Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• The Cowboy's signed Zeke signed overnight: A six year extension beginning in 2021 for $90 million with $50 million guaranteed.  These boys nailed it yesterday:
  
• Everyone is saying that "He'll be a Cowboy through 2026!" That's dumb.  He's got four years of good production left if the Cowboys are lucky. So let's go with the $50 million of new money which is guaranteed -- the only money that matters -- divided by four years of production: $12.5 million a year. This is practically how to look at it in a "what exactly are they paying for" sort of way: 
• 2019: $3.5 million (old contract) + $12.5 million
• 2020: $9 million (old contract) + $12.5 million
• 2021: $12.5 million
• 2022: $12.5 million
• 2023: Irrelevant. At this point, and probably before, massive deterioration in production begins. They either cut him now or he takes a pay cut to whatever it is he's worth which isn't much. If he's been extremely good for the previous four years and he gets cut after 2022, that's still probably a fair deal. If his legs start to go in 2020 (like Todd Gurley's did last year), it's a horrible deal.
• 2024: Irrelevant
• 2025: Irrelevant
• 2026: Irrelevant
• The Odessa shooter failed a firearms background check on January 14, 2014, but the government won't tell us why. Since most reasons to fail the background check are otherwise available as a public record (i.e. a conviction for domestic violence), most speculate it was a disqualification for "mental heath condition" or "substance abuse."  We don't know about treatment for those conditions because of HIPAA laws. But, amazingly, there's no easy way for the federal government to know about it either -- especially to have enough details to be disqualifying for a gun. The disqualification of the shooter seems mysterious.
• Walmart will no longer sell handgun ammo or ammo for the AR-15 and related guns. This will cause a massive boycott of red-blooded Americans until the moment they need to make a run to Walmart. 
  
• Random old soap opera thought: Search for Tomorrow is a pretty deep name for a pretty silly program.
• Lawyers really don't have a union because there is no one to unionize against. Story
  
• Highest (administrative) county judges in the state: Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley at $182,482 and Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins at $171,367
  
• A reminder that you can search for how much any Texas attorney made via court appointments in criminal cases. And it is searchable by county.
• Weird story out of Dallas. She had worked at the company for only a "few days", and the alleged killer urged her to apply for the job. He took her in a company truck which the company was able to "remotely shut down" when it was discovered to be in Mississippi. He allegedly killed her shortly afterwards. 
  
• There's a lot going on here with Billy, and a lot to think about: 
  
• Dress for success.
  
• College football random thoughts: (1) The Big 12 went 10-0 last weekend which is impressive simply because no one slipped up. More impressive: No Big 12 team threw an interception. (2) Former UT coach Charlie Strong is in a weird funk at South Florida. He started of 2018 at 6-0 but has since lost eight straight (and started off this year with a 49-0 loss to Wisconsin.) (3) I managed to scramble to a TV to catch the end of Tennessee's loss to Georgia State. Back in the day, I also managed to get in front of a TV for Appalachian State's upset of Michigan. 
• As a followup on my out-of-the blue Seinfeld bullet point on Monday, I found this People magazine cover story.
  
• Messenger: Above the Fold