If Those Girls Don't Win This Whole Thing . . .

Baylor defeats Florida to move onto the Sweet Sixteen

. . . it would be the definition of the agony of defeat. But as good as they are -- maybe the best college women's team ever -- I've got a weird feeling. There's been nothing to indicate they shouldn't win it all, but that's when things come crashing down.

Messenger Above The Fold

I Mentioned T. Boone Pickens . . .

. . . In Random Thoughts and now this news breaks. (I didn't even know that was legal.)

Who Ya Got? Mouthy Asian Kid or Big Cop?

Answer.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Now we know what happens when a giant red ball on the radar hangs over you all night long. (I like being awakened by storms -- even if it happens several times during the night.)
• Why was that Fox 4 reporter standing in one inch of water at a live remote from Mockingbird Station last night? 
• The City of Decatur sent out an automated voicemail about the storm yesterday afternoon. When did they start doing that?
• Fox 4 News also did a story on fake vehicle registration stickers. They ended the segment with a reference to a website "if you are curious as to whether your registration sticker is legitimate." Now that's a concern I've never remotely thought about.
• The Secret Service name for President Obama is "Renegade".
• "Baylor Frat Sued For Drinking Death" -- If that doesn't launch a Kenneth Starr investigation, nothing will.
• Correction from yesterday: Mrs. LL and I completed the new flowerbed this weekend.
• After demanding that correction, she told me that she added about 10 bags of top soil to it during those crazy winds yesterday morning. I bet that was a scene. 
• The Trayvon Martin story deserves more press than it is getting.
• Mike "I'm A Man. I'm 40!" Gundy will turn 45 this year. He also just got richer with a contract with OSU through 2019 for $30 million. I wonder how often T. Boone Pickens calls him? I'm betting a lot.
• I don't look at the Messenger's crime blotter anymore because I think they just turned it into a bit. 
• While you were sleeping: 41 dead in Iraq. That's how they marked the ninth anniversary of our invasion. Did you expect cake and ice cream?
• I'm about at the end of my John Wilkes Booth book because they've got him trapped in the barn. I shouldn't be surprised how he was located: He just couldn't shut up about what he had done. (That's also an old adage in criminal law: There are no deaf, dumb and blind men in prison.)
• Everyone is up in arms of the three year old in a wheelchair who was searched by TSA. I don't get it. If we are going to have the program, we can't have hard and fast exceptions. 
• I think we've got a tie that won't be broken in the battle for last place in the Liberally Lean Pick Em Tournament. That'll cost me. I knew I should have come up with some type of tie-breaker for that. 
• Ranger thoughts:  (1) After his latest prank, I wish C.J. Wilson was still on the team so I could remember to despise him more often, and (2) with Opening Day only a couple of weeks away, one strike away from being a World Series winner seems like a long, long way away.
• That video below of the girl explaining miles per hour is considered fake by many. I had my doubts but I think it's real. I thought it odd at first that she never objected to being video'd, but girls like that (and they definitely do exist) don't care. 

You Think It's Funny Now, Hoss

Kid Be Bawling

Hey, I support this kid.  You guys can have your Lamar Odom ($8.9 million to not care) or Jason Terry ("Every night I'm on the floor I'm on a job interview") or any other professional athlete (Peyton Manning to the Broncos* for $95 million?).  I'll take a college kid who cares about his team and his school.

_______
*If Tim Tebow now gets traded and goes on to have a great year elsewhere someday, I can see the headline: "Resurrected."

Red Meat For The Masses

By the way: Picture Implying President Is On Vacation There, Too,  But He Ain't

Link.

Separation of Church and State?

Link.

Does a license plate showing three crosses promote Christianity by the State of Texas?  What if a portion of the proceeds from the sale of those plates goes to an organization, the Glory Gang, who helps at risk kids but which refers to itself as a "ministry" and has a Sunday night service which "ends with an age appropriate message about Jesus"? The Glory Gang certainly understands that State money is being used for religious purposes because one of its board members said, “We believe the new plate will appeal to a lot of Texans who believe as we do -- who will like knowing that sharing a Christian message from their cars will also help kids in need."

Would you approve of a plate which promotes Islam?

