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Will the games of Cowboys past haunt Vikings?

Around these parts — meaning just about all of Texas except maybe El Paso — when someone talks about “the game” they mean the Dallas-Minnesota matchup come high noon (Central time) Sunday. I say most of Texas except El Paso because I know it is home to many San Diego fans since El Paso is almost as close in distance to San Diego as it is Dallas and may well be much more near culturally.

I suspect the “the game” reference probably holds true in the Twin Cities  where the folks have more reason than most cities to hold a grudge against Texas. There was a little play that became known as the “Hail Mary Pass” in 1975 in which Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach hit wide receiver Drew Pearson on a 50-yard desperation pass. Pearson caught it and backed into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown. Vikings players and fans protested then and now that Pearson was guilty of offensive pass interference on cornerback Nate Wright who fell to the ground during the reception. The TD knocked the Vikings out of the playoffs.

As an aside, some nastiness ensued after the play including a ref getting struck on the head by a whiskey bottle thrown from the stands. The assault knocked the zebra out with his wound requiring 11 stitches.

Gerry Fraley of The Dallas Morning News points out a laundry list of other reasons why Texas is the source of some understandable animus in the Twin Cities. This includes Dallas stealing the NHL team, the lopsided trade to Dallas for Herschel Walker and former Vikings owner and Texan Red McCombs threatening to move the team unless he got a new stadium. All in all it sounds more like a plot to an old “Maverick” episode than sports.

Despite the animosity and the fact its the Cowboys the Vikings that are up against each other in the NFL Wild Card match, the game has some interesting pieces involved. This includes the aged Brett Favre who still can throw a football pretty far and the Cowboys QB Tony Romo whom I heard a sports commentator on the radio today describe as a “cute puppy with  his hat on backwards.”

Seriously, Dallas has come a long way. I might even root for them. I am not one of those Cowboys bandwagon fans. I once long ago was a fan then I got turned off by that whole “America’s Team” thing. Since then I pretty much hated the Cowboys until that loudmouth Terrell Owens left. I would like to see coach Wade Phillips do good. As  I have mentioned before he is from my area — having graduated in the same Texas county in which I reside (Jefferson) at Port Neches-Groves High School. Plus, he is the son of probably my favorite all-time coach, Bum Phillips, who helped the Oilers provide some excitement in their games.

At the very least I plan to watch the game. As for the others, well New Orleans is my favorite NFL team left right now since the Texans didn’t make the playoffs. In the AFC, since the Texans didn’t have the cards in their favor I guess either Indianapolis or San Diego would do as my preference. I would like to see a New Orleans and Indianapolis Super Bowl or a Saints-Chargers Super Bowl. So many times though, I don’t get what I wish for so …

Have a fine football weekend.

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Many places to help in Haiti

I’m watching the news about the situation of the earthquake aftermath in Haiti. Not much to say but if you feel compelled to help, there are plenty of places where you might so offer. There are too many for me to link. Just look for your best charity or find charities in the yellow pages, put the pages on the wall and throw a dart at it. Whatever you hit, call that organization or look at their Web site. You can’t go wrong.

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Does the loss of one politician signal loss of power?

Not much that comes out of Waco, Texas, interests me much anymore. I’m sad to say that because I do have a few friends there. But I look back upon the seven years I lived in Waco as a chapter in my life. Enough said.

I must confess that I was interested to hear that region’s incumbent state Sen. Kip Averitt was bowing out of his re-election effort citing “health reasons.”

Averitt is a Republican and is described and I believe is a moderate one. Another GOP-er from Burleson — south of Fort Worth — is on the ballot. No Democrats are running and the only opposition to GOP candidate Darren Yancy are some Libertarian candidates.

I knew Averitt and, although I didn’t agree with his Republican politics, he certainly threw whatever he had handy to help out in major local issues. Well, one might ask, isn’t that what a legislator is supposed to do? Perhaps, but sometimes legislators try to make themselves larger fish in their small pond. Averitt didn’t try to to that although he became, I think, fairly influential in the Lege. It didn’t hurt that he had as a mentor former Sen. David Sibley, another Waco Republican, as a mentor and boss. As well, it didn’t hurt Averitt that he represented and was of the same party as former governor and later President George W. “Gee Dubya” Bush.

Averitt, Bush and the Texas House equivalent of Democratic majority leader, Rep. Jim Dunnam, gave Waco some stature in the state politically. Along with the very sharp U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, who Nancy Pelosi talked up at one point as a possible VP candidate for Barack Obama, the Waco and transplanted (Bush) pols helped make Waco fairly formidable politically. This came in handy with certain problems Waco had, such as water pollution the city blamed on upstream dairies and a threat of closing the Waco VA hospital. The latter, of course, is a federal matter but Averitt’s political muscle didn’t hurt when appealing to fellow Republicans such as the state’s two U.S. senators.

