Good morning Columbus —
That little game on Sunday. Bleh.
I am a big football fan, but the Brady-Belichick Bowl just isn’t doing it for me this year. Haven’t we been there, done that?
And double bleh to this: My team — the Green Bay Packers — is back home in the frozen tundra, crying in their cheeseheads, beer and brats and cruising Lambeau Field for Aaron Rodgers and Danica Patrick sightings.
So I have been searching, doing my darnedest to come up with some angle that will hold my attention when the Patriots and Eagles take the field in chilly Minneapolis on Sunday. The cutting-edge television ads? A wager — Americans are betting an estimated $4.76 billion on the game? Should I watch just to see if Bill Belichick can crack a smile?
None of the above.
I scored by finding a Columbus-based reason to watch the Big Game. Call it Team Generator.
Cummins Inc. has put out the word that it will play an important role at the Super Bowl.
Blair Claflin, the director of sustainability communications for Cummins, notes that U.S. Bank Stadium has two Cummins 60 liter diesel generators to provide emergency power in case of an outage. He breaks down the Cummins game plan, and here’s what he wrote:
1. OUR POSITION
The Cummins generators are permanent fixtures, painted to match the stadium’s dark-gray exterior. You might not even notice them walking by. But together they can generate some 4,000 kilowatts (kW) of power – enough to light up 200 houses – to keep players and fans safe, according to Dan Biro, General Sales Manager – Commercial Power Generation for Cummins Distribution Business based in the Twin Cities.
2. THE GAME PLAN
Stadiums use tremendous amounts of power, especially during spectacles like Sunday’s game. Biro says the Cummins generators would provide electricity for things like emergency lighting, the public address system and other functions needed to keep the more than 60,000 people inside the stadium safe during an outage. They would not power the lights focused on the field, the television-related equipment to broadcast the game or the power required for all the special events surrounding an occasion of this magnitude. Portable generators will bear some of that extra energy load and utilities design redundancies in their systems to help guard against any problems.
3. THE HOMETOWN TEAM
There will be at least one hometown team at the game. A large part of Cummins Power Systems is based in suburban Minneapolis. Cummins emphasized to officials when plans were being drawn up for U.S. Bank Stadium that its generators and transfer switches were designed by Cummins engineers in Minnesota, built by Minnesota workers at the company and would be serviced by Cummins technicians living in Minnesota. Given the critical importance of dependability, Cummins’ unique capacity to address almost any issue locally was impossible to match.
4. THE INTANGIBLES
There are other factors, of course, that make Cummins a fan favorite. They include things like the generators’ Smart Start feature, producing less smoke, which is especially important in an urban area like Minneapolis. The generators’ relatively compact design also scored points with officials given the stadium’s limited footprint, so close to downtown.
5. THE CUMMINS POWER SWEEP
Is it any wonder that Cummins generators also provide standby power to the recently built Target Field, home to the Minnesota Twins baseball team, and TCF Bank Stadium, home to the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers football team? You learn a move or two when you’ve been in business for nearly 100 years.
Columbus, here’s what else you need to know today —
The opioid epidemic: Mom feared she would be seen as a monster.
Rachel McCue’s story is chilling. The Bartholomew County woman was raising her son in a drug-dealing environment, and he died. She talks about what happened and what her life is like now. Click here.
Life at Bush’s Market.
Winter is sausage season. The rest of the year it’s all about tomatoes, sweet corn, potatoes, watermelons and more. The 1,000-acre family farm operation and market east of Columbus has branched out, offering more specialty products and even kale. Story and photos here.
Photo gallery: Dancing with the Stars Columbus Style
These dancers are ready for prime time. And the best part? They raised nearly $67,500 for a good cause. Above, Diane Clancy and Alejandro Rosales perform. Link here for all the photos.
What will be the fate of Carson’s?
Bon-Ton Stores Inc., the struggling parent of retailer Carson’s, plans to close 12 of its 53 Carson’s stores. There’s a Carson’s at FairOaks Mall in Columbus. Read the story here.
Update: Passenger in fatal crash listed in good condition.
Here’s an overhead view of the aftermath of an accident that killed a Brown County man in Columbus. Story here.
An interesting development in health care.
Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan announced they’re forming a health care company “free from profit-making incentives” to lower costs for their employees. “The ballooning costs of (health care) act as a hungry tapeworm on the American economy,” Warren Buffett said in a prepared statement. Story here.
Have a great day. Send your story ideas to [email protected].
