Trump Shooting from Former Sniper

 

    Maybe it's my suspicious nature, but I can't accept the outcome of the shooting in Pennsylvania as it currently stands. They are telling us a 20 year old with no military, or other training, was shooting at the President of the United States for unknown reasons. Thomas Matthew Crooks was a dietary assistant at a nursing home and also supposedly a registered member of the Republican Party..

   His father legally purchased an AR-15 rifle in 2013 and had no knowledge of his son taking the gun to the GOP Rally.

   Here is where it gets outside the realm of believability. Crooks was shooting from 130 yards from his target. In my time I never took a shot from that close. In basic training I put three shots in a target and all three holes in the target could be covered with a quarter...and that was from 150 yards with iron sights.

 Crooks was atop the building on the far left and walked to several spots on the roof before his final selection. What? No member of the protection detail saw him?

  I was an Army trained sniper in Vietnam and lesson one was to find a spot where you could fire down on your target at a 25 to 30 degree angle (Remember Lee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy from the 5th floor of a building). Never do you want to shoot upwards, but sometimes an even plane will suffice. In combat you use what you have. With that thought in mind, why did the protection detail not cover that two-story building from the beginning. It's the only building in the area where the rally was held. From 130 yards he missed his target. Crooks was rejected from his high school rifle team because he was such a poor shot. Classmates have told authorities he was lucky to hit the paper targets. One shot skimmed the right ear of Trump and kept going. A former Fire Chief was hit and killed and two others were wounded, but now in stable condition.

  The next time you view the shooting video, listen to the shots. Crooks' shots are higher pitched and are immediately followed by heavier sounding shots that killed Crooks. I find it a little hard to believe someone could located his target and engage it with that immediacy. Either the counter-sniper team was already aware of Crooks and bringing him into focus with their rifles, or maybe they were alerted by the number of people that saw Crooks on the roof with a rifle and shouting to law enforcement..

   Bottom line: Thank goodness the former President is okay and plans to keep to his schedule at the RNC Convention this week.

  Kudos to the Secret Service on the stage. When Trump dropped behind the podium two SS agents were covering him within two seconds...As Trump made his way to his escort caravan he waved a defiant fist in the air to let supporters know he was still a fighter. Look for some of that bloody footage to be in campaign ads as election day draws nearer.

  After the shooting it didn't take long for the huge crowd to depart the rally..

   The crowd had been estimated to be in excess of thirty thousand, but gun shots have a way of scattering people.

Caitlin Clark vs Pete Maravich

 

    This is one of those stories without a winner or loser. Both individuals have been great for college basketball and both brought out legends of fans to follow their exploits. It also is not a story to infer the difference between male and female athletics. I have been asked about my feelings on this comparison, so here we go.

  Caitlin Clark is a six foot and 155 pound basketball player for the University of Iowa. This 2023 basketball season she broke the all-time scoring record set back in the 1970s by Pete Maravich of Louisiana State University. That is the basic story and one the mass media was quick to pound into our heads.

  Clark was a two-time Associated Press Player of the Year. a two-time John Wooden Award winner as the most outstanding player in college basketball, a three-time unanimous All-American, and a three-time First Team All-American.

  She also was the number one player in high school basketball back in 2020 as voted by ESPN. Scoring is the name of the game and Clark scored a bunch. Three thousand, nine hundred, and fifty-one to be exact. Most came her way by taking advantage of the long three point shot (25 feet from goal). Clark was good on 548 three point shots for 1,644 points of her total.

She finished her four-year career at Iowa and was the first overall player taken in the WNBA. The professional Indiana Fever made Clark their first pick and she will be a rookie in 2024.

As for Pete Maravich,...Here is a kid that grew up with a basketball in his hands. Being the son of a college coach, he ate and slept with a basketball. Pete practiced by himself for hours on end, learning trick passes and taking shots nobody else could conceive. His father, Press Maravich, was coach at Clemson when he got the job at Louisiana State. He insisted that Pete come to Baton Rouge to play his college ball. Pete had acquired the nickname 'Pistol Pete' during his high school days; one of which he scored 68 points in a single game.

Pete was 6 foot 5 inches tall and weighed 197 pounds in college.

