D.J.: And welcome to another installment of Net Poker: The Real Deal. Oh, poor Dean, he was in a catch-22 on the blind card question.
Doug: Yeah. I've always been of the opinion any game show involving a deck of cards is going to have its moments of fickle luck. There've been a lot of those situations in five years.
D.J.: Well, we'll talk more about fun and games in a moment. But we all know Dean's motto very well - "actual reality before virtual reality". Doug, I wanted to focus on two particular moments of "actual reality" that had an impact on Net Poker's five years.
Doug: Oh, wow, well let's start with the first one chronologically. Hurricane Katrina. Recently, we played the "Who and the Whats" theme in 5-Card Poker - where I'd identify the first part of a musical act and the players had to complete the name of the act.
As a demonstration, the first sample question I gave was "Huey Lewis and the…" and the correct answer is "News". Then we played "Katrina and the…" as the next example - and we wanted to get "Waves" out of the way as fast as possible - because the storm named Katrina turned out to be a nightmare we wished never happened.
Everyone who got through Katrina has his or her own story. And I'll tell mine here.
My wife, Cindy, had never been to New Orleans - nevermind she'd lived and worked here in the Hattiesburg, Mississippi, area for about five years at that point in time. We had heard "Wheel of Fortune" was taking their road show to New Orleans to tape three weeks' worth of shows. We applied for tickets, got 'em and made our plans from there.
We got tickets for the August 27, 2005, session - which was going to be the second week of shows. So we got there August 26th, dropped our luggage off at the hotel we were staying in Slidell, which is near New Orleans, and went to dinner soon thereafter.
We'd pretty much assumed on the way down Hurricane Katrina was just going to be Florida's problem and fizzle out soon thereafter. Oh no. On the way back to the hotel, we heard on, of all things, a Saints *pre-season* game on WWL 870, that Katrina gained strength and had her eye on Louisiana and Mississippi. And we were thinking if "Wheel" was going to cancel tapings, we might as well get outta Dodge.
D.J.: No kidding.
Doug: So we called the Ernest Morial Center - yes, *that* Morial Center - to ask if the tapings were still on, the lady on the phone said "yes", we checked out of the hotel, hung around the downtown area for a bit and then went to the Morial Center.
The session for the second week of shows was going to start at 3:00 in the afternoon. Before the show started, there was the one, the only, the legendary Charlie O'Donnell - exchanging in some banter and Q&A with the audience. I can only assume he does the warm-ups in California - because he did the warm-ups in New Orleans.
So the first show starts at 3:00 and the whole thing goes off without a hitch. Including performances from the guest in-house zydeco band, it took a brisk hour to put together just one half-hour game show.
D.J.: Probably would've been longer if Vanna were still *turning* the letters instead of *touching* them.
Doug: Exactly. Near the end of the hour there's the bonus round, of course. With everything happening and Katrina still in the backs of our minds at the time, the whole thing's a blur and I can't remember the name of the woman who won the game or what her bonus puzzle was. But I do remember, fondly, how it all ended.
Turns out the envelope she landed on the bonus wheel - had the hundred-grand - and she nailed her puzzle right off the bat.
D.J.: Wow.
Doug: Wow indeed. I told Cindy that was the second time in "Wheel" history the hundred-thou had been won in a road show. The first was during a teen week in Philadelphia. And after Pat threw to commercial, Charlie told the audience what I just told Cindy - about this being the second ever road show big win.
We stuck around for the second show in the session. Still, production-wise, a well-oiled machine. Second bonus round wasn't as great as the first. The guy spun, I think, 25-grand or 35-grand - and failed to solve his bonus puzzle. Pat pointed out the hundred-grand envelope was positioned about two or three spaces shy of what he spun.
D.J.: Close to a heartbreak.
Doug: Indeed. So anyway, it's 5:00, we look at our watches, we look at each other and we're thinking - let's go. While "Wheel" went on to tape three more shows and, wisely, decided to strike the set and get out of Dodge themselves, it turns out *lots* of folks in New Orleans had the same idea of leaving when we left. What was normally a two-hour commute ended up being more than a three-hour commute. But getting home was really the beginning of our story.
