Liberally Lean From The Land Of Dairy Queen

12.07.2009

Since This Is A Day That WIll Live In Infamy

Star-Telegram article on "The Lost Battalion"

The 558 men of the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, a National Guard outfit with men from Decatur, Bridgeport, Jacksboro, Wichita Falls and neighboring towns, didn’t know anything else about the sneak attack [on Pearl Harbor] and wouldn’t for weeks.

Oddly, there's no Wikipedia article on that group of men but it does refer to others by that name.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

I know most of you hate all this talk about college football, but it has one huge advantage for any school you care about: Advertising. How much free national air time has the initials "TCU" received over the last couple of months? Tens of millions of dollars? More?
I can't imagine having to drive on 114 into Dallas every morning but this morning the "freeway" was shut down both directions at FM 156. Beating.
I don't know anything about the National Finals Rodeo going on in Las Vegas but after Round 3 (they tell me), these were the current standings: 1). Trevor Brazile, $137,339. 2). Clint Robinson, $129,698. 3). Tuf Cooper, $101,368. Aren't #1 and #3 from Decatur?
News you may not have heard about: 2 men and 43 horses died in a barn fire in Ohio over the weekend.
News you may have heard about: Three girls (16, 14 and 12) in Terrell were hit by a car and killed while crossing a newly constructed road.
I tried to watch the UT/Nebraska game at Pappa G's (is that a Vegas Vacation joke?) off Rufe Snow since I had never been there. Verdict: Fail. No parking. No seats. Smoky as a California wildfire. I'm out after two minutes.
Ended up at a dive sports bar/billiards place on down the road. Very wheels off crowd (was that a drunk Carlos Santana?) and a great place to watch a great game.
I've always liked those dancing Gap ads. Glad they're back.
Yesterday I saw about a 7 year old walking around Academy Sports with a big tablet and pencil making his Christmas list.
Tiger Woods needs to book an appearance on Oprah. Fast.
I now watch all NFL games with limited interest.
50 Best Protest Signs of 2009 (Language warning.)
I was at Uncle Julio's in Grapevine on Friday and, as I was walking in, I noticed the driver of a new big extended cab pickup (dealer tags) decide to back into a parking space. A Mercedes was behind it. Scooch. Brake. Scooch. Brake. Scooch . . . . (Crushing sound.) Oh, my.
And that's kind of a high tone Uncle Julio's

12.06.2009

Saturday Football Thoughts

I cannot imagine what it was like to be a TCU fan and watch the Texas/Nebraska game last night. It comes down to one field goal with one second left and a chance to go to the National Championship game. One more yard to the left and the Frogs are going to Pasadena. They might not get that close again in the next 50 years.
What was Colt McCoy thinking last night as he obliviously ran around as the clock ran down to, literally, one second?
Mack Brown saw his coaching career flash before his eyes. If the clock had ran down to :00 instead of :01, that might have been as memorable as his 2005 National Championship game.
A kickoff out of bounds and a horse collar tackle hands UT a Championship bid. Every National Championship team has to be lucky at some point. Every one.
Alabama opens as a four point favorite of Texas. If Texas plays like they did last night, Alabama would beat them by 30.
Then again, Texas is 25-1 over the last two years. I'd be scared to bet against them.
And did you see the Dr. Pepper Halftime Competition of two girls trying to throw 10 footballs through a circle about 5 yards away? HeeLarious.
And they are predicting that TCU will play Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. Boring. But if they win, I suppose they'll end up #2 in the nation.
Edit: Holy cow. After the Final BCS poll came out, Cincinnati had leap frogged TCU so even if Texas had lost to Nebraska, TCU would not have played in the Championship Game.
Link to the Tim Tebow eBay ad above. Funny.
Actual photo of Texas' winning placekicker Hunter Lawrence. Son, these are the best days of your life:

12.05.2009

Was The Social Secretary On The Guest List?

Tense. But he never answers the question.

12.04.2009

Wishing Failure On The Evil Empire

Texas is a krillion point favorite to win the Big 12 Championship tomorrow over Nebraska and they probably will. But I'll never forget the first Championship game in 1996 which pitted those two teams against each other, but that time it was Nebraska that was the huge favorite. But with 2:30 left, Texas had a 3 point lead but was facing a 4th and 1 deep inside their own territory. You punt, right? When they broke the huddle to run a play, I remember jumping out of my seat and standing in front of the TV screaming, "You've got to be kidding me!" And then what would eventually become a youtube moment happened. Incredible. It's hard to tell, but the receiver looks up near the ceiling at the end of the run and then wraps both arms around the ball. It was the first time I had ever seen a player look at one of the big screen TV boards in the middle of a play to determine if he was going to be caught from behind. Anyway, I'm casting one of my spells on the Longhorns tonight. (Although I doubt if even that's enough to allow the Children of the Corn to score a single point.) Post Game Edit: Oh, my!!!!!! So close. So very close.

