On top of Ol' Smokey- Mitas Hill Vineyard

Out on the winding roads of rural Collin County, north of McKinney, is the tiny hamlet of Squeezepenny, Texas. Far from the daily drudgery of Metroplex traffic jams, and glass and steel filled horizons, lies Mitas Hill Vineyard. A tree-lined oasis that even on a 104° day, made for a great experience. The idyllic setting amongst shumard oaks and junipers, the Mitas family have turned their passion towards wine making and subsequently into the business of entertaining folks. As a novice to winery visits, my expectations were fairly low, especially since I had yet to taste their wine. But after the visit, all winery and vineyard visits will be compared to the high bar set by this one.

My winery visit list is very short and only six weeks old: Fredericksburg in mid-July, we visited Becker Vineyards, Pedernales Cellars, and then a short trip down to Sister Creek Vineyards in Sisterdale. At the first two, we did not leave the tasting room. However at Sister Creek, we had a self-guided tour through the cellar that lasted as long as it took to read the page and a half of text on a laminated sheet. So this visit to Mitas Hill visit makes it number four, but none came close to the hospitality displayed to us by the Mitas family.

We were greeted by Michelle, daughter of owners Harold and Susan, with whom I had exchanged emails a few days prior to our visit to talk about a wine tasting and tour. Before we got a chance to taste their wines, we were taken across the way to the winery, where the magic of wine takes place.

Black Spanish getting their squeeze on.

We walked into the winery and were greeted by the truly intoxicating scent of fermenting wine. It was a treat that we arrived in time to see Santiago work on pressing the batch of Black Spanish grapes. If I remember correctly, the Black Spanish are not a stand-alone varietal but used along with their Tempranillo for their tasty Squeezepenny blend. 

Amazing color!

The floor in this room is sticky as a by-product of the wine presser which can spray out wine if not sufficiently covered. Harold mentions that if we stay still for too long that our feet could get stuck to the floor. Yep, feet got stuck for a moment.

While here, I began to think how I came across Mitas Hill. Then I realized that, had I not come across a re-tweet of an article written by Mitas Hill's PR person, Holly Becka, I probably would not have known about this place. Plus their wine can only be purchased on the premises. Hence why I had not come across it in my search for Texas wines. And in an interesting bit of happenstance, Holly was here in the room, taking the tour with us. Small world, indeed. 

Michelle took us back for the wine tasting and what stood out for me was not necessarily the wines, which were very good, but the first set of wines were paired with a small portion of cheese, fruit, or homemade chocolate mini cupcakes to coincide with the wine we were to drink. And they were prepared by Susan Mitas. What a pleasant surprise and talk about hospitality! Below were the wines we tasted with corresponding food pairing:

• Tempranillo with a slice of Manchego cheese. ¡Fantástico!
• Rosé with stuffed mushrooms. Very good.
• Zinfandel...though not paired with anything specific here, Michelle said this wine could be paired with just about everything made at home. Outstanding.
• Black Venus (Black Gypsy) with cantaloupe balls. WOW!
• Squeezepenny with homemade mini cupcakes made by Michelle's sister-in-law, the family sommelier. Batter and frosting were made with the same wine. Super Wow.
• And the last two were the Bojnice and a Tempranillo-Cab (75-25%) blend. Not my faves but good in their own right.
• Oh, by the way...the wine tasting was complimentary. (!!!)

Though our daughter is not of drinking age, she did partake in the tasting pairing, though with an orange soda. Thanks for being so thoughtful. We had the pleasure of Harold regale us with various stories about the property and stories about the Texas wine industry throughout the wine tasting. He spoke lively of Inwood Estates' Dan Gatlin and how he is essentially the father of Tempranillo wines in Texas. Harold said that the Tempranillo here at Mitas Hill will differ from those grown in West Texas on account of the underlying limestone that is found under the parts of the vineyard, which is reminiscent to the conditions found in La Rioja area of Spain, home to the Tempranillo grape.

Come back in two years to pick the grapes off of these guys.

We then hopped onto a tractor-pulled trailer that swung but around various spots of the vineyard. The first stop, Harold gave us a quick lesson that could have earned us a half credit hour towards a Viticulture certificate. He showed us what they have been working on to get new plants started by splicing a piece of vine onto root stock. All of this is right up my alley as I have my own garden. Harold took us into the vineyard and showed us the newest additions to the vineyard.

