I have heard both praise and grousing about the “blue-out” campaigns the Mavs (and other teams) have orchestrated during the playoffs. Some say it’s cool and like cheap, free t-shirts. Some say it’s stupid, and at least one person in my Twitter stream last night complained that it made the entire arena look like Thunder fans.
But do these color-outs work? Apparently so, according to the Wall Street Journal (via the blog Spurs Nation), where numbers were crunched and statistics statisticked and lo – “In the 71 instances where fans turned the arena into a solid block of color, the home teams have won 53 times for a 74.6 percent winning percentage.”
I have this friend — well, he’s not really a friend. He’s really just a guy who berates me as he takes my money at the poker table. So I guess that makes him more of an enemy. Anyway, this enemy is a very good golfer. Not good enough to make a living playing golf, as it turns out, but good enough to try to make a living playing golf. He is trying to qualify for the HP Byron Nelson Championship this and tells this story:
Yesterday’s pre-qualifier for the Nelson has one of the best golf stories ever. There are 266 people who paid $200 to enter — shocking enough right there. However, we are playing both the Dye Course and Ranch Course at Stonebridge. If you aren’t familiar the courses, they are at two locations about five minutes apart.
A guy with the 2:09 tee time went to the tee right at 2:05. Only problem is, he was at the wrong course. In order to go as fast as possible, he takes off running to the car with his driver and tells his caddy to meet him at the other course (separate cars obviously). He gets to the tee at the right course in time to avoid being DQed but still gets a 2-shot penalty for being a few minutes late. No sweat, he tees off and heads down the fairway. He gets to his ball, but his caddy and clubs still haven’t made it. Since he is already late, he goes ahead and hits his second shot from 100 with his driver — and his third, fourth, and fifth, before tapping in for a tidy 8 with his 2-shot penalty.
His caddy and clubs finally get there after he has teed off on No. 2, a 201-yard par 3, with his driver and says, “Sorry, we got lost.” What did he mean by “we” got lost, you ask? Well, here is the absurd part: his playing partner for the 2:09 at the Ranch was also on the tee at the wrong course and had to do THE EXACT SAME THING since their caddies were following each other from one course to the other.
I’m starting to hate Nancy just a little bit for posting the Eat This Now feature so early in the morning. It always looks so good that I’m hungry for lunch by 10 am. Someone fetch me that pork torta thing.
Now it’s confession time. I kind of like small children. I was an elementary school substitute teacher in another life, and didn’t absolutely hate it. I have adorable little blond cousins, one of whom is 10 years old and wears the same size shoe as me. Yeah, I know. But even if I didn’t already have a soft spot, I’d be up for attending the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center’s “PJ for PJs” pool party this evening. The event, the brainchild of DCAC board member Wendy Moss, was such a success last year that they’re doing it again.
Here’s how it works. Show up at the swanky Hotel ZaZa rooftop lounge with a new pair of pajamas. It might be cloudy, but it’s plenty warm and not supposed to rain. Donate $30 to a good cause— the center provides counseling and assistance to victims of child abuse and their families. The jammies go directly to kids in need. Drink champagne (Perrier Jouët, the other PJ in the cutesy title, donates their bubbly). Maybe eat a little something. And then go home. Or proceed to dinner (I have a hankering for the Hare Krishna— egg whites stuffed with avocado, jack and feta cheese— from Buzzbrews) or another bar, where you can turn your midweek happy hour into a happy entire evening. Plus, you can revel in the fact that you’ve kind of done your good deed for the day. I say kind of, because obviously, you’re getting something out it, too. It’s not entirely selfless.
For more things to do this evening, go here. And keep voting in the Best of Big D services survey.
The Star-T has a piece about a pro-natural gas drilling group in Southlake, who mean to counteract the anti-drilling movement that got the city council to put a moratorium on new drilling permit applications, and a judge to issue a restraining order to keep new permits from being granted.
Fine. Plenty to debate here: property rights vs. the potential to poison the community’s air or water. But must all arguments get dressed up in patriotic clothing these days?
The group, called Southlake Citizens for Property Rights, had three speakers at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, including Bob Gray, a veteran whose son recently returned from a military tour in Afghanistan. He said mineral owners in Southlake had their liberties taken away by the city’s one-sided approach to gas drilling.
“What were they fighting for?” Gray asked the council. “I don’t think they were fighting for restrictive zoning. … I think they were fighting for freedom and liberty because that’s what we talk about on Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.”
A gay friend of mine alerted me to the fact that The A-List: Dallas will begin shooting here this summer. Here’s how he described the show for me: “The A List: New York is an awful reality show on Logo full of vapid gays and their questionable fashion choices. Think of it as the queer version of Bravo’s Real Housewives series. Yet like a car wreck, it was hard not to watch. Now comes The A List: Dallas. Ugh.” You can see pics of the cast if you follow that link. I know she plays for the other team, but I pick Ashley.
The Ultimate Dallas Women’s Expo is setting up shop downtown for a weekend of all the things us ladies are supposed to love: shopping, spa time, make up, and home décor. Okay, so you might not love all those things. But if you’re into any one of them, why not check it out for free?
We’re giving away 50 “girlfriend packs” which equates to two VIP entry (no lines, no waiting) tickets. One for you, one for a friend. Enter here by 3pm.
Thanks to commenter jobu for bringing the below video to our attention. While you’re waiting for it to buffer, here’s my take on Dirk’s performance last night: not including his attempts in warmup, but definitely including his free throws and field goals, Dirk hoisted the ball 39 times last night. Of those 39 attempts to make the ball go into the hoop, 36 were successful. I see room for improvement.
Now let’s dance.
