Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Overnight death: Ariel Castro, the crazy guy who kept three girls secluded in his house for a decade in Cleveland, is dead.
• Whenever I hear his name, I think about a crazed Nicholas Cage yelling, "I'm Castor Troy!" in Face/Off. (And the names aren't really close at all.) 
• Donald Trump donated $25,000 to Greg Abbott.  That's all I need to know.
• Strange lines are being drawn on the Syria bombing issue with conservative and liberal being strangely intertwined. It's like cats and dogs living together.  Heck, I'm hanging out with The Hard Right opposing any attacks. (And only 36% of Americans support an attack.)
• Good grief, even Sean Hannity and I agree that dropping bombs on Syria is an Act of War that requires Congressional approval. 
•  Syria's civil war has killed an estimated 100,000 and now we are bent out of shape because a few hundred were killed with chemical weapons? We didn't think we needed to take action after the first 99,000 were dead? Bombs and bullets didn't offend us?  
•  "Non-practicing" lawyer Brian Cuban (Mark's goofy brother) yells out hot legal opinions about "revenge porn" on CW 33 and D Magazine makes fun of him. (And then he got all pissy in the comments in that link before then pimping his new book.) 
• Sports: (1) I'm not sure I knew that Fox Sports has the Big 12 No Huddle which condenses each weekend game into 50 minutes. Good stuff. (2) Bridgeport's/TCU's Colin Jones, as most expected, made the cut with the Carolina Panthers. Remember that he was drafted by the 49ers in 2011 but traded early in the season last year to Carolina for a 7th round pick in 2014.  (3) Baylor has another NFL First Round draft pick bust as 2011 selection Danny Watkins was cut by the Eagles (but will sign with the Dolphins who'll give him a chance.) (4) I don't think that TCU/LSU game was all that close -- LSU outgained the frogs 448-259 and TCU scored by way of a kickoff return and by benefiting from a fumble recovery inside the 10. 
• I posted the news of the death of Tommy Morrison and someone made an anti-Obama comment within 10 minutes.  I'm so glad I'm not the guy who hit the "submit" button. 
• During my long weekend by myself, Mrs. LL gave me a list of "to dos". The oddest one? Let the Family Cat out for ten minutes a day because "she likes to go in the backyard and eat grass."
• I'm in Memphis this weekend for my nephew's wedding. Suggestions? 
• Mrs. LL last night: "Hey, it's your girlfriend!!" (when Ann Coulter appeared on TV.)
• Dallas ISD Superintendent Mike Miles has his house on the market, and attorney Paul Coggins delivers the report into the investigation into Miles on Friday. (Side note: In late July, Coggins was hired at a cost "not to exceed" $100,000 to conduct the investigation --- that was an easy, easy $100,000.)
• Fort Worth motorcycle death. The guy was 69.
• A high school running back gets his helmet turned around after a face mask violation  but keeps running blindly -- and gets crushed.
• I wouldn't go so far as to say "details" were emerging in the very odd shooting death of the Denton football player . . . 

Above The Fold

And While A Hearing Was Going On Today About Whether We Should (Senselessly) Bomb Syria, This Happened

Sen. John McCain. Wanting bombs to drop and going all in.

Source.

Meet "Vodka Samm" -- Today's Internet Star

She's become an Internet sensation after being arrested at the Iowa Hawkeye football game this weekend for Public Intoxication after she blew a .341 on a portable breath test device. Oh, my.

She was on Twitter as @Vodka_Samm as it all went down tweeting "Just went to jail. #yolo", "I'm going to get .341 tattooed on me because its so epic" and "My mom hates me too."  She probably hates herself now since she's deleted the twitter account.

YOLO, indeed.

Dead At 44

I knew he had a bizarre life but I didn't know it was that bizarre.  Up can coming boxer, star of Rocky V, actually became World Champion for a few months, got AIDs, denied AIDS even existed, then (maybe) tested HIV free, and then spiraled downward as evidenced by a shocking book in photo.

He died Sunday.  (Good write up in Grantland.)

High School Coach Fight!! Alabama Style!!

They replay it an zoom in best they can around 1:07 mark.