Gee Dubya is now hanging mostly in North Dallas and no longer president and main draw to Crawford. He actually lived a few miles outside of Crawford, which is located along with Waco in McLennan County. With Averitt’s departure, one wonders how Waco will fare politically in state matters and political power?

Such changes do not signal a failed (portion of a) state. It happens and has happened in Texas since 1845.  Really, I guess, even before Texas was a state. State politics in Texas have seen influence alternate from rural to urban, East Texas to Central Texas, Central Texas to South Texas. And predictably some cities have had more pull at one time than others.

All in all, politics happens.

I wish Kip the best with whatever health problems he has. I can identify.  Mine, luckily, haven’t been life-threatening and I hope neither is his.

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Another stupid story sinks amid death and destruction

It’s funny — not in the “ha-ha” way but in the sad way — how it takes total devastation and thousands of lives to knock a stupid, nothing story off the front page and off cable news.

But that is just what the tragic and ultra-destructive earthquake in Haiti did to “Negrogate,” the furor over the slip of the tongue among friends that was never meant as a malignant comment. Look even on the Web page of the most politically polarizing cable news network, Fox, and you don’t see anything about Harry Reid on the main page — or at least I didn’t this afternoon. There are hardly any political stories on there at all. It’s all Haiti, where it rightfully should be.

The all-Harry-Reid-beating-all-the-time has stopped, for now. That is even though the stupidity of “the message” has become all politics. It has to have political polarization or it is not on cable news, at least. But such stupid stories haven’t always been limited to party politics. Remember Chandra Levy?

I have mentioned here before but I think it is worth mentioning again the worst “sort-of-true” prediction I ever made.

In August 2001, when Gee Dubya was out cutting brush all day on the Crawford ranch, not much was in the news. That is except for the Chandra Levy-Gary Condit story.

During that time I was sitting in a holding room at an airport in Waco awaiting Air Force One’s arrival. I forget the occasion. I was among a group of reporters and news photographers who were waiting to be screened, mostly for the photographer’s camera equipment, by the Secret Service and the then ATF. Our conversations ended up on the Chandra-gate, I mean no disrespect to the murdered woman, but the story did not merit the media’s shock and awe it was given.

One news photographer, predictably from CNN, said he thought the Levy story was a great one. I said I thought it was a dud, but I added, “It will probably stay as the lead until someone crashes an airliner into the Empire State Building.”

We were just journalists talking. We engaged in gallows humor and idiocy because of what we’ve experienced or because we were just a bunch of geeks. Never did I ever imagine something similar as I predicted would happen in less than a month. I really did feel bad about making that comment after 9/11.

In reality, the Harry Reid story is even less compelling, and certainly even less dramatic and interesting than the Levy story. Reid was being just like I was among those geeks in Waco. He didn’t mean anything by it. But for good measure and the sake of the black vote, Reed apologized and President Obama said “de nada.”

The semantics of the Senate Majority Leader’s verbal faux pas — sorry I didn’t mean to have to chi-chi foreign words so close together — are about the only thing interesting in this whole mess. It’s not like Reid used the “N” word, or as the little ol’ white ladies I grew up around used to say politely, “Nigra.” He didn’t even say “colored.” If some blacks are offended, I’m sorry. But if they are, I think they could more constructively put that upset toward being used by the Republicans to  put one more hole in the Democrats’ big tent.

I am no Harry Reid fan. Ditto for Nancy Pelosi. I would rather see decent Democrats elected than both of those whatevers. But sometimes I just wish stupidity could be abolished, at least just for a little while. Maybe it can be put aside to help some folks, mostly “of color,” who are hurting really bad in Haiti.

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A small victory with a giant foe

Congratulations T-Mobile. After a year and a half of crappy service you finally let me out of my contract without having to pay the $200 early termination fee. I guess if you complain long enough and loud enough and profane enough and file multiple complaints with the Better Business Bureau you may finally get a little to go right your way in the ongoing battle with the big, evil cellular company.

It, on the surface, seems that a little sense is made in the fact that my Broadband is with Verizon, so just maybe I should add a telephone to that contract.  Which is exactly what I did and wasted no time doing it. I got what appears to be a better phone for $10 plus a much better plan — 900-some-odd as opposed to 300 just vanished with each new month — and the cost should be roughly the same as having separate cell and Internet plans. I say should be. I have been screwed with so many times by telecoms that I feel I have to stay awake all night to make sure they don’t pull some new BS with me. Or so it feels.

Ah, a bit o’ justice, for a little while at least with a new phone company and a new phone. And now, I have to learn how to work the damn thing by reading a owner’s manual that my long-dead dog could have written better. Let the fun begin.