Geoausch

As someone who prides himself on being different from the bloggers on the East and West coasts, I apologize for not making this recommendation sooner. I’ve been reading Oxford American for a few years now, after my mother turned me onto the magazine for its emphasis on Southern writing. But Oxford American is much more than a collection of essays on small towns, trailer parks and Truman Capote wannabes. It is a medium for Southerners and non-Southerners alike to share their unique cultural insights of this most colorful of American regions. In fact, I’ve found this best writing to come from the annual Southern foods edition. The magazine also features yearly specials on Southern films & music (much more than just Elvis, Lynryrd Skynyrd, and the Allman Brothers). Whether or not you’re from the South, I highly recommend this magazine. If nothing else it serves as definite change from the stagnant views you find in the generic East Coast publications.

Two years ago, Stephanie and I moved into a beautiful, pre-World War II four-plex in the heart of University Park. We fell in love with the hardwood floors, built in bookcases and location the first time we laid eyes upon it. A week after we moved into our second floor unit, Mark, a piano playing chef moved in below us. Mark was a great neighbor, understanding the proper mix of neighborly socializing and privacy. Sometime last March, Mark fell in love. As Mark and his  boyfriend became more serious, we saw less and less of him and, in August, Mark and his boyfriend moved to the Oaklawn area.

Shortly after his move, we noticed that someone had moved a couch and large, plasma TV into the vacant apartment, but we never saw any other furniture moved into the unit. For a few weeks, we saw a few signs of life (i.e. delivery notices on door, packages at doorstep, etc.) but never saw any people moving in or out of the unit. We assumed that someone had simply stored the TV & couch in the unit until they were able to move it to it’s proper location. Every now and then, we would hear sounds of life (creak, pops and the such), but readily dismissed them as signs of an old building. The windows remained darkened, the parking spot assigned to the unit was used by a tenant from another building and we never saw anyone enter or leave the unit.

Perhaps the strangest incident occurred on New Years’ Eve when I heard a group of female voices coming from the downstairs lobby. At the time, we assumed that the bottom two units were vacant and figured that a group of drunk New Years Eve revelers had entered our building by mistake.

On Friday night, as I left to pick up dinner, I came to the bottom of the stairs and was taken back when I saw a couple standing in the lobby. My initial shock soon turned into curiosity as the couple entered the unit in question. How could a couple live below us for almost a half a year and go virtually unnoticed? Better yet, how could someone live below us for that period of time and not introduce themselves to us? Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to have neighbors that don’t make a lot of noise, but I still believe in being “neighborly.”

I love pancakes! Indeed, they are my favorite breakfast food. While I usually refrain from buying pancakes at a fast-food restaurant, I was running late for work yesterday and really craving pancakes. I had no choice but to stop at a McDonald’s I pass on my walk from the parking garage to my office.

Out of respect to my health and my animal rights’ friends, I rarely eat at McDonald’s, but I do visit this particular McDonald’s on an almost daily basis for coffee. As such, the staff is very familiar with me.

I proceeded to order my pancakes and coffee and noticed only one pack of syrup in the bag . Keep in mind, an order of pancakes at McDonald’s consists of three pancakes–one pack of syrup will not cut it.

I asked for a second packet and was told it would cost me 27 cents for an extra packet. I glared at the manager, then at the lone syrup packet in my bag. I noticed a tear in the packaging and brought it to the manager’s attention. She offered to replace the packet and then offered to give me a second packet for–get this–25 cents. A whole 2 cents savings!

Again, I glared at the manager and said, “that is not good enough.” Her expression was if I asked her to give me a New York strip. I reminded her that I was a loyal customer and that they would lose far money by refusing to give me the syrup since I would end my daily coffee patronage. Finally, she relented and gave me the second package of syrup.

Has it really come to this? Is the recession so deep that McDonald’s must charge 27 cents for syrup? Is this really going to drive their food costs up?

