Watch A College Kid Almost Get Crushed By A Collapsing Goal

My Favorite Stranded Motorist From Over The Weekend

Friday night/Saturday morning. Weather will not stop this girl from getting her party on.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• I ran the Cowtown Half Marathon of Sunday (being caught off guard on Saturday night when they announced it was still on).  The initial part of the race took us through Trinity Park and the ice on the road was insane. After that obstacle course, it was pretty clear. Loved it. 
• It's been a couple of years since I've participated in one of those races and there's a huge change: At the starting line, it looks like Selfie City. 
• To get to the race I had to drive I-30 over Camp Bowie which is where only hours earlier an oral surgeon and two of his assistants slid off the road into a creek. He and one assistant died. 
• Something that should get more press: DPS, right before it asked the legislature to shower it with bags of money for more border security, completely changed the way they calculated the value of drug seizures to demonstrate what a great job they are doing. Overnight, they changed the value of drugs seized because of"Operation Strong Safety" from $181 million to $1.8 billion. 
• I've had a crazy rash develop. It looks like fingernails have been drug across my skin over a four inch area and then, within two hours, it will disappear completely only to show up somewhere else. And then disappear once again just as quickly. It's like a horror movie. 
• Good lord, I saw the headlines last night of LAPD shooting a homeless man, but I just watched the unedited video. (Very Graphic.) Have the cops lost their collective minds in the last two years? Deadly force is the last option. And nine cops can't subdue a guy living on the street? 
• I had the best time sledding on Saturday after we found a fantastic high and sloped hill. Watching kids doing that will make you smile. (And huge credit to the Family Unit for getting up early to go do it.)
• Nina Pham is suing Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas because she contracted Ebola. That's disappointing. (And for you civil lawyers, why isn't she limited to a worker's comp claim?)
• Brian Cuban sent me a tweet on 8:02 a.m. on Sunday telling me I should get a life since all I do is obsess about Sean Hannity and "his family".  Hey, buddy, I'm not the one sending tweets to strangers at 8:02 on Sunday morning.  (I would have responded but my life caused me to be in line for the aforementioned half marathon start at that moment. And why does he care about Hannity?)
• I mentioned last week that ESPN writer Ivan Maisel's son was missing. Check out this tweet from Peter King: "I once lost my daughter in a NJ mall for 3 minutes. Worst 3 minutes of my life. I so feel for the @Ivan_Maisel family. #FindMax".   He was summarily roasted for being tone deaf.
• Texas Republican State Representative Tony Tinderholt was so angry that a Travis County judge authorized the marriage of a same sex couple last week that he filed a (handwritten) judicial complaint. He got so many things wrong that it is laughable. Then I learned this man defending the sanctity of marriage has been married five times. 
• Finally watched the Modern Family episode "shot completely on iPhone 6 and iPad Air 2." I thought it was brilliant. 
• Facts are just coming in, but an attempted murder-suicide in Benbrook last night has to have a crazy back story behind it. 

I Mentioned I Separated My Shoulder A Few Years Back

I'll be dang if that BagOfNothing guy didn't find the video Mrs. LL shot that day and created a gif.  That's some X-Games type air I caught on that jump. I'm lucky I survived.

"Uh, Honey, I'm On Top Of A Mailbox"

Car slid down the hill. Cars cannot fit inside mailboxes. (Picture from Mechelle Stone in Southlake) #dfwwx #txwx pic.twitter.com/zZAAf2Yz8j
— DFW Scanner (@DFWscanner) February 27, 2015

RIP Spock

I've never been a big sci-fi fan, but as a kid I couldn't get enough of Star Trek.

Full obituary of Leonard Nimoy.

Wow: Fort Worth Traffic at 10:30 a.m.

Taken from Google Maps with live traffic.

I'm not sure I've ever seen anything like that.

We've Got Wise County Winter Wonderland Chaos!

Entrance to Decatur High School right now. 

Schools closing early.  Government offices closing early. Private businesses closing early (including Devon). Slick roads. Wrecks. Chaos. 

