Dallas v. Houston

This could be an interesting thread. I love both cities and choose to live in neither at the moment. Both are vibrant, thriving cities.

Dallas has the edge on the symphony and Houston has the opera. In both one could dine in GREAT restaurant every night and never repeat for a year.

I grew up with the Cowboys (that loyalty only waned slightly when the thugs ruled the roost in the late 90s) and the hapless Rangers. Lived in Houston for the back-to-back championships and loved them more for the effect on my friends than for my own joy. LOVE the Astros but wish Pudge had never left Arlington.

Both are huge sprawling messes and mass transportation sucks but the people want it that way.

Dallas has some hills; Houston has the trees. Both are hotter than hell and both flood like hell.

Dallas has tornadoes; Houston has hurricanes.

Not sure about the conservative v. liberal thing. Both seem solidly red to me.

Although I haven't followed either paper lately, I've always thought the Morning News one of the nation's best.

Money drips in both cities for those who have the drive to earn it. Opportunity abounds.

Great secondary education easily available but both cities really have to defer to Austin...ok, Rice trumps SMU and UT but on a large scale or if one has a hyper-specialized interest...

I've love Denver but both Houston and Dallas are in Texas.

Dallas Mavericks

Growing up as I did in Houston, I really bought into the whole “Houston vs. Dallas” thing. The 2 cities were, and probably still are, polar opposites. Liberal vs. Conservative; Democratic vs. Republican; blue collar vs. white collar; no zoning vs. strange liquor laws; Oilers vs. Cowboys. I could go on and on.

While I lived in Houston, I had no doubt that it was a much better place than Dallas to live. And of course the few times I visited Dallas always reinforced my beliefs. The only “advantage” that I saw that Dallas had over Houston were with its sports teams. The Astros/Rangers and the Rockets/Mavs were a wash (as all those teams basically sucked), so it was the hapless Oilers vs. the hated Cowboys. I had always wished that the Oilers would somehow win a Super Bowl before the Cowboys, but that was never to be. So it was with GREAT joy that I celebrated when the Rockets went back-to-back as NBA champions. My joy was as much that “we” had won one before Dallas as it was for just winning it. My hope was that the Rockets would be the only Texas team to win the NBA championship – to prove Houston’s dominance.

Then San Antonio wins a couple of championships. That’s okay – at least it wasn’t Dallas. Mark Cuban buys the Mavs and all of a sudden, they start getting good. Getting real good. They make it to the NBA finals last year, and go up 2 games to 0 going to Miami. Things weren’t looking too good for me…then something weird happens. Somehow the plans for the Mavs victory parade get leaked to the press and the Miami players use that as motivation to win 4 straight games and win the title. My dream is still alive! Which brings me to last night….

The Dallas Mavericks, the team with the best record in the NBA this season; the team with one of the all-time greatest regular season in NBA history; the team that the media here in Dallas has almost penciled in as champions as early as mid-season….loses to the 8th seed. The FIRST TIME IN NBA HISTORY that a 1st seed has lost to an 8th seed in a 7-game series in the 1st round!!!! Shock is not a strong enough word to describe the reaction of fans and media here today. You have to live here to understand how the media pumps up ANY and ALL Dallas sports teams. Even the Rangers, who have never done anything, are always hyped up to no end as the baseball season starts, only to wilt away in the summer heat, usually to finish last in their division. The hockey team (the Stars), the arena league football team (I don’t even know what they are called), all of them are always hyped to be one of, if not THE, best team in whatever league.

I think I’m the happiest person in “the metroplex” today. It’s been a great 12 months for me actually…..Mavs lose in 6 games in the NBA finals last year; Stars lose in the first round of the playoffs last year; Cowboys lose in the first round of the playoffs this year, Stars lose in the first round of the playoffs this year; and last night, the BIGGEST CHOKE JOB IN NBA PLAYOFF HISTORY.

I love it….it’s just too bad that after living in Dallas the past 7 years, it’s obvious that Dallas, as a city, is so much better than the hell-hole that is Houston.

Hot on Tito's Trail

Dripping Springs Vodka.

Not buying all the self-hype but I did take a microscopic taste. It was pretty good.

Murdoch's bid for Dow

I think I'm pro. Murdoch is a creep but he does know news and marketing. If he could market the WSJ like he markets Fox News without watering down the paper, that could be a very good thing.

Kudlow starts to raise the subject here.

My would be girlfriend Peggy Noonan is scheduled for Dennis Miller tonight (tonight for me via KRLA); I'll be interested to see if she has anything to say on this.

Christopher Hitchens: the Man I Love and Hate

Great article at Slate today on Tenet's new book; it includes this gem:

And now comes Tenet, the man who got everything wrong and who ran the agency that couldn't think straight, to ask us to sympathize with his moanings about "Iraq—who, me?"

HT: the Corner

Re: Re: Re: Re: Sopranos

No Tivo, but with digital roadrunner I can go to HBO On Demand and call up any number of programs after their original air time and watch for free.

You have it exactly right. I did NOT need to see that. They could have made that kid creepy in a multitude of ways and, in fact, already had. That was just yucky beyond the pale. I still feel dirty.

Re: Re: Re: The Sopranos

Scooter, how did you watch Sunday's episode last night? Did you finally get TiVo?

And....are you out because of content or because the quality is going downhill? I ask because I read something about the last episode - Vito Jr. in the shower (I'll leave it at that). I don't see how that (and something about Uncle Junior the episode before) is great tv.

I'm rethinking getting the DVD's....

Re: Re: Re: Sopranos

Watched Sunday's episode last night. I think I'm done.

Oh I wish...

Pulling onto Lake Austin Boulevard today I look up and I'm right behind the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile.

I'm sure it must have been in Buda on Saturday for its annual event.

Wealth of Nations; PJ O'Rourke

There are those books "that changed the world" that the subtitle of my current read implies we all should have read. At about 900 pages in 18th C. English not counting preface, intro, and and all the stuff at the end, who's gonna read that?

This series by Atlantic Monthly Press allows us a Cliff's/Monarch Notes view into the works that we should have already read.

Adam Smith, we hardly knew ye.