I Love Games Like Tonight

Prediction: An Evil Empire Victory (as much as it pains me to say it.) Prediction #2: The game may take over four hours to complete Prediction #3: There will be more beer than water in Lubbock tonight Observation #1: I love the headline in the Dallas Morning News today describing the coaches: "Corporate vs. Crazy" Edit: Greatest. Game. Ever? Winning TD with :01 left:

Halloween Sportzzz

Bridgeport 56 Hirschi 6

Bulls didn't cover spread

Boyd 23 Paradise 35

Boyd blames sissy boys from new high priced subdivisions

Vernon 47 Decatur 30

I think the Eagles are playoff eliminated

Alvord 6 Jacksboro 8

Fans given crank to stay awake

Chico 12 Millsap 26

Looking for Millsap on map.

What In The World?

From the guy that sent the Frozen Frankenmonkey picture (yep same guy), comes this pic as he stands in front of a soft drink machine.

One Upped: Exclusive Footage Of The Methodist's Fall Fest

Uh, Straight Ticket?

A very reliable source sends me the cell phone pic of an inmate in line to early vote in Tarrant County. Edit: My reliable source now tells me it's possible it was just a Halloween costume. But the picture was taken in downtown Fort Worth, near the jail, so that guy might want to be careful if he hears someone yell, "Freeze!"

Friday Afternoon Pick Me Up

Huh?

“We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.” What the heck he is talking about? (See how fair and balanced I am.) Edit: I should have put an over/under on the number of minutes until a Hitler reference showed up in the comments. Sheesh.

Me At First Baptist's Fall Fest

I love Halloween.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• You'd think it be easier to find pics of hot girls in Halloween outfits, but it's not.
• I think I've seen Kim Brimer's name more than McCain or Obama's
• In case you missed, Irving experienced a 3.0 earthquake last night. I'm going up to the courthouse right now to see if it is still standing.
• Tort King Fred Baron died yesterday. That man became filthy rich by stealing money through asbestos lawsuits --- and my first job out of law school was to help defend against them. What a racket. Edit: A little proof.
• If there was a TV show that was nothing more than a roving camera in the parking lot at the Texas Motor Speedway, I'd watch it. Big time.
• This "redistribute the wealth" bit is soooo overplayed by the Republicans. First, that's mighty big talk from a party whose President just demanded (and got) almost a trillion dollars of your tax money redistributed to banks and investment houses. Secondly, our progressive tax system has been doing that for years. Thirdly, considering the number of people that work for the government, redistribution of wealth has become the number one function of our government. Not saying it's right, just saying that's the way it is.
• Still thinking about the Frozen Frankenmonkey.
• Almost forgot about Spaghetti Cat.
• Painting a black eye on you along with a backwards "B" on your cheek would be a funny last minute Halloween outfit.
• Speaking of, the NBC Today Show folks always dress up on today. Look forward to seeing it. It's the one day that I don't despise Ann Curry.
• Dallas Mavericks = Fail.
• Fox 4's traffic guy Chip Waggoner lost his mind this morning by dressing up in a skin tight silver outfit. Then he plopped on an Elvis wig which prompted anchor Tim to ask him, "Are you the fat Elvis or the skinny Elvis?" Funny.
• I should have gone to Lubbock this weekend for Red Raider/Longhorn game. And the next day I could have swung by Tulia.
• People are crazy.
• Had a lady who wanted me to demonstrate my iPhone for her yesterday. I should be a salesman for Apple since I kept beating her down with my, "Oh, yeah, let me show you one other thing."

Wise County Courthouse Sign I Never Noticed

And Another

A 29 year old band teacher. Link.

Thursday Afternoon Pick Me Up

Cheerleaders. I think.

And That Moon Walk Thingy Was All On A Hollywood Stage

Link. You'd think that some McCain supporters would want to vote for Obama just so they wouldn't be associated with the residents of Crazy Town, USA.