Pete could not play his freshman year at LSU since the NCAA had a ruling against first year players on the varsity at that time. When his sophomore season rolled around Pete was ready and exploded for 1,138 points that year for an average of 43.8 points per game. As a junior he was slightly better, scoring 1,148 points for a game average of 44.2. Remember this was at LSU, a school known for football and not basketball. Maravich changed all that. As a senior, Pistol Pete tallied 1,381 points for an average of 44.5 per game. Each year was a new NCAA record. Maravich finished his college career with a total of 3,662 points in just a three year career. An NCAA scoring record that stood for 50 years.  At the time of his playing days there was no such thing as a three-point shot, so all of Pete's points came as two-point field goals or one-point foul shots.

    LSU has no bigger rival in the Southeast Conference that the Alabama Crimson Tide. The schools circle the calendars on dates they meet in football. Maravich showed the Tide that LSU was ready to battle in basketball also. His senior year Pete scored 68 points against Alabama. After he left school the following year the Tigers renamed their home floor Maravich Arena.

As good as Maravich was in college, the professional game was just not for him. He was the number pick of the Atlanta Hawks but they had nobody around him to post a winning record. After four seasons he was traded to the New Orleans Jazz, an expansion team. They did not build a following, despite having the high scoring Maravich. The Jazz moved the franchise to Utah and Pete finished a 6 year stay there before moving to the Boston Celtics. He played half a season before announcing his retirement.

  Pete died in 1988 at the age of 40, ironically the end came while Pistol was playing in a pick-up game of basketball.

Dallas Cowboys 2024 College Draft

 

The 2024 College Draft was held in Detroit, Michigan and the Dallas Cowboys carried a lengthy shopping list with them as they headed for the motor city. Dallas has made the playoffs in recent years, but never advancing to the NFC Championship Game.

The Free Agency period came and went without the Cowboys moving off the dime. Activity around the Cowboy Camp could have been measured with a sundial in a jar of thick molasses.

Team that with some major losses of veteran Cowboys to other teams in that same Free Agency and the urgency of the situation begins to make its head shown in Cowboy Country. Lost to other teams were: Future Hall of Famer Tyron Smith at left tackle, running back Tony Pollard, center Tyler Biadasz, defensive end Dorance Armstrong, and defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins. All of them will not be dressing in the blue and silver for the 2024 season.

In the first round of the draft on Thursday night Dallas made a trade with the Detroit Lions to move from the 24th overall selection back to 29th and also picked up the 87th overall pick from the Lions. When the 29th pick rolled around, the Cowboys chose a homeboy from Austin, Texas. Offensive tackle Tyler Guyton of the University of Oklahoma.

Guyton is listed as six foot seven inches tall and weighs in at 322 pounds. He started his collegiate career at TCU, but after two years made the transfer to OU. The Sooners used him at tight end for a bit before moving him to right tackle. OU had a left-handed quarterback so Guyton was responsible for guarding his blind side. Sooners offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh has been at Norman for ten years and called Guyton the best tackle to play for OU since he has been there. Guyton told reporters the one pro tackle he looked up to was Tyron Smith of Dallas,...now he will be groomed to replace his idol.

    In the second round, Dallas had the 56th overall pick and looked for help on the edge of the defensive line. They chose Marshawn Kneeland of Western Michigan. He stands six foot three and tips the scales at 267 pounds.

In 2023 Kneeland led the team in tackles, and most of them came in the offensive backfield. He was credited with 4.5 quarterback sacks last season, and was named second team all-conference. Coaches call him an elite athlete with exceptional 'first step' speed. His work ethic was also pointed out by his coaches at Western Michigan.

In the third round Dallas had the 73rd overall pick from that trade with Detroit in the first round. With this pick Dallas chose guard Cooper Beebe from Kansas State University.

That's Beebe #50 for the Wildcats. He was named a first team All-American by the Associated Press. Beebe was recruited as a defensive tackle but moved to offensive guard in his freshman year. He played left guard all four years at K-State but was versatile to help out when injuries hit the team. He played 106 snaps at right tackle and 20 snaps at left tackle in 2023.

