Skattershooting while wondering whatever happened to Paul Reiser of Mad About You ....

• Does anyone remember laser discs? They were just big DVDs that cost a fortune.
• Osama Bin Laden has now made a video appearance a few days before the election. Did you know that was the first time since November of 2001 that a video with audio of Bin Laden has been seen. I had come to believe he was probably dead.
  
• Vinny Testaverde has thrown for over 300 yards in a game three times this year. With ten games to go, he only has to do it one more time to break the record held by Roger Staubach and Danny White.  Something seems very wrong.
• It's hard to get excited about Testaverde faking a run to Eddie George and then passing to Keshaun Johnson. All three players were not with the Cowboys last year. I love Seinfeld's line about cheering for a particular team when the players are constantly changing. "When it comes down to it, we're just cheering for laundry." (i.e. the uniform).
  
• Let me go on a rant about Bill Parcells. Every weekday he holds a news conference with the local media and it normally lasts 30 to 45 minutes. I have never seen a guy with a bigger ego nor someone that thinks more of himself.  Sure, he's got the skins on the wall but worry about any guy that thinks he knows it all. You know, I think I'm a smart guy in my field of practice but I don't for one second believe that I can't learn from someone who has less experience than me.  Not the Great Magnificent Tuner.  No one is smarter than him and he doesn't mind telling you so.
• Parcells is so smart that he has never granted Dale Hanson an interview. Hanson said on his radio show that he "hadn't even met the guy." Guess what Hanson does now? He spends most of his time dogging Parcells.  You'd think the smartest man in the NFL would know you might want to keep Hanson happy.
• The comeback of the Boston Red Sox is nothing short of miraculous.
• We should have known the Yankees would lose since they have these former Rangers on their roster:  Ruben Sierra, A-Rod, and Kevin Brown.
• Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez made the oddest statement after losing a game to the Yankees during the regular season.  Asked to explain why he struggles against the Yankees, Martinez said "Just call the Yankees my daddy."  What was very funny was the Yankee crowd during the ALCS chanting "Who's your daddy?" when Martinez pitched.
• Jack Buck is a great announcer. Where did he come from?
  
• I occasionally rent a DVD that receives a lot of off-the-radar buzz but never made it big at the local theater. One of them, Y Tu Mama Tambien, was great.
  
• OU freshman running back Adrian Peterson may end up the greatest college player ever.
  
• Ryan Perrilloux is a hot shot high school quarterback out of a Louisiana high school that has orally committed to the University of Texas. He announced the other day that he would reconsider that decision if UT's offensive coordinator, Greg Davis,  is fired.  "He just needs to stay one more year, and I'll show him what I can do," the kid said.  Two words: Trouble maker.
  
• Troy Aikman may be the most boring announcer on the face of the earth.
• I finally watched a few episodes of Arrested Development. It's not just funny, it's very funny.
  
• Nip/Tuck is pretty entertaining as well.
  
• Can you believe the number of ads the Dallas Cowboys are rolling out there to insure that Arlington voters approve the new stadium? So far they've spent $5.1 million. The modest opposition group has spent $43,000.
• I used to make a joke with any friend of mine that was recently married by asking them "How's that failed marriage of yours going?" I don't do that anymore.
  
• Speaking of ads, I'm going to throw up if I see another Pete Sessions vs. Martin Frost ad. And, by the way, I think both of them come across as liars that can't be trusted.
  
• It seems like Red Lobster advertises on TV a whole bunch.
• Let me go on another rant. Due to the electoral college, why does anyone in Texas have a Bush or Kerry sign in their front yard? There is a 100% chance that Bush will win the majority of votes in Texas and thereby receive all of Texas' 34 electoral votes. If a Bush supporter wants to help Bush, he should be in some way assisting with support in the swing states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, or Florida.  I don't understand the electoral college. This presidential race has pretty much come down to a battle of the swing states and the rest of us are ignored. But did you see what was on the ballot in Colorado? It's a measure that would do away with the electoral college as it applies to that state. So instead of the majority winner receiving all 9 of Colorado's electoral votes, they would be divided proportionally among the presidential candidates. Most likely this will be 5 to the winner and 4 to the loser. If that system had been in place in 2000, Gore would have won the presidential election outright.  I had thought the electoral college was constitutionally required, but I was wrong.
  
