time "friend," Fast Eddie, has found me again. After taking last week off, for reasons I am sure will be explained to me whether I desire it or not, Eddie finds a way to locate me. I would say he has me on that Find My Device app on his phone, but I think he only has a landline in his house. I wouldn't know, since I've never been there. Just a hunch.
As I am enjoying a nice coffee with my wife at The Bean Gallery, in walks in Fast Eddie, holding the door for the young couple walking out. I'm not quite sure if he holds the door for others to be polite or for an extra long look.
"Good morning, Douglas," Eddie rings out as he lets the door go. "Hello, Mrs. Douglas," he says to my wife. He's never found out my better half's name. Maybe that's a good thing.
"I was busy last week," Eddie says, almost as if he knew I was wondering where he was. "My daughter is playing her first official season of tackle football, and I'm helping coach the defensive line. They're coming along. Tell ya what: those wide bodies don't let anyone past them," he says, referring to his daughter as one of those being described as wide.
Without missing a beat, and hardly taking a breath, Fast Eddie switches to this weekend's Tulane-Temple game.
"Sumrall is right," Eddie spreads his hands in explaining. "Temple is scary. They're good on defense, don't turn the ball over on offense. This is not the same Owl team that got beat by 46-points last year by the Greenies."
He calls out to someone in line by the counter, as if they will order a coffee for him, but he is ignored. "Guess I'll have to do it myself," Eddie pouts.
"Money is being laid on Tulane," Eddie points out. "The spread has moved a bit in the Greenies' favor, but I'm not feeling it. Last year, Tulane collapsed at the end of the year, and with all the Sumrall rumors flying around, I get the feeling this team is gonna be distracted. I'd say take Temple and the nine-and-a-half points."
As "Mrs. Douglas" and I get up to head out, Fast Eddie says goodbye and shoves himself in line with the unidentified person he yelled to earlier, much to the chagrin of those behind him.
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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.