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We got a new dog yesterday... Roxie is 13 weeks old and growing daily. She will join Sarge in guarding our backyard. Sarge is almost eleven years old and I thought it was time to start grooming his successor. The Sergeant has been with us since he was eight weeks old. He grew exceedingly fast and now tops the scales at just over 120 pounds.
He was our first 'big' dog as we have always been partial to terriers. We still have the two inside terriers, a Wire-Haired Fox Terrier and a Schnauzer. Everyone tells me they are not suppose to like each other but our two play and frolic from early morning until its night-night time.
The Schnauzer is Cosmo and the Fox is Lillie and as you can see, they are a handful.
The new German Shephard is Roxie and she was originally adopted by another couple,.. but living in an apartment was not the right situation for this girl. They hated to lose her but we promised to provide a good place for her to grow up and be part of our family. She and the Sarge seemed to like each other at first meeting.
Sarge is starting to slow down in his daily activities and maybe Roxie can learn a few things from him in his remaining time. I fixed her first meal with Gravy Train and she crunched it up like she had been eating it all of her life.
Sarge has been living the single life since Emma died three years ago. They were also a good match,..Emma being part Boxer. We saved her from a rescue club that had just about given up on her being adopted. She was a very good dog and loved being a proxy mom for Sarge when we got him.
Roxie will have some big shoes to fill as Sarge has been a great watch-dog for us. Strangers and the city meter-readers are intimidated by just his glaring look. In all the dogs I have owned over the years, this will be my first German Shephard, but I have heard nothing but good comments about them. Roxie is off to a good start as Momma already has her 'sitting' for a dog biscuit.
She loves to run and play...and our big backyard is a match made in heaven. Looks like it going to be a good relationship.
I know you have heard this story from me before, but the actions of the National Collegiate Athletic Association this week simply endorses what I have said for many years. SMU is judged on a different level than other schools. Cheating will not be tolerated in amateur athletics and with that I totally agree...but SMU did nothing that Texas or Texas A&M (or many other schools) did back in the 1980's.... BUT the NCAA needed a small school to make an example of. They would never screw with the big state-supported schools and lose out on all the revenue they generate. So in 1986 they stripped SMU of their football team with the death penalty. It would be a move costing SMU an additional season in 1987, and ultimately the demise of the historic Southwest Conference. It would be 25 years before SMU had a football season worthy of being rewarded with a bowl game.
Now the SMU basketball team is the recipient of the NCAA's wrath once again. Despite posting a record of 23 wins and 9 losses this season, the Mustangs were passed over for the 64 team field in the NCAA Tournament. Teams that did make the tournament DESPITE having the same record or worse than SMU are listed below.
2014 NCAA Tournament
Eastern Regional:
Coastal Carolina 21-12
Memphis 23-9
North Carolina 23-9
Providence 23-11
Milwaukee 21-13
Southern Regional:
Colorado 23-11
Tulsa 21-12
Dayton 21-10
Western Michigan 23-9
Stanford 21-12
Western Regional:
Oklahoma State 21-12
Weber State 19-11
Oklahoma 23-9
Nebraska 19-12
La Lafayette 23-11
Oregon 23-9
American Univ 20-12
Midwest Regional:
Kansas State 20-12
Texas 23-10
Wofford 20-12
Remember too that SMU was the 23rd ranked team in the country and had defeated three (3) top ten teams this season. Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown was devastated by the news as over one thousand fans, players, coaches, and media watched the selection results over a giant screen at Moody Coliseum.
It has been thirteen years since a nationally ranked team DID NOT make the NCAA Tournament.... So why now? SMU will play in the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) and has been placed in the number one overall ranking in their bracket. The headquarters of the NCAA is located in Indianapolis, Indiana and I wouldn't piss on it if it was on fire. They are simply a money-making organization and the welfare of college athletics are far from their aim.
Coach Brown took the news optimistically and immediately looked ahead to the NIT games.
The Mustangs will have the home court in their first round game of the NIT... and they have a record of 10-1 on the home floor.
UPDATE: SMU won their first game of the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) Wednesday night, defeating the University of California at Irvine by the score of 68-54. The win by the tournament's number one ranked team moves the Ponies' record to 24-9 this season. It was also the first post-season win for coach Larry Brown in 26 years. SMU was led by Cannen Cunningham with 17 points.
