Syb's End: 11.20.13

  Howdy. Since Richie's been mailing it in lately, and I just so happen to have a little extra time on my hands, I decided to jump into the DFWSportatorium driver's seat. So grab a coffee/beer/joint, and let's go reading!

  *Ever heard the saying "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me"? That's how I feel about George Zimmerman. To date, he's had multiple domestic violence issues with an ex-fiancee, his estranged wife and current girlfriend. His most recent tangle landed him in jail, where his soon-to-be ex served him with divorce papers. He's out now with an ankle monitor and a restraining order from his current ladyfriend. You would think a guy who got away with murder would settle down and carry out the rest of his days as a law-abiding citizen, cautious not to ruffle any feathers...right, OJ?

 *The old "Are NASCAR drivers athletes?" debate again rears its ugly head. This time it was in the Twitter court room of country superstar Blake Shelton and noted NASCAR writer Jeff Gluck. It started with Gluck's tweet, "I don't think all #NASCAR drivers are athletes, sorry. But Jimmie is." Shelton (longtime friend of driver Clint Bowyer and others) responded, "Just like not all writers have credibility, sorry..." Said Gluck: "...so if I bought myself a ride in NASCAR, would you guys suddenly say I'm an athlete? C'mon. Just because I buy a guitar doesn't make me a musician." To which BS replied,"Hey @jeff_gluck.. It's over. You lost. Move on." Hate to admit it, but I'm gonna side with the NASCAR expert on this one.

  *Congratulations to hometown girl Kelly Clarkson! She's looked pregnant for years, and now she finally is.

  *The 15-year-old in me can't wait to see Hunger Games: Catching Fire this weekend. I read the books and dragged Richie to last year's trilogy opener. If you too wanna get in the spirit, check out Lorde's remake of Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", which is featured on the soundtrack. Her haunting rendition is sure to stimulate your senses.

  *Tim Duncan's new sidepiece is a Texas native, which might explain why she rocks Spurs and Rangers gear. Question for you sports purists: Is this allowed? Since San Antonio doesn't have an MLB team, can she borrow ours? Or is that unstable? I think chicks have an advantage when it comes to team allegiance because we can root for whomever and justify it with girl logic. ("My boyfriend is from there", "It's in the same state", "Their QB is hot.") Either way, Vanessa Macias looks good doing it.

  *If you plan to do any holiday shopping on the interwebs this year, might I introduce you to Adopt A Shelter? It's a legit website that allows you to buy from major retailers who sponsor animal charity groups. For example, you go to Adopt A Shelter, search for DFW Rescue Me, and a portion of your proceeds will be donated to DFWRM. It's a free service, and they're linked to big name sites- Amazon, Target, Old Navy, eBay, etc. So please help some local dogs this season with a simple click.

  *Hot.

  *Not.

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  *This picture of metroplex voices makes me smile. Hard to fathom they've got a combined 119 years of DFW game-calling between the four of 'em.

  *Exciting news for OutKast fans, Andre 3000 and Big Boi are rumored to have a so fresh, so clean reunion at next year's Coachella festival. BRB while I search for airline tickets to California.

  *While we're talking hip-hop, I've always supported Kanye West's music. I think he's talented in the studio, and he creates outside-the-box tracks. But I can't stand hearing him preach every time he's handed a microphone. From the Hurricane Katrina fundraiser to his BBC interview this year to earlier this week in Philly. He was responding to the 2009 caught-on-tape moment when President Obama called him a "jackass", but that was soooo four years ago. How can you say you're over something if you're still talking about it, Yeezy?

  *Just a few days away from the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination, and the City of Dallas decides to remove the infamous "X" that marked the spot. They say it's due to road construction, but it sure smells of something more. Cue the conspiracy theorists in 3...2...1...

  *Have you seen this Foot Locker ad yet? It's billed as the sale that can "right the world's wrongs". Cameos include Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Dennis Rodman, Brett Favre and more. Can't imagine how much it cost to get all those athletes! Do yourself a favor and give it a looksie.

      

  *If you missed this week's Canine Corner post, please check out Mack. He's an adorable, young hound looking for a new home. Might it be yours?

  *What do you get when you mix a can of beans, a gun in your pants and Walmart together? This.

  *Recognize this guy? It's what PhoJoe guesstimates 78-year-old Elvis Presley would look like were he alive today. They also mocked up Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, John Lennon and others.

  *This story gets more and more bizarre as each detail emerges. It begins with a Flower Mound cop who went missing after running a marathon in San Antonio on Sunday. He didn't return home Monday, and he hadn't reported to work on Tuesday. So Flower Mound PD sent officers to San Antonio to search for Jeremy Varnell. Turns out, he was holed up in a Florida hotel room with a man he met online a month prior to his disappearance. He's perfectly healthy, he just wanted to "start over" in life. Methinks the adult thing to do would be to notify your family, friends and employer that you're moving to another state, but those of us rational thinkers know many people don't think rationally.

