Where will Blake Griffin play and how does that effect the Mavericks

My son and I were watching the draft lottery the other night and when the telecast paused before the final three selections my son turned to me and said, "If Oklahoma City gets the top pick, you know the fix is in. If the Clippers get it, you can call the lottery legit."

Well, the Clippers won it and the right to select Oklahoma's Blake Griffin. But from what I hear, the Thunder are still going to make a big push to get Griffin to play in his hometown. They are preparing a deal that would give Los Angeles the Thunder's No. 3 pick along with either Jeff Green or Russell Westbrook in return for the No. 1.

Such a deal would not be a good one for the Mavericks. If the Clippers take Griffin with the first pick, they will have a bevy of front line big men, some of whom they will need to unload. One of them will be Marcus Camby and I have always loved the idea of Camby in a Mavericks uniform. The problem is the Clippers will also want to dump Baron Davis and his bad contract at the same time and the Mavs don't need that burden, so a third team might have to be involved in any deal the Mavs try to do with the Clippers. The addition of Camby immediately upgrades the Mavs defense, the area where Dallas needs the most improvement.

Another defense addition that I hear might be available is Trevor Ariza from that other L.A. team. If you saw the first game of the Nuggets-Lakers series Tuesday night, you saw Denver outplay the Lakers for 47 minutes. Then you saw Ariza steal a Denver inbounds pass that allowed the Lakers to steal Game 1. That's the kind of play I would like to see in Dallas. Plus Ariza provides additional perimeter offense, which could help free up Jason Terry, something that really could have aided Dallas in its series with Denver

If the Mavs could add Camby and Ariza without giving up too much (and I think this is possible), I think that would make this a good off-season. As far as the draft, I don't see Dallas adding anyone with the 22nd pick that will make an immediate contribution. I understand they are looking for a point guard for the future and the one mock draft I have seen has Dallas picking North Carolina's Ty Lawson at 22. But even he will need some seasoning before he is NBA ready.

Texas Senate votes to make college campuses less safe

Senate Bill 1164, which was opposed by university administrators, university faculties, university staff members, university students and public safety officers from across the state, but supported by the only group that matters to Texas lawmakers, the National Rifle Association, sailed through the Senate today. It would allow guns in public buildings on university campuses in Texas -- and I mean all buildings, despite attempts by some clear-thinking senators to exclude some obvious ones, such as:

• The University of Houston maintains a charter elementary school for children of faculty members and others who live near the area. Guns will be allowed in this elementary school.
• But Texans want their kiddos exposed to guns younger than elementary school. That's why the Senate refused to exempt pre-schools located on college campuses.
• Ever been the to Cactus Cafe on the UT-Austin campus? Great place. At least it used to be. This bill supersedes existing laws prohibiting guns in bars. Alcohol + guns = trouble. Always has. Always will.
• We don't allow guns in stand-alone hospitals in Texas, but with this Senate bill you'll be able to tote your concealed handgun inside the Health Services center on the UT campus.
• On-campus mental health centers will allow people to carry concealed handguns inside. That really ought to help those with suicidal tendencies being treated there.
• The chemistry labs at the University of Texas at Dallas prohibit food, drinks, cigarettes, short sleeves, shorts and sandals because of the dangers of the chemicals being used. However, they won't be able to prohibit guns. Does that make sense?

The Senate made sure that this bill had nothing to do with on-campus safety. After all, statistics show that 93 percent of violent crimes committed against students occur off-campus anyway. But one senator introduced an amendment that would have allowed the Texas Coordinating Board to change the law if it was realized that safety on campuses was getting worse. Seems reasonable: If we learn that guns make campuses less safe, then let's rescind the law allowing them. That amendment was defeated, proving once and for all this legislation is not about safety on campus but in caving into the wishes of the NRA.

I challenge anyone to approach any college professor and ask him or her if he or she will feel safer under this law. How will that professor feel when a student approaches asking for a grade change or permission to turn in an assignment late, knowing that student just might be carrying a concealed handgun?

Women In Film

A video response to yesterday's shape-shifting exercise.

Gov. Hair on the road to nowhere

The National Journal Magazine (yes, Magazine is part of its name) conducted a poll among 100 "Republican insiders" (their names can be found at the bottom of this story), and one of the questions asked was "Who among your party's current crop of governors has the brightest political future?" Guess how many named our own Gov. Hair? Too high, guess again. Still too high, guess again.

That's right. Zero. Nada. Not one of those "insiders" thinks our guv has any kind of future outside the state of Texas (five of them think Gov. Palin still has a bright political future). In case you're interested, the top four finishers were:

• (in spite of his State of the Union response) Bobby Jindal of Louisiana ("He has brains, ideas, talent, and youth. Plus, he's an ethnic minority. He's just what the doctor ordered to bring us out of the wilderness.");
• Harley Barbour of Mississippi ("The incompetence of [Republican National Committee Chairman Michael] Steele makes Haley the real party leader in 2010.");
• Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota ("If the GOP is ever going to broaden its appeal, it's going to have to look outside the South. Pawlenty is the real deal -- mainstream conservative principles, minus the fright wig."); and
• Charlie Crist of Florida, who is apparently abandoning the governor's mansion for a run at the U.S. Senate ("The antithesis of the Ann Coulter-Limbaugh model Republican. This is the fault line the GOP must confront, and Crist will be one of the primary voices in this debate.")
  

When "Democratic insiders" were asked the same thing about their party's governors, the top four finishers were:

• Tim Kaine of Virginia ("Kaine has helped turn a red state blue and is well positioned to move eventually to a prominent Cabinet position in the Obama administration.");
• Brian Schweitzer of Montana ("He is pro-green, pro-God, and pro-gun. He appeals to the future without abandoning traditional values.")
• Jennifer Granholm of Michigan ("A smart, strong, charismatic governor in a hard-hit state, she has the capability of serving her country in a number of different roles."); and
• Martin O'Malley of Maryland ("Young, smart, with it.")

Keith Olbermann WTF!?! Texas Secession?

Gov. Hair's ridiculous comments are simply the gift that keeps on giving.

Men In Film

A 3+-minute historical glimpse at our top actors in a fascinating shape-shifting way. Worth a look.

Here's one I'm looking forward to

Rob ("Chicago") Marshall directs this musical based on Federico Fellini's "8½," with a cast that includes Daniel Day Lewis and his harum -- Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, Sophia Loren and Judi Dench. It's supposed to open around Thanksgiving and I can't help thinking we'll be hearing a lot about this one next Oscar season.

New movies to be released tomorrow on DVD

Fanboys (2009) ** This film doesn’t delve into the mania of fandom, it exploits it.

My Bloody Valentine 3D (2009) ** Wooden performances by forgettable, generic actors — just like in the original — don’t aid in making things any less leaden. Perhaps this is the best one can hope for from something like My Bloody Valentine 3-D, that it be just good enough to not be annoying. Or in this specific case, physically painful.