• I saw The Last Picture Show the other day and Cybil Shephard, at that time, may have been the most beautiful girl in America.
• Speaking of Shephard, I miss her and Bruce Willis in Moonlighting
• Did you see that the North Dallas Tollway will be extended 9.7 miles in Collin County with a completion date of 2007. Brace yourself: The tollway will then reach highway 380. Yep, the same 380 that runs through Wise County. 
  
• Rick Neuheisel, the former football coach at Washington, made headlines across the nation when he was fired after gambling a couple of thousand dollars on an office pool for the NCAA basketball tournament. He was all over the television when the firing went down. I couldn't help but shake my head the other day when the NCAA cleared him of any wrongdoing. Look at the size of this story as it appeared in the Dallas Morning News.  That was the entire story.
  
• Want to see the beginning of another tech stock going out of control? Check out the Google chart.
  
• Does anybody miss the NHL?
• A few people sure did freak out when John Kerry referred to Dick Chaney's daughter as a "lesbian". Since she is openly gay, what was the outcry about? I think it basically came from people that freak out every time they hear the word "lesbian".
• Birth, a new movie with Nicole Kidman is good. But be prepared for an "art house" feel about it.
  
• By the way, did you know that Lupe Valdez, a candidate for  Sheriff of Dallas County, is openly gay?  I kind of want to see that: A Texas sheriff that is a woman, gay, and hispanic.
  
• All-around fraudulent pastor Bob Tilton is back at it again on the BET network. I had to watch him the other night and he was actually hawking one of his books that was called "How To Pay Your Bills Supernaturally." Sheesh. I bet the first start is to send him an offering.
  
• Wise County residents have been known to frequent Rodeo Exchange in the stockyards. Last Monday (that's right, a Monday) Tommy Gene Roberson, 41, was allegedly involve in an incident that led to his arrest. According to the Star Telegram, Roberson is alleged to had struck a man who was talking to Roberson's wife in the bar. The alleged victim, Jeffrey Scott Smith, 44, was driven home by his roommate. He was found dead the next morning, and the medical examiner ruled that he died from a blow to the head.
  
• Elton John has been around for a long, long time.
  
• One song that seems to endure time is Soft Cell's "Tainted Love". The lead singer of the group, Marc Almond, was hospitalized in serious condition on October 17th after a motorcycle he was a passenger on crashed in London.
• Going back to the world series, isn't it amazing that the managers would agree to a brief interview in between innings? I've always thought the same thing about college football coaches giving interviews at half-time as they ran off the field. I wonder if they are paid for that?
• It's amazing that the Dallas Morning News completely ignores Decatur Eagle football. The team isn't even listed in the "area" top ten poll the paper publishes.
  
• I think the Decatur Eagles might win a state championship. Boyd may give it a run too.
• Then again, I think John Kerry will win on November 2nd.
• But I also predicted Kobe Bryant would not be convicted. Then again, I also thought Martha Stewart would be found not guilty.
  
• Two high school girls, both ranked in the top ten on national basketball recruiting lists, have committed to Oklahoma. What's the big deal? They are twin sisters, Courtney and Ashley Paris, out of California. (One is 6-4 and the other 6-2).
• Everyone remembers the shocking interview scene with Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct. It's funny to go back and watch it now. It kind of loses its effect when you discover that one of the interrogators is none other than "Newman" from Seinfeld.
• I always thought it was cool to see a school bus going down the road on Friday night to a football game and then being able to read the town's name on the side.  Now all you see is "Durham Transportation". Not quite the same.