National Weather Service Has Cancelled Tuesday

The NWS has sent our Sheriff's Office another fancy Powerpoint presentation regarding the expected storms. I think they've hired my proofreader.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• The Dallas Morning News reported that five separate motorists were shot at on I-30 near Dallas on Sunday night. Wow. What a story. But the next day they changed the story to "six people" being shot at - four within one car. And details are sketchy at that.
• Mrs. LL had "Love Happens" on yesterday (a Jennifer Aniston film).  I already decided it was horrible and then they actually threw in the "slow clap" at the end of the movie.
• I completed the new flower bed over the weekend. Projects are much easier when you don't have to reinvent the wheel.
• But my neighbor gave me a look like, "Quit trying to scoreboard me." The next day he was out planting flowers with his two kids -- an obvious attempt to scoreboard me. 
• Of the final sixteen teams left in March Madness, four are from Ohio: Ohio State, Ohio University, Cincinnati and Xavier.
• With Craig James, Ted Cruz, and David Dewhurst running for Senate, we have a trifecta of nut case crazy conservatives running. Dewhurst even has a liberal pick'em bracket. 
• The Family Cat sat on my lap for three minutes yesterday. Shocking.
• That Coutney Stodden chick went surfing, and I bet she doesn't know how to surf. But she's still a Hey, Now. 
• The producer of that Kony 2012 video had a very unfortunate weekend. 
• I heard over the weekend that the Kony video/cause took off because it personalized a problem in Uganda.  Just like no one seemed to care about apartheid in South Africa before "free Mandela" became the slogan, Kony was a face that could be associated with Uganda. For some reason, that works with the public. 
• Baylor has a guy who is basically a three point shooter but he's good -- he hit nine of them the other night. But I could do without his making of "three point sign" hand gesture that he puts up to his eye(s) when he is successful. It drives me nuts. 
• I'll flip over to KLIF in the mornings to listen to five minutes to Jeff Bolton's crazy callers. The first one I heard this morning said that "Obama is about to sign a treaty sponsored by the United Nations that will make gun possession illegal in the United States."  And, as always, Bolton never disagrees with any assertion.
• We almost had a news combo: An officer was hit by a wrong way driver in Dallas (but he was off duty.) He'll be OK.
• One of my pet peeves has always been traffic signal lights not being in sync. Before they built the overpass in Wichita Falls, there was the greatest string of in sync lights on 287. I bet there were eight or more that magically turned green as you approached them.  Heck, they may still be there. 
• We've a three woman Random Thought Girl today. The boys on RAGE at The Fan had three behind them at the St. Pat's Greenville Avenue Parade but something isn't quite the same. 

After The First Weekend

Complete. Lots more tied at 10th.


Sponsors:

-All Wise Garden Center in Bridgeport has pledged and delivered a $100 and $50 gift certificate for in-house purchases (counts as two prizes). 

-Bloomoon Pet Resort in Chico has pledged and delivered a $50 Visa Gift Card

-Wise Liquors in Bridgeport has pledged and delivered a 1.75 liter bottle of Crown Royal for the last place finisher. Two caveats: (1) Your bracket must be completely filled out to win, and (2) I need a little Baptist forgiveness for this one. 

-A signed Lebron James jersey with a certificate of authenticity pledged and delivered by attorney Paul Belew

- New: $100 Silpada Designs Gift Certificate pledged by April Cowling (can be used online or through April)

-A $100 Visa Gift Card has been pledged and delivered by Chris Miller's Farmer's Insurance Agency in Bridgeport.

My Annual St. Patrick's Day Tradition Unlike Any Other

"Who else seen the leprechaun? Say yow!!!"

Messenger Above The Fold

Check Your Brackets - Oh, My!

#2 Missouri is out.

#2 Duke is out.

And, finally, here's my National Championship prediction. Welp! See ya later!

VCU Cheerleaders (Only 1 of 2 Upset Winners Yesterday) Taking You Into The Weekend

I Know I'd Like This Guy

Not that guy. This guy:

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Funny tweet yesterday: "Dow closed above 13,000 Nasdaq above 3000 and SandP 500 above 1400 together for first time ever. MAKE THIS AWFUL SOCIALISM STOP"
• Mrs. LL loves to mow the lawn, and I don't know why. Anyway, I plop down in my chair to watch the Baylor game yesterday evening with a nice breeze blowing in from the open windows to the back yard. And then . . . the violent sounds of a lawnmower firing up. 
• But instead of walking outside and giving her a what-the-heck-are-you-doing look, I paused the game and did something else for a few minutes. (I'm learning. Slowly. But I'm learning.)
• I almost wished I hadn't seen the first part of the game. Baylor was down 12 to a bunch of white boys who couldn't miss.
• Mrs. LL was surprised to learn that the name she heard on TV was the Shockers of Wichita State.
• The best ending in regulation did not come during March Madness but instead in a Tennessee boys high school playoff game.
• "Where's your Green Card? (Clap. Clap. Clap-Clap.Clap.)" -- Members of the Southern Miss band yesterday when K-State's Angel Rodriguez was at the free throw line. 
• There was a media war last night when Fox 4 had footage of a firefighter being arrested and then spent about a minute explaining, "We weren't tipped off! We we just happen to be there when the cops came!"  Channel 8 covered the arrest and spent a segment on "Something's fishy because one media outlet was tipped off."  
• Cops tipping off the media for an arrest or search sounds very familiar.
• Good weather and the 17th falling on a Saturday means potential record crowds for the St. Patrick's Day gathering at Lower Greenville tomorrow. And to think of the irony of the "Drink Responsibly" signs that will be posted above the crowd. 
• One reason the Department of Justice challenged the Texas Voter ID law is because of the large number of Texans that don't have a driver's license. Some folks are suggesting that the high number is attributable to the dumb DPS Surcharge program that has caused thousands of people to lose their license because of non-payment.
• There's a Decatur company that advertises for a Engineering & Maintenance Manager paying $60,000 to $85,000 a year?
• It's amazing that Dallas PD runs undercover prostitution stings on Harry Hines in the middle of the day. But they did manage to snag an elementary school teacher.