Rockies First Base Coach Gives Life Advice

But I promise you if I had been that kid, I'd of turned to my buddy and said, "What was that guy's deal?"

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• I finally saw the images of the multiple bodies of dead children thought to have been killed by chemical weapons in Syria. And there's really not much we can do other than to intervene militarily -- and that's not going to happen.
• After much urging, I watched the latest episode of The Bridge.  That was some late night Cinemax like stuff going on. Oh, my. 
• Lots of outpouring on Facebook about the death of Brian Mooney of Decatur yesterday. [Edit: Corrected. Major screw-up earlier.]
• A week ago there was a big hit in the Chicago/San Diego NFL game and the NFL.com site posted a clip of it within seconds referring to it as a "spectacular tackle." Earlier this week the NFL fined the tackler $21,000 saying the hit was illegal. Source. The NFL promoteth violence and also taketh away thy money.
• ESPN's Outside the Line and PBS's Frontline had been working for over a year on a joint project about concussions in the NFL. ESPN, which is cozy with the NFL by paying the $1 billion a year for the rights to Monday Night Football, abruptly pulled out of the project yesterday. NFL pressure? You bet. ESPN is awash in conflicts of interest when it comes to sports news.
• The Texas Parks and Wildlife folks will be doing a detailed analysis of the fish in Lake Bridgeport this fall. (Assuming the lake is still there.)
• What a run by David Dewhurst: (1) The anti-Ted Cruz Chinese ads, (2) The Wendy Davis filibuster debacle, and (3) the phone call to Allen PD.  Things were a lot easier for him when all he had to do was get on a horse once every four years to film a corny campaign ad and rely upon his name to dupe an uninformed public. I've said this before, but I've been calling Dewhurst out since 2001. 
• And he was a little tipsy on that phone call, wasn't he?
• Looking back in time, I discovered that I had once been given a Dallas Stars regular season game ticket in 2001 that had a face value of $135. I thought that was insane then. I think it's insane now. Do they still have tickets that cost that much? 
• OK, the jury in the Hasan case is taking it's time. I think there are about 35 charges so maybe they are actually talking about each one instead of just checking the "guilty" line. 
• Ben Affleck will be the new Batman (in a movie I won't see.)
• If you're into payrolls in Major League Baseball, you will absolutely love this interactive graphic.
• Greg "The Hammer" Williams hadn't updated his blog in weeks but tweeted this morning that he's "back" and his absence was not due to drugs or drinking. He also says he will tell his side of the story about the breakup of The Fan's RAGE show which will be different than the version from Richie Whitt. There are divorced couples who hate each other who don't have as much animosity between them as those two.
• Update warning: The first item concerns "Taste Of Wise" at the Decatur Civic Center. No news today. 

OK, Boys, Cue The Bald Eagle. Wait! Don't Cue The Bald Eagle!!!

Video. (Including some obviously communist chick laughing when the great flying symbol of 'Merica meets the immovable object.)

Coptic Christians Protesting In Dallas Right Now Against Muslim Brotherhood

Not sure the Muslim Brotherhood will care, but I can see why the protesters are angry with the attacks in Egypt.

(Yep, I had to look up "Coptic Christians")

More On The TCU Trippin' Girls

There's got to a metaphor in there somewhere about girls so excited to join a an exclusive society while one of their members stumbles in the midst of the glee.

Photo source.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Loved (in a "you got to be kidding me" sort of way) Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's call to Allen PD to try and get his step-sister's son's wife out of jail after being arrested for shoplifting. He was fishing for a Personal Recognizance Bond but wouldn't come out and say it. But, man, that guy can ramble on. And he showed his true colors when he dropped the head of DPS's name and asked for the county judge's cell phone number. 
• Oh, and during the call he referred to himself as the "No. 1 pick of all the law enforcement agencies within Texas." Now that's funny. I think I missed that contest. 
• Mark Davis said this morning that "anyone in Dewhurst's position" would have made that call. I think that comment is insane. And Davis said he has dropped his station's "Call Letters" in the past to try and get something done. What does that mean? He's threatening to call someone out on his radio show if he doesn't get what he wants? 
• And Dewhurst's crazy Republican opponent, Dan Patrick, immediately fired off a press release saying, "The fact that David Dewhurst believes he and his family are above the law is the height of arrogance and recklessness." Republicans are at their best when they attack each other. Edit: The "and recklessness" has now been properly placed.
• Baylor Bust: Offensive lineman Jason Smith was cut yesterday. He was the second overall pick in the 2009 draft and signed a contract with $33 million guaranteed. (I could have sworn he was on Hard Knocks during the initial holdout, but now I'm not sure.) 
• Three separate shootings in Fort Worth last night left three dead. 
• The Sophomore In The House dropped her phone yesterday and shattered the screen. And I do mean shattered.  She was so heartbroken that I think she's entered the Five Stages of Grief.  And considering we'll probably have to get her another one, I'll be right there with her -- lingering in stage four. 
• Wouldn't it probably be a good idea for Kenneth Copeland just to cancel church for a couple of weeks because of the measles outbreak?
• I had a bad habit of insisting Mrs. LL watch something on TV just because I thought it was interesting. And I'd become a little frustrated if she didn't appreciate that as much as I did. I completely abandoned the "Hey, you have to watch this with me" mindset about two months ago. It's better. (Although I did catch myself asking the Fourth Grader In The House the other day, "Hey, you want to see a pitcher get thrown out of a game for throwing three wild pitches?")
• Someone called me out the other day when I said Duck Dynasty was basically scripted saying, "It's not scripted! Don't you realize it's a reality show!!"  Really, dude?
• We had to get our home router replaced the other day which meant getting a new Key Number.  I was beyond stunned to learn the number of devices we had hooked up to wifi. You would be, too. 
• I found a home grown tomato stand. No way I'm telling you where it is. 
• The Nidal Hasan case goes to the military jury today. No way the jury doesn't get back there and say, "Let's wait at least an hour so they will think we at least deliberated." 

