The Texas Rangers: By Disappointing, They Do Not Disappoint

Diamond in the rough: Formerly a Rangers pitching-prospect great, Thomas Diamond will now miss the entire 2007 season. It wasn’t so long ago that Thomas Diamond, Edinson Volquez and John Danks were going to be the one-two-three punch of the Texas Rangers’ pitching rotation. They even had their own nickname:…

Random AFI Dallas Tips, First in An Occasional Series

If you must choose one film to see at the inaugural AFI Dallas International Film Festival 2007, please, let me suggest King of Kong. I will have plenty more to say about the movie in Wednesday’s paper version of Unfair Park, in which our AFI preview will appear, but trust…

So What’s Carole Keeton Strayhorn Doing These Days?

Chris Bell has a new gig: Just moments ago, the Washington, D.C.-based law firm of Patton Boggs announced that the former U.S. Representative and failed Texas gubernatorial candidate has taken a gig in the firm’s Dallas office. There, says the release, he will “counsel clients on a wide range of…

Keeping an Eye on Downtown

If you’re in downtown, chances are you’re being watched by the Dallas Police Department, which today announced that in January, it installed 40 Sony security video cameras, 35 wireless radio transmitters and seven electronic storage devices on streetlight poles and building rooftops. Actually, DPD didn’t announce it: The companies responsible…

Crazy For Ray

DallasCowboys.com As a wide-eyed kid lucky enough to hitch a ride to Dallas Cowboys games at the Cotton Bowl and later Texas Stadium atop dad’s shoulders, one of the highlights of any given Sunday was the good guy wearing the black hat. You could hear his piercing whistle — a…

Re: Sam Coats’ Concrete Problem

Until Unfair Park called him at home this afternoon, mayoral candidate Sam Coats had only heard about Jim Schermbeck’s missive in which the enviromentalist and filmmaker brands Coats a hypocrite. As you no doubt read in the post below, Schermbeck is furious that Coats is running for mayor while also…

Sam Coats’ Concrete Problem

Waste not, want not: Sam Coats is on the board of directors at TXI, which ain’t no friend of the clean air. Till today, it’s likely most folks had no idea that mayoral candidate Sam Coats is on the board of directors of Texas Industries, better known as TXI, the…

Fritz the Cat

It’s Friday night and you got nothing to do? Well, this sounds like a sure-fire way to have yerself some fun: listening to Walter Mondale talk. Yup, the former vice president named “Fritz” will be speaking tonight at 7:30 at the Dallas Democratic Forum’s 30th Anniversary…uh…celebration? And it’ll only cost…

The Lean Green

In about eight minutes or so, please send UNT coach Johnny Jones your warmest wishes and prayers. He and his team will need them so. Take it from a guy who’s in 1,106,094th place in ESPN’s bracket contest, the University of North Texas has a real shot today (as in,…

Luck of the Draw

The mayoral candidates just finished down at City Hall drawing envelopes to pick their slots on the ballot, and turns out, the man at the top of the ballot will be…John Cappello, so looks like he’s your next mayor. Our pal Zac Crain wound up at No. 8 — “my…

TV Junkie Premieres on HBO Tonight — And, Now, With a Lawsuit!

Rick Kirkham’s ex-wife Tammie is suing the filmmakers who assembled Rick’s home-movie footage into the acclaimed documentary TV Junkie. So, there are better ways to get publicity, but this one doesn’t hurt: On Wednesday in Dallas County District Court, Tammie Kirkham filed an injunction and temporary restraining order against director…

Really, The Punch Line to This Posting is at the Very Bottom

Tom Leppert said something last August that turned out to be, like, not true or something? Recently, Unfair Park, has expressed irritation at Tom Leppert’s penchant for regaling the audience with his high-altitude exploits in the business world. We’ve sat through five hours of mayoral forums so far, and Leppert…

Junk Mail

After the jump, Patrick “Buzz” Williams puts his stamp on some mayoral-candidate mailers that arrived this week. We just didn’t want Max Wells, Tom Leppert, Darrell Jordan and Sam Coats to feel as though their money was going to waste…

You Know How I Know You’re Gay?

Simon Doonan, the creative director of Barney’s, says Dallas is almost as good as rehab — which I’ve been saying for years, but everyone else has been too high and/or drunk to notice. Anyhoo, Doonan writes in this week’s New York Observer that he’s been in town lots lately opening…

It’s No Fun Being an “Illegal Alien”

In a new Newsweek piece that, for whatever reason, isn’t online, the mag’s contributing editor Ellis Cose takes issue with Texas State Representative Leo Berman’s proposed legislation that would deny benefits to U.S.-born children of “illegal aliens.” (That’s Berman’s phrase, not Cose’s.) That’d be House Bill 28, incidentally, which Berman…

Under a Sly Stone, There’s a Lost Dream

Sixty-three years ago today, Sylvester Stewart was born in Dallas. Or Denton. Probably Denton. Far as I’ve ever been able to tell, Sylvester’s family did live in Dallas, though no one has ever said precisely where or for how long. And how about this for confusing: On this “official” Web…

Justice Is, Um, Served? Everything Else, Not So Much.

I’ve been a little busy filling out an NCAA Tournament bracket you can cheat off of (long as we split the pot, cool?). But either I missed something or uncovered something, because it sure looks, feels, smells and sounds like Nellie’s Sports Bar has gone the way of Medici and…