Bright & Early: Hustle Back Edition

Good morning, Nashville. We’re not gonna lie: We were nearly convinced that football season wasn’t happening this year. However, the gates of the Baptist Sports Park swung wide open yesterday morning and many of our boys “shuffled” back into work after a 136-day vacation–or funemployment, if you will–following a new collective bargaining agreement reached between players and owners. (But seriously, “shuffled!?“) For those keeping track at home, our brand new rookie quarterback Jake Locker was one of the first through the gate, and the team managed to snatch up 14 free agents before the day was even over. And speaking of quarterbacks, the team finally struck a deal with former Seattle Seahawk Matt Hasselbeck in the wee hours of this morning , so it looks like we’ve finally filled that Vince Young-shaped hole once and for all. Training camp officially starts Friday and we certainly hope they can shuffle their way to the Super Bowl somehow, or at least a winning season.

• Tens of thousands of Nashvillians uninsured. Not only are 85,000 Nashvillians without health insurance (and that’s just the adults!) but an estimated half of them don’t even know about the low-cost safety net clinics in town. Only about 20% of all uninsured adults take advantage of these clinics which are largely government-funded.
• Kroger is as Kroger does. East Nashvillians are a little upset that the fancypants Kroger at Green Hills (which no longer seems to have valet parking?) got a pretty extreme makeover while the Eastland Kroger can’t even get fresh produce. “It doesn’t matter what your income is,” said East Nashville resident Elizabeth Bush, “You deserve fresh food.”
• Bits & pieces. A gay woman was asked to turn her “Marriage is so gay” shirt inside out at Dollywood … Nashville was ranked the third best value city in the country behind Omaha and Charlotte … Nicole Kidman is filming a new movie here in town, and we will certainly be all ears for any and all Matthew Goode sightings … The USPS is studying 62 Tennessee post offices for possible closure … Here’s a first glimpse of the new Metro school inside of the Hickory Hollow Mall … A local Iraqi refugee will be representing Tennessee at UNHCR’s Refugee Congress in DC next week.

Photo by Eric Chalifour.