9.06.2021

Random Monday Morning Thoughts




Even I was taken aback when I re-read a Random Thoughts post dedicated exclusively to my first softball game ever as a head coach.

  • The hardest working man in show business supports the working man in general but isn't taken the day off to celebrate the working man. 
  • The chart I normally use is taking the day off, so I had to order one from my graphics department.  We stand at 13,732. The high during this surge was on 8/24 at 13,982, but since then it has been a roller coaster with slight changes up and down. 

  • I guess they didn't mind getting their photos taken. (Sound like momma did it.)

     

  • Horrible Covid reporting by the Rolling Stone over the weekend. 
    • Their story.

    • Their retraction.

  • Baylor says this isn't about political correctness but to just be more in line with what they call their other female sports teams. The only female identifiable names in the Big 12 are now the Texas Tech Lady Raiders and the Oklahoma State Cowgirls. 

  • Saw this image related to the new Texas Abortion Bounty Law and it stuck with me.

  • A new University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll shows a wild swing of Texans believing that Texas is now headed in the "wrong direction." And this was before the new Bounty Law took effect. 

  • "A man was found dead late Saturday at a downtown Dallas hotel after he accidentally shot himself while he was cleaning a gun, a witness told police." Tap the brakes on that. 

  • UT unveiled its new end zone seating over the weekend, but some have noticed the structure isn't quite centered. 


    • What exactly is that seating supposed to be used for because the occupancy rate seemed a bit small?

  • Fox showed the entire "Jump Around" tradition at Wisconsin this Saturday, and it was glorious. Video. (Although the first part appears to show everyone watching a dot race.) Runner-up: ESPN showing all of "Enter Sandman" and UVA on Friday. 

  • Fun sports nugget of the weekend: Remember the Arkansas high school coach who "never punts" and last year got a new gig at a small college in South Carolina? He had his first game on Saturday, won 84-43, his quarterback set a record throwing 10 TD passes, and . . . the team never punted. Yes, they went 4 of 5 on fourth down. But here's the really crazy stat: They attempted nine onside kicks. 

  • This was already a wild story which just got wilder. Here's the new story where the high tone South Carolina was "air-lifted" despite it being a "superficial" wound. Here's the original story where his son and wife were murdered in their home. His son had been facing felony charges for in the death of a 19 year old in a boating "accident." 


     
  • If I read the story correctly, the guy didn't have COVID and the officer never got sick. He was charged with Terroristic Threat which is a felony. He got two years probation.

    • Legal nerdy stuff. You have to really stretch the facts to make it fit in the Terroristic Threat statute. It's only a felony if it is a threat of "violence" and fits into 4, 5 or 6 below.  But that's how prosecutors work. They charge as high as as they can, even when it's a reach, and then when you call them on it, they say, "Feel free to take your chances with a jury if you think you're right . . . or take two years probation right now." 


  • Flashback to what constituted entertainment on TV when I was a kid: Cher performing with the Osmond Brothers. This video is fantastic and should be put in a time capsule. 

  • I just finished this book which I'll give another thumbs up. African Americans were voting and winning in North Carolina in the 1890s so whites used violence, then voter intimidation at the polls, and then changed the voting laws altogether to make sure it wouldn't happen again.  

  • If your paper (if you have a paper)  is part of the "USA Today network", there's a good chance your front page looks like the one below. Several in Texas have the identical layout this morning. I think that's a Gannett Co., Inc. property.