Moldovan Pick Me Up Of The Day

We've all heard of Xenia Deli, right?

"Coach Joe!"

Former Special Teams coach of the Dallas Cowboys during their glory days has died.

I Want This Pirate Ship

Throw in a puffy shirt, an eye patch, and a parrot and you'd never see me again.

WBAP's Mark Davis Unemployed?

I'm a talk radio fan, and it is on in the background almost constantly with me. And in the mornings, I'll normally have WBAP's Mark Davis on.  Despite my jabs at him from time to time (I actually had a letter to the editor in the Dallas Morning News  printed where I dogged him about his presidential prediction last time), I really like the guy. I think he's smart. He's not saying crap just to get the masses riled up (see Hannity, Limbaugh, etc.). He's honest: He candidly admits that he wants Santorum elected and that he attends a mega-church. And he at least tries to see both sides of an issue. He might be an arrogant nerd, but he's good at what he does.

But a substitute host showed up in his time slot this week without an explanation as to why. On his blog (which is normally dormant), Davis started firing off the equivalent of "random thoughts" this week which I thought was odd. He certainly wasn't on one of his many vacations. Then moments ago he released the above statement explaining his absence. His contract ran out and "we have been unable to reach an agreement on a renewal". What does that mean? Does he want more money and Cumulus said no? Or does the owner want to cut his salary and he's balking? Remember Belo cut Dale Hansen's salary and he gladly accepted it. And also remember that Cumulus, which owns KLIF, let go a morning talk show host on that station just two weeks ago. Throw in the fact that Mike Huckabee is about to launch a new syndicated show which is perfect for WBAP, and I don't know what to think.

The media, it is a-changin'.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Looking at the tornado damage under the light of the next day was just jaw dropping. I'll repeat what everyone else says: It's a miracle no one died.
• When a first responder declines to be called a hero and instead says, "I was just doing my job", I always tend to agree.
• The Star-Telegram has a story of a man being released early from probation. That hardly ever happens in Wise County. In fact, I refuse to be hired on those cases since I think the chances of success are basically non-existent.
• Yep, the Frisco girl kidnapped-and-taken-to-Oklahoma story has faded into oblivion.
• Mrs. LL, who is still kind of new to softball, beaned the Third Grader In The House last night while playing catch in the back yard. Said Third Grader acted like she had been hit by a sniper. Good times.
• Motorcycle death in Richardson last night.
• The Rangers today unveil the statue of the guy who died when he fell over the railing last year. I just don't understand that. 
• Every year the Augusta National Golf Club comes under criticism about its discriminatory practices in selecting its members. And every year they bring out some boob who absolutely butchers a press conference because he simply can't say, "We are a private organization in America and, just like you have the absolute right to decide who enters your home, we have the right to choose our members."
• American Airlines still has 63 planes out with hail damage and 323 flights have been cancelled for today. What a headache.
• Description of Mrs. LL trying to catch fly balls: Get underneath it, hold glove out, do a crazy dance where her feet look like fast moving pistons, and then get out of the way while laugh-screaming. (In all fairness, she got the hang of it shortly thereafter.)
• President Obama's statement that the Supreme Court overturning a law "passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress" would be "an unprecedented, extraordinary step" was reckless and can't be defended. I tried to parse it in such a way that it makes sense but couldn't do it. (That being said, the federal judge on the 5th Circuit who took umbrage to the remark is a nutcase.)
• For me, I think we are in the middle of the best three weather days of the year. I wish Texas was like this year round. 
• Hey, Liberally Lean Tourney Winners, I'm getting the prize selections of winners 1-3 and then I'll move on to 4-6. I have not pocketed the prizes and fled to Costa Rica. Considered it, yes. Done it, no.
  
  
  Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/04/04/3861524/5th-circuit-judge-jerry-smith.html#storylink=cpy

Remember Him? We Have News.

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Let's not be moving too fast here. It was only over 10 years ago when the Twin Towers fell, so the government might want to tap the brakes on this rush to judgment. Maybe they need more time to decide what to charge him with.

The next thing you know we'll schedule a trial for 2020.

Car Was In Coppell Yesterday During Hail Storm

It's no comparison to a house being destroyed, but I bet that made quite the noise if the driver was inside it at the time. (Thanks emailer.)

And here's a new collection of amazing pics from yesterday.

Baylor Law School Screw Up

Baylor Law School released the personal data of every student accepted for attendance via an email attachment over the weekend. That's bad enough, but for the academic minded, every new student now knows the LSAT score and the GPA of his classmate. For those interested, a web site collected the scores and published them here (that site being decent enough to delete the names.)

I have no idea what a good LSAT score is or a bad one. They've changed the scoring system in the krillion years since I took it.

And it's interesting to note that the list had data for over 400 students. But the fall and spring class have 80 students each and the summer class has 30. That's a whole lot of accepted students not attending.