Further along Harold showed us older vines that, even though they are well-maintained, they still need tender loving care. It is a never-ending process of trimming the vines the right way so that they will grow and produce grapes, uh...productively. And like anything that involves nature, there are things we cannot see that could harm these vines, such as Pierce's disease, so the land is not only aesthetically pleasing on the eye, but also made to keep pests at arm's length. 

Black Venus leaves waved hi as we drove by.

What I found fascinating about this tour, is that Mr. Mitas is such a great storyteller. He says that way before they actually got into the wine business, he and his wife took a vacation up to the Red River valley, near the Texas town of St. Jo, where they met a gentleman who made wine using the Black Venus grape. They made such an impression on this man that they brought home a case of Black Venus wine and 25 Black Venus plants.

Future home of wine barrels. In a limestone cave.

As I alluded to at the outset, the scenery here at Mitas Hill is impeccable. The entire property is surrounded by beautiful trees and aesthetically pleasant on the eye. And aesthetics is what they are going after once the construction of the event center is completed next year. This center will be the focal point of the Mitas Hill complex and will be home to a grand wine tasting room with views of the vineyard, a ballroom, several deck areas, and even a pizza oven that will persuade visitors to stick around and not just pick up a bottle of wine and go back home. 

And that my wine drinking friends is what the Mitas family is after. Not to just sell you wine, but to have you experience what they have to offer. Wine is along for the ride, but is only part of the package. I, like many others, cannot wait for the event center to open next year. 

As I have learned rather quickly, working in the Texas wine industry is not a flash-in-the-pan sort of hobby like many in the past have done and failed when things got tough. Do not forget that all of the wine produced here is also grown and maintained out here in the backyard of the Metroplex where there is a ton of work left to do. And from I saw at Mitas Hill, they are doing it right.

Slow and steady wins the race.

Texas Wine- a voyage across the state

I have always been a proponent of all things Texas. Hell, when I lived in Madrid, Spain in a former life, I introduced myself as a Texan first. So I will Go Texan whenever possible, and these days, that pertains to Texas wine. Drinking Texas wine is nothing new to me. I use a Ste. Genevieve red, usually their Texas Red, to make sangría for my friends and family. And that has been the case way before the proliferation of Texas wineries that one sees nowadays.

Our first foray into Texas wineries were visits back in July with a stop at Becker Vineyards, Pedernales Cellars, and Sister Creek Vineyards. My hope is to visit as many of them as possible, as often as possible. The next ones on the list will be DFW locales, with McKinney's Mitas Hill Vineyard first, and maybe a slightly longer trip to the Red River valley to Arché in Saint Jo.

Check out my Twitter feed, @pacojavi712 when you get a chance, to find my latest #TXWine selection, if you can get past my Rangers tweets and related obscenities. Oh...my current twitter avi was taken in front of the Sister Creek's sign and my header from the gorgeous vista at Pedernales.

See you at the winery!

Today's the Day: Adiós Nellie?

MLB's announcement on player suspensions to those linked to the Biogenesis lab is supposed to happen today with Texas Rangers right-fielder Nelson Cruz as one of the implicated. With this said, I am disappointed to see any Rangers player connected to this PED scandal, but even more so with Cruz. He became a Ranger favorite of mine not too long after his arrival. Call it a vibe, but I knew he'd be more than a flash in the pan when he arrived in Arlington several years ago.

His on-field performance could be called bipolar or somewhat schizophrenic, with his outfield play. Thank goodness he is blessed with speed to make up for making the wrong reads on balls hit his way. Yes yes, Game 6. It's the prime example. But what I've always like about him was that he played the game with a smile on his face and had no prima donna about him. One could tell he was a good guy and a great teammate, who could hit a ball for miles, gun a guy down on the base-paths, but whose ball-getting-to made you dizzy.

