I will be going back to Memphis on January 1st to watch my Pirates play in the Liberty Bowl. I find it funny the role of Memphis in my life these last 13 years. That’s how long it has been since East Carolina went to the Liberty Bowl last. I was still in High School then and I made the trek with my parents to watch ECU beat Stanford on a cold dreary day. Later, I would live in Memphis for exactly one year and the city left me with some good moments, but overall, not really my kind of vibe. I’m debating where I should hit on my very short stay, coming in the 1st and leaving the 3rd. Even with only spending a year in a place, you can develop lots of favorites and it will be hard to do any of them justice. I’m interested to see how downtown has progressed. When I went as a teenager it was a wasteland besides Beale st. While I lived there the Fed Ex Forum had been built, and the Peabody Place mall made downtown nice and safe and more than just Beale St. Autozone Park is one of my favorite Baseball stadiums I’ve ever been in. Now Tower Records is bankrupt so I wonder what anchors that mall? I guess I’ll find out in less than three weeks. Of course, a Pirate Victory and I’ll be happy with the rest of the festivities, whatever they may be.