In a few weeks, we say goodbye to the aughts. It seems only fitting that we provide you, our readers, with our own “best of” lists. What better way to kick it off than with our “Best Albums of the Decade.”

For me, it’s been a decade of great discovery musically–one where I’ve opened myself to new artists and genres–and moved past some of my previous biases. The 1990′s were marked by great albums with huge commercial success. It seems like everyone had a copy of Ten, Nevermind and OK Computer. Times have changed and the manner in which we consume our music has evolved. Gone are the days where terrestrial radio dictates what we listen to and no longer do we go to our local music store to purchase our favorite CD’s.

Instead, we turn to the Internet–to download, share, listen and get recommendations. This has paved the way for artists who lack traditional commercial appeal to find their way into the home of every American.  Most of the albums on this list, never dominated the charts, but each one packed an emotional punch from beginning to end and provided the listener endless pleasure.

With that said, this selection process was not without a system. My iPod contains all 10 albums. I have carefully analyzed my listening stats for each album, averaging the ranking of all the songs on an album, using the iPod 5 star ranking system. In the event of a tie, I moved to the average number of listens per song for an album.

1.)    Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground

Bright Eyes

Saddle Creek Records, 2002

Seattle played a major role in defining the music of the 1990’s and while no one city has dominated the music world like Seattle in the aughts, the closest thing we had was the Midwest scene in towns like Lawrence, Kansas, Omaha, Nebraska, and Columbia, Missouri.

Seattle’s Sub Pop Records introduced the world to Nirvana, arguably Seattle’s most influential band. Omaha’s Saddlecreek Records, introduced the world to Bright Eyes, arguably the most influential band in the Midwestern sound and possibly the defining sound of the 2000’s. Nirvana already had a loyal following prior to the release of Nevermind, but it was that album’s release that earned them mainstream success. Similarly, Lifted earned Bright Eyes, already a favorite among the indie crowd, a mainstream following.

No album of the decade captures the post-9/11 angst many Americans my age felt. Indeed, Lifted marked Conor Oberst’s first overt attempt to fuse his music with politics and his own unique brand of existential dread, as evidenced by the opening lines of the albums’ first song, “The Big Picture” (The picture is far too big to look at kid/ Your eyes won’t open wide enough and you are constantly surrounded by that swirling stream of what is and what was./Well, we’ve all made our predictions but the trust still isn’t out/So if you want to see the future, go stare into a cloud.).

These themes continue throughout the album, hitting emotional crescendos in songs like “Waste of Paint” and “Don’t Know When But a Day Is Gonna Come” and my personal favorite song of the decade, “Let’s Not Shit Ourselves (To Love and To Be Loved)”.

I first discovered Bright Eyes in 2001, at the end of a dark chapter in my life. A friend gave me a copy of Fevers and Mirrors and I listened to it religiously. I bought Lifted the day it was released and I credit it for keeping me sane through the majority of the Bush years.  I knew at that point the album was special, but it wasn’t until I began this project to compile the best albums of the decade that I realized just how special it was and remains.

2.)  The Moon & Antarctica

Modest Mouse

Epic Records, 2000

Modest Mouse achieved their greatest commercial success starting in 2004 with their release of Good New for People Who Love Bad News. However, this Seattle act has been rocking since 1993.  The Moon & Antarctica represents their most complete album with hardly any blemishes. Compared to their albums, The Moon is much more instrumental driven, featuring numerous memorable guitar riffs, some of which have permeated our popular culture. Nissan used the opening to “Gravity Rides Everything” in an ad campaign a few years back. With that said, Modest Mouse manages to avoid being superfluous with their music, never allowing their instruments to overshadow the deeper meaning of their songs. Indeed, their unique sound provides an ethereal backdrop for delivering a chilling, often heart wrenching message.

