Articles about Appreciation
Boy Scout Director’s Speech Shows Loosening of Gay Ban May Be Coming
Willie Iles Jr., the Irving-based Boy Scouts of America’s national director of government and community relations, spoke Friday at Fort Worth fundraiser, a banquet where the funds would go directly to three inner-city Boy Scout troops. The Star-Telegram attended as well:
Of the 1.4 million non-profit, non-religious groups today that directly affect young people, the Boy Scouts is the only one with a written policy to exclude, Iles said. Pointing out that there were 40 words in the Boy Scout Oath, Iles dramatically stopped after reciting only the first 14: “On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God. …”
He asked rhetorically, “What if I have four sons — Matthew, Mark, Luke and John? And Matthew is gay?”
Iles, again saying he had “no opinion” on the subject, said there are 16,000 public schools systems in America and there are gay teachers in many classrooms.
“And yet we don’t have people running to pull their kids out of school,” he said.
In an appeal to the faith-based community, he said Boy Scouts is the country’s largest outreach organization, adding, “We’re in the outreach industry, not a Bible study class.”
I applaud Iles for everything he said, except one thing. You clearly have an opinion, sir. You have an opinion that could affect the lives of millions of young men. If only you were in a position to use that opinion for the betterment of the Scouts…
Hood County Woman Arrested For Calling 911, Asking For Cigarettes
There’s some (barely) foul language in this 911 tape, but it’s worth it. The conclusion — “I think I’ve dialed the wrong number.” — takes the cake.
A Bowler Hat Recently Showed Up in the Cedars
A few different sources have written about this new installation, but (no offense) it’s probably cooler to watch a video about it.
Jack Eskridge, the Man Who Created the Dallas Cowboys’ Logo, Has Died
Jack Eskridge is the man not wearing a uniform in the bottom right. Photo: Dallas Cowboys
Seems strange now to think that somewhere, at some point, someone designed the Dallas Cowboys logo. It’s likely the world’s most recognizable team logo, second only to maybe the New York Yankees. The man who created that logo, Jack Eskridge, died Monday; he was 89. According to his obituary, he led an incredible life before creating the logo, witnessing the flag-raising at Iwo Jima during World War II and playing basketball at Kansas:
Jack also played two years professional basketball with the Chicago Stags and Indianapolis Jets. After graduation Jack coached the Kansas League Champions at Atchison High. “Phog” Allen recruited Jack to be an Assistant Basketball Coach and equipment manager for KU from 1954-1959, where he recruited Wilt Chamberlain. In 1959 he was hired by Tom Landry to be the Dallas Cowboys equipment manger (1960-1973) where he designed the Star on the helmet.
Iwo Jima, Wilt Chamberlain, Dallas Cowboys logo, all before he turned 37. When professional football teams began including players’ names on their jerseys, he quipped to Sports Illustrated, “We’re double-stitching the veterans’ jerseys and single-stitching the rookies’.” In the book Tales From The Dallas Cowboys Sideline, All-Pro and Cowboys Ring of Honor member Cliff Harris reminisced about how he received the number 43:
People have asked me how I decided to wear number 43. The truth is, I did not decide on that number…I really had no choice. Jack Eskridge assigned me that number. Period. As a rookie I had very little control over what happened to me. The vets got all the good perks…
…when I went up to the opening in the cage where Jack practically lived and asked for a game jersey, he threw me number 43. I thought it was a good number, but I knew it had been worn years before by one of the original great Cowboys, Don Perkins. He was an excellent running back who is in the “Ring of Honor” in Texas Stadium.
I told Jack, “This is Perkins’ number. I want another number.”
He just laughed and said, “Hell, boy, it doesn’t really matter…you ain’t makin’ the team anyway!”
That story goes on to explain that Eskridge didn’t particularly care for the “cool Adidas or Puma shoes,” and preferred Riddells and Wilsons. I have an email in to the Cowboys for comment; if I hear back I’ll update.
The CEOs of American and US Airways Wore the Exact Same Outfit to Their Press Conference Today
“We’d like to announce that, in addition to merging our two companies, we’ve also merged our closets.”
Cuban: ‘Owning a Team Is Unlike Owning Any Other Business’
Professional sports teams exist to make money. Secondarily, they exist to give a community something to rally around, something to cherish. Mark Cuban understands that probably better than most owners, and that’s why he’s always getting fined and yelled at and has Shark Tank. This morning, Cuban shared the more emotional side of being an owner by releasing some of the emails he’s received over the past few weeks. Dry eyes, be gone:
A friend of mine gave me your email. I have a friend who has a 15 year old boy with an inoperable brain tumor. He left MD Anderson today after the doctors telling him there was nothing else they could do for him. We are from OK and they are on their way home tonight. They are attending the game tonight. I called the head office and was able to get him in the “high five line”! He’s making his bucket list on the drive home and the first item on the list is meeting ****** Is there anyway you could make this kid have a great evening after this horrible day? He’s a great kid with a very positive attitude and has just been handed his death sentence. Thank you so much for your time in reading this!!
Read the rest of them here.
Overpasses Packed as Chris Kyle Funeral Procession Makes Its Way to Austin
If you don’t feel like crying, don’t watch the streaming video of the procession, from NBC-DFW. If you do, have at it, and watch regular citizens take time out of their days to stand in a cold rain, clench American flags, and honor a man they never knew.