Ben Moore also added 11 points in the victory. SMU will take the weekend off before facing Louisiana State University in a second round game Monday night.
UPDATE: SMU defeated Louisiana State 80-67 Monday night in a second round game of the NIT.
The Mustangs displayed their 5th rated defense to smoother the Tigers in the second half while shooting 67% from the floor. SMU got 16 points each from Nick Russell and Nic Moore to improve their record to 25-9 this season and 10-1 when playing at home. They will now face the University of California Wednesday night in a third round contest. Cal defeated Arkansas to advance in the tournament.
UPDATE: SMU defeated the University of California 67-65 Wednesday night to punch their ticket to the Final Four of the National Invitational Tournament in New York City. Nic Moore hit a 3-point shot with 12 seconds to play to eliminate the Golden Bears.
Markus Kennedy led SMU in scoring with 19 points and strong rebounding under the boards. The win was the 11th in 12 contests inside Moody Coliseum on the SMU campus, but now the Ponies are headed for Madison Square Garden in New York and the NCAA Final Four will be in Arlington, Texas. Who is smiling now NCAA?
UPDATE: SMU continued it's winning ways by downing Clemson 65-59 in Tuesday night's semi-final game of the National Invitational Tournament.
The Tigers actually led by 12 at the half, but a strong defense by SMU in the second half ended their season. The Mustangs were led by Markus Kennedy, who had 21 points and 9 rebounds in the winning effort. SMU will play Minnesota on Thursday night for the NIT Championship. The Golden Gophers won over Florida State 65-62 in their semi-final game.
UPDATE: The Championship Game of the National Invitational Tournament lived up to advance billing as the lead changed hands 17 times in the game. Neither SMU or Minnesota ever got more than a four point lead over the other. With five seconds to play it was still not settled, but Minnesota prevails over the Mustangs 65-63 to win the NIT Title.
SMU got 17 points from Nic Moore and Nick Russell added 15 more. The Ponies end their season with 27 wins and 10 losses. Congrats to the Golden Gophers on the win.
We celebrated Saint Patrick's Day on Saturday at Texoma Harley-Davidson...and it was a huge success. Most of the new models of HD motorcycles were on display and available for riders to test ride. Despite a rainy day forecast, the weather held off until late afternoon and the riders came out.
The dealership has undergone a lot of cosmetic changes over the past year, so if you haven't visited us lately, you need to do so. The girls at the table were the first to greet visitors to the dealership and direct them to the various departments of Texoma HD.
Jeffrey came all the way from Venus, Texas to be with us on Saint Patty's Day. If you remember the old television show 'Barney,' Jeffrey played the part of BJ, the smaller dinosaur who was Barney's friend. Rusty (red beard) works in the parts department of Texoma Harley and was the hit of the day with his costume.
J B and his crew from Ringtail Bar-B-Q took on the task of feeding the crowd and came through with flying colors once again. His 'pulled pork' is to die for, and the side dishes are equal to the meat. Check out the green mashed potatoes to commemorate the Irish holiday.
'Spur 503' provided the musical entertainment for the crowd and performed super, as usual. The band plays a blend of light rock and country music, and they are a regular at Loose Wheels Club, behind Texoma Medical Center.
The girls in the Motor Clothes Department were dressed for the occasion and decked out in green to avoid getting pinched. From the left, Jill, AnneMarie, and Ashley pose for a great shot. Robin and Cathy showed up later and missed out on the photo op. They were also wearing green tee shirts so I didn't get to pinch them either. Sometimes a guy just can't get a break.
Momma was busy at the sewing machine most of the day as riders wanted patches applied to vests and jackets. She had a green bandana and elf ears, BUT her tee shirt came from the HD dealership in Dublin, Ireland. You can't get any more Irish than that!
Momma did take a break for a photo op with Jeffery. Needless to say, he can't wear clothes off the rack, so they agreed on a plan to alter and create some clothes for him in the future.
It was a great day and we appreciate the turnout. Our next big shindig will be April 5th when we celebrate our Birthday Bash at Texoma Harley-Davidson... Make your plans now.
If you missed last night's performance of 'The Nutcracker' at Kidd-Key Auditorium in Sherman, you missed something special for the Christmas season.
The Denison Dance Academy has performed this ballet for the past two seasons...and it only gets better and better...