From Last Night's World Series Celebration In Philly

And to think, dear friends, that man's vote counts as much as yours in the upcoming election.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Google Streetview has come to Rhome. Decatur should be mapped anytime now.
• I'd watch more baseball if all games were three innings long.
• Sarah Palin, in the end, probably hurt more than helped McCain.
• I'm planning a weekend in Manhattan in November.
• A Halloween costume was delivered by UPS to my office last week. I wouldn't tell what was inside. It's still driving our office staff crazy.
• There's a headline in the Star Telegram today that reads, "Three Million Homeowners Could Get Federal Help." That drives me insane.
• I've always believed, above all else, that you should pay your bills.
• In the Obama Infomercial last night they showed a struggling Ford worker who was worried about making ends meet. It then showed him taking his family out to eat and having a distressed look as the the cashier told him, "That'll be $24.09." Note to guy: Don't go out to eat!!!!!
• Keith over at bagofnothing.com taught me how to link to a youtube video and have it start at a particular point of the video without having to fast forward. You can learn how to here. And the above portion of the infomercial about the going-out-to-eat-guy can be jumped to here (as I put that youtube trick to work.)
• How could you possibly call yourself "undecided" in the Presidential election?
• I finished the Tulia book - great stuff. And if there's any tragic figure it's former DA Terry McEachern. That's what happens when a small town DA accepts every case that walks in the door and fails to question anything that law enforcement does.
• Every week I see somebody taking a picture of the Decatur courthouse.
• You'll hear about the occasional murder-for-hire that gets thwarted. I wonder how many unsolved murders were successful murder-for-hires?
• Golfer John Daly passed out at Frilly's Hooters. (Link includes mugshot.)
• I spent a buck on the lottery the other other night (first time in months.) But my routine is always the same: Never look at the numbers and wait to hear on the news whether a winning ticket was sold in the town I bought it in. If I don't hear about it, I throw it away.
• Man, there was a video floating around yesterday of a Houston Cougar receiver snapping his leg after he ran into some band equipment that hadn't been removed from the sideline after halftime. I think it happened on Tuesday night -- but I couldn't click on it because I hate seeing stuff like that.

My Treasure Chest

That's the secret compartment in the back of my family truckster. I was always looking for change in my car. I could never find change. I hate carrying change. So it finally dawned on me that I should take those two huge canisters full of coins that I had at my house (which had accumulated over many years) and simply dump it in the back. Success! No more looking for change. But I know one of these days a huge question mark is going to form over some DPS Trooper's head.

Halloween Pick Me Up

You know, I'm a sucker for that "I Dream Of Jeannie" outfit. I'm pretty sure I'd marry a girl on the spot if she showed up on my front doorstep wearing that thing -- even if she looked like that chick from the "Faces of Meth" poster. It's overpowering.

Phone Pic From Wichita Falls This Morning

I'm sure it was sent because of the gas price being below $2 a gallon, but all of a sudden I'm fascinated with a Frozen Frankenmonkey.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• That's UT Quarterback Colt McCoy's girlfriend, Rachel Glandorf, on the left.
• I saw a guy in the Wise County district court yesterday representing himself in a divorce/contempt proceeding against his wife. He won. He then proceeded to strut out of the courtroom but smashed into the back door when he tried to open it the wrong way. A local lawyer/funny man sitting next to me said, "He had an almost perfect exit until the ending." We then decided that he had to have contemplated, at least for a moment, moonwalking out the door.
• UNT coach Todd Dodge decided to drug test all his players and 15 of 86 came back positive for "recreational drugs" (read: "marijuana"). What a shocker, 17% of football players at North Texas smoke dope. Go test the general population and compare.
• But Dodge kind of scared me when he said the players were going to take a drug education course since "maybe it will save their lives." Reefer Madness has broken out in Denton.
• I was certain I had lost weight since my belt finally was feeling loose. Then I got on the scale this morning and found I had gained two pounds. That is weird.
• Oddest music purchase I've made in a while: Marilyn Manson's The Beautiful People. It was pointed out to me while the Longhorn band drum section played it at various times throughout the OU game.
• The First Baptist Church of Bridgeport utilizes Flickr. Me loves me some Flickr.
• Story of my life: Prison warden's wife meets inmate. Inmate meets wife. She helps him escape. They live together on a chicken farm in Texas for 10 years. Both are captured. Inmate dies. Wife goes back to living with warden. Wife now on trial. (Man, this is perfect for the Dallas Morning News' "True Romance" section for Sunday. Link.)
• With my hair getting longer, I look like a madman when I wake up in the mornings.
• We should have a live video feed on election night of the guy that always posts, "America has not, and will not, ever elect a man with the name of Barack Hussein Obama." Now that would be entertaining.
• And we should have a live video feed on 12/12/2012 of the guy who always predicts the end of the world on that day.
• Oddest Las Vegas result: You probably aren't aware of it, but the Game Five of the World Series has been put on hold for two days due to rain. It's tied 2-2 but, get this, if you bet on Tampa Bay to win the game, Las Vegas has already declared Philadelphia the winner and that you lost the bet. Money. Gone.
• One of the first comments on the Bono post below was a very funny one of "isn't that Cher's ex-husband?" It was only a matter of time before someone, failing to see the joke, came along to correct him.
• Texas A&M has decided to pay the bonfire victims from almost a decade ago. I'm still stunned that any good Aggie would sue A&M. Shameful.