Outlander (2009) *½ By taking nonsense seriously Outlander never achieves camp. It’s a comic book that’s mistaken itself for scripture. Not helped by a wooden performance from Jim Caviezel as a humanoid alien who accidentally imports a real alien to eighth-century Earth.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009) *½ A tossed-off comedy from Adam Sandler’s production company that makes one long for the comparative genius of I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry. Perfectly inoffensive and almost entirely unfunny, this film is more of a numbing experience than a painful one. Great comics from Jerry Lewis to Peter Sellers have turned pathetic into comedic. But Kevin James never seems to able to get beyond pathetic.

Valkyrie (2008) **½ A film more concerned with "how" than "why" or "who," it would have benefited from more scrutiny and complexity. Still, once the bomb goes off, the thrills come in spades.

Yonkers Joe (2009) ** For all its attention to detail, this film isn’t half as tough as it pretends to be. The real story of these bottom-feeders and the sad young man they exploit is a lot uglier than the movie even begins to let on. Christine Lahti, however, burns through a thinly written role with a surprising level of warmth and humanity.

Just make it one for my baby and one more for The Road

Good night, Wayman

Being a die-hard Texas Longhorn, there's not much about OU that I'm willing to recognize. However, I do join all Sooners and all sports/jazz fans in general in mourning the death of one of the university's greatest athletes and later jazz musician, Wayman Tisdale, who died this morning in Tulsa of cancer, proving once again that Billy Joel was right when he sang "Only the good die young."

Sonia + baseball = Supreme Court

A couple of weeks ago, I floated the name Sonia Stomayor as one to remember when discussions are held about who will replace Justice David Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court. What I did not know then, but know now, is that, as the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote at the time, Judge Stomayor "joined forever the ranks of Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson and Ted Williams" by issuing a ruling on March 31, 1995, that ended an ongoing baseball strike.

She ruled in favor of the players and against the owners in that suit saying the strike had “placed the entire concept of collective bargaining on trial.”

The 232-day strike which lasted from Aug. 12, 1994, to April 2, 1995, cancelled 948 games including the entire 1994 playoffs and World Series, the first time the Series had not been played since 1904. It marked the first time any major sport had lost its postseason because of a labor dispute.

When the strike began, the Texas Rangers were in first place in the woeful American League West in spite of a record that was 10 games under .500. Two last place teams in other divisions had better records than the Rangers.

Here's a shocker

Quoting verbatim the first paragraph of a story that appeared in today's Dallas Morning News:

"A young woman who stripped naked two years ago, dived in front of a car in downtown Plano, then stabbed a woman who got out to help her was found not guilty of aggravated assault Thursday by reason of insanity."

Duh!

Oh, what a delicious thought

I'm hearing rumors that Martin Scorsese plans to film a no-holds-barred, warts-and-all, Raging Bull-like biography of Frank Sinatra starring Leonardo DiCaprio. What with Sinatra's ties to organized crime in New Jersey and New York and Scorsese's masterful films on this subject (Mean Streets, Goodfellas, The Departed), this could be something special. I'm hoping there's more substance than rumor to these reports.

Two women robbed of their proper memories

My father died right after my senior year in high school. But I still have wonderful memories of him, of how he took me to Yankee Stadium just about every night when I was growing up and, later, when I decided to play Little League baseball, how he participated, first as an umpire and then as a manager. I remember him teaching me how to throw a curve ball, a weapon that made me a fairly descent weapon in Little League. I remember our travels, especially our cross-country moves and this green luggage trailer he built all by himself and hooked up to our 1952 Dodge. And I remember how he taught me the tricks to winning at five-card stud.

I thought about all that when I read this story today in the New York Times about two women, Kay Rene Qualls and DeeAnn Shafer, who were the only two children born on May 3, 1953, at Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Heppner, Ore., and then were sent home with each other's parents.

The only time these two persons were ever in close proximity was in the maternity ward of Pioneer Memorial. Then they went their separate ways, each believing, I guess, they were being raised by their biological parents.

The tragedy here, at least to me, is that the parents of both women are now dead. Neither one will ever know their real parents, will be denied even the faintest memory of their real mother and father. I wish my father had lived longer -- I believe I have done some things in my life that he would have been proud of. I would have loved it if he had known his grandson. But at least I have my memories and those are precious enough.

Where do the Mavs go from here

The Mavericks made a game of it last night, more than I thought they would after they were blown out in the first two games at Denver. I didn't turn last night's game off until there was a little more than two minutes to go.

Still the Mavericks lost in five, although there is some consolation that they made it to the second round and they succumbed to a far better team than they lost to in the first round the last two years, Golden State and New Orleans. However, I'm still not convinced Dallas makes it to the second round this year if Manu Ginobli had been healthy for the Spurs.

So now begins the off season, the time when Mark Cuban and company can begin assembling the parts for 2009-2010. What they should not do, however, is trade spare parts. which is essentially what this team has been doing for way too long.

Let's face reality: the Dallas Mavericks are nothing more than "Dirk Nowitzki and the 11 Dwarfs." Yesterday's voting for the All-NBA team was a wakeup call. Dirk made the first team but not one other Maverick received even a single point -- not Hall-of-Fame bound Jason Kidd, not sixth-man-of-the-year Jason Terry, not the mercurial Josh Howard --none, zero, no Mavericks. That puts all the other Mavericks behind the likes of Paul Millsap and Mehmet Okur of Utah, Hedo Turkoglu of Orlando, Caron Butler of Washington and Andre Iguodala of Philadelphia, among others, who received at least one vote.

Now Tim McMahon is writing today in the Mavericks Blog at the Dallas Morning News that Mark Cuban is willing to spend the big bucks to get another quality player in Dallas. "Mark Cuban wants to strike now instead of letting another year of Dirk's prime go by without the supporting cast he needs to make the Mavs legit contenders," McMahon writes. Music to my ears -- that's exactly what needs to happen.

I heard rumors a month or so ago that New Orleans was willing to let Chris Paul go in a fire sale. If that is true and the Mavs can grab him, that makes Dallas the third best team in the Western Conference going into next year, behind the Lakers and only slightly behind Denver. According to McMahon's story, Dallas native Chris Bosh might be available. Another instant upgrade, although I'm not so sure it's as much of a boost as you might get from Paul.

But I also don't want the Mavs to settle for being the third best team in the Western Conference but let's be patient here and wait for that 2010 free agent class. Let's face it, LeBron James, although he becomes a free agent that year, isn't going anywhere. But that still leaves the aforementioned Bosh, if Toronto doesn't sign him to an extension which it is really trying to do (and will probably trade him if it can't) and the name that really intrigues me, Dwyane Wade. Imagine adding Wade to a team that already has Nowitzki and Paul. You might has well suspend the 2010-2011 season and just declare the Mavs the NBA champs.

