Out Of Pocket

I'm out of pocket most of today as I'm up before dawn to help referee the above fund raising activity. Gotta keep those cops in line.

Edit: Observations . . .

- It lasted from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. (Non-stop with no lunch break. Kill me.)
- The tournament was made up of 4 teams with only one being comprised of cops (and only partially at that.)
- It was more of an all-star game of Wise County high school players over the last 10 years.
- And some of those guys were great.
- How's this for crazy. The four teams played a round robin (each team plays the other.) And they used that to determine the 1 through 4 seeding for the championship tournament. So the final two teams played five games (of 40 minutes in duration.)
- The defenses and offenses were very sophisticated (all because of the creation of 7 on 7 summer play for high schoolers. Whatever happened to "go about 10 yards and cut across" or "just get open"?)
- I screwed up a couple of calls. Officiating is hard.
- I told my friends/officials that the key was to make any call "quickly and forcefully." Hey, act like you are a 100% convinced and you'll convince others. They looked at me like I was nuts.
- Former Decatur high school star Cheyenne Redwine broke his arm. I didn't go look at it after a group huddle around him and yelled, "Oh, my god!" The last I saw of him he was being treated by EMTs.
- After the game resumed, one of his Decatur teammates yelled, "Let's win this one for him!" A quick response from another teammate was, "Dude, he's not dead." Funny. Very funny.
- I blew a whistle too quickly on a play which prompted some guy to yell at me. Loudly. I said, "It's an inadvertent whistle. Get off my back." Another player came up to me and said, "Don't worry about that *&^%&, he's from Bridgeport any way . . . [insert awkward pause] . . . uh, are you from Bridgeport?"
- By the way, cussing was a big player. It was F Bomb Central.
- The championship game came down to both teams firing passes into the end zone in the final couple of minutes. I was the back judge with the primary responsibility of ruling on interference and catch/drop. That was not fun.
- The final play came with two seconds left with the offense spending a very long time in the huddle. One lady on the sideline yelled, "There are only two seconds left! How much time do you need to come up with a play?" Maybe the most confusing yell ever.
- Most shocking comment I heard from a fan: "At least [our star player] has a college degree. [The other team's star] was just picked up off the street."

OK, Kids. Shut Up For A Moment

Well, it looks like some crazy liberal Clinton appointed federal judge has lost her way and started making decisions like Scalia.

But a question mark has formed over my head. Do schools in Wise County actual begin with a "moment of silence?" Do we actually follow this crazy Texas law?

Mom Doing Damage Control? Not So Much

The lady that had her daughter write the fake "essay" (which was four sentences long, by the way) about her Fake Dead Daddy in order to win Hannah Montana tickets, was on The Today Show this morning.

So odd. Matt Lauer, because the lady was "very nervous", allowed her to read a statement apologizing for the incident. But more odd was that she appeared with her lawyer and psychiatrist. Psychiatrist?

It was fairly boring until she said that she had explained to her daughter what had happened by being truthful. "I told my daughter the truth. I told her we wrote an essay and they said it was a lie. And I refused to accept the tickets."

"Refuse the tickets or they were taken away?" Lauer asked.

"I refused the tickets," came the reply.

She's still having a little difficulty with that Truth Thing. But good eyebrows.

Friday Morning Pick Me Up

"Sometimes I get bored with reading about the number of car registrations in the Update." - Nadia Bjorlin

I Saw . . .

. . . a Dallas Cowboy "Eastern Division Champs 2007-2008" T-shirt the other day which I think is extremely spare. But the Redskins are selling "Wild Card" T-shirts.

I'm working on some Bridgeport "Runner Up Division 8-3A Football 2007" hoodies.

Edit: Ok, ok. Bridgeport wasn't the runner up. My bad. Tired Head.

Edit #2: Speaking of playoffs, here are the odds to with the Super Bowl

New England Patriots 2/5
Indianapolis Colts 4/1
Dallas Cowboys 6/1
San Diego Chargers 8/1
Green Bay Packers 10/1
Jacksonville Jaguars 10/1
Pittsburgh Steelers 35/1
Seattle Seahawks 40/1
Washington Redskins 50/1
New York Giants 60/1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 65/1
Tennessee Titans 100/1

Britney Breakdown Countdown

As I slept soundly in a fetal position in the corner last night, we had drama at Britney's house. Seems like she got all liquored up and refused to give up her kids to her ex. For some crazy reason, she was then taken to the hospital.

