Ah, the sounds of Downtown late at night. Usually I am a sound sleeper but last night I had insomnia for some reason. I was treated to an hours-long cacophony of engines revving, tires squealing, people yelling, car horns honking, and fire engine sirens. I had forgotten how noisy Downtown could get after midnight.
Riding those Bird or Lime scooters drunk will get you a DUI effective Monday thanks to a new Tennessee state law. Weird that a separate law had to be passed to cover the scooters. I thought the existing DUI law would have applied to any vehicle being operated on a Tennessee roadway. Col. Keith Watson with MPD said he hasn’t noticed a problem with drunk people riding scooters. He needs to come Downtown today and look around! I guarantee you it happens. I am 100% in favor of this new law. If you need to get from point A to point B, it’s too far to walk and you’ve been drinking, a Lyft or Uber is a much safer choice. Other options are The Lifter and Trips for Tips, two golf cart-based services that will take you where you want to go for free, but a tip is customary.
Memphis 901 FC hits the road today to take on Charlotte Independence. The game will be at 6:00 and will be on CW30 locally. Memphis’ soccer club made quite an acquisition this week, Brandon Allen, the 2016 USL Cup finals MVP.
Tonight’s the night someone walks out of AutoZone Park with a $5400 Rolex, and it won’t be because they stole it (although that would be a reasonable assumption, given that this is Memphis). The Redbirds are teaming up with Sissy’s Log Cabin to give away the watch, to be won the fan who guesses the time of the end of the game. Guesses must be in by the start of the first inning at 6:35. There’s a specialty ticket tonight, one that gets you a Cardinals giveaway without having to make a trip to St. Louis. It’s a double bobblehead of two of baseball’s great humanitarians, Yadier Molina and Roberto Clemente. Yadi was the winner of the Roberto Clemente Award in 2018. Following tonight’s game, there will be fireworks.
Social media taught me something I didn’t know yesterday and it’s useful information that I thought I’d share: If a service dog without a human approaches you, it is saying to you, “Please follow me, my human is down and needs help.”
The Grizzlies have released their 2019 Salt Lake City summer league roster. Jevon Carter, Ivan Rabb, and Yuta Watanabe are the most recognizable names, but there’s another on there I’m excited about – Dusty Hannahs, an Arkansas alum who has been a key player on G-League team the Memphis Hustle the past 2 years. Draftee Ja Morant is rehabbing an injury and will have to sit out Summer League.
Brandon Cunning will perform a tribute to Sun Records at the Dirty Crow Inn tonight 9 to midnight.
That’s it for now. Back tomorrow with more news.