Friday Afternoon Pick Me Up

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. That's who? "Pick Me Up" retracted!!! "Pick Me Up" retracted!!!!

We're Not Mature Enough To Handle The News

But the creativity of wise guys restores my soul.

Time To Resort To Moonshine

Link.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

Devon shut down its Decatur Land Office yesterday. I've heard that puts about 20 employees out of work with many other contractors being hit hard as well.
Saw a woman bring a self checkout line to a standstill yesterday as she scanned an item "just to see how much it was but I don't want it. Now I don't know how to get it off."
Sarah Palin is in Plano for a book signing. People are in line at 5:00 a.m. I'm not saying a thing.
Unemployment figures just announced show the rate has dropped from 10.5% to 10%. I told you boys to trust in Obama. The turnaround has begun.
I've got a half marathon in a week and I actually ran 9 miles in preparation for it yesterday. It was cold. Very cold. And my leg parts hurt today.
Jarhead posted a clip yesterday of maybe the strangest football play I've ever seen. And I've not heard an explanation as to what the heck happened.
I wouldn't mind being under house arrest.
I wouldn't mind being placed "on paid administrative leave."
I point this out from time to time: The Morning News and the Star-Telegram have an agreement to share sports stories. But today I noticed that the Star-Telegram had breaking news that Nolan Ryan may still be in the mix to buy the Rangers. Is the same story in the Morning News? Nope, the ST put the story in Randy Galloway's opinion piece which is not subject to the sharing agreement.
The Tiger Woods story is more proof that the privates are going to be the downfall of society.
I knew two workers were hurt at Cowboys Stadium yesterday but I had no idea they slid 250 feet on the roof before being caught on a gutter. Oh, my.
The plea offer in the drug case I wrote about below was 15 years.

12.03.2009

35 Years

That's the sentence handed down moments ago by a jury for this woman who had been found guilty of possessing a little over 4 grams of methamphetamine in Wise County. Well, we know it was 4 grams of something that had a least some methamphetamine in it, but that really doesn't matter. The range was 25 years to Life because she had been sent to prison twice for drugs in the 1990s. There were no property or violent crimes in her past. Just dope. And probably the saddest thing was that she had no one come to court on her behalf. Not even a friend or family member to sit in the gallery as support. As her defense lawyer said, "No one cares about her at all." Edit: A faithful (and hawt) reader sends me this ironic headline from yesterday: "A U.S. federal judge sentenced a kingpin of Mexico's powerful Juarez drug cartel to 27 years in prison for smuggling at least 200 tons of cocaine into the United States, authorities said on Wednesday."

Ok, OK, I'll Post It

I can't count the number of people that have sent me this.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

The Swine Flu shot is now widely available to anyone in Tarrant County but that's not the case in Wise County. What gives?
Dallas DA Craig Watkins was on the Colbert Show last night and actually said, "Being tough on crime does not work."
Google has now improved its "music search."
TCU's Gary Patterson signs a long term extension which is really pretty weird in this day and time. But after seeing what happened to his predecessor, it might be a smart move. (Dennis Franchione went from Alabama to A&M to Oblivion.)
Some X tablets were seized in Sourth Texas made into the shapes of Homer Simpson and President Obama. The press and police are using the angle that they "were marketed towards kids." Puhleeze.
Some lady gets sexually assaulted after midnight at one of those big public rest areas south of Fort Worth along I-35? I wouldn't go in those bathrooms in the middle of the day.
And isn't there an old story of a former Wise County deputy being convicted of capital murder for a crime at the same place in the early 1990s? I think the conviction got reversed on appeal, but I don't know what happened after that.
All women should be able to take this good of a book-in photo.
The story of the genius kid going door to door offering free massages in Denton was everywhere yesterday. But everyone is more fascinated by the naive "victim".
Speaking of dope, a Wise County jury will be forced to pick between 25 years in prison and life today for a lady convicted yesterday of methamphetamine possession. Incredible. I'll probably do a full post later.
There was an all day hearing in a divorce case in the County Court at Law yesterday. That would be a beating.
Anybody else Tiger-Wooded-Out? And, as predicted, the media ho lawyer for the first alleged affair gal is having a press conference today. Edit: OK, I'm at least interested in a bikini clad girl near his home being photo'd by cops.
It's weird that it is going to snow south of us, but not on us, on Friday morning.