But here is the gist this posting and what has been in my head since I heard Nellie's name linked to those Biogensis reports. I do not know him and I have no evidence that he took PEDs, but who is to say that amazing Game 6 misplay played heavily on his decision to help his team get back and reclaim the championship that was in their grasp, but was not because that line-drive over his head was not within his. I'm not saying he used PEDs. He could have. How many times did he go on the DL in 2012? But in the end, even if he had the best of intentions, he might have let down his teammates again.

Some Texas political insights

I will be so happy once the Texas primary season ends, having been lengthened by the run-off between David Dewhurst and Ted Cruz. Even then, I am thankful that I will not hear and see every single Republican candidate fall over each other trying to out-conservative themselves at every commercial break. The amount of ads portraying this line of thought got so ridiculous there for a while, with former Dallas mayor Tom Leppert being the worse political hack of them all. He had the audacity to say that "you know what happened the last time a empty-suit was sent to the White House." But the funny thing is, it could be said that the reason the country is where it is economically and politically, is because of his fellow conservative, George W. Bush, an empty-suit in the truest sense.

With this said, I challenge any Texas Republican to avoid a I'm-more-conservative-than-you approach and not bring up any anti-Obama sentiment that's all the rage these days. Dewhurst's newest ad has him saying that "Obama doesn't understand business." Well, probably not, since he's not a businessman, but what happened the last time a businessman was in the White House? See the the previous paragraph. I'm just saying.

Yes, I tend to lean left, but I would like to see these candidates stay on the issues, provide positive ideas, and look past the usual derision. I doubt it can be done.

Belated thoughts on Dick Clark's death

I always think about my grandmother whenever I hear about Dick Clark. In my mind, the two are linked and will be forever. For me, I do not think it was just happenstance that Dick Clark passed away within days of my grandmother's birthday. Like millions of Americans, I grew up watching American Bandstand with the ever-youthful Dick Clark as host. But the show itself does not provide the direct link between my grandmother and Mr. Clark.

My mother told me years ago that her mother and Dick Clark were the same age. Hearing that blew my impressionable young mind: "So the guy who does the weekly Top 10 and hosts New Year's Rockin' Eve is the same age as the lady who serves me frijoles and fresh gorditas whenever I come over? Awesome!"


The connection does not end there.


We spent many New Years Eves at my grandmother's. All of us cousins popped fireworks while my grandmother and aunts cooked tamales, buñuelos and hot chocolate (not the cocoa from a package, but homemade Mexican chocolate with cinnamon sticks and etc!). The cousins and I usually took a break from the cuetes to munch on a tamal or two, some buñuelos and chocolate while we watched the ball drop live from NYC's Times Square. And again there was Dick Clark reminding me that he and my grandmother were born in the same year.


Unfortunately, my grandmother has not been in the best of health lately. She paid a visit to the ER a week after burying an older sister. Nothing major, but the cough she's had since has not gone away, eerily similar to how her sister passed. Her waning health is on our minds.

Like a good nieto, I called to wish my grandmother a happy birthday a few weeks back: her oldest grandchild called his only remaining grandmother. It was great to chat with her for a bit. Upon hearing about Dick Clark's passing a few days later, I could not help but think of my grandmother: thankful that she's still here and also thinking of all the Dick Clark related memories I have of her. 

Thank you Dick Clark and muchísimas gracias Grandma!

Crazy South Texas Storms

Severe storms rocked the Texas Coastal Bend early this morning that not only dropped an amazing amount of rainfall, but a few tornadoes as well. Upwards of 15" inches of rain fell in portions of eastern San Patricio county and the NWS Corpus Christi office surveyed damage for at least 4 tornadoes in essentially the same area. Tornado warnings were also posted further south in the Kingsville area but no tornadoes have not been confirmed by the local NWS survey team. 


Area roads and highways were closed due to flooding around and through Gregory and Bayside, including HWY 181, a vital artery linking the towns north of Nueces and Corpus Christi Bays to Corpus Christi proper. 

While pictures of stalled cars and people wading through thigh-high water are disheartening, seeing 2x4 planks stuck in the sides of homes-- put there by an EF-1 tornado, that is impressive.

A couple quick hits

• Looks the economic outlook is getting worse in Europe with Spain in the middle of the turmoil. Paul Krugman believes the Spanish problem is not necessarily a home-grown issue but one that came from bad bank loans from German banks. It's amazing to see how much influence banks have over countries, and invariably, people.

