Tim Wildmon: Hey, welcome back, everybody, to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. Thanks for listening to AFR and Today's Issues. In the name of the show, Tim, Ed, and Wesley, we are here, the three of us, and Chris. That's the room. He went back to his office, and Parrish offered to come over here because Steve Paisley, Georgia, developed a little attitude problem and decided he wouldn't come in. I guess we hurt his feelings yesterday or the day before.

Tim Wildmon: I just made all that up. I just made all that up, and it made Steve look bad, didn't it?

Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, it did.

Parrish: Especially Steve.

Tim Wildmon: Steve is away helping his wife, I think, with some situation, and he'll be back. He's fine, and he doesn't have an attitude problem. I was totally making that up. Parrish is with us. Parrish Offord, good morning, the pride of Denham Springs, Louisiana.

Parrish: You talk about somebody with an attitude problem. Parrish can bring it.

Tim Wildmon: I will just tell y'all that every college coach I ever covered said, "I do not discuss team matters," and there you guys are, just telling the whole world.

Parrish: You spent how many years in that? That was your profession before you came on with us.

Tim Wildmon: It was my profession for about 40 years.

Parrish: Forty years covering basically college athletics, right?

Tim Wildmon: Mostly college athletics during that time. Of course, some high school. We love high school football. Everybody kind of learns the ropes there. I did that myself.

Parrish: Yeah, you did.

Tim Wildmon: I did when I was in college and for a year or two after that. I did what they called "stringing" in the newspaper business.

Parrish: Stringing.

Tim Wildmon: I did some stringing. I was a stringer.

Parrish: Yes, to people who remember newspapers.

Tim Wildmon: Oh, yeah, I know what stringers are too. Go ahead.

Parrish: Now, out of all your accolades in college, we were meaning...

Tim Wildmon: Yeah, right. That one's the actual truth.

Parrish: Yeah, true. That actually happened.

Tim Wildmon: No, I didn't make that up. I'm not making that up. I did study journalism in college, and had I not gone to work here for my dad at AFA in the 1980s, I'd have been...

Tim Wildmon: Get back on here, and I'll tell you. If I remember the story correctly, I think you worked for one of the great old sports journalists in Mississippi who wasn't born here, Donald Dodd, right?

Parrish: Yeah, just in Columbus, Mississippi, at the newspaper, The Commercial Dispatch. I was there, and I covered high school football.

Parrish: High school football is where you earn your stripes if you're a newspaper writer. You have to go out to a lot of games in rural towns all over America on a Friday night. When I worked for a weekly newspaper and covered games, I had to take photos, not only cover the game but take photos for the newspaper.

Tim Wildmon: You were terrible at that.

Parrish: I'm just telling you, I covered high school football. I grew up with it the way you guys did. You take your picture, then write down something about the play and try to remember everything. Some of these larger high schools now, you go there and, in Tupelo, Mississippi, where we live, there's a big, nice public high school that does the play-by-play. It's like streaming the game on YouTube. It's like a small college, but that's not at every level of high school play.

Parrish: Back in my day, in the 1980s, when I was doing newspaper writing and covering football, you'd go out to the game and keep your own stats on a pad while you're on the sideline, trying to watch the game and keep up with the plays. You're the one who has to report, "They did this, they did that, who scored the touchdown," whatever. You have to get the names right.

Tim Wildmon: I can give you my shorthand. I can teach you the shorthand on them.

Parrish: Okay, well, if you didn't get your names right, or spell them right, guess who calls you?

Tim Wildmon: Oh, yeah, Mama.

Parrish: "Hey, you got my son's name wrong," and I'm going, "Lady, I got paid twenty dollars."

Tim Wildmon: Okay, I got home at one o'clock in the morning. "I'm sorry. I got the E and A mixed up in your son's last name. Please forgive me."

Parrish: That's funny.

Tim Wildmon: So you would go back to the office.

Parrish: I know people don't care about this, but Parrish and I really do. We're all newspaper people.

Tim Wildmon: Wesley didn't do the newspaper thing.

Ed Vitagliano: Right.

Tim Wildmon: We were writers. Wesley actually played. He played high school football. So we go watch the game, and then you come back to the office. At least, we'd come back to the office, and you'd have to look at your notes that had Coke spilled on them.

Parrish: Mustard.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah, mustard, and type up your story and get it done by a certain time because the paper has to go to press, right?

Parrish: Absolutely. Prepare to go to press by midnight. We call those deadlines.

