Skattershooting on the night before I lose my bachelorhood after 41 years . . .

• I always hear the rich school districts gripe about the Robin Hood plan of school funding. Nevertheless, they always seem to have a lot of extra money hanging around. Case in point: Highland Park principals average $95,124 a year and Northwest ISD is building an indoor football practice facility.
• The last time the University of Texas made the Final Four in basketball (before this year) was  in 1947. Back then the entire tourney was made up of 8 teams so one win would put you in the Final Four.
• Did you see tht Michelle Wie, a 13 year old eighth grader, made the cut at the LPGA Kraft Nabisco golf tourney and dang near had a shot at winning it? What's even odder is that she stand 6 feet tall!
• When France became the object of everyone's disdain, did the term "freedom fries" drive you a bit crazy?
• Why does the Wise County Messenger's "Thursday" edition come out on Wednesday and its "Sunday" edition come out on Saturday?
• I cannot believe the amount of money that the Arizona Cardinals are paying Emmitt Smith: $2.5 million base with a $2.5 million signing bonus.
• Mark Cuban is a combination of the Three Stooges: He has Larry's judgement, Curly's temper, and Mo's haircut. (I stole that from somewhere)
• Think the Women's National Basketball Association is doing well? They are considering reducing the minimum salary for the first four draft picks from $55,000 to $40,000. Other rookies could be paid as little as $25,000.
• Texas A&M new football coach Dennis Franchione had the same problems as our president did when he took office. On April 13th, both his daughters, ages 23 and 17, were arrested in a bar for alcohol related crimes and resisting arrest.
• Did you also see that the final Aggie football game drew over 40,000 in attendance?
• Alex Rodriguez plays in some states that have their own state income tax. Since he is rightfully subject to taxation for any money earned while he is in the state, he has a heck of a tax bill: California tags him for $149,581 and seven other states impose a bill in excess of $10,000. (Source: Dallas Morning News, Section C, Page 2, on  4/14/03).
• Does it creep you out that Windows updates the time on your computer to adjust for day light savings time and then tells you about it?
• Did you catch this note about the Rangers game on 4/13/03: Minor league pitcher R.A. Dickey gets a call at 1:45 a.m. to tell him he will join the Rangers in Seattle. (He is in a hotel in Alberqure on a road trip). He boards a plane and heads to Seattle and arrives in the second inning. The game goes into extra innings and he actually is called upon to pitch in the 11th inning. He strikes out two to end the inning. In the twelth, he retires two batters and then gives up a game winning home run to Brett Boone. That's one long day.
• Everyone is on board with Darryl Worley's pro-war song entitled Have You Forgotten? The Morning News wrote that "An album, also titled Have You Forgotten?, will be rushed into stores Tuesday to capitalize on the success of the single. The disc is essentially a best-of set . . . ." Section E, Page 6 on 4/10/03. Patriot? Capitialist? Good Republican? All three?
• This may be the craziest and tragic story of the year: "A Denton teenager was in critical condition [and blinded] Monday after he was shot in the face with a frog that exploded from a 'potato gun'."  Dallas Morning News, Section B, Page 6 on 4/15/03.  A potato gun? A frog?
• I'm getting lots of material from the Dallas Morning News lately.
• I often think our civil justice system is more screwed up than the criminal system. A recent case in point: Volkswagen gets sued in Hildago County for wrongful death and a jury decides the company is NOT at fault. The judge grants a new trial "in the interest of justice" which basically means "because I want to". A second jury decides Volkswagen should pay $17,237,664.38. The decision is affirmed on appeal (but at least the Texas Supreme Court has decided to take a look at it).  Crazy, crazy, crazy.
• No one hates Plaintiffs lawyers like Gov. Rick Perry. The tort reform changes being considered in Austin are scaring the Plantiff's bar to death.
• A "surpervising felony chief prosecutor" in Dallas County, George West, was suspended by his boss for 30 days without pay for failing to turn over evidence that tended to indicate that a defendant in a case was not guilty. (It's called "Brady Evidence" and it is probably the most elementary rule in criminal law).  His boss, DA Bill Hill, said that West "will handle his normal duties when he returns." A couple of thoughts: (1) I have never heard of a prosecutor being suspended for such conduct so this has to be very, very bad and (2) since West is in the business of accusing folks of wrong doing, does he really possess the public trust to such an extent that he deserves a second chance?
• The Texas sodomy case recently argued before the United States Supreme Court  was handled by the elected Harris County DA. Appellate law is not trial law, and his performance caused him to be roasted by the press. The New York Times' Linda Greenhouse wrote that the argument "proved to be a mismatch of advocates to a degree rarely seen at  the court."
• The Anaheim Angels won the world series last year (I had almost forgotten that). Did you know they started the season  6-14 and were 10 1/2 games back.
• Are we still holding suspected Taliban members at Guantanamo Bay? What are we going to do with them?
• Ok, I'll say it: Where are the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and why didn't they launch a ton of Scuds during the war like they did in Persian Gulf War I?
• Everyone is bent out of shape that a group of blacks were wrongfully arrested in Tulia, Texas primarily because the case was built on the testimony of one cop (who has now been indicted for perjury). Listen folks: Almost all drug cases are based upon the word of one cop.
• Women love Trading Spaces on The Learning Channel.
• The cover of the nude Dixie Chicks on Entertainment Weekly was shocking. Good stuff, but shocking.
• This SARS business is a little scary. Since it has hit the Far East so much, I'm surprised a case hasn't shown up in Hawaii.
• I'm a skeptic at heart. Every time I hear something that sounds a bit fishy, I check out snopes.com to determine if it is true. You can spend hours there debunking every urban legend you've ever heard of.
• I've mentioned before how Dallas Stars tickets can exceed $100 for a regular season game. Check out the prices for the playoffs: A $120 regular-season ticket in the lower bowl increased to $145 in the second round, $220 in the third round and $275 for the finals.