Articles for November 24th, 2010

Mike Leach Files a Merrie Lawsuit

Local pr maven Merrie Spaeth is not going to be on former Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach’s Christmas card list. ESPN is reporting that Mike is suing Merrie’s firm and ESPN for slander, libel and alienation of affection (just kidding about that last one) regarding his being fired by Tech.

Irving Dispute A Tale of Two Rival Companies?

Does the flap over the proposed Las Colinas Entertainment Center really stem from a simple business rivalry between two big live-events companies? That’s what proponents of the $250 million Irving complex contend.

They say the LCEC story–which has been all over WFAA-TV and the Dallas Morning News in recent days–is the result of a “well-funded, undisclosed” opposition led by an outfit called AEG Live. AEG’s a Los Angeles-based company that operates DFW concert venues whose revenues allegedly would suffer from a successful LCEC.

But Channel 8 reporter Brett Shipp, whose investigative stories jump-started the recent coverage, calls the AEG theory “hilarious,” adding, “It’s a slap in my face. Anybody who knows what I do knows I don’t carry water for any corporation.”

Even so, you can sort of see how this conspiracy business got started.
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The Daily Moustache: Nov. 24

Safety tip: Avoid direct eye with the moustacheRyan Jones’ moustache would make a fine addition to any Thanksgiving dinner party, don’t you think?

Ryan wanted me to take this photo from an angle “to show off the corners,” and I must say that was a fine idea. Just look at it!

Owing to the impending holiday weekend, this is all you’ll see of The Daily Moustache this week, but rest assured we’ll be back for one final, magnificent post next Wednesday.

What If You Threw An “Opt-Out” And Nobody Came?

So for an entire week we’ve heard about this campaign to opt-out of the new enhanced scanner things at the airport because they can see your parts and stuff and well, the alternative is just as bad because they touch your parts. Or something.

So today was the day everyone was supposed to insist they wanted a stupid pat down. Listen, I can get groped whenever, by people that will make eye contact with me. So I don’t understand why groping by a stranger trumps walking into this booth thing so they can verify I’m not an underpants bomber is preferable, especially when it runs the risk of making your fellow passengers having to wait on you a little stabby.  But to each his own.

But with all the furor, apparently organizers forgot: Most travelers would rather just get on the stupid plane and go to where ever, and not have it blow up. So because of this, it appears this opt out thing is pretty much a dud.

Tim Rogers Co-Hosts the Dallas Mavericks Post-Game Show: The Drinking Game

Take a drink when …

  • He makes an incredibly generic sports point
  • He makes an incredibly generic sports point three years too late
  • He references his new shirt
  • He attempts a complicated comedy bit during a return from commercial
  • He tries to explain the complicated bit of comedy and why it’s funny
  • He tries to impersonate a player
  • His impersonation comes off as vaguely racist
  • Or xenophobic
  • He bogs down the conversation over a slight grammatical error
  • He attempts to restart the conversation with a joke
  • That joke is vaguely racist
  • Or sexist
  • Or xenophobic
  • Or not funny
  • He attempts to explain THAT joke

Things to Do in Dallas: Thanksgiving Edition

Happy pro forma Friday. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get right to it.

Tonight

The Usher concert is tonight at American Airlines Center. If you’d rather not fork over $40 or more to see the real deal, my husband probably would offer up his impersonation (it’s killer). In exchange, you can go to the grocery store for us. Just think about it.

Also worth thinking about: Keith Urban’s “impromptu” concert at the West Village, the Posies show, and a number of Thanksgiving pre-parties.

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Best Five Months of the Year (Not This Year, Necessarily, Just In General, But, Yes, It More or Less Applies To This Year, aka 2010)

1. October

2. November

3. June

4. January

5. September

Is Captain Comeback Ready For Another Comeback?

Hall-of-Fame quarterback Roger Staubach says he’d love to get out on the field tomorrow, when the Cowboys face the Saints in Arlington. “It’s not the throwing, but the hitting that would be a concern,” Staubach says. “It would be fun to get out there on Thanksgiving Day. I’d play for a quarter–if they’d agree not to hit me.”

These days, No. 12 is spending a lot of time gearing up for Super Bowl XLV, which will be played Feb. 6, 2011, at Cowboys Stadium. As chairman of the host committee, Staubach was instrumental in bringing the big game to North Texas. And he already has his eye on a repeat performance.

“We want to get 50 back in Dallas,” says Staubach of Super Bowl L, to be played in 2016. “Troy (Aikman) is my vice chair on this one; I’m getting him ready to take over for the next Super Bowl.”

Keith Urban Mini-concert at West Village This Evening

Park Cities People ace reporter Bradford “The Pierce” Pearson discovered that Keith Urban is giving a free mini-concert at the West Village this evening. See ya at Taco Diner, Nicole.

BTW, Keith will be performing halftime tomorrow at the Cowboys-Saints game.

Campaign Against Speaker Joe Straus Goes Viral

An anti-Straus group called Women On The Wall — which seems to be an ad hoc coalition of such right-wing groups as Concerned Women of America, American Family Association, and the Eagle Forum — is trying to raise money to air this video on television over Thanksgiving. It’s a very well executed commercial. I wonder who produced it. I especially like the Christmas-like jingle and the snowflakes. Nice touches.

Will Kay Bailey Hutchison Run Again, Ctd?

In answer to the perennial question, Ross Ramsey says follow the money. A statewide senatorial campaign in Texas costs $10 million. Kay transferred $6 million from her federal campaign account to finance her primary campaign against Perry. As of the September filing, she had $57,053 in her federal account. If that paltry amount rises by $2 or $3 million in early 2011, she’s running. Maybe.

Leading Off (11/24/10)

The saying goes like this: there’s no such thing as a slow news day; there are just slow news people. The idea being that there’s always news happening out there, somewhere. You just have to go out and find it. Well, this morning I scoured the internets. Believe me. But I couldn’t find any Dallas news worth bringing to you. Instead, here’s some stuff from people I follow on Twitter. That makes it kinda local.

1. Jane McGarry would like you to know that Google Street View caught a naked man crawling out of the trunk of a car.

2. Kidd Kraddick brings you a picture of a girl holding a turkey. If you listen to his show, maybe you know who the girl is and why she has cooked her bird early.

3. Shawn Marion reveals that he thought last night’s win over the Pistons was great and that he has already arrived safely in Oklahoma for tonight’s game against the Thunder.

4. And, finally, Mark Davis says he believes that Oswald acted alone.