Well, I’m stuck in Dallas due to a flight delay that I know nothing about and I can’t get a car rental to get back to East Texas.
But man, this trip out to Nashville has been intriguing.
Right now, in the terminal, there is one elderly individual bouncing back and forth between listening to some sort of informative video about Bethlehem and trying to learn Hebrew, I think, which all seems like a commendable (and also likely a difficult task to embark upon). There is another elderly individual who is wearing wireless, bluetooth headphones that appear to have noise reduction all while being on a phone call with someone on speakerphone and raising their voice to inform the individual on the other end of the line that they are indeed there.
Yesterday, on my flight from DFW to Nashville, I saw a guy who was dressed head to toe in Oklahoma Sooners gear. He was wearing an Oklahoma hat, an Oklahoma shirt, and had his luggage wrapped in an Oklahoma luggage strap.
I think he either went there or worked for them or coached for them. Or maybe he just likes them.
People are the absolute best and they are absolutely fascinating and so much of this trip has been defined by that.
It’s been such a quick turnaround on this one.
I left work yesterday, drove to Shreveport, took a flight to DFW, and then ended up making it into Nashville around 11ish last night, ultimately ending up at my hotel and in my room around midnight. After getting some work done, I called it a night (morning?) around 2 a.m.
That, plus a quick wake up and walk down to Broadway to get to the most ornate and fascinating Raising Cane’s location I’ve ever seen by 8:30 equaled a somewhat tired Ethan, but also an Ethan that was definitely ready to chat with Kirk Herbstreit as part of a press conference.
It sounds like a lot, but it was shockingly restful? I don’t know how that works.
While traveling and trying to prep for the press conference (and also work a bit ahead on the content that I wanted to write about for this event while trying to juggle making some progress on stuff for my day job), I was clearing out some files on my phone and noticed that my phone had a bunch of music files from when I was in college.
Which honestly was a very refreshing discovery given that the last time I was in Nashville was shortly after graduating from Mississippi State and during my first round of grad school before I went broke and dropped out (shoutout to the University of Houston-Clear Lake).
Stumbling across a bunch of music from a different era of my life was fun. And it also helped pass the time on the flight as I went through the files to see what I was listening to from 2013-2019. Now, a quick disclaimer, it didn’t take me that long to graduate from MSU, I wasn’t the best student ever, but I did graduate in 4.5 years (thanks to a small handful of summer sessions). That’s just the season in which I listened to much of this music.
There were some notable missing parties involved. Jimmy Buffett’s catalog somehow didn’t make it to this phone.
But Kevin Gates’ “I Don’t Get Tired” did make it to my phone? Which, you know, I can sympathize (and also probably empathize a fair but) with a dude who works a number of jobs, but I definitely do get tired.
Like on this trip. I was a bit tired.
But getting to stay in downtown Nashville? That rocked. Getting the chance to walk around Broadway and briefly see some sights early in the morning? I’m a fan of that.
I’m also a huge fan of the way Raising Cane’s and their PR team pulls off these events. I’ve mentioned it before (and I need to mention it again and circle back to my recent trip out to Palm Beach to chat with Paul Skenes and finish up that content, sorry for the delay, Amy!) but these events truly are impressive.
There’s a very unique blend of hospitality, public and media relations, influencer marketing, niche media interactions (which is probably where I fit in, I think) and then scripted marketing capture that is all done so efficiently and effectively. This team is incredible and deserves so much recognition for the work they do.
It’s a genuine joy to be able to witness the work they do and to travel for this sort of opportunity (and I’m very grateful for my boss who helps make that possible, if you’re reading this, thanks Kate!).
Also, hey, the Raising Cane’s location on Broadway is incredible. That can’t go unmentioned. We should talk about that. It fits so well within the overall Broadway vibe and that really is such a fun thing to see.
I do want to take another opportunity to thank Olivia for inviting me out for this trip. No clue if she (or anyone else) is going to read down this far here, but her patience with my previously missed emails is remarkable (I’m working on setting up a better workflow for navigating multiple emails addresses).
This trip was a joy from the travel end of it all and the event, but it was also enjoyable to get a bit of insight from Kirk Herbstreit on his thoughts with the state of college football. Getting some candid comments there (I’ve already written some on this, but more on that in a bit) is always welcome given the overall platform that he has as one of the most noteworthy voices in all of college football.
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