That's my dream scenario; unfortunately, the overwhelming number of my dreams never come true. So if the aforementioned doesn't take place, here's the painful move the Mavericks must make: Trade Dirk.

That's right, let the Big German go, but go to a team likely to win an NBA title with him. This franchise owes Dirk that. Dirk and Dirk alone has been keeping this team on the cusp of respectability for as long as he's been here and unless Cuban is willing to add one or two all-stars to this roster, they need to repay what Dirk has given to them by letting him earn his ring. Can you imagine the pairing of Dirk and Kobe on the Lakers? That would be fun to see. Besides the Lakers have some nice young talent they might be willing to part with. See if they would be willing to package Trevor Ariza, Andrew Bynum, Jordan Farmar and a first-round draft pick for Dirk.

But I would hate to see Dirk finish his career like, say, John Stockton, and be considered one of the greatest who ever played the game without ever winning an NBA championship. Dirk deserves more than that.

Mavs force a game five

Years ago, on one of my many automotive excursions in the western United States, I ventured down to Tombstone, Ariz. You see, much of my vacation life has been shaped by movies I've seen. My first visit to Hawaii was less than 24 hours long, but I made sure I found the time to visit the beach where Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr filmed their love scene in From Here to Eternity. I love to visit Monument Valley where my favorite John Ford westerns were filmed and recently I spent an afternoon at Devil's Tower solely because of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In Nashville, I spent a day at the Acropolis, or whatever it's called, solely because of the closing scene of Robert Altman's film.

Anyway, ever since 1957 when I saw this cheesy western that I dearly loved, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, I have been enthralled by the entire mythic behind Tombstone. So I went way out of my way to visit this place (it is not on the road to anywhere) and was shocked when I walked over to the actual O.K. Corral. The historic society there has erected tiny monuments depicting where everyone stood during the gunfight. These two rival gangs -- the Earps and the Clantons -- stood no more than six feet apart firing at each other at point blank range. That, I guess, is what they mean when they refer to the "gunfighter's mentality."

I thought a lot about the actual gunfight at the O.K. corral tonight during the closing minutes of Game 4 of the Dallas-Denver series, a game in which the Mavs toughed it out all game long and came away with a 119-117 victory. Dirk Nowitzki poured in 19 of his 44 points in the fourth quarter and Carmelo Anthony hit another three-pointer in the closing seconds, only this time the Mavericks were up four points, not two. (In fact, if Dallas had played the last 30 seconds of Saturday night's game as they did the final 30 of this one, this series would be tied right now.) But it was indeed like the Earps and Clantons at the American Airlines Center tonight.

The one major downside for the Mavs was their horrible defensive display in the first quarter, when the Nuggets jumped out to a 34-23 lead. Other than that, Dallas played an excellent Denver team evenly or better the rest of the way and, for the first time in the series, really outplayed the Nuggets in the fourth quarter.

In fact, the second half, in which the Mavs outscored Denver 66-54, belonged to Dallas tonight. Midway through the third quarter, as I watched the Mavs scratch and claw their way back into contention, I felt myself thinking "Regardless of the outcome of this game, I'm really proud of the way this team is playing right now."

I still think the Nuggets are the better team and will probably wrap up the series Wednesday night in Denver. They are just too tough at home and the Mavs have appeared to me to wither late in the games there, probably because of the altitude. But, damn, I liked that effort they gave tonight and, barring some unforeseen catastrophic meltdown Wednesday, this season will end with me feeling much better about this team than I ever thought I would.

McCracken's withdrawal

Bravo Brewster McCracken! In Saturday's election for mayor of Austin, McCracken forced Lee Leffingwell into a runoff that Leffingwell appeared ready to win. Leffingwell finished with 47.24 percent of the vote to McCracken's 26.8 percent.

Today McCracken announced he was withdrawing from the race "in the best interests of Austin." He said a runoff "would have required an unprecedented fundraising effort that, in this economy, would have put an additional burden on my supporters. The cost of the election itself would have been expensive to taxpayers." (It is estimated that McCracken's withdrawal saves the city $700,000 in election-related expenses.)

I could have cared less whether Leffingwell or McCracken won the election (although I was elated that former Austin mayor and Texas State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn finished behind the top two with 21.43 percent). But I do applaud McCracken for doing the right thing for all the right reasons.

We don't like your kind round here

I received an e-mail today from the Lake Highlands Area Improvement Association soliciting my help in petitioning legislators to do something about "the increasing presence of payday lenders," which, according to the LHAIA "seem to be popping up on almost every corner of Lake Highlands."

Back where I come from, these payday lenders were known as "loan sharks" and they operated behind other businesses such as candy stores, repair shops, etc. They are featured prominently in almost every gangster movie. Remember Rocky Balboa was an enforcer for a loan shark in the original "Rocky." That's the sort of element the LHAIA is talking about here.

In its e-mail plea, the LHAIA said:

"We believe these payday lenders attract an unsavory element and prey on those least able to help themselves, and with current economic distress, we are worried that they will continue to increase in our community, making it less appealing to restaurants and other quality retailers we would like to attract."

I have a couple thoughts about that. For one thing, Lake Highlands has been trying to attract "restaurants and other quality retailers" for as long as I can remember without much success. From what I've heard, the spending power is just not there -- similar to the problems in making businesses like this work in the Casa Linda area. I'm thinking maybe these payday lenders could put additional money into circulation that might attract retailers and create more sales tax revenues. But I'm not an economist.

It also makes me uneasy when people say "Sure, we want new business in here, but only the types of business we approve of." Folks, we live in a free country and those freedoms need to be extended to everyone, whether you agree with their line of work or not. What these businesses do may be unsavory, but it's not illegal. I could probably make a good deal of money and improve the shopping center at Audelia and Walnut Hill by locating a nice, clean, safe sports-oriented bar there, but because the idea of an establishment serving alcohol would be so abhorrent to the LHAIA-type folks, it could never happen. The area is never going to become what these folks want it to become with that type of restrictive thinking.

The final thing I question is the Association's method for solving the problem. In one point in its e-mail, the LHAIA says the payday lenders "continue to fend off efforts to rein them in, thanks in no small part to very active lobbyists in Austin, as well as their ability to funnel some of those record profits into sizable campaign donations to the very legislators deciding whether they should be regulated." Then, right after that, the association says: "We urge you to contact our state legislators representing the Lake Highlands area ... and let them know that the residents of Lake Highlands want to put a stop to the rapid spread of these predatory lenders in our community before they overwhelm us, and that we want them to support legislative efforts for sensible regulation."

Sure. Fine. Whatever.

New movies to be released tomorrow on DVD

Passengers (2008) *½ A clunky, dead-on-arrival scary drama that proves that even people with good taste need a good script or direction.