I Reference Radio Host Mark Davis From Time To Time

.@MarkDavis: Gay conversion therapy should not be banned http://t.co/KfHC1g0GDY
— Dallas Morning News (@dallasnews) August 21, 2013

I also mention from time to time that he's losing it.

"Business Insider" New Poll Asks Americans What They Think About The States

And several more.

Random Play From Last Night's Ranger Game

A lot happens there.

The pitcher overthrows Kinsler at second but Elvis Andrus snags the ball in the backup position.

The runner, for some odd reason, just walks off the base and gets tagged.

My first impression was that the runner thought Kinsler caught the ball and he was forced out. He looks at the umpire before walking off the base (but the ump certainly didn't signal him out -- but the runner didn't see him signal safe either.)

The runner, Max Stassu had this explanation: "I slid in and lost track of the ball. I thought [Andrus] was on second, and the ball went past him. That's totally on me, and it's something that'll never happen again in my career. It just so happened on my debut."

Yep, it was his first game.

Edit Got Kinsler and Andrus reversed there. That the way blog writin' go.

Comparison of Photos Of Three Accused In Oklahoma

Book In Photos:

 Picture Widely Circulated Yesterday By The Media

One of these things is not like the other?

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Lots of people going nuts over the three teenagers involved in the shooting of the Australian baseball player in Duncan, Oklahoma. "Where's the coverage like Zimmerman and Travon Martin?" they yell. Well, they aren't even close to the same. The Zimmerman case had a great issue of self defense which was worthy of discussion. The Oklahoma case is just a horrible crime with a prosecution that will follow.
• That being said, the coverage is everywhere.  It was the second story on NBC Nightly News last night (behind the foiled school shooting in Decatur, Georgia.)
• Odd observation: Has there been very little wind this summer? Being a former lake dweller, the Texas winds always seem to ruin beautiful lake days. But this summer?
• It was a "blue moon" last night even though it was just the first full moon of the month. I'd never heard of that type of blue moon until yesterday. Always thought it was the second full moon in one calendar month.
• I love Arial America on The Smithsonian Channel. It's basically an hour dedicated to each state with nothing other than a helicopter equipped with a hi-def camera showing you all the important landmarks of the state with a narrator giving a brief history lesson about each locale. 
• A fake news story about Tony Romo breaking both legs had people freaking out last night. 
• It's a little weird that I watched some of Outbreak last weekend and yesterday there was news they had tracked the Tarrant County measles source to Copeland's church near Newark. That's very Outbreak--ee--ish.
• The Musers did a segment this morning on a "great article" in the Dallas Morning News over the weekend about the history of the Johnny Manziel family.  Wasn't that article just a repeat of the Deadspin article I linked to a couple of weeks ago?
• Fox 4 had a lawyer on last night to talk about the liability, if any, of a baseball club for a fan struck by a foul ball. He was really good until he kept talking about the "Assumption of the Risk" doctrine. I haven't practiced civil law in twenty years, but I know that doctrine was abolished a long time ago. (Without looking it up, wasn't it a 1970s Texas case that killed it involving some type of cattle company? Farely? Fairly?)
• Man, I like the Dallas Police Chief. Every six months or so he'll fire half a dozen officers for transgressions. And with that big of a police force there's bound to be that many committing fireable offenses. At least he pulls the proverbial trigger and gets rid of them.
• I don't understand the case of Justice the tortured dog. If the news report is correct, a guy reached a plea bargain in the case yesterday for five years in TDC. However, the judge then made a finding that a deadly weapon wasn't used and sentenced him to two years instead. (See Texas Penal Code 12.35(c)(1) vs. 12.35(a).) That doesn't make sense. A judge can either accept or reject a plea bargain. If rejected, the case just goes back on the docket. The judge can't just change the terms of a plea bargain or modify the sentence. (But for what it's worth, that two year sentence is probably a State Jail sentence which must be served day for day so its not that great of a deal.) 

"Parkland" Movie Trailer

Good stuff. And I love that Abraham Zapruder (played by Paul Giamatti) is going to be a big player. Hands down the most important piece of film footage in American history.

Lots of big names in it. Robert Wilonsky at the Dallas Morning News has the lowdown on the Tom Hanks produced film which will be released in September.

Above The Fold

TCU Sorority Gals Be Trippin'

From :23 to :57 we've got at least four of those girls biting the pavement.

(And what the heck was all that running about in the first place.)

Major Wreck On 1810 East Of Chico

Sounds like the helicopter ambulance is coming in.

Edit: Yep.

Major Accident (Wise County) Chico FD and Wise County EMS have just landed Air Evac 68 at the scene of a reported... http://t.co/Z6AaTgBL7G
— DFW Scanner (@DFWscanner) August 20, 2013

Streetview angle:

Woah

And by "vine" they mean a three second video.

Edit: Article about crash.

"Yeah, That Would Probably Be A Good Idea"

(F Bomb Warning)

You've got to love this guy. He sees his life flash before his eyes as the gun turns on him because he knows, (1) she's goofy enough to accidentally pull the trigger, or (2) she's probably crazy enough to intentionally kill him and then tell the cops, "So sorry. It was an accident. He didn't train me."

Side note: Tennis shoes with a dress while firing a weapon? A "Hey, now" almost slipped into my brain. I've got to back off the testosterone.

Update On Random Shots, Er, Thoughts

Thanks to a loyal reader for reminding me of the name of the cop who killed the unarmed guy. That shooting occurred on August 31, 2012 and the case was supposed to be referred to a grand jury.

Fox 4?