Beebe ran a 5.03 forty yard dash at the NFL Combine. He stands six foot three inches tall and weighs in at 322 pounds. If there was a downside to his physical abilities it would be his arm length.. they are only 31 and a half inches long...BUT the upside is he can play center and that fills the gap left by the departure of Tyler Biadasz.

Dallas had its own pick in the third round, and it came with the 87th pick of the draft. With that pick the Cowboys selected linebacker Marist Liufau of Notre Dame University.

  Liufau ran a 4.64 forty yard dash at the NFL Combine and was measured at six foot two and a half inches tall and 234 pounds in weight. He has good size with long arms and solid foot movement. Has great peripheral vision to locate threats from the outside. He suffered a serious ankle injury in 2021 that ended his season, but coaches and medical personnel say he is fully recovered from that injury.

Irish coaches say he uses his hands to keep blockers at a distance and is very physical at the point of attack. He was a starter for his last two season at Notre Dame and with Dallas's loss at the linebacker position, he could be on the field to start the 2024 season.

Dallas did not have a pick in the fourth round of the draft, but when the selection process moved to Saturday Dallas had four picks to deal with.

In the fifth round, the Cowboys used the 174 overall spot to acquire Caelen Carson, a defensive back from Wake Forest University..He is six foot tall and weighs in at 199 pounds.

Carson is a versatile player who can defend both slot and wide receivers. Coaches say he has good route recognition with a quick understanding of schemes. Physical player with good hands to fend off opposing players. Excellent coverage of runs and screen pass plays, but his aggressiveness sometimes gets him out of position.

With the sixth round, the Cowboys had the 216th overall pick and used it to get wide receiver Ryan Flournoy from Missouri State University. He is six foot one and 202 pounds in weight.

Flournoy has a wingspan of 76 inches and is said to catch everything in the same zip code. He is a first team All-South Conference performer with 118 catches for over 1800 yards and 13 touchdowns. Ideal size and athletic abilities for an outside receiver. Known for breaking tackles and runs after the catch. Missed two games early in season with broken hand, but now fully healed.

Dallas had two selections in the seventh round of the draft, the 233rd and 244th overall picks. With the first one they went for Nathan Thomas, an offensive tackle from the University of Louisiana. He is six foot five and tips the scales at 332 pounds.

Thomas is a tall and huge human being with a thick, muscular build and extremely big hands. Easily transitions from pass protection to a dominating run blocker. Good use of his hands Started 12 games in 2023 at right tackle but probably will be moved to guard in the NFL. Played in 2023 in East-West Shrine Bowl Game. Runnin' Rebels primarily a running team so he will need experience as a pass protecter. 

With the second pick in the 7th round, Dallas selected defensive tackle Justin Rogers of Auburn University. He is six foot three and 346 pounds.

Rogers played three years at the University of Kentucky before transferring to Auburn for the 2023 season. Last year he recorded 17 solo tackles and three more behind the line of scrimmage. Played in the East-West Shrine Bowl Game before being invited to the NFL Combine. Rogers met Cowboy coaches at that game played in Frisco, Texas. Auburn coaches call him resilient, adaptable, with a strong work ethic.

That concludes the 2024 NFL College Draft for the Dallas Cowboys and now coaches will spread out to look for those super college players who were not drafted. Some key free agent players for Dallas that did not come by way of the draft include Drew Pearson and Tony Romo.

Chevrolet Bel-Air

          The Chevrolet Bel-Air was born in 1950, despite the fifty models looking very similar to the forty-nine output of Chevy.

         I have owned an abundance of automobiles in my life, and the vast majority of them have been adorned with the bowtie logo.

        My first car was a 1947 Chevrolet Fleetmaster Coupe.. I bought it while I was in the tenth grade and was lucky enough to have an older brother with a full service garage. Shortly thereafter I bought a 1950 Chevrolet Business Coupe.

     My nifty-fifty was originally pea green with a dark green top, but I quickly changed that to three coats of Omaha Orange. Chevrolet must have liked the colors as they produced their own orange cars in the late 1960's..

     Shortly after the paint job the entire interior was redone in black Naugahyde. The original 216 cubic inch six-cylinder engine gave way to a 283 V8. It was really a nice car to drive on the streets.... and the girls loved it..