Taken (2009) ** Liam Neeson’s tormented weariness lends an air of dignity to the film’s pulpy, grubby nastiness, but as striking as he is in action-hero mode, the truth is that this film doesn’t need dignity.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009) ** The first film was significantly better and, therefore, is the place to start for anyone with a modicum of interest. This one is an also-ran that is likely to be appreciated only by completists. Mincing around like a bored old glam rocker and hissing threats from behind electric neon eyes, Bill Nighy seems to be the only person on set who found a glint of amusement in his part. He fares better than poor Michael Sheen, a scraggly Wolverine who made a more credible vampire-slayer opposite Frank Langella’s Nixon.

Next time, Antoine, hug him, kiss him, take him out to dinner

By now, everyone knows that the NBA has officially apologized for blowing the call in the final seconds of Saturday night's Dallas-Denver game. The league now agrees that Antoine Wright fouled Carmelo Anthony and that the Nuggets should have been awarded the ball out of bounds with only about a second left. Instead, Anthony hoisted a three-pointer at the buzzer that gave the Nuggets a 1-point victory and an insurmountable 3-0 advantage in this second-round NBA playoff series.

Personally, I don't have as much of a problem with the refs on this call as I do Antoine Wright. It is well known in NBA circles that refs don't blow whistles for minor infractions in the closing seconds of games. You see it all the time, every game. The refs wisely want the players to decide the outcome. Therefore, Wright should have done more than casually swiped Anthony. He should have bear-hugged him. Leave no doubt in anyone's mind. "We have a foul to give and I'm giving it right here, right now!"

There are a lot of reasons the Mavs lost this heartbreaker, most of them of their own doing (Dirk, in spite of a monumental effort, missing his last five field goal attempts; the Mavs not building a comfortable lead in the first quarter when Denver missed 15 of its first 17 field goal attempts; missing four free throws in the fourth quarter; allowing Denver to score too quickly when the Mavs were ahead by four with 33 seconds to play). Blaming the refs for this no-call is a cop-out and a poor way to shift responsibility.

President Obama as standup comedian

I happened upon this Saturday night while I was channel surfing in a Lubbock motel room and had to share it.. My favorite line comes during part two when he says one of the first things he will do in his second 100 days is write a book about his first 100 days. There is a tab that appears at the top of the screen near the end of this video that will take you to Part 2.

Is Dallas doing the right thing with this performance center

The City has been touting its Performance Arts Center currently under construction in the downtown Arts District as the greatest thing since New York's Lincoln Center. Oops. Sunday's New York Times argues the Lincoln Center may not have been the greatest idea to come down the arts pike. One paragraph of the story states:

"Yet if a sprawling performing-arts complex like Lincoln Center were proposed today, it would never be built. Some of the impediments would be practical: the daunting costs, the lack of political consensus, the shift in attitudes toward large-scale urban development projects that displace entire neighborhoods. But the larger question is whether such a complex should be built in the first place. The idealistic assumption that sparked the creation of Lincoln Center — that orchestras, opera companies, ballet troupes and theaters would have much to gain by becoming partners in a centralized complex — would be vigorously challenged today.

"Nothing can be more energizing to the cultural life of a city than dynamic performing arts institutions. But the danger in grouping them together is that the creative identities of individual institutions — a bold modern dance company, a great symphony orchestra — can blur behind the walls of an officious encampment. The promise of arts organizations working in sync can become a daily grind of competing boards and directors stifled by bureaucracy."

Dallas' project does receive a mention in the story:

"For a time after Lincoln Center was built other cities raced to imitate it, even if many projects were ill-conceived, like the sprawling, ugly Barbican in London. The ideal of the cultural complex still holds sway in Dallas, where this fall the $338 million Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, dominated by a new house for the Dallas Opera, will begin its inaugural season. But that is an exception to a long trend away from collaborative centers."

It's an interesting concept. The conceptual ideas behind the physical plants here in Dallas seemed wise and sound. To make it work, however, is going to require the cooperation of bodies that haven't had to cooperate or compromise in the past.

This time setting the agenda wasn't enough

I have always maintained that in any election, the side that sets the agenda wins the race. The other side, of course, can argue that what you are saying isn't true, but if that's their major argument, they are arguing your points.

I believed that up until I returned to the city from Lubbock today to learn that the pro-hotel side had won a narrow victory. Don't get me wrong, I'm not unhappy at the outcome; in fact, I'm convinced it's in the best interest of this city that both city charter propositions on the ballot failed. I'm just surprised because I thought the anti-hotel group had done a marvelous job of setting the agenda.

The one clear, succinct message out there was the hotel was going to cost taxpayers money that should be spent on better streets and more cops. The other side was forced to argue the less compelling, although far more accurate, side that said "No it won't," but then opted to go into long discussions about revenue bonds that the public just didn't comprehend or even care about.

So why did voters approve the hotel? The anti-hotel group made a fatal strategic blunder when it decided to inject Da Mayor's credibility into the campaign. For one thing, it muddied the central issue and for a second thing, most voters out there still trust and believe in Da Mayor. Had the anti-hotel people stuck simply to their tax message, I'm convinced they would have won. Look at the numbers: Only one candidate for the city council who was against the hotel won Saturday night and that candidate, incumbent Angela Hunt, was unopposed. Both Sheffie Kadane and Jerry Allen were running against anti-hotel candidates and both won easily. In fact, the city council races could, overall, be seen as an overwhelming endorsement of Da Mayor since all of his outspoken supporters we re-elected by far greater margins than the pro-hotel vote received.

Finally, a couple of comments about the City Council races. Overall, the outcomes were as pleasing as they could be. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I saw Ann Margolin and not Brint Ryan was going to succeed Mitchell Rasansky in District 13. I was also delighted to see voters in District 5 rebuff Dwaine Carraway's attempt to have a stooge unseat Vonciel Jones Hill. I don't always agree with the stands Judge Hill takes, but I respect her. I can also say the same about Tennell Atkins in District 8 and I'm thrilled voters rewarded what he has accomplished in just two years for that area.

That brings me to District 7 where Carolyn Davis is going to be in a runoff with DISD trustee Ron Price (I'm convinced Delia Jasso will have absolutely no problem winning her District 1 runoff). The primary was Davis against the field and she lost. Now the field is represented by just one candidate, who should gather most of the support that went to the other candidates in the race. I always thought Ms. Davis was the only vulnerable incumbent on the council and right now it appears she is going to be a one-and-done-termer. My only concern is that I wish she was going to be replaced by someone I trust more than Ron Price, who has always come across to me as all talk, no action.

My upcoming AWOL

I won't be posting on the blog for the next three days, but because I had made some mentions about my health -- or lack of it -- to keep the rumors from flying, that has nothing to do with my upcoming absence. (I will admit, however, health reasons kept from writing as frequently as I usually do earlier this week).

No, I'm off to Lubbock to witness and congratulate an outstanding young man on his graduation from Texas Tech University. And, yes, I voted early and, yes, I'll get to spend some time Sunday with my favorite mom.