The gal is crazy. Me loves me some crazy.

Edit: Best pic I could find of her from last night.

Iowa

You know, I'm kinda hooked on watching the caucus results tonight.

For the GOP, it's Huckabee pulling off the win. (And, for the life of me, I don't know why the Rush and Sean Hannity's of the world hate him so much. But I'm glad this win will drive them crazy.) And I didn't know Ed Rollins had been brought in to help on Huckabee's campaign.

For the Dems, with about 70% of the vote in, Obama has a growing lead over Hillary and Edwards who are pretty much tied. For most of the night it's been a virtual three way tie.

Good stuff.

Independent?

Some commenter kept saying it and I didn't believe him. But he was right. Some guy named Clinton Phillips filed as an Independent for the Wise and Jack County DA job. Link (at bottom.)

Either Dumb Or A Liar

Jeff Ireland, who up until yesterday was the Director of Player Personnel with the Dallas Cowboys, is now the General Manager of the Miami Dolphins after being hired Wednesday by Bill Parcells (the new Executive Vice President of the Dolphins.)

And in his first news conference this morning, Ireland was asked who would have final say on Draft Day:

"Well, I have final say over all personnel decisions."

Yeah, right.

Do You Spank?

A couple of observations. The gal seems to be really embarrassed - like she really is hiding something. We need to get her working with the dancing traffic girl to create an all star lineup. But the more entertaining part of the video is the creepy male anchor. Yeah, it's OK to get all excited over such a revelation but you don't have to get that excited. And the way he leans into her at the end has "stalker" written all over it.

Well, I'll Be

t
The Bridgeport Index does have a humble little web site. Pretty much just a scan of the front page, but it's a start. I didn't know it existed.

Random Question

I've never asked this question: Of all the links on www.wisecounty.com, is there a popular one that is missing? Are there some which have no business being there? Any suggestions in general?

I created that layout in 1997 when my dial-up connection speed on the shores of Lake Bridgeport was 25% of normal (14,400 bps or something like that). I wanted to make it quick loading and graphic free. I still think people appreciate that.

Reader Submitted

So a buddy just emailed this about The Clinton Library. I'm torn about posting it because I'll only put it at the "moderately funny" category. But since that guy (1) told me to post it, (2) has a better sense of humor than I do, and (3) is better liked, maybe he knows something I don't. Plus, I got a big bag of nothing this morning.

Nielsen Ratings Are In

But I have to admit that the December numbers are probably inflated a little. For some crazy reason, on December 13th I was inundated with visitors (5,000 to 8,000) who had found Liberally Lean after googling "hot Boston College girls." Google returns this post as its #1 result. Why that was a hot topic on December 13th remains a mystery to me.

Gay Or Not Gay?

So I'm being manly last night watching West Virginia kill Oklahoma in the Chips 'N Salsa Fiesta Bowl when this popped up on my screen. Yep, a guy twirler.

Edit: We've reached a record for "Most Comments Not Suitable For Posting."

Yep. Same Girl.

Story here.

And Some Guy Who Dispatches Trains . . .

and is from Wise County is going to run against Phil King as a Democrat.

How Soon Will The Media Broadcast . . .

. . . what has to be a horrifying 911 call?

Nicollette Sheridan is 44 . . .

. . . and fantastic. (She's in St. Barts on an extended vacation.)

Stoppin' Traffic

OK, this spare New York City channel has the greatest traffic girl in the history of ever. Not only is she smokin' hot, but she is willing to break out into a dance in the middle of a newscast. (It takes about 60 seconds to get there.) If Tammy Dombeck would do that, I'd TIVO is every day.

Random Political Thought

Everyone knows that Greg Lowery is going run for District Attorney. But because of some goofy law, he couldn't file nor announce his candidacy before 1.1.08 if he wanted to keep his current gig as County Attorney for the rest of his term. But this is a little bit of a logistic nightmare. Since the DA's position is a state position, he has to file his application to appear on the ballot in Austin and today is the last day. Was Fed Ex open yesterday? Does he have to drive or fly down there? Edit: I'm sure Greg made it, but we'll be able to find out here. Edit #2: I have no idea who Clint Phillips is. And I've not heard anything about another candidate. And despite two of the comments, he didn't file. And in other election news, the guy that former Bridgeport resident Allen Vaught beat out for state rep in Dallas is running to get his old job back. And he refers to Allen as "an asbestos trial lawyer who has the political backing from Texas’ trial lawyer campaign machine."

