USA! USA! USA!

...With no phone to call for help, I used my bobsled push training to break out. #SochiJailBreak pic.twitter.com/apZRefgvCO
— Johnny Quinn (@JohnnyQuinnUSA) February 8, 2014

Above The Fold

Wise County Cop Cars

Missed this story (Boyd):

And someone sent this to me (Rhome):

It's Olympics Opening Ceremony Time

And those Ruskies are sending a message!

This Kid Might Be Sick Of The Cold Weather

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• You don't see this very often: Texas man who shot a deputy executing a warrant at the man's house will not be formally charged.  There appears to be an issue as to whether he knew the officer was an officer. 
• Olympic confusion: The Downhill. The Slalom. The Super G. The Giant Slalom. I have no idea what the difference is. 
• Just as confusing are the past Olympic names of Lolo Jones and Hope Solo.
• Bob Costas has a weird eye infection.
• Snowboarder Silje Norendal is a "Hey, Now."
• If I could golf, I'd golf Pebble Beach. If I were rich and couldn't golf, I'd golf Pebble Beach.
• Baylor basketball thought that no one cares about: (1) Baylor's men's team is in a freefall because that's the laziest team in the history of ever, (2) Baylor's women team is pretty close to being as good as last years team because a tiny point guard has oddly taken the leadership role over from the departed Britney Griner.
• Pete Delkus took the position last night that by a "dusting" he meant "less than an inch of snow." Come on. Admit you were wrong.  Just under an inch of real dust would be called dirt.
• “'The average age of a skilled craftsman such as a carpenter is 49; welder. 55; plumber, 56; and stonemason, 69',” said Phil Crone, executive officer of the Dallas Builders Association. That's just a random sentence out of an article in the Dallas Morning News on the labor shortage in the housing industry. I find those "averages" hard to believe. 
• New unemployment numbers were released this morning but I won't even mention the number to avoid the online beat down. 
• I didn't care enough to check in on Jay Leno's last show.
• Jacksboro became a media hub last night, but that allowed me to learn that its Faith Community Hospital had two patients.  (And does anyone ever show up to a shelter created by the Red Cross? I always see a gym with a ton of cots lined out but with no one in them.)
• Not sure what HornedFrogBlitz.com is, but it named Decatur's Grayson Muehlstein as TCU's "Offensive MVP" in this week's signing class.  
• Has there ever been a Wise County football player sign with a team with a larger profile than TCU?  Bridgeport's Kyle Clifton and Colin Jones as well as Decatur's Kevin Haney and James Maness all went there. I suppose Boyd's Billy Joe Tolliver and Bridgeport's Phillip Daugherty being signed by Texas Tech could rival TCU.  But didn't some Bridgeport QB make the team at Auburn in the last 1990s?

Calling All Photographic Forensic Experts (Or Guessers)

FOX 4 Photojournalist @kdfw015 Nune Tarango shot this pic in FW..kids on bus said been there more than 1/2 hr @FOX4 pic.twitter.com/s4jsdVYPLR
— Brandon Todd (@BrandonToddFOX4) February 6, 2014

Based upon the tire tracks, did that bus do a 180? Or did it just slide back down the hill (like it appears Mr. Fed Ex did)?

Snow Day Pick Me Up

Snow day! pic.twitter.com/F0CkHVpkcs
— Sydney Durso (@DCC_Sydney) February 6, 2014

From Bridgeport PD

We are asking for your assistance in identifying the couple seen in this picture. They were involved in a Robbery incident that occurred on February 5, 2014. 

At approximately 2:57 pm, Officers responded to a Robbery call in the 900 Block of Halsell Street. The two subjects seen in this photo were involved in the crime and observed leaving in a Black 4-door passenger vehicle. 

Please contact the Bridgeport Police Department with any information concerning this incident. 

No details about the "Robbery incident" or how this picture came to light.  That part of Halsell Street would be the lower west end of downtown.

Oh, My

KXAS needs to do some serious editing of the video, but this near death experience is amazing.

They Are Colder In Jack County Than In Most Places

Schools without heat with other heating problems reported at the hospital and the state jail facility.

More

Cop vs. Firefighter: Who Ya Got?

How do we explain the arrest of a firefighter by a police officer at the scene of an accident — after an argument over where a fire truck should park? The authorities are still discussing the incident, which took place Tuesday night on California's I-805, where a car had rolled over at the center road barrier. More.

Not Kidding: Duck Dynasty To Sponsor NASCAR Race At Texas Motor Speedway

NASCAR - Duck Commander, the brand of the best-selling duck calls and name of the thriving family-owned company led by the Robertson clan of A&E's "Duck Dynasty" fame, has signed a multiyear agreement to serve as title sponsor of the annual spring NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. More.

Be Careful Out There

This was either in Decatur or Brooklyn. I'm still researching it.

(Man, those snow plows go fast up there.)