A Dirk Nowitzky conversation that probably never took place

An unusually bright and chipper Dirk Nowitzky glides into the Mavericks front office one day a couple of months ago, right before practice, plops into an oversized chair and announces to the staff:

"I wanted you folks to be the first to hear the news. I'm in love and I'm planning on getting married."

Mavericks: Gee, Dirk, that's great. Have we met her?

Dirk: No. She likes to keep a pretty low profile.

Mavericks: Well, tell us all about her.

Dirk: Her name is Cristal.

Mavericks: Yes, and ....?

Dirk: Taylor. Her name is Cristal Taylor.

Mavericks: Uh-huh.

Dirk: And, I might as well tell you, we decided to get married because she is pregnant.

Mavericks: Where is she from, Dirk?

Dirk: Some place called Beaumont, or maybe Missouri. I'm not sure.

Mavericks: And her family? Tell us about them. They must be real excited their daughter is marrying a famous NBA star.

Dirk: I haven't met her family yet. I really haven't met anyone that knows her. But, hey, she met my father, when he came over from Germany last month.

Mavericks: Will you hold on a minute, Dirk. (Into the intercom) Send one of our attorneys up here, pronto. (After attorney arrives). Shark, will you please let Dirk know about "community property."

Shark: Sure. Dirk, putting it as simply as I can, community property is anything you acquire after you become married. Should you be divorced, a good rule of thumb is that property would be split evenly. Now, that means if you are planning on getting married -- and, by the way -- are you, Dirk? (Dirk nods). Whoa, then. Well, the house on Strait Lane should be safe because you purchased that before you were married. But she would be entitled to one half of everything you acquire -- and that includes half of everything the team pays you in salary, bonuses, endorsements, etc. -- should the marriage not work out.

Mavericks: Now, Dirk, I'm sure this woman has the purest of hearts, but, golly, from what you've told us, I'm not convinced you know enough about her background. Now, I gotta tell ya, I'd be having this same conversation with you if you were the janitor who cleaned this office every night. But the fact that you are THE Dirk Nowitzky makes it even more imperative you check things out a little more before you make this leap.

Dirk: But I love her. I've never felt this way about any other woman in my entire life. She is my life.

Mavericks: We know, Dirk. We know. And I'm betting she is as pure as a mountain stream. But let's just be on the safe side, shall we? Shark, you know the name of a private dick that could very quietly, with the utmost discretion, check this out for our man Dirk, here.

Shark: Sure, I'll get right on it.

Dirk: I still don't think it's necessary.

Mavericks: And I'm sure you right, Dirk. But I really want to protect your best interests.

"It's pretty obvious that I'm going through a tough time in my personal life right now. Like I always have, I want to kind of keep my private life private."

The above quotation was all Dirk had to say earlier today in response to authorities appearing at his home Wednesday morning and arresting Cristal Taylor on warrants accusing her of theft and probation violation, the latter charge stemming from a probated sentence she received in Missouri on two counts of forgery and one of felony theft.

I may be in the minority here (I usually am), but my heart goes out to Dirk right now. His entire world has come crashing down around him. The woman he loved, he trusted, put his faith in, has apparently deceived him. The rest of the basketball world wants to know if this will be a distraction for him for the rest of the NBA playoffs. Get off it. There are a few more important things in life than basketball. Not many perhaps, but a few and among them are love, family and happiness. Dirk may feel he has lost all three. A couple of more losses to the Nuggets pale in comparison.

Five beers? $16.25; ugly blue shirt? $45; the ability to drink all five beers at once without spilling a drop on the shirt? Priceless

The photo comes courtesy of much appreciated friend and political guru for me and many others in the area: Mike Lindley

For all you bingo players bummed out by the latest smoking ordinances, here's an option that might preserve newspapers as well

Bingo! The idea comes from Mort Zuckerman, the owner of the New York Daily News, a paper even more conservative than the Dallas Morning News. Want to know how conservative it is? On its story announcing the death of Ho Chi Minh (for those old enough to remember Ho Chi Minh), the paper's headline was "Ho becomes good Red."

But that's beside the point now. Zuckerman thinks bingo can help put U.S. newspapers back on a sound financial footing. Here's what Zuckerman told New York magazine:

"The newspapers in England are supported almost exclusively by the profitability of running bingo games on their websites. It attracts an enormous audience. But here, you’re not allowed to do it. The gambling interests and Vegas and other places like that have managed to block any other gambling on the Internet. But London, that’s what they do. The Sun makes millions of dollars off of their bingo games."

OK, Jim Moroney, it's your deal.

Promoting Project

This is a promotional video for the trio Project, which features local bassist extraordinaire Peter Seymour. The music featured with the video, according to someone very close to the band, "is the first movement of suite from the first album, arranged for/performed with a symphony."

Good night, Dom

Don Deluise
Aug. 1, 1933 - May 4, 2009

Give it to me straight, doc

For the past 36 hours or so, I have been suffering from muscle aches, a fever, the chills, coughing, an inability to sleep for more than two hours at a time and an insatiable craving for sweet and sour pork. You don't suppose ...

Tomorrow's Trinity Toll Road hearing

I almost wish I could be at tomorrow evening's public hearing that will seek input into the location of the Trinity River toll road or whether the road should even be built in the first place.

I have been an opponent of this boondoggle from the very beginning for several reasons:

1. Just like you wouldn't build a high-speed thruway through New York's Central Park, San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, Los Angeles' Griffith Park, London's Hyde Park, you shouldn't build one through what should become Dallas' signature park. Can you imagine the uproar in East Dallas if someone proposed building high speed toll bridge over White Rock Lake? Can you picture the backlash in South Dallas if someone said we needed to construct a freeway through Kiest Park?

2. We should be concentrating on finding ways of getting people to Dallas, so they can spend their sales tax dollars here, not through Dallas, which this road does.

3. I am against any new transportation option that does not include a major rail component.

4. It will add more cars to our roadway infrastructure, more impurities to our air.

But this hearing is not going to be dealing with transportation ideology, I'm guessing, so none of the above would prove to be valid arguments there. However, I am hoping someone brings this to the attention of the feds.

Then there are those for whom the word "obnoxious" just doesn't go far enough

Memos to Hollywood

Last Friday, the New York Times published a series of "Memos to Hollywood," drafted by its two major film critics, A.O. Scott, and Manohla Dargis. Here is the link if you want to read all them, but what follows are some of my favorites:

To: The M.P.A.A. Ratings Board
From: A.O.S.
What the heck? “Some language”? “Thematic content”? “Dangerous situations”? Yes, it’s hard to keep up with substance abuse, sexual mores, violent behavior and Anglo-Saxon idioms, but come on. What started out 40 years ago as a common-sense, informative alternative to censorship has turned into a maze of mystifications and technicalities, wherein perfectly wholesome dramas are stigmatized while violent, sadistic trash merits an implicit seal of approval. Stop trying to read our minds or guess our values: just give us clear, rational and consistent information

To: Filmakers, especially under 40
From: M.D.
The tripod is your friend. Few filmmakers can pull off florid handheld camerawork because most aren’t saying all that much through their visuals, handheld or not. (Also: Shaking the camera does not create realism.) Though it’s a cliché of contemporary cinema, fiction and nonfiction both, handheld camerawork that calls aggressive attention to itself tends to make empty images seem even emptier. If you want us to notice your cinematography, make sure you have something to say, like the French filmmaker Olivier Assayas ("Demonlover"), whose restlessly moving images convey a searching intelligence. He isn’t just waving the camera around; he’s saying something about the world and the people in it.