As We Look Ahead

Questions?

Cowboy On Cowboy Violence

From the Redskins game last weekend.

New Year's Resolutions

1. To stalk Britney Spears until she loves me like she promised me in a dream back in May.
2. Get a new car which will prove I'm going through a mid-life crisis.
3. Eat at Tater Junction.
4. Go to the Decatur Walmart without thinking, "I've got to get out of here."
5. Turn around and yell "What's wrong with you!" at the next person I meet walking right past me on the way to the courthouse and refuses to make eye contact.
6. Make more fires in the fireplace.
7. Give up hookers. (Kidding. I'm not giving up hookers.)
8. Get HD DirecTV after owning a HD TV for five years.
9. Take one of my football trips, possibly to Ohio State or Notre Dame.
10. Think about getting a cat.

I Think That's An Amazingly Low Number

Story. And ten of those refused to provide a sample of breath and were then forced to provide a blood sample.

Edit: The Dallas Morning News uses a different calculator . . .

My New Profile Pic

Random Tired Head Thought

The Dallas Morning News' choice for "Texan of the Year" was the "Illegal Immigrant" based upon the controversy the subject had caused in 2007.

Uh, can an illegal immigrant be a Texan?

Removing Pole From Ground For Dummies

I think the guy's body language of ultimate defeat may be the funniest part.

What? Meth Dealing Doesn't Make You Rich?

From The Wichita Falls paper:

The North Texas Regional Drug Task Force closed down in 2007, victim of budget cuts. The consortium of law officers had served 23 counties in drug investigations. The Texas Legislature curtailed its funding of regional task forces and federal grant money was diverted to other purposes.

Another factor was the trend of drug traffickers to choose methamphetamine over cocaine, which resulted in lower cash seizures by the task force.

City and county governments chipped in enough money to keep the task force, which operated out of the Wichita Falls Police Department, running though 2007. But the money wasn’t available for 2008. The task force officers were absorbed into WFPD or other agencies.

As stated here, When the Tulia scandal broke in 1999, Texas had more than 50 of these regional drug task forces. With the demise of the Wichita Fallas Task Force, we're down to four. And I think we are safely living without them.

Still Amazing

It's four day old news, but the story of the mom who had her six year old make up a story of her dad being killed in Iraq in order to win Hannah Montana tickets is amazing. The best coverage I saw was when Byron Harris confronted the mom in the store - the "deer in headlights" look doesn't do it justice. (It's here if you can get it to work.)

But the story is all over the place this morning - on a national scale. It was onThe Today Show and Good Morning America

Don't Tase Yourself, Bro!

"I'm being chased by Guido the killer pimp."

Let's see. A 17 year old contacts a hooker to come to his house when his parents are gone. He doesn't pay her so she shows up the next day with a little help.

Sound familiar? Well it actually happened last week near Austin.

Liberally Lean: The Year In Pictures

No Country For Old Men

Review from the Movie Tavern off of Hulen:

1) The first half of the movie was great. Absolutely great.
2) The second half can best be described by a comment I saw on IMDB:

I am a 40 year old movie buff Academy Award trivia expert I own over 700 movies I've been a member here for 6 years And I have a college degree. Maybe I ate too many milk duds or something but it went right over my head.

If you are looking for a Donnie Darko, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind MUST SEE A SECOND OR THIRD TIME TO FULLY UNDERSTAND kind of movie then go for it!

If you think you are going to see a Titanic, The Green Mile or Silence Of the Lambs kind of movie where the plot unfolds at a normal pace and doesn't make you search for answers and meaning then don't go see this thing.

Again, not a bad movie. Great acting, cinematography, pace.... the works... just incredibly difficult to understand after the first half.

In fact the first half is very good, suspenseful.. second half does not fulfill. Leaves you hanging and wanting more.

Then again, I didn't think much of Pulp Fiction the first time I saw it. I'll give No Country another chance.

Ric Williamson Has Died

I really don't know much about the former Texas legislator, 55, that represented Wise County other than everyone thinks he was a good guy.

That's not a bad way to be remembered.