Edit: Forgot the story link.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Former Bridgeport coach V.M. Hill died yesterday.  I'm not sure I ever both feared and respected a coach as much as him. (He retired in the 1970s after coaching the 7th grade team and 8th grade team to undefeated seasons.) 
• Texas Republicans, you so crazy: Wacko Dan Patrick seeks to oust David Dewhurst as Lieutenant Governor. But Patrick supported Dewhurst last year in his battle for the U.S. Senate against Ted Cruz. Now Patrick challenges Dewhurst for Lieutenant Governor and this weekend announced he supports Cruz for President calling him "Reaganesque".
• The Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court will step down  because of "personal financial pressures" although he said, “I’m going to move on to some new challenges, though I’m not sure what yet.”  That makes absolutely no sense. 
• When I was in high school, I was at the girl's varsity basketball game when I saw one of our Bridgeport players launch an air ball. I instantly said, "That girl is awful" only to discover her little sister was in front of me as she wheeled around and gave me a glare. I still remember to this day the panic I felt and the only thing I could think of to say was, "But she tries hard." 
• Mrs. LL had a mini family reunion in San Antonio this weekend and rented a house. She also took the Family Pup who managed to escape while everyone was out for the day.  She got an email advising her that she had been found. Lucky. 
• Baseball notes: (1) We hate C.J. Wilson, but is 10-1 with 2.79 ERA in his last 15 starts. (2) Official Liberally Lean guy Chris Davis has 47 home runs, (3) The Rangers are 2.5 games from missing the playoffs completely. Edit: I'm wrong on the last one.  Baltimore is the last one out in the wild card right now at 73-63. Oakland and Texas are at 79-58 (with the other wildcard spot going to Tampa Bay at 76-51.)
• I've ranted against the silly Improper Photography statute for years and finally, last week, an appellate court out of San Antonio held it to be unconstitutional on its face.  (Former Williamson County DA John Bradley and I got into an online argument about it but couldn't find it.) 
• That awful case on the coast involving the Boyd girl that I wrote about last week ended up on Fox 4 and the cover of the Wise County Messenger. I think both of them learned about it here. 
• Edit: Forgot to mention that Harris County DA Mike Anderson, 57, died over the weekend. He sent out an email in May to his staff notifying them that he had cancer. And was certainly was the aggressive kine: He was in hospice care at the time of his death. 

Who Made A Run For It?

Wise Co. Pursuit *UPDATE - Pursuit has ended near Bridgeport, subjects in custody.
— DFW Scanner (@DFWscanner) September 2, 2013

Oops:

If She Had Only Wanted A McMuffin, Crisis Avoided.

Language warning.

That girl be high. Bath salts?

What are the chances of the guy pulling up after her saying, "So I take it that McNuggets are not an option, huh"?

And it's  good to know the Inkernet as already made a rap video out of the incident.

Edit: Even though this video has exploded over the last couple of days, it's three years old. Mrs. LL discovered she was indicted on  Felony Vandalism and sentenced to Jail for 60 days and had to pay McDonald's for the window. Name: Melodi Dushane.

"Never Hit A Woman"

Skip to 1:15.

The girlfriend of some truck driver slaps this guy. Hard. He does what I hope any guy would do and restrained himself and walked away. You can see him stare into the air as he gained his composure.

But what would the public reaction have been if he had instantaneously fired a punch right back at her?

Near Bowie. By Gunshot.

Link.

Am I This Cynical Without Justification?

Man, this seems so obvious to me.  I don't think the President has any desire (or at the least is undecided) about launching a few (meaningless) bombs on Syria. So what does he do? He launches a huge PR campaign talking about how children are being killed and we need to do something!!! But he'll wait for Congress to authorize it* before taking any action.

The chances of Congress saying yes? Probably very little. Most Democrats are anti-war. And almost all Republican's are anti-Obama -- so whatever he wants, they don't like it.  I don't think there's a chance in the world Congress will authorize a strike on Syria.

So how does it end? Congress says "no", the U.S. does nothing, but the President can forever say he tried to save lives.

Politics 101.
___________
* Which even the strict constitutionalists shouldn't argue with it. Dropping bombs is an Act of War which can only occur with the authorization of Congress.

