You Betcha: Week 7

The Cowboys have played five games. Sportatorium has made five losing bets. Oh and friggin’ five! Who, oh who, could feel my pain? Is there anyone? Anyone out there who can empathize with my futility? Wait … George Costanza, is that you? “It’s not working, Jerry. How did it all…

DISD’s Shell Game

Dallas Independent School District board trustee Ron Price Kent Fischer has a very important story in today’s Dallas Morning News — shoulda been on Page One — revealing that the center has been blown out of the Dallas Independent School District’s whole strategy for recovering from its financial crisis. The…

What’s a Wab, and Where’s the Love for Guatemalans?

Dear Readers: I don’t like to rerun columns ’cause it makes me look like a lazy Mexican, but I realize that as my column invades foreign terrain (Chattanooga! Columbia, South Carolina! Steamboat Springs, Colorado!) new readers might not understand some of my commandments. Following, then, are the two most frequently…

Council Not Playing With Full Deck Park

A very lovely artist’s rendering of the Woodall Rodgers Freeway Deck Park When those financial geniuses on the Dallas City Council committed us to building a $67.7 million “deck park” over the Woodall Rodgers Freeway, they promised us the city’s share would never be more than $20 million. The rest…

Obama v. McCain: Round 2

I’m thinking about inviting over Michael Buffer and Dr. Ferdie Pacheco to help me score tonight’s Presidential Debate blow-by-blow fight style. But, from where I sit, not even erroneous scoring from the “Let’s Get Ready to Ruuuuummbllllllllllle!” guy and boxing’s most famous corner man can boost John McCain over Barack…

How to Get Big Business Interested in DISD: Threaten Its Bond Money.

Jack Lowe, DISD school board president For eight months, while the Dallas Independent School District was fiddling its way into financial conflagration, we heard radio silence from the business community. But now the Dallas Citizens Council and chambers of commerce are suddenly flapping around like somebody fired a shotgun underneath…

You Betcha: Week 6

Hey buddy, can you spare a dime? Okay, how about a $700 billion bailout? At this rate – 0-4 on Cowboys’ games this season – I’m going to need it. Wait, I know. I’ll bank on the only thing bigger than our country’s financial crisis: Terrell Owens’ ego…

Ask a Mexican

Dear Mexican: I’m half-Catalan, and the women on my mom’s side of my family have spent most of our lives being hated by Mexicans. I’ve never understood it. My mom and aunts warned me as soon as I hit junior high that I was going to have a target on…

You Betcha: Week 5

The Redskins hate the Cowboys about as much as I hate losing to The Man. Which puts us both in a real pissy mood this week. I have more bad news for Washington: The Redskins are going to lose Sunday. Furthermore, its town is a hotbed of Cowboys’ fandom. So…

The Blaine of My Existence

I was a wide-eyed beat writer at Valley Ranch in the early ‘90s when a street magician came a calling, wanting to film some stuff with Dallas Cowboys’ players for an upcoming TV special. And ever since I’ve had a love/hate curiosity in David Blaine. (Come for Emmitt Smith’s MC…

Ask a Mexican

Dear Mexican: What is an anchor baby? I am a 45-year-old male born in the United States of America. My mother was born in ex-Yugoslavia (now Serbia), and my father was also born in ex-Yugoslavia (now Croatia). My father arrived to this country via a green card about four years…

DISD’s Budget Shortfall: Hinojosa’s One-Man Gaffe

Two weeks ago I was on vacation, sitting in an airport diddling around with my “smart” phone (yeah, right), when I came across an online story about the Dallas Independent School District: DISD had suddenly “discovered” that its annual operating budget this year will be $64 million in the red…

Who Wants Free Tickets?!

My free tickets aren’t this big. And they won’t be delivered by this chick. Other than that, this photo provides a perfect synopsis of your good fortune. Two words: Free. Tickets. I have four tickets and a parking pass to the final Rangers’ home game of the season. Wednesday afternoon…

Tailgating 48, Boulevarding 7

The athletic challenge is about to commence. Do you have any Grey Poupon? Glorious afternoon last Saturday. On my way to N9NE Steakhouse, Ghost Bar and the Fairmont hotel, I stopped by the Hilltop to see what the fuss was all about. What was this boulevarding that the Pony Up…

Swinging Over to Our Part of Town

Welcome aboard, Mike Fisher! I think. Considering his recent plight on a cruise ship dodging Ike in the Gulf of Mexico, you’d think Fisher would stay put for awhile. But, alas, here he is. At least temporarily, one of the area’s best sportswriters is also one of the area’s best…

You Betcha: Week 4

I know, right? I’m a roll. The Cowboys are 0-2; I’m 0-2 on the Cowboys. Silly me, I didn’t factor in Tony Romo’s mental meltdown that gave the Eagles 14 points in 14 seconds last Monday night. At the risk of going oh and three, I feel a Cowboys’ letdown…

Ask a Mexican

Dear Mexican: I am a chica struggling with the choice to come out to my parents about my sexual orientation. My family is Catholic, and my parents are old-school. While we are very close, I am scared of how badly this can go. My parents have been living in the…

You Betcha: Week 3

Tye Hill. Fakhir Brown. Ron Bartel. Jonathan Wade. Oshiomogho Atogwe. Hazard a guess? Anyone? If you knew that group is the nucleus of the St. Louis Rams’ secondary, you’re either a very happy Philadelphia Eagles’ fan or a very former Rams’ fan. Don’t get me wrong, Donovan McNabb is good…

Not Just Another Thursday

My wife and I took a boat tour around the Statue of Liberty on Sept. 2, 2001. Couple days later the skyline — and the world — was changed forever. So, where were you seven years ago today? I was sleeping in, awakened by a frantic call from the wife…

Ask a Mexican

Dear readers: The Mexican’s new book, Orange County: A Personal History, is in your local bookstore on September 16—by pure coincidence, Mexican Independence Day! In honor of and to shamelessly promote my muy caliente libro, which deals with America’s Gomorrah, the Reconquista, and John Wayne, I’m answering historical questions this…