Last nights performance is the second for the Kidd-Key Auditorium, as the other show was at Eisenhower Auditorium at Denison High School.. The lighting at Eisenhower was atrocious and was far from the quality of Kidd-Key and my photographs from Eisenhower are some of the poorest quality I have ever shot. Kidd-Key was made for this type of presentation and the lighting was very good.
Denison Dance Academy Director Ilona Nogarr (lavender dress) played the part of Mrs Stahbaum, the Christmas Party Hostess and the maid is my daughter, Laura Lara. Here they prepare for the party by doing a little house cleaning.
Laura, playing the part of the maid, has just passed out some drinks to the two grandmothers, played by Amy Heinen and Selina Stone (my wife), in the big blue dress. The premise of the play is the granny's get a little tipsy as the party goes on around them.
The party gets going as more and more guests arrive...the dancing party girls are: Elizabeth, Kaya, Sarah, Julianne, Mackenzie, and Brooklyn.
Mikayla (my niece) played the part of Clara and performed flawlessly...Here dancing with the Nutcracker toy. She would get into a squabble with Fritz (played by my grandson Louie) resulting in the Nutcracker toy being broken.
Several of the performers had multiple roles to play in the ballet...Here Mikayla joins Miranda Lamb in an Arabian Dance.
They called it an Arabian Dance... I would have said Siamese if you had asked me, but nobody did.
Here Megan McCullogh leads a herd of small lambs onto the stage... They are: Kira, Kadence, Sophia, Lola, Sheperd, Emily, and Mary.. A pretty flock if I ever saw one.
After Herr Drosselmeyer (Rocky Massey) winds up the dolls with the magic key we are treated to a dance... The dolls are Tiffany Garner and Hannah Cornelison..
When Mother Gegan (giant puppet) made her appearance onstage, she was accompanied by Abraham, Kira, Julianne, and Grey... I don't know how the tall broad was getting home, but hopefully somebody has a car with a sunroof.
The Spanish dancers also made a showing at the party...Here Tiffany, Megan, and Miranda strut their stuff...
The adult party-goers join the festivities... They are: Jake & Marquin, Louie & Hannah, Rocky and Ilona, Mike & Darcy, Clay & Itzel, and Hunter & Cadience.
Here Clara (Mikayla) falls asleep on the sofa and is surrounded by mice... played by Hayden, Ashlyn, Sarah, Grey, Brooklyn, Mackenzie, Kadence, Julianne, Kaya, Annabelle, and Ann.
The mice get into a battle with the Nutcracker (Hannah Cornelison) and the soldiers.. played by Cadience, Skyler, Hope, Sarah, and Lillian.
Check the snowflakes... they are played by Miranda, Tiffany, Megan, Darcy, Cadiance, Hannah, Hope, and Lillian...(the little blonde on the far right is my granddaughter Lilly).
Clara (Mikayla) is surrounded by little flowers... they are: Emmaline, Emmalee, Hope, Lillian, Sarah, Kaya, Elizabeth, and Skyler. (That's my Blondie on the far left side)
Professional dancers Anton and Darli Iakovieva left a frozen over Connecticut to fly in for the performance. They are part of the Connecticut Ballet and both have extensive training in both Europe and the United States. Darli is the daughter of Denison Dance Academy Director Ilona Nogarr and we are treated when they join the local performances.
The grand finale brought all the cast members to the stage again and flower bouquets were passed out. The Nutcracker performance was just the thing to get the Christmas spirit passed around. I hope it is a joyous Christmas for you and yours and may you be enriched with health and happiness all the days of your life. God Bless !!
The Cowboys and the Bears were the stars of this past Monday Night Football game... The weather was anything but conducive to football as the kick-off temperature was nine (9) degrees with a windchill factor of eight below zero.
Dallas was tied with Philadelphia for the lead in the Eastern Division of the NFC at the beginning of this game as the Eagles had won the previous day. If you believe in the Sports Illustrated jinx, this game added a lot to the mystic. Last week Dallas quarterback Tony Romo had been on the cover of the weekly magazine.
The so-called jinx or curse is suppose to be bad luck for you if you are on the cover.. Just the previous week Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron had been on the cover and his team lost to Auburn, robbing the Tide of a chance to repeat as National Champs.
I don't think the magazine had anything to do with Dallas' demise, as Tony Romo looked great under the severe conditions. He tossed three touchdowns and controlled a good pace on the field. It's the defense of Dallas that is causing all the trouble. They allowed a good (but not great) Bear's team to run roughshod over them in front of a national TV audience.