  *Need some extra dough for Christmas gifts this year? 103.7 KVIL is giving away $1000 cash four times each day starting December 2nd. You can (and should) enter here.

  *Today? I'll hop on with former Dallas Cowboy Tony Casillas and his partner play-by-play man Dave Garrett's radio show in OKC to do my weekly entertainment report at 4:40pm. Then I'll head to Boots & Babes at Blue Martini in Plano tonight 9-11pm. Don't be a stranger.

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Because Right-and-Wrong Isn't Always Black-and-White, George Zimmerman is a Free Man

   Like it or not - black or white - the jury got this one right.
   I know the acquittal of George Zimmerman - in the death of Trayvon Martin - over the weekend sparked fury on social media and protests in American streets, but in the end our justice system worked. The six jurors, people who know way more about the case than me, you or anybody else on the planet, decided that prosecutors didn't prove the charge of second-degree murder.
   I'll admit, the verdict is almost as surprising as July high temperatures in the 70s or one man catching four foul balls at a baseball game. On Friday in Whitt's End I wrote: I'm not saying his actions didn't lead to the death of Trayvon Martin, but I am saying there's no way George Zimmerman is found guilty of second-degree murder. Too many shadows of too many doubts for him to be guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
   I expected a charge of manslaughter, but ultimately the case was ridiculously flimsy.

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   Prosecutors couldn't even prove that Zimmerman was the aggressor in the Feb. 26, 2012 encounter in which the self-appointed neighborhood watchman shot and killed the unarmed 17-year-old in Sanford, Florida. Martin was armed only with a hoodie and a pack of Skittles, but he did tell a friend on the phone that he was being followed by a "creepy-ass cracker." Zimmerman, meanwhile, alerted police that he was following a "punk" who "looks like he's up to no good" and then ignored their advice to remain in his truck.
   No denying that had Zimmerman followed that directive, Martin would be alive today. And for that reason, I'm sympathetic to the outrage among blacks and the 200 protesters who held a rally/vigil for Martin on the steps of Dallas City Hall Sunday night.
   But when the only witness to the confrontation is Zimmerman and neighbors couldn't decipher which man was screaming for help, the advantage goes to the living. Zimmerman claimed Martin punched him and threw him to the ground. Zimmerman had injuries to the back of his head. And expert testimony during the trial indicated that Martin was on top of Zimmerman when he was shot. Throw in Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law and, voila, Zimmerman is a free man.
   He is not, however, a white man.

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   I know that irritates the folks whose forced, flawed narrative oozes Zimmerman being a white, racist vigilante that profiled, stalked and unjustly killed an unarmed black teen. But Zimmerman is, in fact, a Latino with brown skin, a white father, a mother from Peru and a Jewish last name. On his voter registration card, he checks "Hispanic."
   This isn't Black vs. White. But it certainly is another speed bump on the road to navigating America's racial DNA. And a reminder that, at our core, we're all homers for our own race. Admit it. You root for your team, sometimes irrationally and with an irresponsible disregard for the facts. Or fairness.
   Some whites despise President Obama, just because he's black. Some blacks wanted a guilty verdict for Zimmerman, just because he's "white." And we all know how race blurred the facts in the O.J. Simpson trial.
   But, sorry, sometimes our justice system can be legally justified without being morally quenching. The jury - six women, five of them white - determined Zimmerman's fate on the facts, not his face.
   We're also reminded in the wake of the verdict that some athletes are physically blessed and ... yeah, physically blessed. Their athletic gifts should in no way move us to admire their intellect or morals or anything other than, well, their athletic gifts.
   Tweeted Atlanta Falcons' receiver Roddy White: All them jurors should go home tonight and kill themselves for letting a grown man get away with killing a kid.
   From the New York Giants' Victor Cruz: Zimmerman doesn't last a year til the hood catches up to him.
   From Cincinnati Bengals' linebacker James Harrison: Think I'll go pick a fight and get my ass kicked then pull a gun and kill somebody and see if I can get away ...
   And from Oklahoma City Thunder center Kendrick Perkins: America justice system is a joke.
   If you trust the justice system to find a man guilty, you must also trust it when it finds a man not guilty. Because if you wanted a particular verdict over a fair verdict, then you're part of the problem.

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WHITT'S END 7.12.13

      Whether you're at the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt's End

   *A week from today the Cowboys fly to Oxnard, California for training camp. Wonder if Josh Brent will be on that plane? He certainly shouldn't be. While out on bail awaiting his trial for intoxication manslaughter, Brent violated his probation by smoking pot and by having a monitoring device alert police that he had alcohol in his system. Even in the wake of his irresponsible actions leading to the death of a former teammate, guy just doesn't get it.

   *It's come to this for the Mavs: Using new point guard Jose Calderon to help recruit potential center Samuel Dalembert. And sniffing around Greg Oden. I'll pause a second while you bury your head in your hands. ... In the wake of losing out on Dwight Howard, the Mavs are actually interested in Oden. Multiple knee surgeries have limited the No. 1 overall pick in '07 to 82 total games over two seasons. When healthy he's averaged 9.4 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.4 blocks. Tyson Chandler, we'll never forget.

