Ducks and Camo

         I have fallen in love with a bunch of guys who are already married…well, except for one and he’s free.  (Cue ZZ Top)  These guys have long hair, long beards and mostly wear camouflage, things I normally don’t like, but they appeal to me in a way that no one has since Adrian Paul (and it ain’t their looks).

         Meet the Robertsons from Monroe, Louisiana.  I know.  They’re a scary looking bunch in their camo and black face paint.  However, these guys are rich (millionaires) and they have their own television show – “Duck Dynasty.”  To their credit, they are devoted family men, God-fearing and about as funny as anything on television.  I watch them every Wednesday night at 9:00 pm and I haven’t been disappointed yet.  Their show centers on their duck call business, Duck Commander, which is a multi-million dollar enterprise. 

The real fun comes when you realize that most of the employees at the business are family (and as Willie tells them “I can’t fire family” even though he wants to), a rough and tumble family that does some of the stupidest redneck things I have seen (yes, Jean, these guys rival my barn boys).  I have laughed until I couldn’t breathe over the uncle's, Si, antics (he’s the free one), and then felt a kinship with him when he explained his blue Tupperware cup was the same one his mother sent him while he was in Viet Nam.  He still carries it and drinks sweet tea all the time.  The father, Phil, is a college graduate (Louisiana Tech) and was the first string quarterback, ahead of a guy named Terry Bradshaw.  Phil was drafted to the pros but it interfered with duck hunting so he didn’t go.  Phil started the family business, making duck calls, in 1973 but Willie, one of his sons, took it into the mainstream.  Jase, another of Phil’s sons, invents new duck calls and, to be honest, sometime I worry about him – he’s a bit slow (I think it’s an act because he can hold his own with Willie). All of the boys graduated from college and they ain’t your average run-of-the-mill rednecks – they just choose to be as they are.  Willie, Duck Commander’s CEO, tries to keep control but it’s awful hard when these guys always have something planned, either hunting, fishing or playing practical jokes.

Seriously, though, I enjoy the show because this family loves each other.  They may get mad or do things but the show always ends with all of them sitting down to a meal at Miss Kay’s (the mother) table, saying grace and enjoying each other.  All of them married their high-school sweethearts and remain married today.  I know, I can hear all of you saying, “Who wants to watch a bunch of bearded red-necks running around doing brain-damaged things?”  Give it a shot.  You’ll be hooked on how they react to things, how they love each other and just how funny some of it is.  Oh, by the way, some of them will be in Florence on August 11^th.  I hope I can go…my sister wants to meet Si (he's the one in shorts).

Do you have a favorite television show?  Do you like reality shows?  How do you feel about the latest upsurge of television shows featuring people from the South?  I think we’re an interesting bunch – the rest of the country just doesn’t know that to be Southern you have to have some crazy relatives who do things which involve guns and blowing things up.  Duck Dynasty fits the bill (no pun intended).