Irony: Pete Delkus Mocks Someone Excited About The Weather

Oh my! How will we survive! MT @reeek: @wfaaweather NB Loop 12 at I-30. Blowing snow causing slippery roads. pic.twitter.com/cqQifoCGIt
— Pete Delkus (@wfaaweather) February 6, 2014

Remember...I'm a trained professional. You shouldn't try to do this at home! RT @MeghanGentz: This is no longer a dusting Pete. @wfaaweather
— Pete Delkus (@wfaaweather) February 6, 2014

Edit: He's still at it. The best I can tell is that he's catching flak for predicting a "dusting" when it was a little more than that. He's in full defensive mode now.

Looks like a dusting! Drive carefully. MT @MsPurple760: @wfaaweather roads are slick in Bedford. Still coming down! pic.twitter.com/Gi7ENrJeXd
— Pete Delkus (@wfaaweather) February 6, 2014

Were you hiding in a cave the last 2 days?? RT @ShelbySkrhak: I so wasn't expecting this. @wfaaweather #snowday pic.twitter.com/ZkWWpX12IQ
— Pete Delkus (@wfaaweather) February 6, 2014

I don't forecast traffic just weather! MT @harryhunsicker: A dusting by @wfaaweather has turned into a hockey rink pic.twitter.com/FKQ9pYzGLr
— Pete Delkus (@wfaaweather) February 6, 2014

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• That really did look like snow "dust" (as in "dusting") when it first started falling this morning. (Fox 4 was doing live shots from Decatur again this morning.)
• The traffic sounds crazy at the entrance to Decatur High School -- one of the worst designed entrances and entry ways ever. 
• Edit: Alvord ISD and Poolville ISD now closed.
• Tragic fire in Chico last night but how do they not know by now whether a 14 year old boy was trapped in the house?
• Rangers Ballpark renaming: (1) An insurance company based in McKinney? Something not very big time about that. (2) I don't mind the name being changed, I just hate the $2 graphics that they hauled out. (3) Memories of when Ameriquest held the naming rights -- yet another mortgage company which, despite rants to the contrary, was not forced to provide mortgages by the government. (4) Snow Globe Life Park?
• I finally ate at Babe's in Roanoke. Yes, it was good. But your choices are only fried chicken or chicken fried steak? Kind of surprised they can get away with that. But I've always heard it is crowded.
• And somehow I also ended up at Ricky Bobby's in North Fort Worth. How in the world can that place not be officially associated with (or pay a licensing fee) to the studio which own Talladega Nights? 
• In 1977, a lady escaped a Michigan prison after serving eight months of an 18- to 24-month sentence for attempting to steal clothes from a Detroit-area store. Now 60, she has been "captured" in San Diego and is going back to prison. 
• Texas, the nation's busiest death-penalty state, has now executed five women and 505 men. (A woman was added to the list last night.)
• The city of Dallas is paying its new city manager $405,000 -- That's more than any other city manager in the country. And that seems insane. 
• Channel 5 said Ethan Couch, the so-called affluenza kid, has been in detention since December 12th. Is that right? 
• The Star-Telegram and Fox 4 are really bent out of shape of Judge Jean Boyd closing the juvenile courtroom in Tarrant County to the public over the last couple of months. You can't do that for adult trials or hearings, but that's just not that unusual for juvenile cases. 
• A little known NBA rule was invoked last night that allowed a player who would normally have "fouled out" but remain in the game. 
• "All-Female College Terrified by Creepy Underwear Man Statue" Don't blame 'em. 
• The Aggies have a helicopter they used for recruiting (called, amusingly, a Swagcopter.) When UT's new coach was asked about it yesterday, he said,  “We don’t need gadgets. We’re not going to be a gadget program.” Delicious. 

 

"They Say It's Hard Out Here For A . . . . "

Link.

And, trust me, there's a couple of gold nuggets in that story.

National Signing Day Flashback

I asked this morning who the kid was back in the day who signed his letter of intent from a hot tub.  A quick Google search revealed, I'll be dang, my entry from 2/6/08 which had this:

Thanks to Keith over at bagofnothing.com who sent me this article. . ."My view of the process has been a tad jaundiced since that day in 1989 when Dallas Carter High School's Jessie Armstead announced that he was going to Miami. At the same time, seated in a hot tub, teammate Derric Evans was all bling-blinged out, with a wine glass in one hand and a ballpoint pen in the other, signing his national letter of intent with Tennessee. "Evans, however, never quite made it to the kickoff. That summer, he and another Carter teammate, Gary Edwards, who signed with Houston, were arrested for a spree of armed robberies of video stores and fast-food joints. The judge handed Evans a 20-year sentence, seven of which he served in prison, and Edwards got 16."

That post in 2008, by the way, had a video of Oklahoma's #1 recruit. Joshua Jarboe. That didn't turn out too well either.