Justice Of The Peace Office Hours In Jack County

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• One of those news helicopters is going to go down one of these days trying to get footage of a tornado.
• But that video of the trailers being tossed around like toys in Lancaster is riveting. 
• Yesterday was bad, but one of these days a massive tornado is going to hit the metroplex. And with subdivisions all over the place, it's going to be historic.
• I'm not giving Pete Delkus credit for his pre-tornado rants. If anything, it makes us slow to react when really bad weather does bear down on us. (And he warned of the possibility of 60 mile per hour straight line winds. That wasn't exactly Nostradamus-like.)
• I'm still not sure if DFW Airport was shut down yesterday evening or just most flights cancelled as they were checked for damage from the hail storm that moved through there. (American took 80 planes out of service for inspection.) I mean, there wouldn't be a reason to cancel inbound flights once the storms cleared out. 
• "God was looking out for us." - A common refrain from those whose homes were badly damaged but spared bodily injury or death. Always, to me, one of the great theological things to ponder.
• Cops declared a curfew in the worst areas of damage. Honestly, I don't know if they have the authority to do that. 
• Channel 8 had coverage of a home where two 4X4 boards blew threw a window and pierced a wall. I wish I could find a link to it. Amazing. 
• Cumulus made an odd decision yesterday when it simulcast weather coverage on WBAP, KLIF, The Ticket, and probably at least two other stations they own. 
• And I can't watch tornado news coverage without remembering Troy Dungan not being able to find downtown Fort Worth on the map when a tornado was roaring through in 2000.
• I'm still tracking down the winners of the Liberally Lean Tourney. I've got two identified and should get to the rest today.
• You could see Baylor coach Kim Mulkey's diagnosis of Bell's Palsy revealing itself on TV last night. I felt sorry for her to have to suffer through that during a career highlight. 
• And I suppose I'll her from the guy/gal who wants to tell me how so much better UConn was a few years back.  You realize the starting five for the Baylor girls are coming back next year, don't you?
• Back to weather, here's a really good collection of photos and videos from yesterday put together by Texas Monthly. 

Messenger Above The Fold

National Championship #2

If I'm late posting Random Thoughts tomorrow, it's because I'm driving to Waco to turn over some cars and start some fires in celebration.

More wow

Wow

This sounds crazy in eastern Dallas County

It's Armageddon! In all seriousness. Lancaster suffered some pretty large damage.

Arlington:

Am I The Only Guy That Didn't Hate This National Anthem Last Night?

Everybody is hating on it this morning and I just don't get it. 

But I might be biased because I've purchased five songs by The Fray over the last three years which makes them the leader by a mile in my purchased music collection. Not even close. That's almost half an album I've shelled out money for!

And there's a pretty good chance I'm retiring and joining that band. I've studied the drum routine in this video very closely and I feel pretty confident, with lots of practice, that I could do that. 

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Jim Nance called the National Championship game last night and gets to do the Master's this weekend. I wonder if he likes that gig?
• The Ticket's Corby Davidson played Pebble Beach last week. The green fee? $495. And that didn't include the tip for the caddie. (Assuming he tipped - which is not a given.)
• It's amazing how a story like seven shot dead at an Oakland college becomes the fourth or fifth story on television news.
• Mrs. LL managed to lock both sets of her car keys in the car yesterday. 
• My iPhone now says "4G" when in Decatur. Have we had a change?
• A "football play" used in a high school basketball game went viral yesterday. Hey, it was an all-star game which means the defense didn't care (not to mention the 10 second back court violation that was ignored.)
• I noticed that the Tarrant County Grand Jury didn't indict a woman who (probably accidentally) had a gun with her at DFW airport and also failed to indict a Keller teacher who allegedly had sexual relations with an 18 year old student who wasn't part of his campus. It wouldn't surprise me if they aren't going against the DA's recommendation in those two cases.
• Do people really pay attention to the Wise County Youth Fair?
• I love this forecast just posted by Pete Delkus on Facebook: "Damaging wind (60mph straight line) and large hail (quarter to half dollar size) are the main severe concerns but an isolated tornado CANNOT be ruled out." I'd like to add that a flood for forty days and forty nights CANNOT be ruled out either.
• An interesting fact that means nothing: The last six times Kentucky won the basketball championship the Yankees won the World Series. 
• A Texas private investigator is out promoting a book "O.J. Is Innocent And I Can Prove It." Why, why would anyone book him on a radio show? (I'm looking at you WBAP.)

And The Winners Of The Liberally Lean Pick 'Em Tourney

Hmm. I wonder if it was important to pick Kentucky?

The uncomfirmed winner is Jason Brookshire out of Arlington (no doubt the heir to the Brookshire Grocery fortune and a One Percenter.)

The top six winners will, in order of finish, get to pick their prize. Of course, I've got a headache because we've got a three way tie for fourth place.  If at all possible, I'd appreciate it if all those who qualify would, at least for today, not make their email "hidden" on the tourney site so I can contact you.  The bottom two finishers who tied (and completely filled out their brackets) need to do the same.

Thanks to all the 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 and delivered 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.