Indulge Me: College Football Random Thoughts

• Tech beat SMU on Friday night, and SMU QB Garrett Gilbert is simply awful. And I'll never forget him, as a Texas recruit who had yet to play a down, being on the cover of a UT magazine with the title "The Next Great Texas Quarterback."
• TCU's QB Casey Pachall is one tatted up guy. He was replaced in the third quarter against LSU, and I'm not sure he'll ever start again.
• I wrote a month ago that TCU would regret playing LSU on opening weekend. By that I meant they'd lose that game but might not lose another one. They lost 37-27.
• Cowboys Stadium seems like a morgue for an NFL game but the greatest venue ever when college teams play there. 
• I really, really dislike Gary Patterson. It's impossible to hate Mack Brown. I'm not sure what I think about Kliff Kingsbury, but I think I like him. Kevin Sumlin needs to get control of his scene. 
• Texas Tech is in great shape. They've got a true freshman quarterback who looked fantastic in his first game. And he may not be the NFL prototype which means he might be at Tech for four years. 
• I love this sport but, the older I get, the sight of young kids withering in pain when they tear up a knee or a shoulder makes me question the whole thing. 
• Baylor played Wofford (a replacement after SMU cancelled their scheduled meeting) and put up 692 yards of total offense. One thing Baylor is: An offensive machine. They led the nation in offense last year and were second in 2011.
• North Dakota State beat last year's National Championship contender Kansas State by scoring with 24 seconds left after going on a monstrous 18 play, 80 yard drive that took up eight and half minutes. As much as I love the wide open spread offense, that type of drive is the true measure of a beat down. 
• I've always used Yahoo! Sports to check on scores and get recaps. They've redesigned it so poorly that I have to use ESPN. 
• ESPN's College Game Day was four hours long. That's way too long. 
• Texas has joined the hurry up spread offense craze and put up a school record 715 yards of offense against a hapless New Mexico State team in a 56-7 win. Keep your eye on The Evil Empire -- they might be really, really good. 
• It's an Offensive World: 27 teams put up more than 500 yards of offense. 
• Johnny Football played great in the second half against Rice but got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after being taunted by a couple of Rice players. The guy is great. The guy is an idiot. But, man, ESPN's Sports Center is hard on that guy. 
• Three Aggie defensive starters are suspended for the first two games. Even more amazing is that no one knew it until seconds before kickoff. You'd think bettors would kind of like to know that a little earlier. 
• Because of Miami in the 1980s, the NCAA instituted very strict rules where any crazy celebrating would be penalized. And, man, was it enforced. At first, at least. I'm seeing stuff these days in every game which would get a 15 yard penalty just three years ago.
• North Texas drew 22,000 in a 40-6 win over Idaho. Not bad a bad win. Not a bad crowd. 
• I bought a University of Miami t-shirt the other day. When I showed it to Mrs. LL she broke out in song with, "I'm talking about the U!"  (There are a handful of guys that understand that and love her right now.)  
• There was a fake punt in the Villanova and BC game that I had to watch five times to figure it out.  I love the fake punt. 
• I don't understand the knew 'targeting' rule that got at least three payers ejected yesterday. (There were two Baylor players who delivered viscous hits which didn't even draw a flag.) 
• Beaten down moment of the weekend: FAU is being blown out by Miami but their head coach decides they should spike the ball in the final seconds to at least get another play off. You know, "play until the clock stops." One problem: It was fourth down. Video.
• Boise State lost to Washington. So? It's only the 13th time they've lost since 2002. Think about that. 
• Alabama's Christion Jones scored on a kickoff return, a punt return, and a receiving TD. No one has ever done that before. 
• In an upcoming movie, author Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers, The Tipping Point) says that football will eventually be "ghettoized". What does that mean? It's hard to say delicately. Basically, once society finally understands the risks, anyone who is smart and has the resources, if need be, will not let their kid play football but steer him to other options. 

College Game Day GIF Of The Day

Loved that the file's name when I downloaded it was "lilpuppah".

Above The Fold

"It's The Start Of The Greatest Season" Taking You Into The Weekend

And Another - Massachusetts

Boom! 2013 with a huge flurry as we enter the final months!

Girls On A Diving Board

Who knew the Houston Texans cheerleaders had discovered this little known method of inspiring an NFL team?