Park Cities Kids Do The Harlem Shake
I’m not going to get into the race politics of a group of rich white kids doing the Harlem Shake, because I know this is just a meme. Anyway, it’s fun to see these kids crash into a Tom Thumb and, I think, a Mi Cocina.
The Texas Rangers’ Jurickson Profar is the Best Prospect in Baseball, According to ESPN
From ESPN’s annual ranking of the top 100 prospects in baseball, released today:
Profar is the best prospect in the minors this year thanks to an incredible combination of tools, skills, and baseball instincts rarely found in players who play in the middle of the field. His feel for the game is unusual for a player of any age, much less a teenager, and should put another nail in the coffin of the old saw that American-born players have better instincts.
He has an outstanding approach at the plate that allowed him to make the two-level jump from low Class A to Double-A without losing much production, and he showed more power this year than I expected; his frame isn’t big but he stays upright through contact better now and he does get plenty of hip rotation to drive the ball. At short he has superlative actions with a plus-plus arm and plenty of range in both directions, so there’s never been a question about his position.
A good defensive shortstop who posts OBPs around .400 and hits 15-20 homers a year is a player around whom you can build your roster, and who should help keep the Rangers in contention for the next decade.
The Rangers had three other prospects in the top 100: third baseman Mike Olt (71), pitcher Cody Buckel (90), and pitcher Martin Perez (93).
Sherman Viewers Got an Eyeful of Will Ferrell During Last Night’s Super Bowl
For the second year in a row, Will Ferrell has produced a Super Bowl ad for Old Milwaukee beer. And for the second year in a row, only a sliver of worldwide viewers saw the ad.
Last year, it was only folks in the North Platte, Neb. TV market. This year it included parts of Oklahoma, Texas, and Montana. Some of those lucky viewers live in the northiest part of North Texas, around Sherman and Denison. Anyone else catch it?
Here Are The Strangest Things People Searched to Get to DMagazine.com in January
Every day, a few of us have a web analytics window open on our desktops, showing us what kind of traffic is coming to dmagazine.com, how it got there, and where it’s coming from. There’s also a tool that shows the web searches that brought people to the site. The searches are usually something like “FrontBurner” or “D Magazine” or “5 dead hookers,” but sometimes more interesting ones slip through. Here are the strangest from January, reproduced exactly as they appeared:
- Cetera, Peter
- Dallas and preppy and Brook Hollow Golf Club
- 8:56 pm during the break, something about fishing wire
- “tanned” + “bare legs” + “denim” + “winter”
- Adam Sandler movie w/ Vanilla Ice
And the best, by far:
- 10 most beautiful asses
And Here’s the Original “So God Made a Farmer” Ad, Made For Farms.com in 2011
Posted on June 1, 2011. In the video’s “About” section: “Farms.com is pleased to be working with Ram Trucks and support the ‘Farmer’ Super Bowl commercial.” Still a great commercial, but come on folks.
Dennis Rodman Has Written a Children’s Book, For Those of You Looking For a Crazier Bedtime Story
Source: Amazon
South Oak Cliff native, NBA Hall of Famer, and all-around madman Dennis Rodman can now add one more jewel to his crown: children’s book author. The tome is titled “Dennis the Wild Bull,” obviously, and one copy is currently available on Amazon. “More than anything, I just want little kids today just to understand: Ain’t no matter what you do in life – be different, rich or poor, man – guess what? It’s OK to be who you are pretty much and you’ll be accepted,” Rodman told the Associated Press. ”…For a guy like me to be very eccentric, to even go to extremes to write a children’s book with all the wild things I do and make it believable was pretty much incredible.”
Incredible for whom is still up in the air.
Willard Spiegelman Talks With Gil Roth on The Virtual Memories Show
You know Willard Spiegelman as an author, SMU professor, and sometime D Magazine contributor. You probably don’t know Gil Roth, but he does a podcast called The Virtual Memories Show. In this episode, Gil talks with Willard about “his wonderful book (go read it!), his addiction to ballroom dancing, how to find joy in the day-to-day world, why he hates book clubs, what Dallas, TX, is like for a secular Philadelphia Jew, how he turned me on to one of my favorite novels, who his Desert Island Poets are, how he writes about the visual arts, why the world’s great novels are lost on the young, and what it was like to attend his 50th high school reunion.” If you’ve got an hour or so, it’s worth a listen.
DFW-area Senators Dominate the Texas Senate’s Jurisprudence Committee
Source: Texas Tribune
The Texas Tribune created a cool interactive map today, showing where the district of each Texas state senator, in each committee. Take a quick spin and you’ll see that the economic development committee consists solely of senators between Texarkana and San Antonio, in virtually a straight shot. The agriculture, rural affairs, and homeland security committee strangely doesn’t include anyone from the Panhandle, or even the Abilene-Midland-Odessa corridor, and the business and commerce committee includes folks from Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio…but not El Paso.
The most heavily-DFW committee is jurisprudence, which helps coordinate the state’s judicial system. (It also includes this tidbit, FWIW: “Study and make recommendations on the recent impact of foreign law, specifically Sharia law, in court decisions in cases arising under the Texas Family Code.”) Royce West, John Carona, Kelly Hancock, and Ken Paxton sit on the committee, joined by Austin-area senator Donna Campbell and El Paso senator José RodrÃguez.
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