To: Members of the Writers Guild of America
Cc: M. Night Shyamalan
From: A.O.S.
You may think that slipping a doozy of a third-act surprise into your screenplay — a shocking twist that no one could possibly see coming — might make you look smart and the audience feel dumb, but please consider that the reverse might actually be the case.

To: Hollywood
From: A.O.S. & M.D.
Yes, green is good. But there is no ecological benefit in recycling intellectual properties or in treating pop-culture treasures like so much scrap material. Let us read our comic books and watch our DVDs of old movies and television shows and try to capture our imaginations with something new. So, enough with the serial killers (unless you’re David Fincher); period dramas; movies in which children die or are endangered; (bad) literary adaptations; superhero epics; tween-pop exploitation vehicles; scenes with bubble-breasted women working the pole in strip clubs; shady ladies with hearts of gold; Google Earth-like zoom-ins of the world; sensitive Nazis; sexy Nazis; Nazis period; dysfunctional families; dysfunctional families with guns; suburban ennui; suburban ennui with guns; wisecracking teenagers; loser dudes scoring with hot women who would never give them the time of day even if they were drunk out of their minds or too young to know any better (hello, Judd Apatow!); feature films that should have been sketch comedy routines; shopping montages; makeover montages; bromances (unless the guys get it on with each other); flopping penises; spray-on tans; Kate Hudson; PG-13 horror remakes; or anything that uses any of the “classic” songs that we are sick of hearing. What’s left? We don’t know. Isn’t that your job?

Stick a fork in 'em to see if the Mavs are done

The Mavericks five-game series win over the San Antonio Spurs gave me a false sense of optimism. For a minute there, I thought a team that had disappointed me all season long might actually be better than I had given them credit for.

Then came yesterday's second-round series opener against the Denver Nuggets and what I quickly discovered was (1) that the Mavs, at full strength, are a better team than the Spurs without Manu Ginobli, but probably not a better team with him; and (2) that the Denver Nuggets, which won 14 of their last 17 games, including 11 by double figures, are far better than the Mavs right now. Look at it this way, Denver thumped Dallas 109-95 Sunday in a game in which the Nuggets two best players -- Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups -- were essentially non-factors. That's scary.

What is also scary is that either the Mavericks are very tired right now or Denver's altitude took a toll on the team. Several times Dallas' transition game suffered because players were struggling to walk up the court.

The game also seemed to go south for the Mavs the moment Josh Howard was injured. The team was never the same after that, even when Howard returned to the lineup.

I know Dallas owner Mark Cuban and the other conspirators want to blame the referees for the loss, but that's ridiculous. The refs didn't commit eight turnovers, Jason Kidd did. I can't see blaming the referees for the Mavs decision to stop playing defense after the first quarter.

So this is where it ends for the Mavs this season. If this series goes beyond five games I will be shocked and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the Mavs get swept. But at least the Mavs made it out of the first round this year, unlike the last two, even if it took an injury to Ginobli to do it. But, hey, those are the breaks (pardon the pun). The Mavericks would have never made it past Phoenix three seasons ago -- the year they lost to the Heat in the NBA finals -- if Amare Stoudemire wasn't injured and had been able to play for the Suns in that series.

New movies to be released tomorrow on DVD

Chandni Chowk to China (2009) ** As with many a Bollywood epic, you can bring the kids, your lunch, your cell phone, your unfiled taxes. There’s so much here, and in such heaping, lengthy portions, you could probably weave a sari before the end credits. It’s a live-action Looney Tunes cartoon that lasts 154 minutes rather than just five, and it’s as exhausting as it sounds.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) *** Question: Is life still like a box of chocolates if you’re going in reverse? The answer, in the case of the curiously Gumpian The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, is a gooey yes. What Button shows is that Ben is ultimately not the hero of his own life or his own movie. He gets inside our head, that’s for sure, but, frustratingly, we never get inside his. But it’s worth seeing just for the superb prosthetic makeup and seamless computer-generated effects in which Brad Pitt’s head is digitally imposed onto older bodies.

Just Another Love Story (2009) *** Contrived excess is rarely as entertaining as it is in this ironically titled film, a furiously overheated romantic thriller from Danish writer-director Ole Bornedal.You could call it nothing more than an exercise in style, but A) Bornedal’s got style to burn and B) that’s not quite fair. Beneath all the dazzling cinematography, propulsive score and overcommitted acting, I found this movie an affecting, mordant comedy about male midlife crisis in its most extreme form. It may not go anywhere in particular, but it is as exciting as a trip through a well-equipped, scary fun house.

Last Chance Harvey (2008) **½ This mundane romantic comedy is notable for one reason only: its leading couple. Imagine Paddy Chayefsky’s Marty saddled with more sentimentality and sprinkled with a few more laughs and you pretty much have Last Chance Harvey.

Look (2007) ** With its emphasis on its interweaving stories, this movie offers no commentary on the phenomenon of increasingly pried-apart privacy, positive or negative. Not that it needs to be political, or even particularly deep, but that nonexamination, coupled with lack of real insight into the characters, leaves one sensing an opportunity missed. An unsettling, rudely funny but not entirely credible feature.

Momma’s Man (2008) ***½ A comedy of sorts, though to writer-director Azazel Jacobs’ credit, he doesn’t aim for cheap laughs. Perhaps the most indispensable cast member is the Jacobs’ dwelling, their residence since 1966.

Smother (2008) *½ It’s very sad to watch Diane Keaton here. In the most excruciating scene, she gets drunk in a bar, staggers up to a microphone and starts to sing, or rather squawk. For those of us who still revere Annie Hall and her blissfully unaffected rendition of Seems Like Old Times, this is sacrilege.

Wendy and Lucy (2008) ***½ Writer-director Kelly Reichardt is a tremendously conscientious filmmaker, and not out to torture the audience. Yes, this is a fraught and agonizing story, but the way it ends, although heartbreaking, is absolutely right. A masterful low-budget drama in which Michelle Williams gives as lovely a performance as a moviegoer could ask for.