Though not a concept album by definition, the songs blend perfectly together. I divide the album into three parts and an epilogue. The first part begins with Track #1, “3rd Planet” and culminates with “Perfect Disguise.” Part Two  begins with “Tiny Cities Made of Ashes” and climaxes with “The Stars Are Projectors,” the most powerful song on the album. The third part begins “Wild Packs of Family Dogs” and ends with “Lives.” While “Life Like Weeds” and “What People Are Made Of” combine to form the perfect postscript.

3.)  Picaresque

The Decemberists

Kill Rock Stars, 2005

I was a little surprised at how well Picaresque scored when I started going through the numbers on my iPod. I knew the album would make my Top 10 list, but I didn’t remember how great this album is until I actually started going through it again. While the Top 2 spots are held down by albums full of melancholy, Picaresque is much more lively and fun. The Decemberists don’t shy away from dark subject matter, but beginning with the high-energy “The Infanta” on track 1 you get a totally different vibe. What sticks out most about the album, and can be found in most of The Decmberists work, is the tight narratives that hold the songs together. Frontman Colin Meloy is a master of the use of imagery within a song, the likes of which we have not seen since Paul Simon. As you listen to the songs, Meloy paints a vivid picture, so the experience becomes as much visual as audible. Some even remind us of some of the great writers of the English language. The first time I heard “The Mariner’s Revenge Song,” I could not help but think of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” While the plots aren’t the same, the structure that both Coleridge and Meloy employed are similar.

If you want a small sample of this album’s greatness, I recommend “Eli, the Barrow Boy.” It is a perfect example of the imagery and narrative I discussed above and my personal favorite from the album.

4.)   Kid A

Radiohead

EMI, 2000

One album sure to be on every “best of the decade” list is Radiohead’s Kid A. Since it’s release, Radiohead fans and music fans alike have debated over the meaning of the album. The commonly held belief is that it is a concept album about the world’s first human clone, “Kid A.” Musically and stylistically, the album represented a break from the Radiohead of the 1990′s and defined the Radiohead sound of the aughts. The songs feature electronic sounds and vocal distortions, rarely used in the group’s first three CD’s, but that have been more common in their more recent work. I love Radiohead, but would never have the audacity to claim to be an expert on the band. I know they have a very loyal fan base and out of respect to that fan base I will refrain from commenting too much on the album. I don’t need to!  The album speaks for itself. I will say that “How to Disappear Completely” is my favorite Radiohead song and “Optimistic” is not too far behind.

5.)  Backspacer

Pearl Jam

Monkeywrench, 2009

This choice will not surprise many of who know me and understand my love of Pearl Jam. Simply put, the best  Pearl Jam album since No Code and the best album released by anyone in 2009. I doubt Backspacer will win over many new fans to the band, but Pearl Jam has a well established fan base and those fans, including myself, can see the growth this band has experienced over the years. Perhaps it’s the new President or maybe it’s being free of a major label and allowed to express their artistic freedom, but Eddie Vedder and the entire band seem almost happy for the first time in their career. Indeed, on the album’s firs track, “Gonna See My Friend”, a song about addiction, Vedder expresses a common theme for the album, “I’m gonna shake this thing/I wanna shake this pain before I retire.” For the past twenty years, Pearl Jam has rocked against the establishment with a youthful exuberance and proud ideology. While they remain true to those principles, it seems like they’ve learned, through experience, that in spite of the problems the world presents, there are many places to find a respite and some inner peace.

One of those places seems to be their own music. No longer trying to please a record executive, the band can make music they want to hear. Backspacer is much more up tempo and high energy than the band’s previous releases. It’s almost as if they’ve had all this energy stored, throughout the years, and finally have an outlet to express it.

Vedder also looks to love as a means to some inner peace. In “Amongst the Waves,” a song that traces the path of a relationship, Vedder writes, “if not for love I would be drowning/I’ve seen it work both ways, I’m up/Riding high among the waves/I can feel like I have a soul that has been saved.” On “Just Breathe”, we see Vedder adopt the acoustic style he favored for his recent solo work to carve out an old fashioned love song. They return to the sea analogy and more hints of love in the anthem, “Force of Nature”–the best song on the album.