Last night, while watching the Mavs take on the Thunder, I put up a simple, yet elegant Facebook status that merely said, “Mavs!” Then I got questions about why I’m not rooting for my home state. The place I lived for 22 years. The place that taught me all my values and such.
Simple. The Thunder isn’t my team. It didn’t even exist when I lived in Oklahoma. The only thing I know about the team is its star played at UT (yes, I know the rivalry is petty and doesn’t really back up my point, but I’m going with it). I’ve never even been to a single Thunder game.
However, because of my job and Zac’s undying love for the Mavs and Tim and Eric wanting to have Dirk’s baby, I know quite a bit about the Mavs. I’ve been to their games. I jog past their arena. So I feel as if my allegiance justifiably goes to them.
But there are other Okies in Dallas who are trying to sort out this very problem. They should have figured out whom they were rooting for before last night’s game, but in case they didn’t, I have just a couple guidelines after the jump. Feel free to add your own.
Dirk Nowitzki Is Good at Playing Basketball. The Big German had 48 points — missing only three shots and making an incredible (and record-setting) 24 of 24 free throws — while leading the Mavs to a Game 1 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals. So that was OK.
Seventeen Indicted in Flower Mound Heroin Ring. The DEA, ATF, and Flower Mound police have been investigating since three overdoses in 2010.
Mockingbird Station Escalators Are Still Just Really Tall Stairs. They remain shut down as DART tries to figure out what happened to cause the incident that sent several to the hospital. Also: there is only one inspector in charge of ALL of the 32,000 escalators in Texas.
Raccoons Are Invading! Well, kind of. This is when they start hiding babies in walls. Gary Reaves served out his internal punishment from WFAA brass by reporting this story.
One time, I worked for a news outlet that provided me a company vehicle, emblazoned with the company logo. I was ballin’ y’all. I also lived in this apartment complex that required you to be a resident to park in resident parking, or you had to park in the guest parking. Only there wasn’t much guest parking. And I parked it my ragingly cool giant Expedition in my spot one night, only to come out the next morning and find it gone. At first, I thought it was stolen. There was lamentations and gnashing of teeth. I wept.
Come to find out, management was serious about that whole don’t-park-in-resident-parking-if-you-don’t-have-a-sticker thing. And stone cold ballin’ or not, my sweet ride had been towed, and I had to convince a roommate to drive me to some place patrolled by one toothless woman (I think) and a dog with a whole lot of teeth.
I bring this up because it seems the Dallas Police Department had a similar problem. They parked a bait car on what they thought was a good spot, only to find it towed. So they charged the driver with felony theft. Only, turns out the car was actually parked on private property, at an apartment complex that was equally stringent about who parks where as my former abode was. So they’ve dropped the charges against the tow truck driver.
The End.
Today the AT&T Performing Arts Center named its new head, Mark Weinstein. Glenn Hunter chats with him over here on FrontRow.
As I’ve mentioned before, there’s a school of thought out there that the end of the world will happen on May 21, which is ahead of the Mayan’s prediction, of course, and I suppose is leaving some feeling a little ill-prepared.
But then it occurred to me, as I stood, brushing my teeth this morning, what it would mean if the world ended on Saturday. What did I come up with? Let’s jump. (more…)
Happy Mavs day to you. And happy birthday to my life partner, the wonderful Pamela Schwartz, who is the most excellent thing (person) to come out of Staten Island with the possible exception of the Wu-Tang Clan.
And okay, I know that all of you are going to be glued to your television and/or shelling out the big bucks to feast on eight dollar hot dogs at the American Airlines Center tonight for game one versus Oklahoma City. Obviously, it’s sold out. So unless you’re willing to spend your day trolling Craigslist (probably only to end up illegally donating an organ and maybe your right arm), forget it and just go to a bar. It’s $.50 wing night at Brackets, and State & Allen is offering $5 sangria and $3 shock tops (a kind of beer with a complicated pour— I had to look that up) while the game is on. As part of American Craft Beer Week, the Ginger Man is pouring Breckenridge Lucky U IPA, plus offering pints for cheap.
Hard to believe, but there are a few other things happening this evening. The biggest is Bruno Mars with R&B singer Janelle Monáe out in Grand Prairie. In the past year, Mars has obnoxiously oversaturated the radio waves with both his voice and his lyrics, and gotten busted for the powdery white stuff. Awesome. I’m not a huge fan, obviously. Monáe is the real reason that this concert is worth checking out. There’s no good reason she’s not huge: she’s appropriately off-kilter (she supposedly believes in time travel, among other things, which I like because I’m still holding out for confirmation that the movie Contact is in fact based on a true story) and her voice is ridiculous. Give “Many Moons” a listen. Bonus: there are still some reasonably-priced tickets left.
For more things to do in Dallas tonight, go here. And go Mavs, from the bottom of my extremely sports-ignorant heart.
There Is a Basketball Game Tonight. OKC’s paper of record, the Oklahoman, asks the following question in a headline: “Dirk or Durant: Who Would You Pick?” Darnell Mayberry writes, “It’s one of those questions that has no wrong answer and is super subjective. For instance, folks just north of the Red River might think Durant is the obvious choice, while fans immediately south might side with Nowitzki without a moment’s hesitation.” That’s a super good observation, Darnell. And, by the way, it should be “whom.”
Rhett Miller Takes Credit for Mavs’ Success. The Old 97’s frontman gets some pub from ESPN.
AT&T Performing Arts Center Has New CEO. Mark Weinstein ($) comes to us from the New York City Opera Washington National Opera. On his to-do list: raise about $43 million.
City of Dallas Faces $79 Million Budget Shortfall. Speaking of money, Dallas needs some ($). You know what that means. Since no one has the stomach to raise taxes, there will be cuts. And when I say “cuts,” I mean “fewer cops.” And you can forget about swimming in a city pool anytime soon.