The next day was a Sunday - meaning my weekly classic rock-by-request radio show. Turns out it was much more of tracking Katrina and zero of the "fun" aspect. With about an hour left to go in the show, I told my radio bosses I'd better head home to my wife, have a little dinner with her, some prayer time as well - and then go on to the TV station.
And, wow, Katrina really proved to be the first test of our marriage. We were only married four months at the time. I stayed at the TV station for about four straight days, Cindy stayed at home, thankfully we had precious little damage around our place. And the recovery effort was just real slow in coming.
Even an hour north of the beaches of Mississippi, we still felt Katrina's wrath. But I think I can safely say more than 95% of our neighborhoods have recovered fully this far inland. Parts of coastal Mississippi, sadly, a different story.
Sadder still, if my recollection is right, about 14 people this far inland died as a result of the storm. And here on Net Poker, we had "The Ghost of Jay Stewart" as the announcer.
Now, "The Ghost of Jay Stewart" has been a long-running VBS joke. When something goes horribly wrong in any netgame, the host or someone else quickly points out the particular game is being haunted by "The Ghost of Jay Stewart". Well, after such a deadly storm, to me, it became a joke no more. So that's why we had the change in announcer.
But, getting back to Cindy and Katrina. About a month after the hurricane, we were gradually getting back to some sort of normalcy. The university she was working for had been closed, understandably, for nearly a month; virtually the same can be said for Southern Miss, the local junior colleges and local school systems. Through it all, I can remember thinking if we can get through a horrific hurricane, we can get through anything.
Well - almost anything. January of 2007, we were getting ready for the first Net Poker game of the year - as well as the year's first episode of The All New Big Risk. Also, Ryan and I were planning another tournament of champions on NMG-HSH. Outside of the Netgames world, Cindy and I were going to watch our Ohio State Buckeyes play against Florida for college football's national championship.
Now, please understand many of the details of that fateful night I wish to keep to myself. But I will say on the record, after I finished making a simple dinner of pizza and soda, I heard this scream from the bathroom. I asked, "Cindy? Are you OK?" Alarmingly, there was no response. I ran to the bathroom to witness the fact Cindy had suffered a seizure. The nightmare was underway.
About 20 hours later, she was feeling better. She was acting more like Cindy. She was seemingly improving little by little. Doctors wanted to do an MRI on her - and during that MRI, she suffered her second, and ultimately fatal, seizure.
Of course, *all* of my roles in life as a producer, a radio show host, a webmaster -- had to be put on hold as I had to start saying my goodbyes to Cindy and take care of other serious family matters.
After about a month, I returned to work on broadcasting and the internet. Admittedly, a slow return. But I was ready for some sort of normalcy.
And as I returned to the netgames world, I remembered how Greggo Wicker renamed his Cable 14 Productions operation of anime game shows into For Randy Entertainment - as a salute to Randy Amasia - God rest his soul. I felt like I had to doing something similar because I knew how Cindy loved to play games. We often played Scrabble, played along with "Lingo" on GSN and "Wheel" of course -- and Cindy and I even played several hands of Uno with my parents-in-law weeks before Cindy died. And let me state for the record I still claim my parents-in-law as such. So my netgames involvement came under the umbrella of CDM Enterprises -- CDM standing for Cynthia Deann Morris.
Here it is now a year and a half after Cindy died and after visiting her gravesite recently, on what would've been a third wedding anniversary for us, I'm starting to figure out what I'll do next in my personal life. And because it's my personal life, I won't reveal such plans here.
D.J.: (pauses) Well said. As you know I was happy when you two got married, I was happy when I met Cindy and I was hoping to learn how to scrapbook with her. But you know and I know she's with the angels now.
Doug: Amen. And we talk about Haley as the pilot dealer on Net Poker. I've unfortunately lost contact with her. Last time I was in touch with her was about a year before Cindy and I got married. Last known whereabouts were Gulfport - and I tried e-mailing her on the only working internet connection I had days after the hurricane. No response then, no response since. Haley, wherever you may be right now, I hope you're in a place of safety and you're well. And if you're seeing us right now, *please* give us a buzz and say hello.
D.J.: (pauses) On that note, this is a good time to say -- we'll be back in a moment.
(fade to black)
[UPDATE: Since this Net Poker special was unveiled, I am pleased to report Haley is safe, sound and well after the hurricane. She, wisely, relocated from the Mississippi coast. -Doug.]