The above '50 was a Deluxe and not a Bel-Air.. This is a Bel-Air in the original colors that my fifty came from the factory in. 

     This particular '50 marked the first ever hardtop convertible from Chevrolet.. Roll down the windows and presto, no post separating the front window from the rear. A couple things jump out at me from the above photo.. It did not come from the factory with dual exhaust, and I love that three piece rear window. I am not a fan of fender skirts, but they look good on this car.

   Here is another hardtop convertible, but as you can see by the fender badge, it is a Deluxe and not a Bel-Air. Chevrolet hit on a good body design in 1949 and they rode it until 1952 with very little changes to the overall look.

   Another hardtop convertible and this 1951 is a Bel-Air. Extremely clean lines and Chevy was hesitant to make a change until 1953, but the Bel-Air label continued to be their top of the line offering.

    The Bel-Air would be top dog until 1958 when Chevrolet introduced the Impala line of cars. The Bel-Air would still be in the line-up but not as glitzy as the Impala. The 1962 model Bel-Air above came into being from pressure by NASCAR racers. The Impala model had too much wind drag behind the rear window, so Chevy took the top from the 1961 Impala and put it on the 1962 model of Bel-Airs... Bingo! A bubble top Bel-Air gave the racing crowd about a 3-4 jump in average speed on the tracks.. 

                    

Dallas Cowboys First Quarterback

 

      

 The most recognized team in the National Football League is the Dallas Cowboys.. America's Team !   I have been a Cowboy fan since 1959 when the announcement was made that Dallas would be awarded a franchise in the NFL. There was even a contest to name the new team from Dallas; I submitted Dallas Wrangler's but obviously did not win. Actually, Dallas and Minnesota both were awarded franchises at the same time, but Minnesota decided to wait for the 1960 College Draft and begin play in 1961. Dallas elected to take the castoffs of existing teams and begin play in 1960.. BUT who was the first quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys?

    Some very knowledgeable fans will maintain that Eddie LeBaron was first, .. close, but no cigar.

   

  Don Heinrich was quarterback for the University of Washington and led the nation in passing in 1950 and 1952. A broken bone in his leg caused him to miss most of the 1951 season. He was the third round pick of the New York Giants in the NFL College Draft. He would carry a clipboard and learn under Giant quarterbacks Charlie Connerly and Y.A. Tittle.

  The Korean War was going on at this time and Heinrich was called into the Army in late 1953 and all of 1954. He spent his time playing football for the team at Fort Ord in California. In 1955 Heinrich rejoined the Giants at training camp and was part of the team when the Giants won the NFL Championships in 1956, 1958, and 1959.

      In the 1960 expansion draft each team could protect all but the bottom three players on their roster. Dallas picked Heinrich off the roster of the Giants, and he was reunited with one of his former assistant coaches at New York. Tom Landry was the defensive backfield coach of the Giants and he had been picked to be Head Coach of the new team from North Texas. 

   At Dallas, Heinrich would be among three quarterbacks on the roster as Eddie LeBaron came from the Washington Redskins and rookie Don Meredith had been signed by Dallas owner Clint Murchison before the franchise had been officially granted to him. Coach Landry did not know that much about the other two, so it was Heinrich who would start for Dallas' first game...which they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers 35-28.

   In 1962 the contract of Heinrich was purchased outright by the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League when their starting quarterback, Tom Flores, broke his leg in a game. The following year would see Heinrich join the Los Angeles Rams as a player/backfield coach. He became first assistant to the offensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he also called all offensive plays. From 1969 to 1970 he was on the staff of Tom Flores at the New Orleans Saints. 1971 thru 1975 Heinrich was the passing and receiving coach for the San Francisco 49's under former Cowboy Assistant Coach Dick Nolan.

      1976 would begin a new phase in the life of Don Heinrich as he started his broadcasting career. He was the booth analyst for the Seattle Seahawks of the NFL. This would last until 1983 when he became a color commentator for ESPN and ABC Sports in their coverage of the United States Football League. That would last just one more year as the USFL folded in 1984. From 1985 through 1991 he published "Don Heinrich's College Football Magazine" and another magazine that covered Pro Football.