• It's amazing what back-to-back World Series appearances does to a fan base. Never have I and my family and friends kept up with the Texas Rangers with so much vigor so early in the season. I caught myself cheering out loud to an inning-ending double-play in the Rangers' 4-3 win over Minnesota this afternoon: fist pump and everything! Not only that, I've exchanged several Rangers-related text messages during almost every game so far this season at almost the same pace as last season's postseason. One of my best friends, a fellow long-time Rangers fan, has said that he usually doesn't get excited about the season until around the All-Star break but has found himself intently following them so early. For me, following Jamey Newberg's analysis has kept my Rangers interest locked-in from the post-World Series disappointment through to the start of the season.

The Jewel of Arlington... Automotively Speaking

Plenty of pretty people, with their equally pretty money will be in Arlington, Texas on February 6th to see the Super Bowl in the NFL's glitziest stage. However, there is a place within walking distance of Cowboys Stadium that has its share of pretty things. Very pretty things indeed. Within the shadow of JerryWorld, lies a rather understated building full of overstated pieces of American automotive ingenuity and power. Berry Motor Cars on Division Street, is a place where the dreams of car enthusiasts and gearheads can come to fruition.

Back in October of 2010, my parents came for a visit, and like most of their visits to North Texas during baseball season, we took in a Texas Rangers game. Knowing that my dad was going to be in Arlington, my uncle asked him to swing by Berry Motor Cars to order a part for a 1968 Camaro that he is restoring. I thought that we left for Arlington with enough time, unfortunatley we got to BMC just after closing. I was a little disappointed knowing what laid inside- the opportunity to help my uncle with his project, but I also wanted to show my daughter all the awesome classic cars parked inside the showroom.

Well, as luck would have it, I spent enough time peering in through the front doors that I got the attention of the owner who came to ask if I needed help. I told him that my parents had come in from South Texas and that may dad had hoped to order a part before the game. The gentleman said that he had stayed around the shop afterwards to work on a few things and that we could help us. So as my dad spoke to Mr. Berry about the needed part, I was able to show my daughter around the showroom: fully restored Chevelles, Camaros, and a couple of Corvettes, intermingled with a few Plymouths and Mustangs. I couldn't help but shake my head in amazement at all these beautiful cars and how much one would set me back. Let's just say that I could get a fully restored 1967 Camaro for the same price as a brand new 2010 model!

Being able to see those cars and share the moment with my daughter made that weekend even more memorable. Thankfully, she's following the footsteps my dad and uncle laid out for us in appreciating the beauty of these classic machines. My thanks again to Mr. Berry and his hospitality for helping us that day. I hope that the glare that surrounds the Super Bowl shines some of its dollar-signed goodness towards Mr. Berry and his company.

The 2-Space Police Are Out To Get You!

As I read an article on Slate.com about how two spaces after a sentence's period is a writing faux pas, one of John McEnroe's most infamous on-court blowups came to mind: "You cannot be serious!"

And according to the article's author, yes, he is serious.

So it looks like millions of us, including myself, are wrong for having been inserting that extra, evil space after a written sentence. And Mr. Manjoo makes us feel horrible for having neglected this rule. All that I have written over the years should have gotten a big red X for all those superfluous spaces. Too bad for me that the professors from my undergraduate years and up into my graduate work were not part of the 2-Space Gestapo.

The article itself is well written but the best part of it was a comment left by a reader. I'm paraphrasing, but he pretty much said that he wasn't going to take any typing advice from someone with a foreign sounding name. I couldn't help but bust out laughing when I first read it. Now, I can't read into that commenter's intent, but I doubt he meant it as a xenophobic observation as some folks have noted. I think it was a comical observation seeing that the article was not written by a regular Tom, Dick or Harry Smith.

Though I make no bones about my grammatical know-how, but it will take me a while to unlearn 20+ years of typing experience. Adding that good-for-nothing second space is as second nature to me as breathing or cheering against the New York Yankees.

Rare January Tornadic Storm in the Coastal Bend

Many residents of the Coastal Bend woke up sooner than they expected last Sunday morning when a rare January tornadic storm blew through the area producing a gamut of severe weather, which included an EF1 tornado, hail, and strong winds. The squall line gathered strength as it neared the coastal prairies and put down a tornado that ran for over 20 miles.