6.)  Tennessee

Lucero

Madjack Records, 2002

“Alt-country” experienced a boom in popularity during the decade. From some of the early pioneers of the genre like Ryan Adams and the Old 97′s, to the new blood of bands like My Morning Jacket and Drive-By Truckers, the music permeated the landscape and found it’s way into other genres as well. One band in the genre that is often overlooked is Lucero. I first saw Lucero play a show around the time they released Tennessee. At the time, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to find decent entertainment during a weekend trip to Little Rock and just happened to walk into a Lucero show. I had never heard of the band and did not know what to expect, but to this day I rank it as one of the best shows I have ever been to.  The band played festivals all over the country in support of Tennessee and earned a loyal following.  One of the best reviews I read regarding Tennessee upon its release compared Ben Nichols’ vocals to a “country” Kurt Cobain. Indeed, there is a grittiness to his voice and it is that distinctive voice that draws the listener into the lyrics. Once drawn in, the band takes the listener or a journey into dance halls, honky tonks and little roadside dives all across the United States. This is especially true with tracks like “Slow Dancing”, “Nights Like These” and “Here at the Starlite.” Since the release of Tennessee, Lucero has experienced some mainstream success, but still doesn’t get the respect of My Morning Jacket or Drive-By Truckers. Take it from me, they have done more for the country rock genre than anyone since Gram Parsons.

7.)  The Blueprint

Jay-Z

Roc-A-Fella/Island Def Jam, 2001

As a teen in the early 90′s, I became a huge fan of the rap and hip-hop of the time. I still count Dr. Dre’s The Chronic as one of the top 5 albums of any genre and I loved everything 2Pac put out, but when 2Pac died the genre seemed to fade as well. Instead of remaining true to telling stories of the streets, rap and hip-hop evolved into a philistine, pseudo-art form. It reminded me of the evolution of rock. In the 60′s and 70′s, rock was defined by truly talented artists writing great songs of political and social importance. In the 80′s, hair bands started hijacking the genre and rock went from fighting “the man” to one big party, full of booze, Aqua Net and strippers. When rap and hip-hop laid down their guns and picked up the bling, the music took a serious hit. Sure, it was easier for a suburban audience to consume, and thus more profitable, but it just wasn’t the same as the great music I experienced in middle school and high school.

For years, I refused to listen to any “new” rap or hip-hop, including some of Jay-Z’s earlier stuff, but when I first heard The Blueprint I heard an edge that had been missing from the genre for far too long.  Without a doubt, this is the best rap/hip-hop album released since the death of 2Pac. At the beginning of “The Ruler’s Back,” Jay-Z announces “what you about to witness is just my thoughts.” When I heard those words, I knew real hip-hop was back.

8,)  Dear Catastrophe Waitress

Belle & Sebastian

Rough Trade, 2003

If I had to use one word to describe this album it would be “fun.” At the end of the day, sometimes music needs to be fun. In Dear Catastrophe Waitress, Belle & Sebastian reaches back into the annals of music and channels the spirit of so many of the great “British invasion” bands. Catchy tunes and whimsical lyrics abound on this album, including the title track.

As a fan of classic rock, I simply love the Thin Lizzy inspired “I’m a Cuckoo.” The baseball fan in me laughs at the tongue and cheek humor found in “Piaza, New York Catcher.” No matter what life may throw my way, I can listen to this album and know that at the end I will be in  a much better mood. It may not be as great or artistic as some of their recordings from the 90′s and, yes, it was released at a point when their music was becoming far more commercial, but when you stack it up against the rest of the music of the decade, this one definitely lands in the Top 10.

