Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Jay Leno was at Bass Hall this weekend and according to the Star-Telegram, he "he told jokes about headlines dating as far back as 2007 as if they were current. Larry Craig's bathroom stall incident and Anthony Weiner's Twitter indiscretions were among some of his most passionately pursued anecdotes. He even referred to Charlie Sheen's 'tiger blood' shenanigans of early 2011 as having happened 'last year.'" And he gets paid for that? 
• For those of you who think BreitBart.com is legitimate, the retraction at the end of this article about President Obama's nominee for AG should make you rethink the source of your news. Laughable. I didn't know hate could keep you from fact checking. 
• I got my haircut at one of those run-of-the-mill places this weekend and had a "stylist" who just happened to be African-America. (At least I think so. You all know that I don't see color.) But I almost laughed out loud when I looked at her Cosmetology license on the counter which mandatorily showed her picture. She was throwing up the sideways "V" sign. 
• Sports: (1) For all those who took my advice and "bet the house" by taking OU and the points against Baylor, don't kill me. I'm officially taking the rest of the year off from my otherwise well deserved "Sports Genius" status. (2). Love how some refer to TCU as having a "Baylor Problem" when it comes to their chances of getting the Final Four. Look, if TCU and Baylor win out (which now seems possible), Baylor jumps TCU. You simply cannot rationalize a head to head loss. (3) Cole Beasley is in trouble for a tweet. He needs to remember he's a spare. (4) Texas High School Playoffs are ridiculous. There are two 1-9 teams who made it: Freer and Rio Grande City Grulla. And there are nine teams who made it at 2-8. (5) Messenger sports editor Richard Greene had a great point over the weekend: Northwest won by two points on Thursday which, due to some screwy margin of victory rule, kept them out of the playoffs and put their opponent, Keller, in. That led to the crazy scenario at the end of the game where Keller, although losing, took a knee and then celebrating.  (6) Former South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore needs to be the poster boy for the eventual abolition of football. He was the SEC Freshman of the Year and a second-team All-American in 2010 when he rushed for 1,197 yards and 17 touchdowns. Then he blew out his ACL twice in consecutive years, was drafted in the NFL last year but didn't play, and announced last week that he was giving it up. Chewed up and spit out. (7) I didn't know Bridgeport had any African-American young athletes. I guess I'm wrong. Finally. 
• Good grief, we found another lost dog last night. We are trying to find the owner because there is no way we can keep it. "We can't save the world," I had to proclaim. But this dog, unlike the others we've found, seems desperate to go home despite the love and affection he gets from us. 
• Police State: Irving police kill a man last night. Sansom Park police killed a "hostile" man on Friday.
• Twenty-five years ago I remember watching news footage of the uprising in East Berlin with a lawyer who had a masters degree in foreign affairs from UVA: "East Berlin will crush those people," he told me. 
• My recurring question: When did it become a custom in the U.S. to put your hand over your heart during the national anthem? I KNOW that was not done when I was a kid. We simply stood at attention. We only put our hand over our hearts during the Pledge of Allegiance. (By the way, at any sports event I stick to my roots which makes me a little tense when I'm around a bunch of Bubbas.) Edit: Fascinating. A commenter points out a portion of the U.S. Code which says you should place your hand over your heart. But it was amended in 1998 and 2008. I'm trying to determine if the "hand over your heart" law existed before then. 
• The Messenger over the weekend still said the name of the guy killed in the tractor accident in Boyd had still not been released. (I think they accidentally listed his name in the death notices last week.)