Storm reports from my family include my grandmother hiding in her hallway as the hail pounded the paint off one side of her house in central San Patricio County and my uncle heard a freight train sounding noise when he took his dogs outside to do their business as the storm crossed into southeastern San Pat County. And my folks reported lots of hail and strong winds as the storm arrived. In addition to this, the 8am mass at my old church back home was done in candlelight due to the power outtage after the storm passed.

I'm pleasantly relieved that there were no injuries reported, or at least I did not see report of any. It is amazing that this storm was so strong to produce so much severe weather considering the timing of its genesis. One can only imagine how bad the storm would have been had it occurred during the day (the far northern end of this weather feature dumped several inches of snow in the DFW area!).

Please click on the link below to Corpus Christi's National Weather Service office's report of the January 9th storm. Tremendous kudos to the staff of the NWS office for an equally impressive summary of this impressive winter-time storm. That has to be the most imformative storm summary I have seen since perhaps their Christmas Eve/Day snow storm story of 2004.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/crp/?n=jan092011squallline

Cliff Lee leaves the cannoli and takes his gun

With Cliff Lee taking his services back to Philadelphia, he has rejected a "menu of options" from the Texas Rangers and million dollars worth of contract money from the New York Yankees. He essentially left the cannoli (both Texas and NY money) and took his left-handed gun to join a top-of-the-line pitching staff made up a #1 staters.

Skip Bayless, the morning the news broke on ESPN's First and 10 show, called Cliff Lee, "LeBron Lee," perhaps as a jab at Cliff taking less money and going to a team with a more than legitimate chance of winning championships. I won't fault the guy for taking less money in order to win more titles, but I will say this: it's possible that his back is still bothering him and the pressure to perform at a high level won't be as necessary in Philly as it would have been had he gone to Texas, where he would have been THE go-to-guy and team ace.

Good luck Cliff and hope to see you again in Arlington in October and November!

Hook 'Em! Fiesta Bowl 2009

I've been saying it all day to my coworkers, especially to the lone Ohio State fan amongst us, that the Texas Longhorns let Ohio State score their last touchdown on purpose. Yep, I think the Texas defense let the OSU running back score untouched so that Colt McCoy and the offense would have enough time to go down the field and have a chance of scoring the winning touchdown.

Ohio State was driving towards a winning score with under 4 minutes to play down by two points. If I were OSU coach Jim Tressel, I would run off as much of the game clock as I could and go for the game winning kick with only seconds remaining. Well, that's what I was thinking he would do as OSU crept closer to the goal line. But then all of a sudden, there's a quick touchdown run up the left side of the offense!

I may have not been the only one to notice that the OSU running back went in for the touchdown almost untouched to make it 21-17, pending the 2 point conversion. The color commentator for Fox's broadcast said that the runner went in "easy, too easy."

Perhaps the UT coaching staff thought it would be best to let Ohio State score so as to leave ample time for McCoy and his offense to stage another 4th quarter comeback. Who knows...

Putting the X back in Christmas

I think the use of text messages has apparently brought back the use of "Xmas" in place of Christmas. I know I used it quite often when I wrote to loved ones over the holidays. I've never understood why this written form of Christmas was frowned upon, but it works for me because it does not diminish my love Christ Himself. Folks have said that using this alternative spelling literally "takes Christ out of Christmas" but that's only to voice their concern about the commercialization of Christmas. I can see that aspect of it and it's too bad that their more ignorant compatriots have hijacked this notions for their own gains.

I've seen the use of X in old Spanish documents to spell out a person's name, namely the Spanish equilvalent of Christopher, ie: Xtobal. If folks really pay attention and do their homework, they'll see that the origin of "Xmas" has Greek origins, especially with the Greek letter X, Chi, having stood for Christ for almost two milenia now.

Look it up and you'll find that "Xmas" has a fascinating story that does not come from some commercializing atheist, but from early Christians and how they honored the Son of God through symbols from an ancient language.