9.)  Cassadaga

Bright Eyes

Saddle Creek, 2007

The second Bright Eyes album to make our list is a much more polished version than the first and finds Conor Oberst refining many of the styles he experimented with on Lifted, most notably the alt-country genre. Indeed, if you listen closely you can hear the influence of The Byrds’ Sweethearts of the Rodeo stage and Gram Parsons.

The pedal steel plays in the background, mixing beautifully with Oberst’s Dylan-like delivery of lyrics on “If the Brakeman Turns My Way”.  On “Four Winds”, Oberst puts an alt-country twist on William Butler Yeats’ “Second Coming”.  Perhaps the most moving of all the songs on the album is the haunting “Middleman,” a collection of beautifully played strings mixed  with the distant howling of a woodwind section creates a symphony of sorrow best enjoyed alone.In “I Must Belong Somewhere”, Oberst points a mirror directly at America, causing each of us to pause and question our society and culture–the sign of a true artist.

10.)  Fever to Tell

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Interscope Geffen, 2003

I never got the chance to visit CBGBs. When I listen to Fever to Tell, I like to imagine that this is what it sounded like back in its prime. Lead singer Karen O is our generation’s Patti Smith and the music’s raw energy makes you want to jump out of your seat and move along with the beat. The album is best known for the single “Maps”, which received heavy radio play, but relatively speaking it’s a “weak” song when compared to the rest of the album. The one-two combination of “Rich” and “Date With the Night” gets the album off to a fast start, which continues up until “Maps” when the album takes a decidedly slower turn, not that it’s a bad turn. In fact, the closing trio of “Maps”, “Y Control” and “Modern Romance” caps the album off nicely.

Honorable Mentions

Lost Souls – Doves

Bleed American – Jimmy Eat World

You Are the Quarry – Morrissey

Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant – Belle & Sebastian

Living in America – The Sounds

My good friend, Brian Cuban, recently penned an article for his blog regarding the “death of small town America.” In the piece, Cuban opens with details of his recent trip to celebrate Thanksgiving in East Texas and laments the condition of one specific town, Atlanta, Texas, but extends the content of his post to small towns all over our country, where the downtown area is full of vacant buildings and the economy is dead.

Cuban contends that Wal-Mart is to blame for the demise of Atlanta and other small towns all across the land. While Wal-Mart definitely played in a role in the death of small town America, other factors contributed and deserve a full and open discussion.

In full disclosure, my family’s roots in the Atlanta area go back through at least the mid point of the nineteenth century.  Though I don’t live there now, this area will always be “home.”  I know the land and the people and understand all too well the political and economic forces that make the community, and others like it, tick.

What’s happened in Atlanta in has been going on for centuries.

Consider the fact that immediately following the Civil War, as most of the state lay barren and uninhabited, the bustling river port of Jefferson (@ 30 miles south of Atlanta) had a population of around 30,000. This might not sound like a lot by today’s standards, but in the 1860′s and 1870′s only Houston and Austin had a larger population in the state. Legend has it that railroad tycoon, Jay Gould, cursed the city for their refusal to allow him to put his railroad through the town. Historians will tell you it was the Corps of Engineers ability to finally remove the Great Raft from the Red River, resulting in dropping water levels in Big Cypress Bayou making it no longer navigable, that brought around the eventual demise of Jefferson. Whatever the case may be, Jefferson now has a population of around 2,000 and an economy that’s not much better than Atlanta’s. It’s worth noting, there is no Wal-Mart in Jefferson.

Brian and I had Thanksgiving in Kilgore, Texas, an East Texas city with a similar history to Jefferson. In the 1930′s, oil was discovered in Kilgore and other East Texas communities like New London and Joinerville. Soon boom towns sprung up all over the area. The population and economy in the area soared. At one time, over 1,200 oil wells pumped inside the city limits of Kilgore alone.  While oil still means a lot to the economy in Kilgore, the boom long subsided and downtown Kilgore continues to struggle. I lived in Kilgore for a couple of years and residents continually refused to build a Super Wal-Mart for fear of what it would do to the local economy. Finally, after I moved in 2002, Kilgore gave in and they now have a Super Wal-Mart. The economy seems to be as stagnant as it was  before, but no worse than the pre-Supe Wal-Mart days.