    Don Heinrich died in 1991 after a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 61 years of age. He had a long and fruitful life around his love of football.

   So the next time the water cooler conversation centers around 'the Dallas Cowboys first quarterback'... You will be able to go to the head of the class.

Nolan Ryan,...the Best Ever.

 

Just how good was Super Tex?

Nolan Ryan had five no-hitters broken up in the 9th inning (MLB record).

Combine that with his 7 no-no's and you get 12 times that he entered the 9th with O hits allowed.

He also has the most 1 hitters, 2 hitters, 3 hitters & 4 hitters in MLB history.
His 5,714 strikeouts is another MLB record.
Nolan Ryan had a 2-2 record with an ERA of 3.07, 63 strikeouts and 1 save in 9 appearances in the postseason in his career.

Nolan commanded and dominated the pitching mound.
MLB has recognized 322 no-hitters thrown since 1876, 24 of which were perfect games.

Two no-hitters have been thrown on the same day twice: Ted Breitenstein and Jim Hughes on April 22, 1898; and Dave Stewart and Fernando Valenzuela on June 29, 1990.

Nine no-hitters were thrown in the 2021 season

Nolan is responsible for 7 of 322 no-hitters, nobody else is even close. Three Major League Teams have retired his number 34.. No one will ever wear that number for the California Angels, the Houston Astros, or the Texas Rangers.

Denison, Texas... A city of murals

 

   Denison is a pretty old Texas city, having been founded by the Kansas, Missouri, and Tennessee Railroad. It would later become the Katy Railroad and the City of Denison would become its hub for the southwest. The city is actually named after one of the directors of the railroad. There were so many railroad workers in Denison in the 1870's and 1880's that the city became the prostitution capitol of Texas for a while.

   Probably the most famous of Denison's sons is Dwight David Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States, having served from 1953 to 1961.

      This thirty foot bust of Eisenhower is at exit 67 of U.S. Highway 75 and is impossible to miss if you are traveling through Denison. Ike was also a five star general in World War II and Supreme Commander of all Allied Forces in Europe. He was instrumental in preparing the D-Day Invasion.

    Another famous son came to the world's attention on January 15, 2009. A flock of birds played a major part in his story.

     Chesley Sullenberger was born and raised in Denison before attending the Air Force Academy and beginning his career as a commercial pilot. That fateful day in January he had just taken off from LaGuardia Airport in Manhatten when a flock of birds congested both engines of his plane. Sully didn't have enough altitude to make it back to LaGuardia or to nearby New Jersey, so into the Hudson River he settled his plane in textbook fashion. All 155 passengers and crew were rescued by boats in what is now known as the 'Miricle on the Hudson.'

   Another military hero that went unknown for many years also calls Denison home.

   Major Jewel Butler was one of the original Tuskegee Airmen of World War II fame. The Tuskegee Airmen became the first black pilots in U.S. Military history. In a test program the 322nd Training Squadron was formed in 1940 with a white commanding officer. They trained in Tuskegee, Alabama in barracks and hangers that later became Tuskegee Institute. In 1942 they were deployed to North Africa and Captain Benjamin O. Davis would become their commander. The squadron flew P-40's, P-47's, and finally P-51's. All of the planes were painted with red tails so everyone would know who they were.

   Another Denisonian of note is John Munson. All he did was save the French Wine Industry..

          Not once, but twice... An insect invasion destroyed the vineyards of France and Northern Spain in the 1870's and 1880's. Munson used clippings from his own vineyard in Denison and sent them to France to restart their crops.. In 1917-1918 most of the battles of World War I were fought in the fields of France. Again after the war Munson came to the rescue with enough clippings to save France.. In response the City of Cognac, France has requested the City of Denison become her Sister City.

      Denison is full of murals on the walls of businesses throughout the city. U.S. Highway 69 runs right through the heart of the city, and just some of the sights vying for your attention...

     One of the more recent murals to be added was to the railroad underpass on East Crawford Street.. I was surprised when I took the shortcut this week.. It takes something to dress up a railroad underpass..

     This railroad underpass is just about 100 yards from the house that Eisenhower was born in. Speaking of Ike, I found one more that might be of interest while we are on the subject..

     Couldn't have said it better myself, Mister President...