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By LAMAR THAMES

I have been a Jacksonville Jaguar season-ticket holder since the beginning. Until this year. Try as I might, I just couldn’t bring myself to sign up for another season. It just wasn’t in the cards.

Can Tim Tebow save the Jaguar franchise? It is a big responsibility, but I think he can do it.

Or should I say, the budget.

I’m sure you have heard of a little thing called the Great Recession? Well, I am one of the victims of it, going on almost a year now. The $700 tab for a pair of tickets for my wife and I was just a bit too steep for our financial portfolio. I know, we could get a four-pack or the new thing they are calling the flex pack, but we have passed on it for now.

I am sure that we will attend some of the games, but I just don’t want to invest several hundred dollars in tickets right now since one source of our family income  — unemployment checks — will be drying up soon. I would rather keep that money in an income-producing vehicle for the time being until one of two things happens: 1) I get a job, or 2) I win the lottery. (The odds of the latter happening are probably greater than the former, if only I would buy a ticket.

Anyway, I feel really bad about not renewing our season tickets. Especially since I keep getting emails from Jaguar owner Wayne Weaver telling me how much he wants me back.  I hate to disappoint him like this, but the reality is that these are tough times. Maybe next year. Read the rest of this entry »

Fred Taylor

By LAMAR THAMES

Fred Taylor is no longer a Jacksonville Jaguar and my wife and I have decided not to renew the season tickets we have held since the very first year. One thing doesn’t have anything to do with another, however. We were not going to renew our season tickets regardless of what occurred during the off-season. The two events are just coincidental.

I will miss seeing Taylor in a Jaguar uniform. He is as good an open-field runner as there has ever been in the NFL. I am not saying he’s the best back, just as good as anyone in the open field. As good as Emmitt Smith, LaDainian Tomlinson, Walter Payton, Jim Brown whomever. Even Gale Sayers. Fred’s 4.6 yards per carry over an 11-season career is testament to his running ability. I’ll never forget the big 200-yard plus day he had against the Steelers and all the other big games he had. You knew that once he got past the line of scrimmage that he was going to go for a few yards. And if he ever got into the secondary, look out; he was TD bound. Fred’s raw speed was awe-inspiring.

Read the rest of this entry »

Lamar Thames

Uh, oh!

Was Monday’s announcements of massive nationwide layoffs the flash-flood warning of an economic tsunami heading our way? 

School districts across the state are facing large budget cut that will force them to eliminate jobs. Home Depot, Sprint, Caterpillar and Pfizer are among the latest national companies to announce huge job losses. 

I am hearing talk of layoffs in nearly every walk of life these days, including the elimination of a job that recently hit home. Clear Channel Radio announced on Jan. 20 it was laying off 1,850 employes across the country. One of them was my son, Joe, an advertising sales person in Jacksonville. He lost his job on the day Barack Obama was inaugurated and the same day that both radio talk show personalities David Lamm and Joe Cowart lost theirs. Read the rest of this entry »

      Jacksonville, FL. – A seven-year old boy was at the center of a Duval County courtroom drama today when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him.

        The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with child custody law and regulation requiring that family unity be maintained to the highest degree possible. The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her.

    When the judge then suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried and said that they also beat him. After considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him.

    After two recesses to check legal references and confer with the child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the Jacksonville Jaguars, whom the boy firmly believes are not capable of beating anyone.