Thanks a lot, Delkus.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• I've see a ton of things go viral, but nothing like the "What color is this dress?" yesterday. And it happened because all it took was for you to turn to a co-worker, friend, or family member and ask "You see gold and white don't you?" If you got a different answer, it was on. 
• Alvord ISD is closed today but was a little slow to pull the trigger on that announcement. Edit: Paradise ISD is closed with an even more of a delayed announcement. 
• Serious question: Looking out the window a second ago I saw that the snow was really coming down. Is the stuff that we see right now going to be tough to drive on? 
• DPS is looking to hire officers with two years of experience. You'll go through an eight week course instead of the normal twenty, and after a probationary period you'll earn over $71,000. One caveat: You'll be assigned to the border.
• Another school project last night: Creating a flute out of a PVC pipe. And I'll be dang if we didn't pull it off. (And it helps if the Junior In The House is a heck of flute player who can compensate for design and construction errors.) But have you ever drilled huge holes into a PVC pipe?
• There was a paid commercial disguised as an interview last night on Fox 4 News: Steve Eager had an in-studio interview with the head of some dietary supplement company called IDLife. It felt ridiculously like an infomercial. (And, oddly, right beside him was Troy Aikman with the caption underneath him that read "Investor/Company Spokesman.")
• And there is something wrong with Aikman. He's never been particularly the life of the party, but he seems distant and depressed in almost any interview he gives these days. I bet something is going on.
• Breaking news: At least nine dead in Missouri in a mass shooting. Oddly, it involves as many as "six crime scenes."
• I had someone who should know email yesterday to tell me Chad Littlefield's widow is out of sight because "she has put it behind her." Not exactly sure what that means.
• President Obama did not sign and executive order banning certain bullets for the AR-15. But the ATF is considering doing it on their own.  
• I sign up for the Cowtown Half Marathon and we get this weather? (It kicks off at 7:00 a.m. on Sunday so it should still go on. But the 10K is tomorrow and I'd bet it gets cancelled.)
• If Jeb Bush gets heckled at CPAC, he should use it in a campaign ad named, "See, I told you I'm not a nutcase." (And I love those CPAC speeches. Nothing like a politician going just a little too far because he's playing off of a rabid crowd that isn't exactly mainstream.)

America Stopped Down To Watch Llamas On The Run

I stepped out of the office for a while only to come back and find a llama chase in Phoenix has captivated the nation.

The whole thing sped up set to the music of Yakety Sax is here.

Speaking Of Police Chases and Police Shootings

Sky4 over end of DeSoto PD chase that reportedly ended with suspect being shot by police pic.twitter.com/vdzVDrB10V
— FOX 4 NEWS (@FOX4) February 26, 2015

Good grief.

News Conference Regarding Grapevine Officer's Deadly Shooting Of A Motorist

It was actually in Euless after a "short pursuit".

Grapevine officer Robert Clark has not given statement yet on the Friday fatal shooting of Ruben G. Villalpando: @EulessPolice
— domingo ramirez jr. (@mingoramirezjr) February 26, 2015

This is a huge difference between a shooting by an officer and a shooting by any Joe on the street. Joe  would be interviewed before he had a chance to consult with anyone, gather his thoughts, or learn what the actual facts are from videos and by talking to other officers who are aware of the facts of the investigation.

Euless PD says dash cam video shouldnt yet be released in Grapevine OIS bc still interviewing witnesses @wfaachannel8 pic.twitter.com/mcPM4f3LWk
— Monica Hernandez (@MHernandezWFAA) February 26, 2015

I suppose that is a legitimate excuse, but it can't be hidden forever.

Question From The Comment Section: Chad Littlefield's Wife?

Ok, I'll admit I've raised an eyebrow at the conduct of Chris Kyle's wife.  The Oscars appearance. The book.  The storming out of the courtroom during closing arguments.  Maybe that's the way she deals with stress and pain -- who knows. There are no rules regarding how a person is "supposed" to act after their spouse is murdered.

But someone in the comments section today asked: What about Chad Littlefield's wife?  That's a great question. I haven't even thought about that. A quick Google search mentions Littlefield, an almost forgotten man, had a wife who worked in the Midlothian ISD and had a daughter.  (Funeral photo.) And even though Littlefield's parents have appeared on TV after the trial (truly grief stricken), I've never seen his widow throughout this ordeal. That's not a criticism. Heck, I'd probably go into seclusion instead of heading for the Red Carpet.

