Thursday, April 27, 2006

staubauch, class, classless and the new class

Once upon a time, there was a quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys named Roger Staubach. The guy was fantastic. A game could be completely out of control, but one never knew if he might just pull out a win.
He threw a potentially winning pass to a tight end named Jackie Smith in a Super Bowl. Smith dropped the pass ala Charlie Brown. That poor guy had a nice career and will probably only ever be remembered for that dropped ball and the photo that papers all across the country ran ala Y.A. Tittle.
When interviewed after the game and questioned about that dropped pass, Staubach simply shrugged stated that maybe the ball was under-thrown.
That ball was thrown right between the numbers. What that showed though, was a display of class. Contrast that with the big and fast, whiney assed Terrel Owens who blamed his quarterback and coaches and everyone but himself for losing a championship game. Was Jerry Jones on acid when signing that guy? Cowboys will not even come close to the playoffs this year. Please prove me wrong.
This brings us to another quarterback named Vince Young. Houston would be out of their minds not to draft the man.
Back to Staubach. When guru-coach Tom Landry saw that he was having trouble reading defenses on definite passing downs, he re-invented the shotgun offense, which gave Roger the second or two extra to see what the defense was going to throw at him.
So Vince Young throws in an awkward manner. So what? He wins games. Just structure the offense around his strengths. Not to mention the fact that he was raised in Houston. Good PR move.
Adios por ahora.
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Tuesday, April 18, 2006

shock and awe

There once existed in Fort Worth, Texas an institution known as the Fort Worth State School. This was an MHMR facility.
A dear friend of mine was assigned the task of watching over a troubled youth who was abusive to himself as well as others and, if memory serves correct, had to wear a helmet.
Anyway, as a last resort before restraining him, a cattle prod was put to use. Sounds a little hideous, but that’s the way things worked.
The catch is that my friend, upon accepting the job, was required to sit in a chair and be poked with a cattle prod. She does not remember that afternoon with great fondness.
Still, this procedure ensured that she would know exactly the extremity of pain she would be administering.
So the Bush administration has all but condoned the use of torture upon suspected terrorists or their allies. The key word in the previous sentence being ‘suspected.’
I propose we hold the people in power to the same principles that guided the staff at that place in FW.
Let’s strap George W. Bush, Dick (“Sometimes we gotta play rough.”) Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld to some chairs and let them feel what it might be like to be in the other shoes.
Let’s throw Regis into the mix. He could quiz the three concerning issues of human decency. A correct answer would be rewarded with a beer of choice. A wrong answer and – ZAP!
Let the prodding begin.
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Monday, April 10, 2006

immigration and arrogance

Okay. I read the editorial pages in the paper every day and have a question. Did the vast majority of people that took the time to attend high school flunk geography class? Mexico is part of America! Mexicans are Americans. There just happens to be a river called the Rio Grande that separates two countries.
I lived south of the border for several years and was treated with nothing but kindness. There was the occasional snicker I would receive when speaking Spanish with my pronounced, Texas drawl and while I usually deny this accusation, I probably –sounded – liaak ah wassa talkin’ liaak this.
The only thing that makes aliens illegal is a stupid law that makes them so. Relax and learn to say “So What?” Nobody is in danger here except for the fact that we are alive, which will eventually result in death, borders or not.
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