Feliz Día de los Reyes Magos

Today marks the official end of the Christmas season with January 6th being the day that the three wise men reached their destination of seeing the Christ child. This holiday wasn't celebrated with too much fanfare around my family except for maybe the 6th being the day when we would finally put our pino out of its misery. But it's a big deal in other countries, like Mexico and Spain.

Ten years ago I had the luck to do spend a semester abroad in Spain. I arrived just prior to the Día de los Reyes so I was able to partake in the Rosca, the traditional pastry that holds within it, a little plastic baby (Jesus). Whomever finds it is said to have an extra bit of luck the following year. My memory of el Día in Madrid is a little fuzzy as I arrived with a head cold, which if you've ever flown with a cold, is made worse by having spent several hours on a plane.

Feliz Día de los Reyes Magos a todos mis amistades que conocí Madrid, en el Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Toledo, Barcelona y también a todos mis queridos amigos que me llevaron por la bella ciudad de Granada. ¡Os hechos de menos!

Blue Norther!-- 25 Years Later

While checking today's weather forecast from National Weather Service Fort Worth office, I came across a nice write-up about the coldest December on record for the Dallas/Fort Worth in 1983. The region went through a cold snap that brought temperatures upwards of 12 degrees Fahrenheit colder than normal with the entire month's average temperature 4 degrees colder than any other December in the record books. Fortunately, I was not in the Metroplex at the time, but I do remember this event fairly well, even in South Texas.

I was in fifth grade at the time and it was the last Friday before Christmas break. There was talk of a big cold front coming that day so I looked out a north facing window and saw this line of anvil shaped clouds off in the distance. Needless to say, I went to school prepared with a jacket and recall that there were very few of us who brought jackets to school that day. Well, what do you expect with the mild temps that greeted us that morning.-- I would venture a guess that it was a very windy 60-something that morning. I might have felt overdressed when I got dropped off, but I was so happy that I had brought a jacket as the thermometer's bottom essentially dropped out even before lunchtime. We didn't get any frozen precipitation that time around, it doesn't happen all that often anyway, but I do remember how surprised and shocked my classmates were because of how cold it had gotten that day. It was a blustery cold rain. I was one of the lucky ones to have a jacket and I was happy that my family watched the weather report that morning!

RE-elect John Cornyn for US Senate

This is not an endorsement for Mr. Cornyn, but being that he is running for RE-election to the United States Senate, I just find it odd that there is no mention of him being the incumbent or anything to that effect in his campaign's television ads. His campaign ads are full of rolling, Texas landscapes and how "Washington" is not working. What I find disheartening in all this is that he has been a part of that "Washington" which he refers to for the past 6 years and says that "It" needs to be fixed, yet he never mentions any of this. So what part of Cornyn + Washington + 6 years is he afraid of? Is he afraid that he will get lumped in with the rest of the GOP who have been blamed for the current economic downturn? I do not know, but he's been a decent senator from what I have seen these past 6 years.

All I know is that his campaign is pretty slick to run these ads without the mention of his previous six years of office as Texas' junior senator. He and his campaign must think that his constituents do not know what is going on. They must assume that because he does not say he is running for RE-election, that this is his first go at the United States Senate. Of course none of what I am saying will keep him from being RE-elected, but I just want to offer my kudos to his campaign staff for pulling a fast one on us.

Getting Bad Helmet

I wonder if folks are noticing that players in the NFL are losing their heads, so to speak, on a regular basis. What I mean is that players are getting their helmets knocked off with the slightest of hits. It's been something that seems to happen at least once a game. And I think it's getting done on purpose. Lemme esplain...

The NFL has a rule that keeps players from purposefully taking off their helmets on the field of play during or in between plays. If someone takes off their helmet, it's an automatic 15 yard unsportsmanlike penalty. The League has this rule in place to keep the players from getting self promoting notoriety in a game that it has deemed as being team-first, with the individual being somewhere further down the line. I get the concept. There isn't a particular player who is the "face" of the league like you can see in the NBA. That's why elaborate on-field, post touchdown celebrations are frowned upon. See Chad Johnson's and Terrell Owens' penalty inducing celebrations.