This Lone Ranger business is going from bad to worse

By now most people have heard that Johnny Depp has signed on to play Tonto in Jerry Bruckenheimer's The Lone Ranger. But that may be the only good news you'll hear about this entire project. And I'm not even sure that is good news. Since the script is being written by Terry Rossio and and Ted Elliot, the pair who have written the scripts for the Pirates of the Caribbean films, this could be another excuse for one of Depp's off-the-wall takeoffs,

Now I'm hearing that Mike Newell, who made a couple of films I really liked (Dance With a Stranger, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Donnie Brasco) but more recently made some I didn't (Mona Lisa Smile, Love in the Time of Cholera) has signed on to direct. And, to make matters worse, the name I'm hearing to play the title role is Matthew McConaughey.

Add to that the fact that the western genre seems pretty much dead, this looks like a disaster just waiting to happen.

Why you might be hearing the name Sonia Stomayor in the coming months

It's because Ms. Sotomayor, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, is the name I'm hearing to replace Justice David Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Have you ever woke up with bullfrogs on your mind

I just woke up in the middle of the night thinking of a slice of pie. You don't think that means ....?

Mavs-Nuggets playoff schedule

Game 1 - Sunday May 3 at Denver 2:30 p.m. ABC
Game 2 - Tuesday May 5 at Denver 9:30 p.m. TNT
Game 3 - Saturday May 9 at Dallas 4 p.m. ESPN
Game 4 - Monday May 11 at Dallas 8:30 p.m. TNT
Game 5 (if needed) Wednesday May 13 at Denver (game time to be determined) TNT
Game 6 (if needed) Friday May 15 at Dallas (game time to be determined) ESPN
Game 7 (if needed) Sunday May 17 at Denver (game time and television network to be determined)

How does Specter's switch effect KBH's strategy

Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison has maintained for some time now she had no intentions of resigning her Senate seat to return to Texas to campaign for her party's gubernatorial nomination, even though it is widely believed she plans to run for governor in 2010. By not resigning, she was allowing Gov. Hair to solidify his standing with the fringe right wing that probably will decide the nominee. The reason she said she didn't want to resign was because she didn't want to create a situation in which a special election would be needed that could result in a Democrat winning, thus giving Democrats a filibuster-busting 60-40 advantage in Senate membership.

But it has appeared for some time now that Al Franken is going to be declared the winner in the Minnesota Senate race, making him the 59th Democrat in the upper chamber. Then yesterday, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania announced he was switching party affiliations, making him the 60th Democrat.

So is there now any pressing need for KBH to stay on in Washington? I believe if she wins the Republican nomination she cruises to election as governor. But I also believe she has absolutely no chance of winning that nomination unless she returns to Texas immediately to begin re-positioning the GOP in this state.

Almost reuniting Meryl and Amy

I was not a big a fan of the movie "Doubt" as some, but what I did enjoy was the acting, especially those two-person scenes involving Meryl Streep and one of the actors in the film: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Viola Davis or Amy Adams. I especially enjoyed her scenes with Ms. Adams, who is the most refreshing talent to come into the movie world in the last 10 years.

Now Ms. Adams and Ms. Streep are co-starring in another film together, but judging from this trailer and what I know about the film, I can't see them having any scenes together. Ms. Streep plays Julia Child (and, typically, she seems to have the Child voice down cold) and Ms. Adams plays a young woman who, probably 50 years after Ms. Child wrote her cookbook, decides to do her own book based on cooking all of Ms. Child's recipes. Think of it as a lighter "The Hours" with no nervous breakdowns or suicides, but lots of food.

Enough really is enough

It's time to return civility to political discourse.

It's time to end the mudslinging, especially that coming from those dirty, rotten, cross-dressing slimeballs who oppose my agenda and are avoiding the real issues in this campaign. It's time to turn our backs on the politics of attack, especially when it comes from my chief opponent who is known to cheat on both his wife and his taxes on income he made from starring in porno films. It's time to do away with innuendos, like those coming from the rich and powerful closeted bigots financing my opponents, who spend more time with hookers than they do with their own families. It's time to end scare tactics and if you don't so so immediately, I promise you the world will come to a sudden, violent end by this time tomorrow.

Yes, dear friends, enough is enough!

Soft? Soft? Not Carlisle's Mavericks

I'm not sure I've ever been prouder of a Dallas Mavericks team than I am right now. They convinced me and should have convinced the rest of the world that they were a far superior team than the San Antonio Spurs. And these Spurs, led by a Tim Duncan who has never -- ever -- lost in the first round of the NBA playoffs -- kept coming back during last night's series-deciding game. But Dallas's strength, determination and abilities in the first and third quarters last night -- when they outscored the Spurs by a total of 61-39 -- was just too much to overcome. You can take that "soft" label many have applied to the Mavericks and toss it into the dumpster.

What made it even more special was that it was a total team achievement and that's a credit to Rick Carlisle and his coaching staff. I have absolutely no doubt that Carlisle is the major difference between this Maverick team and the one that bowed out the last two years in the playoff and no where is that more evident than the way the Mavericks are playing right now.

This time the last two years, the Mavericks were a tired team. They looked haggard the last month of the last two seasons and that carried over to their playoff performances, first against Golden State then last year against New Orleans. This season the Mavericks were playing their best basketball at the end of the regular season and that, too, has carried over into the playoffs. Channel 21 showed an interesting graphic during last night's game telecast: Only the Los Angeles Lakers have a better winning percentage than the Mavericks since March 31.

Now it appears the Mavs get to rest a couple of days before taking on the Denver Nuggets (I can't see how New Orleans can take that series). Much has already been said and more will be written and said in the upcoming days about how the Nuggets swept the Mavs this season. But two of those losses were by two points and a third was only by three. All four games were played before the Mavs went on their 7-2 tear to end the season. I honestly think, if Carlisle can keep this team playing at this level, they can take the Nuggets in a best-of-seven matchup. Just look at the way the Mavs, when the Spurs twice cut double-digit Maverick leads to four points in last night's game, how Dallas put their collective foot to the Spur's collective throat and cut off all breathing.

The one thing I and most of Mavericks fandom feared the most was finishing the season as the eighth seed. Why? Because we didn't want to face the Los Angeles Lakers. But I'm betting no one will be complaining, especially yours truly, if we get a shot at the Lakers now.

Hey, Longhorn, you looking at me?

For all you film buffs out there, the Robert De Niro Collection, which includes more than 1,500 boxes containing his heavily annotated scripts, film, costumes, props, etc., that document the actor's professional career from the 1960s through 2005 is closer, geographically, than you might think.

It is located at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin and it was opened to researchers and the public this week.

Here's an excerpt from one story written about the collection:

Filling more than 300 archival boxes, the paper portion of the collection includes De Niro's heavily annotated scripts and correspondence, makeup and wardrobe photographs, wardrobe continuity books, costume designs and posters and extensive production, publicity and research material.

"This is an important and incredibly rich collection," said Steve Wilson, associate curator of film at the Ransom Center. "It covers so many aspects of filmmaking, from scripts and screenwriting to costumes and film and video. Scholars and students can follow the development of such films as 'The Deer Hunter' from the printed page to the screen. I simply don't know of another film archive quite like it."