The reason that these East Texas communities continue to struggle is not because a large corporation chose to build a discount super store, but rather the absence of real capital.  In the 1860′s and 1870′s, Jeffersonians made the most of their capital–their bustling river port. Once it dried up, many of the investors that contributed to the growth of the city left, leaving those who could not afford to leave to rot in the economic decay. Similarly, the discovery of oil led to an influx of capital from every major oil company in the world into the East Texas region. Once the oil became harder to find, the investors began to pull out, leaving behind a work force largely unqualified to do anything else except work in the oil fields.

The problem becomes worse when people in my generation leave to get an education, establish themselves professionally and then don’t return to the area. It’s similar to the cause of urban decay, where the “have’s” escape to the suburbs, leaving the “have not’s” in the urban core.

In spite of all this, the people of East Texas are persistent as the native pine trees, roots planted firmly in the ground, capable of withstanding all that life may throw their way. Neither the Corps of Engineers, nor “big oil”, nor Wal-Mart will destroy these towns. It would help if the Federal government got off the backs of these good people and loosen regulations on the two industries that this region depends on more than any others–timber and oil–but it’s not in the East Texan’s nature to complain, but rather to deal with life deals them. Just like they have in the past, East Texans will survive this current economic storm and come out better for the most part than their urban counterparts.

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Now playing: Graham Nash/David Crosby – Immigration Man
via FoxyTunes

Since getting my first iPod as a gift some four years ago, I’ve downloaded countless gigs of all forms of media. One of my favorite things to download is podcasts. Over the last few years, I’ve tried out hundreds of different podcasts, but have now narrowed it down to 15 or 20 that I listen to on a regular basis. I thought I would share with you my top 5 podcasts:

1.) Slate Culture Gabfest – This is a must listen if you want to stay current on all things related to culture. The shows regular panel consists of Dana Stevens, Julia Turner and Stephen Metcalf, though they are frequently joined by other members of the Slate.Com staff. The content leans towards the “high brow” and much of it involves material published in Northeast publications (i.e. New York Times, The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, etc.), but it provides an inside look at what intellectual elitists all over the nation are talking about.  The most recent episode included a review of the controversial new Lee Daniels’ movie Precious, a review of the Ian McEwan novel Black Dogs to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and Jim Windolf’s recent Vanity Fair article on “cuteness.”

2.)  Slate Political Gabfest – Functions in pretty much the same fashion as the Culture Gabfest–three person panel discusses three issues–only involving politics instead of cultural issues. The normal panel consists of John Dickerson, Emily Bazelon and Slate managing editor, David Plotz. Be warned, the panel leans Left–far Left, but it’s entertaining and informative all the same.

3.) Anything You Ever Wanted to Know – This show is produced by KERA, Dallas’ local public radio station. The show airs each Friday afternoon, but I always listen to it via podcast. The show provides an open forum for listeners to submit questions, either on the phone or through e-mail, to be answered by other members of the listening audience and is moderated by Jeff Whittington. Over the past three years, I’ve learned some fascinating things from the show.

4.) The Writer’s Almanac Podcast – Hosted by Garrison Keillor, the show serves as a “this day in literary history” for lovers of words.  Normally, Keillor lists off several key events for each day and then will focus heavily on one birthday or event before reading a selected “poem of the day.” More than anything else, the show has introduced me to some great new poetry.

5.) NPR Playback – While the other podcasts I listed are released on a weekly or daily basies, the NPR Playback podcast is released on a monthly basis and features audio clips from the archives from 20 years prior. For example, the November podcast features audio from NPR segments from November 1984. I love being transported back to the 80′s and this podcast does just that.

