In Fair Park, Still One Shell of a Venue

The National Register of Historic Places just started posting its photographic archives on Flickr — and, thus far, the sole spot in the Texas set is Fair Park, photos of which went up just this morning. And, again I ask: Why are we wasting the best concert venue in town?…

Corporal Punishment at Dallas Lickin’ High School

I’m 44. But I’m about to sound 84. It was a better world when paddling was a part of school. A safer world when “licks” between a teacher and student were punishment rather than perverted pleasure. Hear me out: I’m not condoning the 21 “licks” allegedly applied to the backside…

The Needle and the Damage Drunk

On Monday the Texas Senate passed two bills related to drunken driving. The first would mandate statewide sobriety checkpoints; the second would allow police officers to draw blood from DWI suspects. The other sexually oriented newspaper in town focused on the sobriety checkpoints and mentioned that the blood draws would…

Meat and Greet Ed Bailey’s New Eateries

GlobeSt.com has local restaurateur Ed Bailey’s latest set of plans for Dallas-Fort Worth dining domination, and they include four more Bailey’s Prime Plus steak houses (including one in that Park Lane development) and three more Patrizio locations … before the end of 2009, no foolin’. And there could even be…

New-Look Rangers!

Okay, now I’m intrigued. For all the Texas Rangers’ promise of a better future, yesterday they made moves geared at providing fans an improved today. I squawked last week about the Rangers not being serious – much less serious contenders – if they trotted out really average re-runs like Frank Catalanotto and…

There is No Joystick in Mudville

The headline in this morning’s New York Times reads like something out of The Onion: “Virtual Leagues Fold, Forcing Gamers to Find Actual Jobs.” Alas, ’tis true — and the man at the center of the story is Dallas’s own Emmanuel Rodriguez, a 23-year-old professional video-game player and world champ…

A Systematic, Somewhat Sane Ranking of the World’s Most Athletic Sports

In this week’s column in the dead tree version of Sportatorium I maintain that NASCAR drivers aren’t athletes. Conversely, Texas Motor Speedway grand poobah Eddie Gossage counterpoints that not only are drivers supremely athletic, but more fit than even soccer players. Got me to thinking: Which sport truly has the world’s…

Roll dem bones:

For someone who doesn’t have any actual money, Buzz lately has been mighty interested—obsessed even—with the stock market. We check the Dow Jones about a zillion times a day, pulling for positive numbers like craps players around a table hollering for a hard eight. We can only imagine what things…

Beating a DWI case may soon get a lot tougher

I’m going to screw up, Andrea says to herself as she walks a straight line in front of a Dallas police officer. Only hours into what was supposed to be a relaxing Memorial Day weekend, Andrea is on the side of the road near the bar she just left on…

Word of the Day: Desiccation

Jim’s opted to wait till the a.m. to post concerning the Corps’ report, but his quick take: “The worse gets worser.” Sam’s also got priceless video coming early Thursday. Which gives everyone time to get their head around these docs. So, speaking of which, the last of the documents worth…

How the Dallas Mavericks Can Avoid the Lakers

About a month ago in this cover story Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told me his team didn’t fear a first-round NBA Playoff matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers. “The Lakers don’t intimidate us at all,” Cuban maintains. “In the West it’s going to come down to whoever stays the healthiest…

What’s In My Closet? Brush With Greatness Edition

My career has its perks. I’ve sipped Mai Tais on Waikiki Beach with Troy Aikman. Shaken hands with Wayne Gretzky moments after his final NHL game. Seen – first hand – Roger Federer win at Wimbledon, Michael Johnson triumph in Atlanta and Michael Jordan sink his last shot as a…