With about 8,500 items filling more than 1,000 boxes, the costumes and props within the collection constitute the center's largest single costume holding and include such iconic items as the leopard-print boxing robe worn by De Niro in "Raging Bull" and the voluminous, body-length coats of the creature in "Frankenstein."

The collection, appraised at more than $5 million, took more than two years to process, organize and catalog.

Another reason to make a pilgrimage to the state capital.

Hutchison's gas tax plan wrong on several levels

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, in a move designed more to boost her gubernatorial candidacy than anything else, plans to introduce legislation today that would allow Texas to keep all the money collected in taxes at the fuel pump. In other words, Texas would secede from the national highway program.

Her reasoning is that Texas is shortchanged because only 92 cents of every dollar we pay in federal fuel taxes ever finds its way back to Texas. Alaska, on the other hand, receives $4.21 for every dollar their citizens pay, so I'm doubting Hutchison's bill is going to get that much support from the big state up north.

Here are my problems with her idea. It's all highway driven and no transportation program or idea should be undertaken today without including some rail, especially high speed rail, components. And just when the federal government, thanks to the current administration, is beginning to address the nation's need for rail infrastructure, Hutchison's bill would exclude Texas from participation.

Second, according to the story about the bill in the Dallas Morning News, "Her Highway Fairness and Reform Act would let states keep all of the federal fuel taxes collected within their borders, on condition they use the funds to maintain interstate highways and for other road projects." Rail projects -- those that are needed the most here -- would be barred from receiving these much needed funds.

But, like I said, earlier, this legislation is not about solving Texas' transportation woes -- it's about positioning Sen. Hutchison against criticism from her probable GOP gubernatorial foe, Gov. Hair, who has accused the state's senior senator of not looking out for the best interests of Texas (as though Gov. Hair had looked out for the interests of anyone but the rich fringe right wing of the Republican Party).

If Hutchison was really interested in transportation in her home state she would demand an audit of the all the funds that Texas currently receives from both the federal and state gas taxes and then make sure more of those funds were dedicated to regional and statewide rail projects. We need to find ways to get polluting cars off the roads, not to build more roads to put more cars on.

The strategy of wearing out Tony Parker

Someone very close to me who really knows his basketball was questioning the San Antinio Spurs' strategy of not getting the ball in Tony Parker's hands at the end of the games in this Spurs-Mavericks series. ESPN.com's John Hollinger has an answer:

The most shocking thing about Saturday's loss was seeing Tony Parker run out of gas so visibly down the stretch. He had a breakaway with just less than four minutes left in the fourth quarter when Jason Kidd and Jason Terry both caught up to him. He missed both free throws, and his only shot the rest of the way was a tired-looking 3 off the dribble into the front rim.

Parker played 41 minutes and scored 43 points but had only 12 after the break and none in the final 7 minutes, 33 seconds. His teammates mustered only eight points during that stretch, allowing the Mavs to win despite getting diddly from both Dirk Nowitzki and Terry.

This reinforces the dominant theme of the Spurs' season: not enough help. Parker rarely played 41 minutes during a playoff game in past seasons, let alone 41 minutes of handling the ball for 15 to 20 seconds on nearly every possession. San Antonio got 68 points from Parker and Tim Duncan, but only 22 on 6-of-28 shooting from the others. Once Dallas clamped down on those two after halftime, the Spurs scored only 35 points in the second half.

Apparently what the Mavs are doing is forcing Parker to work hard for his open looks early in the games, plus forcing him to play some heavy defense, thus wearing him down in the stretch. Neat.

Let's see how that plan works tonight.

Not so fast

At first blush, one would think that the Texas Rangers should have Mitchell High High School (near Tampa, Fla.) senior Patrick Schuster high on their draft list. After all, Schuster will be on the mound today as Mitchell plays in the opening round of Florida's high school baseball playoffs and he will be going for his fifth consecutive no-hitter.

According to reports, Schuster has 90-mile-an-hour fastball, "a nasty slider and curve, each of which he trusts enough to throw on 3-2 counts." He has struck out 60 during his current string of four consecutive no-hitters.

Here's the deal, however: Two other high school pitchers threw six consecutive no-hitters -- Chris Taranto in Mississippi in 1961 and Tom Engle in Ohio in 1989 -- and neither of them became major league stalwarts.

Dylan-Nelson-Mellencamp tour coming to a ballpark near you

This tour that I said last month was a possibility is now definite and will be coming to that new baseball park in Grand Prairie that's right next to the race track on a very special day, August 7.
The complete tour schedule:
GCS Ballpark, Sauget, Ill., July 2
Coveleski Stadium, South Bend, Ind., July 4
Slugger Field, Louisville, Ky., July 8
Fifth Third Field, Dayton, Ohio, July 10
Classic Park, Eastlake, Ohio, July 11
CONSOL Energy Park, Washington, Penn., July 13
Coca-Cola Park, Allentown, Penn, July 14
New Britain Stadium, New Britain, Conn., July 15
Centennial Field, Essex Junction, Vt., July 17
Alliance Bank Stadium, Syracuse, N.Y., July 19
McCoy Stadium, Pawtucket, R.I., July 21
First Energy Park, Lakewood. N.J., July 23
Ripkin Stadium, Aberdeen, Md., July 24
Harbor Park, Norfolk, Va., July 25
Durham Bulls Athletic Park, Durham, N.C., July 28
Smokies Park, Sevierville, Tenn., July 29
The Dell Diamond, Round Rock, Texas, Aug. 4
Whataburger Field, Corpus Christi, Texas, Aug. 5
QuikTrip Park, Grand Prairie, Texas, Aug. 7
Camelback Ranch, Glendale, Ariz., Aug. 11
Cashman Field, Las Vegas, Nev., Aug. 12
Chukchansi Park, Fresno, Calif. Aug. 14
Banner Island Park, Stockton, Calif., Aug. 15

"Wolverine" falls victim to swine flu

Poor Wolverine just can't win. First, an alleged unfinished cut of the superhero film starring Hugh Jackman was leaked on the Internet. So backers scaled back its predictions for its opening weekend to around $70 million (down about $20 million for original expectations.)

Now comes word that Mexico has postponed its planned premiere of the film and may even close many of the theaters scheduled to show it because of the swine flu epidemic.

Here in the United States, the feat of contracting the contagious disease may result in a jittery public opting to stay away from communal gathering spots such as movie theaters until the threat subsides. And, if the outbreak gets worse, word is that domestic theater chains may close their outlets this weekend as well.

The classic beauties

Each year, People magazine, which loves to create lists, has one for the most gorgeous. Vanessa Hudgens, the 20-year-old star of High School Musical, tops the current list for reasons that are beyond me. And I've never even heard of the two that finished second and third.

Oh, well, the world is quickly passing me by. Thankfully someone dug into the vaults of Life magazine to dig up these photos of truly classic beauties. I gotta tell ya, the young whipper snappers on the People list just can't compare to these regal ladies.