Tim Wildmon: They're called deadlines for a reason. So anyway, those were the days. Parrish and I share a lot in common in terms of appreciation of what was formerly called the newspaper business, which is sadly going away. But he works for us at AFN.

Parrish: He does. Yep, American Family News.

Tim Wildmon: Now, all those years of covering high school football, you never had enough time to go on a cruise.

Parrish: I was too busy going on a cruise.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah, you've been on a cruise.

Parrish: I've been on one cruise. Listen, I have no interest. To each his own, but my cruise experience was not good at all. It left out of Mobile on a small ship that was built in the 1940s, and we barely made it back. I don't want to go on a cruise.

Tim Wildmon: Why is that?

Parrish: I really don't care for people.

Tim Wildmon: Well, you know, that's honest.

Parrish: People, you don't need to be on a cruise boat when you're stuck with them.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah, there's people. It's your stuff, people.

Parrish: Yeah.

Tim Wildmon: Well, stay away. Stay in your house. Whatever. But anyway, there was a cruise ship. The reason this came up is a cruise ship, right?

Parrish: Uh-huh.

Tim Wildmon: That's in New Jersey.

Parrish: Royal Caribbean. You know a lot of cruises, Tim. They go to sunny shores.

Tim Wildmon: Oh, yeah.

Parrish: They do tropical. That's the appeal.

Tim Wildmon: Yes, absolutely. I mean, it's in the name of the ship, Royal Caribbean. They were leaving out of New Jersey. This ship was leaving with, and this is a true story, folks, it just happened yesterday. They were leaving out of New Jersey, right?

Parrish: Yes, leaving out of New Jersey.

Tim Wildmon: And where were they headed?

Parrish: The Caribbean.

Tim Wildmon: Okay, they were headed to the Caribbean, but there was a storm. Royal Caribbean management said, "Hey, there's good news. We're not going to cancel, even though there's a storm." They got all these people, about 5,000 people, loaded.

Parrish: Yeah, they got them out in the ocean and then sprung them with what?

Tim Wildmon: Hey, we're not going down to the Bahamas.

Parrish: Yeah, we're not.

Tim Wildmon: They're supposed to go to the Bahamas, correct?

Parrish: They were supposed to go to the Bahamas.

Tim Wildmon: "We're not going to do that."

Parrish: That's unhappy people on that boat.

Tim Wildmon: "We're going to take you to Nova Scotia."

Parrish: That's a wait, what moment.

Tim Wildmon: Wait, what? We came here for the beach.

Parrish: How about the guy who had to go to the restroom? He came back to the pool and said, "I was hearing them say something over the loudspeaker. What did they say?"

Tim Wildmon: They said we're not going to the Bahamas.

Parrish: Well, where are we going?

Tim Wildmon: We're going to Nova Scotia.

Parrish: This is to get out of the bad weather.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah, they had a massive storm out in the Atlantic, right? That's the reason they had to switch destinations.

Parrish: But that's more than switching destinations. They switched plans right there, my friend.

Tim Wildmon: Well, it's not like we're not going to the Bahamas, but we're going to go to Mexico.

Parrish: That's what I'm saying. You're going to swap a warm country for a warm country in the Caribbean or wherever else.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah, because we've all heard of cruise ships during hurricane season having to avoid storms, so they go around them. They go to Jamaica instead of going to Cozumel or something like that. No, they get these 5,000 people out there on the water, and then they say, "Oh, by the way, I don't know if we told you before we left the dock, but we're going to Nova Scotia," which is the land of Fred Jackson.

Parrish: Well, the Halifax mayor was eager to welcome this cruise ship.

Tim Wildmon: Okay.

Parrish: Let me just read you the quote here. He said, "So trade the flip-flops for the Blundstones, and the palm trees for the pine trees. Grab a toque."

Tim Wildmon: I know what a toque is because Fred Jackson is from Canada.

Parrish: Grab a toque, find a good bowl of seafood chowder, and explore our wonderful local restaurants, pubs, and shops, and tell them the mayor sent you.

Tim Wildmon: So he was very excited to welcome them. I appreciate his hospitality, but you've got people in this boat who packed for the beach, my friend.

Parrish: Yeah, this isn't a good situation.

Tim Wildmon: There's an answer for that. They packed their Hawaiian shirts and Bermuda shorts, and they're expecting to go have a little...

Parrish: Because they were going to the Bahamas.