   *The Ticket on 104.1 FM is about to be a thing of the past. Cumulus has sold the frequency, and doubtful the new owners will simply keep 1310 AM's simulcast on its station. So here's my working theory: The Ticket is positioning itself for a move to 103.3 FM. Yep, ESPN. I know for a fact that Clear Channel attempted to buy 103.3 FM earlier this year. If The Ticket  hopes to buy it, and thereby move to a stronger, FM signal, it would have to dump its existing FM signal, 104.1. Again, it's only a hunch, but if The Ticket winds up on 103.3 FM and ESPN moves to 1310 AM, you heard it here first.

   *Ross Wolf. Justin Grimm. Josh Lindblom. If you told me back in Spring Training that those pitchers would start a combined 23 games for the Rangers, I'd have predicted no way their record would be 53-39 near the All-Star break.

   *Didn't watch Sharknado last night. But apparently I was the only one. SyFy's campy monster-disaster movie was the talk of the Twitterverse. It prompted 80 Tweets per second. Unless I'm wrong, it's a movie about sharks being hurled into a Los Angeles tornado. Serious.

   *Hot.

   *Not.

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   *Played some horrible golf yesterday at Cleburne Links on the shores of Lake Cleburne. But, it was all mostly erased by a chip-in eagle on the Par 5 5th. I have lots of bad, forgettable rounds per year. But only a handful of eagles.

   *Ron Artest is released by the Lakers. Or, for the first time in history, Peace has been amnestied.

   *Tony Romo haters, skip this item. Because this web site has done research and determined that in 2012 the Cowboys' quarterback had a rating of 100.7 in the fourth quarter/overtime, best in the NFL since '00. But what about the interception at Washington in the finale? I know, I know.

   *I found what must be the least-called phone number on the planet. 512-936-3338. What is it? To request information on how to repay unemployment benefits you were not eligible for but mistakenly received, contact the Benefit Overpayment Collections. Yeah, right.

   *I'm not saying his actions didn't lead to the death of Trayvon Martin, but I am saying there's no way George Zimmerman is found guilty of second-degree murder. Too many shadows of too many doubts for him to be guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

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   *Went to JoCoMoFo last Sunday and to lunch at a fantastic outta-the-way-place called Fly By Night. It's on County Road 1125 just outside Cleburne, at the intersection of nowhere and nothing. But it's great food and a neat atmosphere. Iced tea in Mason jars, peanut shells on the floor and stick-to-your-bones home cookin'. Oh yeah and, as evidenced by the sign near the front door, it's 100% old-West Texas.

   *Not surprised Yu Darvish went on the DL this week with a strained muscle, which is basically arm fatigue. The guy leads baseball in not only strikeouts (157), but also pitches per start (109). At some point it catches up with you.

   *Props to my old Observer buddy Pete Freedman's Central Track web site for this intriguing alert: MTV is making a reality show about the sex and shenanigans surrounding the girls who work at the local breastaurant Redneck Heaven. Been to the one in Lewisville once and my friend consumed a shot of liquor with a live minnow in it. As for the girls? Yeah, they flirt and they wear almost nothing. I hear they have ABC days, as in "Anything But Clothes." Body paint, pasties. You get the picture.

   *Next week is a mini-vacation. DFWSportatorium won't miss a beat, but me and Sybil are pseudo-escaping to play in New Braunfels. To Schillterbahn. To float the Comal river. And for a weekend tennis camp at John Newcombe's world-renowned ranch.

   *We've come so far in regards to shedding our homophobic culture. Latest example: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Same Love" is a mainstream hit. And, yep, it's a song about homosexuality and same-sex marriage. Embrace it. Don't be scared.

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   *Had a kid visiting the other night. He's up in my office playing the drums and I turn on the TV for extra distraction entertainment. Wow. I had no idea Cartoon Network had become so racy at night. I'm in!

   *Arrogance be damned, the Dodgers' Yasiel Puig is fun to watch play baseball.

   *From the Dept. of For-Every-Ripe-Banana-There-Is-A-Dude-Who's-Tired-of-Screwing-Her, George Clooney this week dumped Stacy Keibler. Yeah, this woman. What could she have possibly done wrong? And no, since you're asking, Clooney didn't really have "ball-ironing" surgery. Did he?

   *E, Papa Johns. You know the pizza company gives half-price pies the day after the Rangers score 7 or more runs in a victory. Well, up in Baltimore this week I saw the same promotion for the Orioles. Except it was for 5 or more runs. Oops. The Orioles - led by Chris Davis - lead all of baseball in homers and runs. Bon apetit!

   *This weekend? Going out on the town tonight. Dinner at Sissy's in Lakewood and then shakin' our groove thang at Rio Room in Uptown. Busy Saturday with tennis, buddy's annual gigantic pool party on Lake Ray Hubbard and then a wedding in Fairview. Sunday, we Sabbath. Don't be a stranger.

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