Chicago running back Matt Forte ran for a hundred yards and scored two touchdowns as the Bears prevailed 45-28 over the Boys. Chicago was led by back-up quarterback Josh McCown and all he did was throw four (4) touchdown passes enroute to 348 yards of passing offense.
McCown, number 12 above, has been filling in for Jay Cutler (#6) while he recovers from an injury...BUT now there are players calling for McCown to get the starting job and let Cutler take his services elsewhere. Meanwhile, McCown shredded the Dallas secondary with accurate passes to Alshon Jeffery and Brandon Marshall..
...So much so that McCown was today named NFC Offensive Player of the Week. Six of his aerials went to Marshall for one hundred yards.
The fans in Dallas cried out for a change in the offensive play-calling and more running so Romo would not be passing on every down...
Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray ran the ball eighteen times for one-hundred and forty-six yards... a good day for him... but you have to play defense when the other team has the ball. In my pre-season forecast for the Cowboys (see September 5th posting) I predicted they would finish no better than 9 wins and 7 losses. At the time I didn't know the entire NFC East would be such a pitiful example of pro football. Now I realize that 9-7 might win the division title.
Dallas has a home game this Sunday (December 15th) against the Green Bay Packers.... then on the road to play the Washington Redskins before closing out the regular season with a home game against Philadelphia. Currently residing at 7 wins and 6 losses, Dallas players are talking about winning out the remainder of the schedule. I just don't see it! Quarterback Aaron Rogers is scheduled to return to action for Green Bay this week, and they are a completely different team with him leading them. The Redskins are ripe to be finished off. Disappointment in their record and a current squabble between QB Robert Griffin III and Head Coach Mike Shanahan has turned rancid. Game sixteen should decide it for Dallas... They beat the Eagles when they played in the City of Brotherly Love, but Philly has made great strides since that game...and throw in the factor each team hates the other..
One good aspect of this past Monday night's game... The Bears retired the jersey of former player and head coach Mike Ditka. Iron Mike was also a player and assistant coach in Dallas, ..so it was fitting he should be honored at this particular game...
Another indicator of the years going by is the number of friends that are dying off on me.. Just this past week I lost another one and I have been in somewhat of a funk since getting the news.
After my thirty year career in Radio/TV broadcasting I wanted to find something to get me away from the rapes, murders, and violence of the news beat. I had driven my brother's race car all over the country in an enclosed trailer back in the 1970's, so I thought, why not trucking...and if you are going to drive a truck,..you might as well drive for the best.
I started driving for Wal-Mart in 1997 but I did not get the job easily... I was an outside carrier for seventeen months before the opening became available. An outside carrier is when you are employed by another company but you pull only Wal-Mart trailers. About thirty Wal-Mart drivers signed a petition endorsing my application and the general transportation manager at the Palestine, Texas distribution center was impressed. I became one of the first drivers hired in almost four years at Palestine.
One of the drivers that stood up for my hiring was Terry Williams, better known as Bullwinkle over the CB radio.
Bullwinkle was a man who was willing to go the extra mile in his job, but also ready to lend a hand to anyone who needed assistance. He was a larger than life individual but always had an easy smile on his face. The driver pool at Palestine was around three hundred men and just about all knew Terry and had some good comment to pass along. Terry worked for Wal-Mart for twenty-two years and retired this past July. He was installing a dishwasher in his kitchen when he suffered a major stroke, dying about a week later.
Did I mention that Terry was a car nut?.. He and his sons would rebuild old cars into like-new condition. Terry met me at a local cafe once during the late 1990's and he was driving a 1937 Chevrolet Coupe you would swear was brand new... BUT it had a late model running gear with a Chevrolet V8 under the hood. One of his last remodeling jobs was a 1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air with a fuel-injected engine. Guess what led the funeral procession from the church to the cemetery?
The immaculate detail of this vehicle tells you what a great mechanic Bullwinkle was. I retired from Wal-Mart in 2009 but a lot of former drivers who retired long before me showed up for the funeral, a display of just how much Terry was loved and respected. Wal-Mart has an army of drivers numbering over seven thousand,..but Terry was one of a kind..and he was my friend. So long Bullwinkle, and put in a good word for me with Saint Peter.