Tim Wildmon: They were going to the Bahamas, and they headed off to Nova Scotia.

Parrish: Yeah, but the passengers were told, "Don't worry about it. There's a store by the waterfront selling sweatshirts and warmer clothing."

Tim Wildmon: Everything's there.

Parrish: Oh, listen, if I'm the captain of that ship, I'm asking to be helicoptered out because I'm not standing there with 5,000 people.

Tim Wildmon: I don't understand now, because the Bahamas is not...

Parrish: It's not Bermuda.

Tim Wildmon: Bahamas. Oh, Bahamas. Okay, yeah, it's different. So why did they, if the storm was in the Atlantic, why did they ever leave the shore in the first place? Why didn't they stay in the Caribbean? The nor'easter was going to go up the coast, wasn't it?

Parrish: It's a Royal Caribbean.

Tim Wildmon: No, no, I don't know on that end of it, but I'm more concerned with Tim's question here. Why didn't they stay in the Caribbean? At what point do you just say, "Hey, folks, we can't deliver on what we promised you, and here's your money"? Maybe here's some coupons so you can go get the buffet at the casino or something. What has to happen for that? They didn't sign up for a cold cruise.

Parrish: I know. What I understood was that they left New Jersey and were going to go to the Bahamas, as the cruise ship advertised, and because of the storm coming up, they had to go north to Nova Scotia. Maybe it didn't happen exactly that way, but anyway, we'll see.

Tim Wildmon: It's like the passengers have unlimited funds. "Hey, just go buy your cold clothing."

Parrish: Yeah, it's going to be a lot of fun.

Tim Wildmon: It's going to factor into the election.

Parrish: Huge issue for at least 5,000 people.

Tim Wildmon: The cruise vote.

Parrish: Yeah, it can really turn out.

Tim Wildmon: That's what I'm talking about. You had your own topic there.

Parrish: Yeah.

Tim Wildmon: All right, you're listening to Today's Issues on American Family Radio.

Tim Wildmon: Next story. When you guys were thinking of names like Wesley and William, all the W's that y'all ran through there, did you consult the top 100 baby names in America?

Ed Vitagliano: You know, I saw this yesterday, and I sent this story around that you're going to cite here because I thought it was very interesting how names change over time, the popularity of such names.

Tim Wildmon: So what are the most common names in the United States for babies in the year 2025 or 2026?

Ed Vitagliano: Well, I will tell you that we may have the makings of a dynasty here because Olivia for girls is the number one name, and Noah for boys. They're repeat champions.

Tim Wildmon: For the last two years, then.

Ed Vitagliano: Olivia and Noah.

Tim Wildmon: I like both those names. Olivia and Noah. Noah's making a comeback, like a 6,000-year comeback, Ed.

Ed Vitagliano: Six thousand years?

Tim Wildmon: Well, however long back.

Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, Noah.

Tim Wildmon: So Noah's number one, and Olivia has been number one for the last two years for baby girls.

Ed Vitagliano: Correct.

Tim Wildmon: What's the second most popular?

Ed Vitagliano: Eliana, I guess that's how you pronounce some of these names. I wasn't even able to pronounce it. How do you spell that one? Is that a girl's name?

Tim Wildmon: E-L-I-A-N-A.

Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. Where did they come from? She's number two. What did that name originate from? What made it popular?

Tim Wildmon: I do not know.

Ed Vitagliano: Okay, what's number two for boys?

Tim Wildmon: Among the boys, the most popular names after Noah remained unchanged.

Ed Vitagliano: Okay.

Tim Wildmon: Liam, Oliver, Elijah, and Mateo, which is Spanish for Matthew, isn't it?

Parrish: I think nobody gets much out of that.

Ed Vitagliano: What did you say?

Parrish: I said the name Liam was taken.

Ed Vitagliano: Taken?

Tim Wildmon: Liam. Nathan, you should have done that.

Ed Vitagliano: That one frankly went over my head.

Tim Wildmon: Well, okay, here's one for you. I'm making a big splash in the top 100, jumping up 40 spots: the name Magnolia.

Parrish: For a girl or boy?

Tim Wildmon: For a girl. Magnolia.

Parrish: Okay.

Tim Wildmon: Nationwide. I mean, make it in Mississippi, right?

Parrish: I know. That's some of these names.

Tim Wildmon: For boys, this is saying Milo broke into the top 100.

Parrish: I'm not getting that. Like sweet tea?

