Forgetting and Remembering on a Friday

I've been working my tail off this week to finish a few newsroom projects and get my upcoming series "The Long Road Home" set for WKYC. Two things stand out tonight.

First, I was so swamped that I emailed Jody Miller and David Giffels to make sure they were set for tonight's taping of NewsNight Akron. Turns out, they weren't scheduled for tonight's NNA taping. Instead, it was Steve Hoffman and Phil Trexler. I was just moving too fast when I looked at the schedule of panelists. Steve, Phil, Ed Esposito and I had a spirited discussion about "Perfect Beauty", the new hospital, the Summit County GOP, and the Taser Trial among other issues. It airs tonight at 9 p.m. on PBS 45/49. Too bad I added undo stress to David and Jody's worlds.

Second, it's funny keeping an eye on the Tribe tonight. Billy Traber is on the mound for the Yankees, but he used to be in the Indians organization. A few years ago, I was assigned to interview Traber after he was traded to Cleveland by the Mets for Robbie Alomar. Just my luck that Traber was sent to Akron to play for the Aeros.

So I run over to get the standard "how's it feel to be in Akron?" interview. I waited around for Traber in the locker room, and when I finally saw him I asked for an interview just as he was getting in line for some afternoon food. He said "OK" and we stepped out into the hall to get away from the noisy locker room.

As my videographer fired up the camera and the light, I notice that Traber is holding a piece of bread in each hand. One has bologna and mayonnaise and the other has ham and cheese. I have no idea why he didn't just put the pieces together into a sandwich or just set them down on a plate until we're done. Oblivious to how this looks, Traber justs says "let's get this over with."

My first question was, "what do you hope to accomplish with the Indians?"

Traber responded with "I want to be my own person and be a unique player."

So my followup question was, "how will you go about doing that?"

Traber responded with "by looking to the guys who've come before me and trying to use them as my role models."

Huh? Didn't he just contradict himself?

Again .. just remember that Traber has a slice of bread with meat in each hand .. and his hands are spread apart like a 2-year-old saying "sooooo biggggg"

I realized I was getting nowhere and told Traber, "thanks I think we've got everything we need."

From then on, Billy-the-kid became known as "Mr. Room Temperature IQ" in our newsroom.

And to think he's now pitching for the Yankees???? I can only assume that someone else prepares his sandwiches.