Bono Hangs Out With Chicks Young Enough To Be His Daughter

We here at Liberally Lean condemn this sort of conduct. (Note to self: Learn to play guitar and sing. Like really quick.) Fox News has the Bono story.

A Serious Political Thought

I'm still not convinced that Obama will win seven days from now but he may very well be the next President. If that happens, the Republican Party, as we once new it, will be dead. And if doesn't happen this year, it will happen after four more. It's all a matter of demographics. And before I get flamed, this belief was actually the product of a conversation I had with a couple of right wingers six months ago. It was their idea, not mine. The reason? Minorities typically vote Democratic - that's not news. But it doesn't take many of them to push the Democrats over the 50% margin. And once that happens, there will be no turning back. Take a look at the census. That day is coming. And it may be one week away. I'm convinced that Ronald Reagan could not get elected today. That landslide of 1980 and 1984 came from an American public, and this is the most important part, that no longer exists. Yeah, it's a simplistic way of proving of it, but just think about The Brady Bunch, The Andy Griffith Show, or The Dick Van Dyke Show. It's almost like you're watching the History Channel when you looked at the way their lives were portrayed. Yeah, the Republican Party can get back into power at the national level by becoming more moderate - something McCain apparently realizes even now - but the true conservative will not be welcome. Rush Limbaugh went on a rant the other day that, win or lose, it is time to take back the Republican Party. His heart may be in the right place, but the numbers are against him. There's just not enough of those folks left to be a factor. Yeah, they are all over the place in little Wise County, but not nationally. I'm not saying it's a good thing or a bad thing. But I am saying that America changed right before our eyes. And far more quickly than any of us realized.

And Elvis Wants You To Run The Wishbone

Two background facts: (1) This is former Baylor great and new coach of the 49ers Mike Singletary being interviewed, and (2) Bill Walsh is, uh, dead.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• I thought about the old Garcia's restaurant in Decatur yesterday. Good salsa.I miss that.
• I saw KSCS's Terry Dorsey there once
• McCain's wheels fell off in Pennsylvania yesterday - and I absolutely love watching his wife's expression in this 36 second clip.
• Charlie Brown's The Great Pumpkin was weird.
• Regarding the plot to kill Obama, I bet stuff like that drives the not-crazy-Republicans crazy. Kind of one of those, "Guys, we're trying to win an election here, and you aren't helping" things.
• I still haven't turned my home heater on. I like waking up in the middle of the night in a warm bed but in a cold room. (But it's getting close.)
• Those that see things only in black or white haven't hung out with folks in the middle very often. It'll make the world a little grey afterwards.
• A pink stripe was painted down Main Street by the courthouse in Decatur on Friday in honor of the fight against breast cancer. But it's off center and is bound to cause traffic confusion.
• The Federal Reserve is expected to cut the Fed Funds rate to 1% today. (I'm not really sure what that means but it makes me sound smart to write it.) But this did occur to me: They are running out of room for any more cuts.
• Of all the talk show hosts, Sean Hannity is the dumbest.
• Good news for us bumpkins: I've noticed that the local lawyers at least know how to dress for court. Yesterday I saw the out of town folks looking darn near homeless: One without a jacket (incredible), one with his tie hitting him about halfway up his protruding belly (drives me nuts), and another with a jack/pant combo that wasn't worthy of Bill's Dollar Store.
• At one point during the UT/OSU game last week, Colt McCoy was 25 of 27. That's insane.
• Barnett Shale fun fact: "Each rig . . . directly employs about 20 workers and at least that many in related services, such as truck drivers and site-preparation workers . . . ." I was actually curious about that.
• Bridgeport's name appears to be listed on local news weather maps more than Decatur's.
• And Bridgeport got a huge shout out on The Ticket this morning for hitting 27 degrees at 7:19 a.m.
• They are having trouble selling out the NASCAR race this weekend at the Speedway. I just can't get interested.
• Not a fan of the Saw movies.
• I was moaning the other day about T. Boone Pickens and his propensity to throw money at the Oklahoma State football program the other day, but he's doing it again: Another $63 million.