Tim Wildmon: Yeah, and then Stetson.

Parrish: I absolutely understand that. That's a cowboy. That's a good name.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah. So those names are...

Parrish: Arthur.

Tim Wildmon: Arthur, another boy's name.

Parrish: That's true.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah. You do the top 100.

Parrish: Okay, well...

Tim Wildmon: So you don't like the lifestyle section of our show?

Parrish: Well, there's...

Tim Wildmon: You know what I've noticed, though? We deal with a lot of people who go on our tours, and they're in their 60s, 70s, and 80s. A lot of folks in that demographic. I see, with a lot of names, that there are a lot of names that were extremely popular back in the middle part of the twentieth century that are no longer even used anymore at all.

Parrish: On my wife's side, her family, my mother-in-law's side of the family, I think all the women have at least Sue in their name, if not twice.

Tim Wildmon: Right.

Parrish: I mean, they all have Sue.

Tim Wildmon: Yes, yes. Very, very, very twice.

Parrish: I was kidding.

Tim Wildmon: Sue.

Parrish: Yeah, I mean, Sue.

Tim Wildmon: Sue, Sue, Sue, you know.

Parrish: I was trying to follow along. I was thinking of the double-Sue name and what that was.

Tim Wildmon: It's okay.

Parrish: Somehow, Sue Ellen's...

Tim Wildmon: I wonder if it says this name there. The name Mary was number one in the United States for probably about 30 years, maybe longer, in the middle part of the twentieth century.

Parrish: She had a good run.

Tim Wildmon: Mary did. M-A-R-Y, which of course is a biblical name, the mother of Jesus, and other Marys are mentioned there, Mary Magdalene. A lot of the names that had popularity back then, you don't hear baby girls being named Mary hardly anymore.

Ed Vitagliano: Also, what was your mom's name, Ed?

Tim Wildmon: Stella.

Ed Vitagliano: Okay. Well, do you hear Stella occasionally?

Tim Wildmon: That's why my granddaughter is named Stella. She's named after my mom, Stella.

Ed Vitagliano: Linda is my mom's name.

Tim Wildmon: Well, Linda is your wife's first name.

Ed Vitagliano: Your wife's name is Linda.

Tim Wildmon: Okay.

Ed Vitagliano: Well, Linda is, again, very popular, but if you find somebody named Linda, most of them are going to be 60-plus.

Tim Wildmon: I can give you a Mary who's about a year and a half old.

Ed Vitagliano: Mary Mark.

Tim Wildmon: Okay.

Ed Vitagliano: That's my granddaughter.

Tim Wildmon: Okay, well, that's good.

Ed Vitagliano: But Mary, now I tell you, the names that probably won't go away are Edward, your name.

Tim Wildmon: It's a classic name.

Ed Vitagliano: Oh, absolutely. It's classic.

Tim Wildmon: I don't think you're supposed to brag.

Ed Vitagliano: Well, I mean, I'm not responsible for it. It was given to me.

Tim Wildmon: But it is a classic.

Ed Vitagliano: It's a classic.

Tim Wildmon: Edward will be around because of Caesar's hand and other reasons.

Ed Vitagliano: Timothy, my name.

Tim Wildmon: I think that'll hang on in the top 50, probably, because it's a Bible name.

Ed Vitagliano: John.

Tim Wildmon: John will be around forever.

Parrish: Yeah, John will be around forever. I don't think you're ever going to see Parrish on this list.

Tim Wildmon: Your name is original. Why did you get named that?

Parrish: It took me very late in life to understand that it was my grandfather's middle name. Where it came from, I don't know. I was born in Louisiana. Louisiana doesn't call counties counties. They call them parishes.

Tim Wildmon: They do call them parishes, the government entities there.

Parrish: But that's with one R, and my name is spelled with two R's. It was my grandfather's middle name. It's devastating as a child to go to Six Flags, go in the gift shop, and never find the cup with your name on it. Never.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah, they got everybody else's name.

Parrish: My dad was named Donald, and you just don't hear Donald much anymore. Do you hear anybody under 50 called Don much?

Tim Wildmon: No.

Parrish: It's very rare.

Tim Wildmon: No.

Parrish: So there are some names that were extremely popular back in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s that aren't anymore.

Ed Vitagliano: People don't...

Tim Wildmon: I get it. And Sue.

Parrish: Sue.

Tim Wildmon: Yes, Sue's gone.

