It takes about an hour to call them all if nothing has happened - Memphis, Shelby County, the ‘burbs, North Mississippi and the surrounding counties. But this morning is different.

This morning takes a little longer. Not because of a sudden crime wave or a rash of fires but because of the Tigers going to the national championship.

“Hi, Commercial Appeal, anything going on overnight or early this morning?”

“Tigers won last night,” the dispatcher says.

They certainly did. By 15. In a Final Four game. Mississippi State posed a bigger threat than national powerhouse and media darling UCLA.

But the calls have a different air. A different tone. The responses received from dispatchers and police spokespeople are usually just this side of polite. Curt. Bored. Amused, even, as if I were silly to imagine ANYTHING could happen outside the Memphis city limits.

But this morning, everyone wants to talk, and they want to talk about the Tigers winning it all.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 6th, 2008 at 10:20 am and is filed under Memphis Overnight. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.