The Other James Brown

This morning I attended the “Buckhead Businessman’s Prayer Breakfast” put on by Church of the Apostles, at the Cobb Galleria. Saw pastor Michael Youssef, who’s older than I thought, and saw Eldrin Bell slip in by himself. Sat at a table with Bob Abernathy. There were 136 tables seating ten each, and most were full. Matthew’s baseball coach Tim had invited me.

Bob Volyes introduced the speaker, James Brown, “JB” – the host of the CBS NFL pregame show, formerly on the Fox NFL pregame. I knew he was an Ivy Leaguer…Harvard. He went there because he was impressed by Bill Bradley. Drafted by the Hawks in the Maravich era but cut by Cotton Fitzsimmons, who told him he knew he’d be a success. JB told just a few stories, but mainly stuck to a timeline of his life. Told why he switched back to CBS from Fox…partly because LA-based Fox dragged their feet, but at the same time got a nice offer from NYC-based CBS. Lives in DC…his mother was sick at the time. JB has recently lost 30 pounds, and looked good.

Voyles was reading a list of JB’s accomplishments, and stopped after noting that JB was a part-owner of the Washington Nationals…and Volyes asked how they were doing. Kind of a cheap shot. Later JB said the Nats were on the right track, and noted that he was a minority owner in more ways than one.

JB also mentioned Tony Dungy’s book, which Ceil read while sitting around the hospital when her dad had surgery. She loved it. I saw Dungy on Letterman. People had wanted Dungy to write a book for year, but he never took the time until the Colts won the Super Bowl. The book people told him it would take 6 months to write and 3 to publicize. Dungy didn’t have that time, so he prayed. God told Tony to write the book and not worry about the rest. He wrote it (with help) in 2 weeks and traveled for 10 days in July to publicize it, including hitting all the Letterman & Leno type shows. The book people expected to sell 100,000 during the book’s life…instead it sold 400,000 copies in a month.

I’ll miss most of Will’s doubleheader tomorrow, as I have a meeting at Will’s school. Ceil is helping out with a wedding tomorrow afternoon/evening, with a friend who does flower arrangements.