Parrish: Sue, Jan. You don't hear Jans anymore. You don't hear Bettys anymore.

Tim Wildmon: Right.

Parrish: Crockers. You don't hear that.

Tim Wildmon: Those people are still listening to this show.

Parrish: Okay.

Tim Wildmon: Okay. Let's move the topic over to you, Ed. We've run out of stuff to talk about here.

Ed Vitagliano: No, Parrish is a good one. Go ahead, Parrish.

Parrish: Next story. I'll tell you what, let's give the good people at Royal Caribbean some credit here. They didn't sail to the Caribbean, but they also didn't sail to Paris.

Ed Vitagliano: A lot going on in Paris. I don't know what they talked about.

Parrish: That's what we're in Ed's territory now.

Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, there's a football game there.

Tim Wildmon: That's what he wants to get to.

Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, there's a football game there this weekend. Really, the NFL is playing a game in Paris. When they scheduled this a year ago, they weren't having riots all over the country, right? The New Orleans Saints and the Pittsburgh Steelers are traveling over to the burning city of lights.

Tim Wildmon: I thought you were talking about the fires.

Ed Vitagliano: The light meaning there again.

Tim Wildmon: Look up Paris. I think it's called the City of Lights, if I'm not mistaken. But you know what? The NFL says, "We're going to hire some extra security, and we're going to go forward with it."

Ed Vitagliano: They're going forward with it. There have been some concerns expressed by some players, and some concerns expressed by players' wives. I'm sure they'll have extreme security there. Also, by the way, I would not want to be traveling to France right now because some of the major tourist sites people go to see are closed because of the riots and the violence.

Tim Wildmon: The Louvre. They got the Louvre shut down.

Ed Vitagliano: That may be, other than the Eiffel Tower, the number one tourist destination in all of France. Maybe Normandy would be up there, but at least in the Paris area.

Parrish: They're going to play some American football.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah, I know. I would be nervous if I were a football player. I very nearly was, but not in the NFL. I would be very nervous because you can fly from the United States to France, obviously, but then you have to go by bus from the hotel to the stadium, and you're vulnerable.

Parrish: Well, do you think these rioters may be looking for some international attention, more than they're getting, and do something at this ball game?

Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, doesn't that seem like just the great place to have a demonstration? The NFL is going to be there. I saw some comments from the Saints coach, Kellen Moore, who said, "Our guys will just have to make good decisions when they're out exploring the city."

Tim Wildmon: Sometimes that's not enough. Sometimes you're in the right place, and trouble just finds you.

Parrish: Good decisions. This is something like a third and ten.

Tim Wildmon: All right, observation: just make good decisions out there, people.

Parrish: You know what? Has anybody here ever been to the Louvre besides me?

Tim Wildmon: I've never been to France.

Parrish: Walker hadn't been, I know. Have you been?

Ed Vitagliano: The guy before me, Chris Woodward, has been there.

Parrish: You've been to the Louvre?

Ed Vitagliano: I went to the Louvre a couple of different times, three decades ago. You have to get tickets, I think, if I remember correctly. Maybe they've changed. It's an extremely popular place, and it's got artwork that is invaluable. You can't put a price on the Mona Lisa, for example, and there are a lot of other paintings and artwork exhibits in there that are old and classic. People come from around the world to go to the Louvre, but they closed it down because of security reasons.

Tim Wildmon: That's got to be frightening for the people of Paris and elsewhere in France.

Parrish: It is legitimately burning.

Tim Wildmon: It's on fire.

Parrish: Yeah, not the Louvre.

Tim Wildmon: Not the Louvre, but France.

Parrish: France, Paris, yeah.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah. I didn't realize until earlier this week that there were similar riots going on there in Italy.

Ed Vitagliano: Milan, not where we're going on our tour, so don't burn it for her. I've been promoting it, and I don't want to just go.

Parrish: Royal Caribbean, are they going to go there?

Tim Wildmon: Royal Caribbean is going to go.

Parrish: Okay, everybody, this is your captain speaking. We're going to Milan. We were going to go there. I know everybody was wanting to go to the Bahamas, and that's what you paid for and signed up for, but guess what, people? We're off to the Great White North.

Tim Wildmon: That's it. We're going to experience Nova Scotia like you've never experienced it before. Just learn to take one day at a time. Just live your life. Keep those bathing suits in your luggage. This is a test to see your patience and your understanding.

Tim Wildmon: All right, we'll be back tomorrow, everybody. Take care.