The Top 10 Most Important Dallas Cowboys

Time to pull back the curtain on the most vital Cowboys. Get it? After a week in Oxnard – yes, I’m back here in our lovely triple-digit clime – I think I have a pretty good handle on the Cowboys’ flow chart. Somehow I missed you-know-who’s appearance, but I did…

Mascot or Not? Turns Out, UTD’ers Loves Them Some Temoc After All.

Temoc Back in May, Merritt noted the University of Texas at Dallas’s search for a new mascot, one that would replace the rather lazily named Temoc — which, yes, is “Comet” backwards. News of the quest makes the latest issue of The Chronicle of Higher Edcucation’s subscription-only “Mascot Watch,” which…

We Aren’t Marshall: Volkswagen Wants Case Moved to Dallas

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Marshall is a popular venue for patent infringement lawsuits; as The New York Times pointed out in 2006, right after that famous Echostar-TiVo trial wrapped, “more patent lawsuits will be filed here this year than in federal district courts…

“Are You Looking at Her Boobs?” Or, More from The Fab Five.

Alternate head: “She’s gonna get trashy sluts.” Which is but one among many priceless lines of dialogue from Lifetime’s can’t-miss Fab Five: The Texas Cheerleader Scandal, which premieres Saturday at 8 p.m. and, of course, is based on the tale of those McKinney North High School girls gone wild. We…

Backstage with the Valli Boys

Joan Marcus Jersey Boys has been dubbed “the guy musical.” It’s packed with all those great tunes by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, and it’s got more F-words than Goodfellas. There are hookers. And mobsters. And a scene where Tommy DeVito, the Season who dragged the group a half-mil…

If You Attended UTD Between 2000 and ’03, You May Wanna Read This

The University of Texas at Dallas today put on its Web site this notice referring to a computer security breach that “could have resulted in the exposure of personally identifiable information of 9,100 individuals” — including names, addresses, Social Security numbers, e-mail addresses and telephone numbers. Says Dr. Jim Gary,…

Cowboys Camp: Thursday Wrap-Up

Prepared to be dazzled. Or disgusted. Depends on your perspective, I guess. Pacman Jones is full of … tricks. On Monday the dude caught six punts, storing each ball in a different part of his torso, without ever dropping one. Tuesday he was fielding kickoffs with one hand. And yesterday…

A Little Big Boy Goes a Long Way

I was looking for something on Flickr and, as usual, got distracted, this time by dozens of photos “Texas Big Boy” has snapped of his little Big Boy standing at various locales — like, oh, Augusta National during the ’08 Masters, a museum in Laos and the American Airlines Center…

In Canada, Not the Best of Nights for Dallas-Based Greyhound Lines

Dallas-based Greyhound Lines isn’t having a very good morning, following news that last night, on a bus traveling from Edmonton to Winnipeg, one passenger attacked another in front of some 36 fellow travelers. And it was a particularly gruesome incident: Notes The Windsor Star this morning, the attacker “reportedly stabbed…

DHA Board Chair Betty Culbreath Serving Hot Ham Sandwiches

Betty Culbreath Thought now might be a good time to peek at the blog of Betty Culbreath, the Laura Miller-appointed chair of the Dallas Housing Authority, which, it was revealed today, is paying CEO Ann Lott $90,000 in severance following her resignation Tuesday. Culbreath, who yesterday posted a comment to…

Don Hill Claims: Federal Prosecutors Don’t Like Black People

Don Hill, giving the finger to his attorney’s motions to dismiss Last night, Jack Fink mentioned the two motions to dismiss former Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill’s attorney, Ray Jackson, filed on behalf of his client on July 25. Hill, of course, has been indicted on federal corruption charges…

Roy Williams: Man or Myth?

Roy Williams, a Pro Bowler? Horse hockey. You might say. I don’t trust Roy Williams. But I do trust Dave Campo. And Campo, the former Cowboys’ head coach who’s back as the team’s secondary coach, says we’ll see the “old Roy Williams” again this year. “From watching film of him…

Want to work for the Dallas Observer?

The Dallas Observer has an immediate opening for a full-time restaurant critic. We want someone who is passionate about food, knowledgeable about the restaurant industry and is able to produce stylish, opinionated columns. This position requires a 1,500-word weekly restaurant review, plus additional writing, blogging and/or editing duties based on…

The Caretaker

Farhat Chishty pushes her son’s wheelchair into the shade of an oak tree and sits down with a sigh. It’s a calm spring morning at Denton State School, the largest institution for people with mental retardation in Texas, and she has come for her morning visit. She puts a knit…

Ethics 101

Dear Dallas Independent School District trustees, Thank you for taking the time to solicit our opinion on whether your organization should strengthen its conflict-of-interest policy for board members. While we appreciate your posting of an online survey (www.dallasisdsurveys.org) allowing us to give our views, unfortunately we will not be able…

You Can’t Go Home Again|Showtime

“The Invisibles,” by Jim Schutze, July 17 You Can’t Go Home Again Jim Schutze has described what I’ve suspected since I left Dallas: that it’s perhaps the most neutral place in the world. And yes, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Just as it’s a curse to grow up in…