Is Foster Campbell going to go full Mel Kiper Jr. on SWEPCO this morning?
He’s probably not going to be irate like the iconic NFL Draft analyst was on ESPN’s draft coverage as Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders tumbled round-by-round into Saturday’s selection pool.
But our local veteran Public Service Commissioner has a long track record of railing against bad policies and procedures, which about 30,000 local residents suffered through during the six-hour hastily-arranged, unannounced outage darkening SWEPCO customers in Caddo, Bossier and Webster parishes Saturday.
Campbell has called a 10 a.m. press conference today at his Bossier City office, and unlike Kiper’s non-existent leverage with NFL owners and front office brass, he has the clout to summon representatives of the Southwest Power Pool and SWEPCO to explain themselves.
They’re not compelled to show. But they will, out of respect for Campbell, the PSC, and out of sense of responsibility to those impacted by the sudden shutdown.
“I’m not interested in finger-pointing,” said Campbell. “I want to know why it happened and what is being done to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
The explanation SWEPCO has provided is that SPP, which oversees electricity generation and transmission for utility providers like SWEPCO in a 14-state region, suddenly realized a need to “shed load” across several more densely populated areas. Failing to act quickly could have resulted in widespread outages and significant long-term damage to the power grid.
What escapes logic is that this happened with no advance notification. In this age of social media and apps and mass e-mails, even a few minutes of warning could have been extremely beneficial – starting with collaboration with local authorities who like everybody else affected, knew nothing until the lights went out.
Campbell will doubtless make that point today. The power people will make apologies, if not amends. Surely a much better game plan is already being developed for the next time. Right now, some who suffered want a pound of flesh, or at least, some reduction on their upcoming bills, an idea likely to gain traction at this morning’s confab.
At least one local businessman, Blake Jackson of Heron Restaurant, hinted at that while appearing on KTBS and KSLA newscasts Monday to express the distress created by Saturday’s shutdown. Hundreds of businesses took financial hits while retaining employees, blindly hoping the outage would be brief and customers would stick around.
Sanders knows all about taking a financial hit, not that it’s nearly as dire for him. He’s no one-trick pony. The difference in being a high draft pick and going 144th? About $40 million. Sanders will sign for about $4.6 million, and has to make the Cleveland Browns’ roster and stay there to collect all of it.
But his accountants will still be busy regardless of his football future. He is already a product along with being a passer. Deion’s son has charted rap songs and has endorsements with Nike, Beats by Dre and more, and his own 2Legendary brand, which have earned him the No. 2 NIL valuation among college football players, a cool $6.5 million. That will only soar now that his draft drama has galvanized a much larger fan base than he had this time a week ago.
Evidence? In just three days, Sanders is already third among rookies in sales of his new NFL jersey. Only the top two players in the draft, Cam Ward and Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, have better jer$ey number$.
His dad popped on social media Monday to correct a report about Shedeur’s big post-draft party where Dov Kleiman reported he “flexed over $100k in cash.” True. But said Deion: “Let’s tell the correct story now …. It was actually a gift that he received … and it was a million.”
Can son sparkle behind center without Daddy Deion setting the depth chart? If NFL talent evaluators are right, he has an uphill climb. One former player turned ESPN analyst, former Pittsburgh running back Merril Hoge, laid out the prevailing wisdom in front offices.
“The best way to sum him up is he’s a really good college quarterback,” Hoge said. “His accuracy is good. His processing is good. And when I say good, I use a scale from one to 10. So good is around five. …Those are the two most important aspects of transitioning to the National Football League, and then you build from there. Anticipation, pocket awareness and then we start building. But those two things, if you’re a five, you’re not a first-rounder. You’re not a franchise guy.”
But Shedeur is already his own franchise, whether or not he ever starts an NFL game. While his dad already has a spot in Canton, Shedeur is probably better suited for Rodeo Drive or even Wall Street.
Unless Mel Kiper Jr. is on the money — in a very different way.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com