Whether you're at the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt's End:
*Screw me. I've been inside Cowboys Stadium a dozen times now and never noticed there wasn't an American flag hanging somewhere. JumboJerry will do that for you. When during the National Anthem there's a flag "waving" on the world's largest video screen you tend to fixate on it. But I was surprised that the place doesn't have a permanent flag inside, almost as much as I was surprised that owner Jerry Jones tried to shrug it off by claimining he has one outside that flies 24/7. Is this "America's Team should have an American flag!" outrage or "Damn we've become a sensitive, cranky people" overkill?
*Speaking of stadium accessories, now that I think about no flag I have another question: Where are the five Super Bowl banners? Tune in to 105.3 The Fan this morning at 10. I'm going to ask Jerry what the what?!
*Let me get this straight, irrationally stubborn fake basketball fans: Dirk Nowitzki scores 29 points in a quarter, hits a game-winning buzzer-beater and pours in 41 points against the Spurs, all in a three-week span. He was the NBA's Player of the Week and he'll likely be the Player of the Month. Early on he's the NBA's MVP. Yet what you grudgingly stick to is the tired, old, non-sensical criticism that he's boring, one-dimensional, slow, white and a choker? Okay. But I promise. You're going to miss him when he's gone, so why not appreciate him while he's here? Starting ... now!
*Somebody - one guy - actually voted for the Rangers' Ron Washington for AL Manager of the Year. T.R. Sullivan, I'm looking at you.
*Saw the artists' rendering for the new Bush Library over at SMU. I'm not going to make some corny joke about coloring books. But I did find it fitting that the place will be protected by a 3-foot retaining wall. (Vandal #1 to Vandal #2: "Geez, I'd really like to spray paint some graffiti up in there, but how oh how will we ever navigate this waist-high security wall? Damn you Dubya, out-smarted us again!") Just kidding. But surely before the first shovel hits the ground the former Prez is gonna unfurl his "Mission Accomplished!" banner. Right?
*The skinny on new Cowboys' right tackle Doug Free, courtesy of an NFL scout I talked to this week: "Technically he's almost flawless ... the quickest, best feet of any Dallas lineman ... Will be fine in the passing game, but lacks the brute strength to dominate in the running game."
*Sorry, but we overrate Megan Fox.
*The Stars beat the Red Wings this week. I have now exhausted both my interest and knowledge of hockey in 2009. But 2010 looms. Be patient. This just in: Hockey fights are cool.
*Sometimes it's the simple things in life. I never rarely turn down a good game of Tic-Tac-Toe.
*I don't get Twilight. Pretty sure I'm not supposed to.
*Hot.
*Not.
*Kudos to Channel 11's Babe Laufenberg - this year's Dallas Obsever Best Local TV Sports Anchor, by the way - for landing the first interview with paralyzed Dallas Cowboys' scout Rich Behm. Good work.
*Not a big boxing fan but I'm going to be fascinated by next spring's Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather fight. Not the decision, the venue. It's Cowboys Stadium vs. Yankee Stadium vs. Las Vegas. Delicious!
*My nominees for dumbest people on the planet: The dolts and doltettes that camp overnight to buy a copy of Sarah Palin's new book. What about her isn't ridiculous and farcical and overwhelmingly a joke? Other than this web site, of course.
*Proof that 41 isn't old. The NFL's "most experienced" cheerleader is hot.
*Mesquite ISD = Mayberry. This week the crazy, conservative, crappy city sent home a 14-year-old boy for - gasp! - wearing skinny jeans. Of course in Mesquite schools, you can also be reprimanded for wearing a striped shirt. I shit you not.
*It's official: Hurricane Katrina's devastation was the Corps of Engineers' faul.
*Being a pirate sounds cool. The romantic image is of Johnny Depp sailing around deep blue waters in a hip goatee, bounding around drunk and sing-songy while guzzling Captain Morgan and somehow getting away with flamboyant fashion while justifying stealing chests of gold coins because, well, you're a pirate. Then you read that Spain actually paid some pirates a $3.3 million ransom the other day. Then you remember, dangit, you're based in war-torn Somalia. No thanks.
*Been known to lean to the left while having a drink at Sue Ellen's, but even my open-minded, dorky self would giggle at UNT's idea to having a Homecoming King and Queen King.
*The New Oxford Dictionary's Word of the Year for 2009: Unfriend. I'm familiar. Even been known to implement it as a verb, as in, "Fine, asshole, I'm going to unfriend you." Honorable mention word: Webinar. Still scratching my head over verbanizing it, though.
*Something to warm your heart as we try to survive and claw out of this recession: The government will this year waste $98 million. Cue Obama/Socialism/Whitt bashing in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...
*Cowboys 24, Redskins 10. If Jason Garrett calls only 11 running plays Sunday he'll have some 'splaining to do.
*Me? Thanks for asking. I'll be at Cowboys Stadium Sunday 9 a.m.-Noon for 105.3 The Fan's Cowboys-Redskins pre-game show from the West Plaza. Need I remind you to not be a stranger? If heckling me isn't motivation enough, allow me to tempt you with a Fantasy Girl. See ya there.
