COUNTRY CONNECTION: Tim McGraw - The White Knight

BY PAUL KENT
FOR THE STAFFORD COUNTY SUN
Published: July 2, 2008

I’ll admit, Tim McGraw’s really inspired me. Like thousands of others through the power of YouTube, I watched McGraw pull a fan out of the crowd at a recent concert in Washington State, where he spotted the fan allegedly assaulting a woman, and cocked his fist before letting security handle the rest.

I’ve been calling him “‘The White Knight”’ in my head and on the air for the last few days since then, and his actions are the first bit of good news we’ve had in quite some time.

Think about it. All around the nation, we’ve got natural disasters, unnatural pollution, insane costs of living and absurd ways to cope with it. It seems as if things are collapsing around our ears. And then, in the midst of it all, an entertainer sees something he knows is wrong, stops it and goes back to singing without skipping a beat. (The fact that McGraw was singing “‘Indian Outlaw,”’ and launched back into the song with the line “‘I ain’t lookin’ for trouble,”’ made it even better.)

Is there much of that these days? You have Miley Cyrus discovering sexuality in front of 300 million people; you have Dave Matthews watching his concerts turn into riots; you have M. Night Shyamalan still making movies, regardless of how horrible they get; and let’s not even start on Zimbabwe. Things are rough all over. It seems like the bad guys are winning half the time, and it seems like we’re powerless to do something about it.

But that’s what Tim McGraw reminded the universe: you can make a difference. If you see something screwed up in front of your own eyes, and you have the power to stop it, you do it. No backtracking, no excuses. You fix it. You don’t accept the excuses of guys who later claim they were just trying to get closer to the stage for a song they liked. You do what you believe is right.

Tim McGraw scored one for the Good Samaritan. Hopefully, he’s inspired others to do the same. I kinda wanna start fighting crime after the show while dressed up in a rubber bat suit, but I think that gig might be taken. Besides, all McGraw needed was a cowboy hat, a tank top, and a fist; maybe he’s one up on Batman anyhow.

Paul Kent hosts Thunder After Dark, 7 p.m. - midnight weekdays and the Saturday Night Special, Saturdays 7 p.m. - midnight on Thunder 104.5 Everything
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