So in light of this hinderance, I think players are doing is making their helmets fit loosely on their heads so that way their helmets will fly off "accidently" with the slightest breeze, err... tackle to gain some sort of face time. Normally I would say that this is done to circumvent the rules, but it may backfire because I've seen two players over this past NFL weekend get injured because their loose fitting helmets come off too easily and they end up eating turf. Let's hope guys see what's going on and try their best to keep their hats on because it's in their best interest to be as safe as possible in such a violent game.

As T.O.'s World Turns

The Dallas Cowboys lost a somewhat crucial game to division rival Washington Redskins, yet it is what was said afterward by its star wide receiver that's gained greater notice. Terrell Owens made it clear to the team that he wasn't thrown to enough in the game which in turn made the Cowboys lose.

Well, if he had said that after last week's game, where he only two passes, he'd have a legitimate gripe, but the thing is that they won. T.O. caught seven passes, had maybe two running plays, and was thrown to on several more occasions. An analyst on one of the Sunday football shows said he was directly involved in 20 of the 61 total plays ran by Dallas, which roughly equates to one-third of the team's play calling being for Terrell Owens.

I'm obviously disappointed in the game's outcome but I am more disappointed in T.O.'s words after the game, especially having seen some of the best teammate driven plays in last week's win over Green Bay. In one play, Owens popped a block for rookie running back Felix Jones and then escorted him to the end zone for a long rushing touchdown. The second play shows not only his speed but his grit. QB Tony Romo had just thrown another interception deep in Packers' territory, perhaps 15-20 yards in front of Owens. Yet as the interceptor ran back for an apparent score, here come T.O. veritably out of nowhere to help bring him down, perhaps saving a touchdown.

Two great plays showing hustle and teamwork. So maybe the reason why T.O. was miffed was because the Cowboys' loss tainted the upcoming release of his new exercise book which was slated to take two days later.

Rangers vs Yankees- Texas' highwater mark

The Texas Rangers finished a four game series with the New York Yankees last night with a 3-0 loss, to split the series 2-2. About a month ago the Rangers beat the Yankees by winning two out of three games in New York. The Yankees were in a mini slump at the time and have played much better since then. So when the Yanks came to Arlington to play a four game series, I took the series to be a precursor of how far along the Rangers have played so far and what to expect the rest of the way. If they played New York well I thought they'd have a shot at making the playoffs via the Wild Card.

To me this series would show me how good or bad Texas really is. They won the first two games of the series with bats-a-blazing, but New York's pitching extinguished the Rangers' hot scoring to hold them to 2 runs in two games with the 4th game being a shut-out. So what they showed me is that they can beat a good team if the opponents' pitching is mediocre and they can hold their own against an equally offensive minded team when faced with a top shelf pitcher. For example in game 4, the Rangers' starting pitcher gave up 2 runs in 7 innings. Not bad for a pitching staff that's not known for keeping opponents from scoring.

With all this said, I think Texas has an outside chance of making the playoffs this year. After the Yankees' series, they're heading out east to play Baltimore in a 3 game set and then Boston for 3 more before they host the East leading Tampa Bay Rays (still want to call them DevilRays) for the first 3 games of a 9 game homestand. Even if they don't come back from out East 3 out of 6 this time around, they will have laid the groundwork for next season. This team has shown that it can come back from 5 or 6 runs deficits to win games, and for all these young guys to experience these comebacks shows what they have the skills to be successful.

Daily Pendejadas- The High Five

It never ceases to amaze how such a beautiful and majestic feat of engineering and architecture has its shortcomings, but Dallas' High Five interchange between I-635 and Highway 75 is a prime example of this.

The westbound flyover off 75 to 635 West goes from a wide open and free flowing northbound NorthCentral-75 to a surprisingly and annoying glorified cattle shoot. It is a piss poor design, if you ask me. I don't understand how it's convenient to merge four lanes of exiting traffic into two lanes all within a few hundred feet. Even in the lightest side of traffic, like it happened to me the other, you can find yourself getting stuck in bumper-to-bumper gridlock without trying because not only are the northbound lanes of exiting traffic trying to get onto westbound LBJ, there's another set of two lanes exiting from southbound 75 trying to go West as well!

It really ticks me off. Why was that design settled in such a way? Who signed off on it? Who left their common sense at home the day the those two flyovers were settled on?