Is the Mexican Promised Land really in Arizona?

Dear Mexican: In a column some time ago, you mentioned the Aztec prophecy claiming that “their descendants would reclaim ancestral lands in the southwest U.S., and guess what.” I’d appreciate it if you shed a little light on this statement. This is the mythical state of Aztlán you’re referring to,…

You Betcha: Week 11

Give me Bye over the Cowboys. Check that. Thanks to last week’s pin-point analysis and this week’s void in the schedule, I’m guaranteed to go two weeks without a loser on Dallas. Haven’t done that since, oh, August. With the Cowboys resting up for the stretch run, let’s shove our…

Questions from the real El Norte

Dear Readers: So your presidential candidate lost (congratulations; McBama! Our condolences, O’Cain. Damn early deadlines…), and you can’t bear the thought of living under his opponent’s reign for the next cuatro years. Fear not: The other side of America’s bullshit sandwich will save you! The Mexican hereby turns this column…

DISD’s Ghosts of Scandals Past

Uh-oh. Have I been here before? It’s the day before Halloween. I am at Dallas Independent School District headquarters, and I am already seeing ghosts. One is in a real short skirt, and her name is Yvonne. The other one, Waldemar, is holding a tin cup and chortling insanely. They’re…

Election Day … Serenity?

Plenty of good seats available. Been watching some CNN today and was a tad alarmed by the headlines: “Problems at polling stations!” “Record voter turnout!” “New York’s ‘Naked Cowboy’ endorses McCain!” Frightening stuff. So I scurried down to my local polling place at McKinney’s Valley Creek Elementary School and found…

Happy Birthday! Sportatorium Turns 6 (Months, That Is)

Okay, who had 6 months in the office pool? Pay up, sucka. Forgive me for growing a little misty-eyed nostalgic today. It’s because 368 posts and 3,554 comments after debuting with this lil’ diddy, your friendly Sportatorium is suddenly 6 months old. Funny, I don’t feel a day over 2…

You Betcha: Week 10

1-7 on Cowboys’ games this season. That’s 1 win. That’s 7 losses. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Heads or tails? It’s heads. Gimme the New York Giants, minus the 9…

Welcome to the National Armball League

If I were God of Sports, these guys would render kickers extinct. God for a day? Me? Thanks, don’t mind if I do. Richie Almighty. I like the sound of that. Okay, first, bye-bye cancer. Hurricanes = gone. No more wasted money on explorations to the Moon. Resources once pegged…

June Cometh. And, Apparently, He Taketh Away.

Shun the 11-year-olds if you want. But someday they’ll be college freshmen. I had really high hopes for June Jones and SMU. But as far as first impressions go, this year sucks. First, on the field, the offensive guru turned talented quarterback Justin Willis into one of David Copperfield’s assistants,…

You Betcha: Week 9

What’s the only thing less reliable than my picks? Wade Phillips’ 3-4 defense. For a couple years now some smartass has been referring to Dallas’ unit as “Dumbsday.” Last week in coughing up 34 points to the Rams it was abysmal. And this week, despite Phillips taking over the defensive…

Just How “Illegal” Are Illegal Immigrants?

Dear Mexican: One of our Arizona politicians once said on the PBS show Horizonte that the “crime” of being undocumented in this country is equivalent legally to that of a parking ticket. Do you know where I can verify this statement? So often in the argument over immigration the bottom…

DISD’s Confederacy of Jerks

If Obama can be president, is it OK for white people to be assholes again? And, of course, I don’t mean it exactly the way it sounds. I’m worried about the Dallas school system. What I really mean is that it may be time for upwardly mobile middle-class and working-class…

Early Voting Can Be Fun! And Crowded! And Confusing! Also, Troubling!

Cafe Press People are high on anxiety about this election already. And it’s not the election. It’s the deselection. That’s what’s got everybody crazy. I got a call this morning from a gentlemen who’d just early-voted at Harry Stone Montessori. He said his voting machine tried to con him into…

Mavericks Dancers Hold Hands, Show Skin and Throw Party

Photos by Patrick Michels In my Mavs’ fantasy, this is followed by a loving embrace and an 82-0 regular season. Hmm, what oh what could distract us from our Cowboys’ misery today? Two words: Mavericks! Dancers! The squad hyped its shiny, skinderful new calendar with a shindig at Ghostbar after…

You Betcha: Week 8

Count on me being out at the State Fair tomorrow. If you have any rotten fruit laying around, come visit me during my 5-7 p.m. appearance on Live 105.3’s Dan O’Malley Show. Count on Tony Romo being in the Cowboys’ lineup Sunday in St. Louis. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says…

At Some Point, John McCain Will Also Want You Off His Lawn

Flickr photo: i am indisposed My takeaway from the final presidential debate last night was a deep sense of concern, even anxiety, over what John McCain is doing to the public perception of old white guys. People already treat us as if we’re all goofy. They use euphemisms like “irascible,”…

Turns Out, Buying a Scapegoat Is Much Cheaper Than You’d Think

The Dallas Morning News’ DISD Blog has the severance agreement governing the departure of former Dallas Independent School Distirct chief operating officer Eric Anderson. The surprise for me was that Anderson accepted so little, a mere 15 grand, for taking such a terrible licking. Anderson agreed not to speak ill…

DISD Parents Unite and Take Back Your Schools From the Money Guys.

The Dallas school system is in the ditch financially. No question. But stepping up to save the day, we have a volunteer group of Dallas business executives—guys like John Scovell, John Ware, Pedro Aguirre and Joe Alcantar—who are going to come down to school headquarters and help watch over the…

Mexico’s Niños Héroes Were Brave by Any Standard

Dear Mexican: A group of very young soldiers in the Mexican Army were being chased through the castle by U.S. Marines. At the end of the chase, the Mexicans realized they were trapped on a balcony and, instead of dying on bayonets, they wrapped themselves in Mexican flags and leapt…