7.22.2021

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts




Timely.  


  • That escalated quickly: The Houston Chronicle rocked the college football world yesterday afternoon by reporting that OU and Texas had "reached out" to the SEC about joining the conference. 

    • I was skeptical at first until I heard that both schools had issued similar statements saying they "wouldn't address" the "rumors." Uh, oh. 
    • By last night, Orangebloods.com said it was a done deal as did WFAA.  
    • This is horrible. 
    • Other than money, I don't know why the want to do that. But it's a lot of money. 
    • Heck, I care about Baylor, Tech, TCU, and Oklahoma State. And West Virginia has to be thinking that recent marriage to the Big 12 didn't work out too well. 
    • It would take a 75% vote of SEC schools to accept the Evil Empire and OU which means four schools could block the move.  The Aggies have already said "no way", and I bet Missouri, which also fled the Big 12, would vote no as well.  I also suspect Arkansas wouldn't want the new competition.  Not sure about another. But the SEC always moves as one big cohesive unit, so I think they'll get together behind closed doors and take them with the Aggies being the lone vocal holdout. 
    • A few moments ago, a "conservative" Republican Texas lawmaker weighed in. He's not nearly as important as he thinks he is:

  • Intentional? The cryptic statement by the Plano PD is flat out weird. That was a natural gas explosion, right? So did someone turn an appliance on and was able to ignite the escaping gas? Wait, could Plano PD be implying this was a suicide? 

  • I wasn't familiar with the disappearance of this boy in Montague County. It happened in 2015 and a Nocona man became a "person of interest" (I hate that term) because he was the last person to see the boy alive. Cops then took his computer and shockingly found photos of the man allegedly molesting the boy years earlier. That man was then placed on trial this week in federal court in Fort Worth where a mistrial was just declared when a juror "injured" himself. The man has now agreed to plead guilty. 

  • I'm not sure I understand this. You send nude photos to someone and the recipient can be arrested for merely "threatening" to let others see them? It happened in Wichita Falls.

  • Jerry Jones was great yesterday in the "State of the Team" address.  His voice cracked several times as if he was coming to the realization that his reign will, sadly, come to a natural end in the future. But his profane laden story about what Barry Switzer said was comedic gold. The uncensored version of it is here.

     
  • My favorite Jerry line, as he teared up, was "I've had a lot of people tell me, 'You're naive,' or say, 'He's naive.' [Pause.] Well, it's a beautiful world.  It's a better world to be naive than to be skeptical and be negative all the time." Video.
  • So how high will this go? There's nothing to put the brakes on it this time (no mandated masks or social distancing) other than the fact that 40% of the population is vaccinated. Will it break last Spring's peak? Last Winter's peak? I don't have a clue. 

  • My paternal great grandfather came to Texas from Arkansas in 1905. Does that make me a fourth generation Texan or third? That is, does the "first generation" begin at the moment of crossing the state lines, or does it begin later when my grandfather was born? And you get to count your own birth as one of the "generations", right?  
  • How in the world does the OU/Texas story not make the front page of the Austin American Statesman?