People are unique. We all respond differently. But what a crazy contrast with these two women.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• How did I miss this and why am I not surprised?: Chris Kyle's widow is writing a book, American Wife. 
• Apple has been ordered to pay over a half billion dollars by a jury from (plaintiff friendly) East Texas for patent violations. Apple said, the plaintiff "makes no products, has no employees, creates no jobs, [and] has no US presence." In essence, they were sued by a patent troll who took advantage of the U.S.'s outdated and vague patent laws.
• You had to see it, but the Fox 4 newscast at 9:00 last night might have been the most wheels off broadcast I've ever seen. Multiple technical difficulties, a video with one story while the teleprompter had words for another, anchors trying to wing it, and dead air. Steve Eager finally had to laughingly admit at the end that the show had been a trainwreck. 
• We've got breaking news in the Dez Bryant Is There Or Is There Not A Video case.  Lancaster police confirm they were called in 2011 to a Walmart parking lot based upon a 911 call of a woman being dragged from one vehicle to another. No arrests were made but Dez showed up.  How in the world did the press miss this for four years? And if there is a video of that, who has it? Walmart? The police? A third person who once requested a copy of it? 
• Josh Hamilton reportedly met with MLB officials about a relapse involving cocaine. I think that guy is as dumb as a box of rocks, but I almost feel sorry for him. 
• "Wise Co. Commissioners also approved my WISE Plan to encourage & incentivize employees to help eliminate waste in county govt." - County Judge J.D. Clark yesterday. What exactly does "incentivize" in that context mean?
• Whenever I blow past conservative radio they all seem to be attacking Jeb Bush these days. 
• The twenty-one year old son of ESPN college football analyst Ivan Maisel is missing. Maisel used to work at the Dallas Morning News and is responsible for that famous first photo of Jimmy Johnson and Jerry Jones in Dallas. 
• Police chase in Denton last night ended up in death and injury.  Police chase this morning results in huge crash.
• There sure hasn't been many updates on the police on police shooting in Montague County that happened a couple of weeks ago.  
• I wonder if the metroplex media every did an open records request for all reports and videos regarding the Wise County police dog killing which resulted in a man's death. 
• Mexico sure it upset about that Grapevine shooting by police that I mentioned the other day. I still say this video is going to be bad.
• And there is another police shooting controversy in Washington as a guy is killed for allegedly throwing rocks at police. Cops fired 17 shots. Photo and story.

Down Goes Madonna! Down Goes Madonna!

She is 56.

You've Got To Be Kidding Me

And to think I was naive enough to think that the process would have been so grueling and stressful that the jurors would want to take a couple of days to decompress. Nope. Let's go on TV less than 12 hours after the verdict.

One of them said several of the jurors might have seen American Sniper. In fact, the guy in the picture said that he had seen it and that it gave him a "better understanding" of Chris Kyle.

I'm speechless.

Even If You Don't Care About The NCAA, Watch This Develop

Stay with me here. Silas Nacita is a spare walk-on player at Baylor. He's lucky to even get in a game during blowout time. But he became sort of a folk hero last year.  Why? His story of going from homeless (really!) to a Baylor benchwarmer was so intriguing and bizarre that even Sports Illustrated did an article on him.

The guy is deeply religious. His twitter feed has more biblical and inspirational thoughts than Joel Osteen's. Honestly, sometimes I have thought it was over the top.

And for a reason not quite clear yet, news broke this morning that the NCAA is going to suspend him. However, all indications point to the allegation  he "accepted" housing from a "close family friend" which somehow is against NCAA rules.  Not drugs. Not an assault. Not cheating.

Edit this afternoon: Uh oh. There may be more to this story than Evil NCAA vs. Good Baylor Boy.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughsts

• Pete Delkus last night at 10:30: "Snow totals going higher...tomorrow morning looks VERY interesting!!!" and "Looking pretty snowy tomorrow morning!!"  I don't mind him missing on a weather prediction. I mind that he doesn't care about becoming a cartoon.  
• And it was incredibly funny watching the local stations this morning. They had reporters dispatched all across the metroplex who were forced to talk about weather that did not exist. I'm impressed they can do that. 
• Decatur ISD is on a normal schedule today as everyone crosses their fingers that the worst-designed-entrance-in-the-history-of-ever doesn't briefly turn into a ski slope as school opens.
• Well, Routh got convicted in The American Sniper trial and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. After a dinner break, the jury reached its decision. I'm not sure which took longer. 
• So that's our answer on how to handle someone who everyone agrees is mentally ill (but knew "right from wrong"): We put them in a cage. 
• And this is an actual tweet from the Governor of Texas late last night: "JUSTICE! Chris Kyle's killer convicted of capital murder. Jury didn't buy insanity defense. #AmericanSniper #ChrisKyletrial".  Man, we are free falling towards Idiocracy. At the end of a trial which should make us heartbroken for everyone involved, our highest elected official is high fiving online and using hashtags.
• A cop shot a motorist in Grapevine on Friday. From the reports that are trickling out from those who have seen the vide, this is gonna be bad. For the police.
• I dreamed I was at a court hearing with a trooper who came up and said to me, "Barry, I'm sorry, but I just learned there's a warrant out for you." But he was incredibly nice. 
• Bill O'Reilly has been dogged by allegations of lying as of late which I really haven't paid attention to. He's not a journalist.  But one report yesterday was of local interest because two icons at Channel 8 said he lied while as a reporter at WFAA. (I didn't know he even worked there.)
• Good grief, Jimmy Buffet is coming to DFW for the millionth time. How many times can you folks listen to Margariteville?  
• I bought the book on Mindfulness. I might get sucked into this.
• The Family Cat mauled The Family Fish last night causing quite a bit of drama.
• I've signed up for the Cowtown Half Marathon on Sunday. This will be dicey. 
• I became a big fan of Tim MacMahon last night for standing up to the bully and insufferable Mav's coach Rick Carlisle. That was great.