Get Your Wallet Out

For Texas Tech / Texas tickets on Stubhub. They can get a little pricey. And this is to clarify that I still don't like the Evil Empire. I hold a grudge. I'm shallow like that. (And, by the way, this is a triple fake picture of the "2004 Texas Tech Swim Team")

Another Day . . .

Looks like CareFlight (or our equivalent) had to head out to 287 a few moments ago near New Fairview after a car rolled.

There Just Needs To An Emergency Brake Sound Effect

I actually caught this live yesterday. Not earthshaking, but pretty funny.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Cowboys receiver Roy Williams was sporting a big black western hat after the game.
• I finally watched one of those Kim Brimer campaign TV sports (both pro and con) that are constantly being run. Man, that's a lot of money to spend on a state senate race.
• Saw one of those Ninja bikes doing a wheelie down the highway on Saturday.
• Saw a gal in an authentic Dallas Cowboy cheerleader outfit on Saturday for Halloween. Hey, now.
• During my jog on Saturday morning, I saw a trail of blood for over a half mile (maybe more) of what clearly was some animal bleeding from one leg. (Perfect bloody paw print followed by blood spots.) I wondered what happened to him.
• I proclaimed to someone afterwards that it was probably a domesticated animal since it stayed on a cement jogging trail instead of running off into the brush. She asked me when I had become an expert on the pattern of wounded animals.
• Funny line on the Ticket this morning about the Wade Phillips' sideline celebrations: "He looks like a kindergartner who has just been told that he had 15 extra minutes of recess."
• The beautiful Megan Henderson on Fox 4 this morning led one story with, "The turnout for this year's election might exceed the one of four years ago." Might? I blame the news story writer.
• I accidentally poured some gas on my very hot weedeater on Friday evening. I backed up thinking the thing was going to burst into flames. It didn't. And I've never really heard about that happening.
• The Dallas Morning News, which laid off a ton more people last week, is now shoving its classifieds into the back of the sports section. It makes you feel like you're getting short changed on your sportzzzz. (And it was just announced that the paper's circulation dropped another 10% over the last six months.)
• I'd like to take a day and get a complete physical, complete with the treadmill and the breathing apparatus strapped to my mouth. Do they do that? Or is that just something I see on TV?
• Bailout question: If Mortgage Company A sold a mortgage to Mortgage Company B and Mortgage Company B ends up holding the bag since the mortgage wasn't any good, didn't Mortgage Company A make out like a bandit? Which gives rise to the other question: Where did all that money go that ended up in the hands of the thousands of Mortgage Company A?
• The Star Telegram has to be run by Muslims who don't wear flag lapel pins since the paper endorsed Barack Obama on Saturday.
• The always overrated AC/DC released a new album but it's only available on a CD at Walmart. No where else. And not available online. Those boys are cutting edge.
• "Contestants relax in between rounds during a U.S. Republican vice-presidential nominee Alaska Governor Sarah Palin look-alike stripper contest at a strip club in Las Vegas, Nevada October 23, 2008." Photo.
• I mentioned about that very young and hot anchorwoman from Arkansas last week. She died this weekend and I actually said an audible, "Oh, my" when I read it. She was 26.
• Start looking around for small individually owned used car lots. They seem to be vanishing before our eyes.

Gratuitous Crazy Photo

Pirates Prove Me Wrong

Ok, I predicted Texas Tech failure over Kansas and all they did was go and beat the crap out of them. That makes my happy because it sets up an epic battle on Saturday between unbeaten #1 Texas and unbeaten #6 Texas Tech. ESPN's College Game Day will be there. It's on national TV. Tech hasn't been ranked that high in 32 years. My college football pants are going crazy. Tell me if I'm wrong, but I can't think of any game more important in Tech's history. I haven't seen an opening betting line, but I "bet" it will be Texas -7.5. Edit: Close. Texas opens as a 5 point favorite.