As a lifelong Cowboys fan, I like to think of our fan base as one big family. As such, we come together to help our family members out, especially when it involves watching and rooting on our beloved Cowboys. I’ve been given a message from a loyal Cowboys fan in East Texas that a part of our family may be denied that opportunity. Now East Texas is strong Cowboys country; however, this portion of East Texas is actually in the Shreveport media market.

The Shreveport Fox station, KMSS, is running a poll to see which NFL game they should show at noon on November 22, 2009. Of course, we play the Redskins, but the Saints play Tampa Bay during that same time slot. As part of the Cowboys fan base, we need to do everything possible to make sure our “family” in East Texas, Southwest Arkansas and Northwest Louisiana get to watch this game on their local television station. Please visit the station’s website and click on the icon on the right to get to the voting screen. You’ll have to register for a free account, but it’s worth it to help out fellow Cowboys fans.

As you might imagine, the Shreveport area has a strong Saints fan base as well and the Shreveport Fox station (and CBS back in the day) have been known to show Saints games over Cowboys games from time to time.Whenever this happens, there is an uproar from the Cowboys fan base. It seems like it would happen at least once a year when I was a kid and it was always a disappointing week. I live in Dallas now, so we’re not doing this for me. I’ll get to see the game.

Do it for the kids, the 4 or 5 year old kid who loves the Dallas Cowboys and wants to watch them with his daddy. Do it for the elderly grandmother in East Texas who only turns her TV on to watch the evening news and the Cowboys. Most of all, do it for our family.

Remember, this is Louisiana we’re dealing, a land famous for rigged elections. If we want the Cowboys to win this vote, we’re going to have to play by ACORN rules.

Today was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. It’s the type of day when you search for any sort of news story that will bring a smile to your face. I stumbled upon this story on the Tyler Morning Telegraph’s website. Initially, I was struck by the by-line that mentioned something about a homeowner holding a robber at gun point with his pants around his ankles. Once I got into the story, I learned that it was actually members of Earl Campbell’s family. I applaud the Campbell family for their heroic stand against this criminal low life.

The Dallas Morning News ran an interesting story in their “East Dallas blog” regarding a cyclist running over a runner involved in a race a White Rock Lake. If you have ever been to White Rock Lake on a Saturday, you know that it is full of Lance Armstrong wannabes, so the story doesn’t surprise me at all.

What did surprise me was the response to the blog post. It generated a spirited debate regarding who should have the right of way at White Rock Lake–runners or bikers?

To me, it illustrates the audacity of cyclists. I’m sure there are many “good” cyclists in the D/FW Metroplex, but the “bad” cyclists are far more visible, especially in my neighborhood.

The cyclists I see riding through my neighborhood appear to be caught up in their own world, totally oblivious to their surrondings. If I get behind one of them in my car, they make no attempt to get over. What’s worse, they turn without signaling. Everyone learns the proper hand signals to use for turning when they first learn to ride a bike and you are reminded of them when you get your driver’s license, so I see no reason why these cyclists do not signal except for bravado and arrogance. Further, these cyclists seem to feel that the rules of the road do not belong to them. I don’t think I have ever seen one cyclist stop at a stop sign.

Yes, cyclists annoy me. These “bad” cyclists ruin the name of all cyclists. Perhaps the “good” cyclists out there should take upon themselves to hold the “bad” cyclists accountable for their actions or, in the alternative, our communities should look into placing stricter restrictions on cycling.

First, I’d like to apologize to my loyal readers. I’m using August as a vacation of sorts, to regroup and reset my blog. I’ll have some very exciting news to share regarding a new blog I’m launching within the next few weeks, so stayed tune.

Until then, football season is upon us and we need to talk some football. A couple of quick questions I thought about over my lunch break:

1.) I’m a life long Dallas Cowboys fan. I was 11 years old when Jerry Jones bought this team and fired my childhood hero, Tom Landry. During the past 20 years, I’ve experienced the highest highs and lowest lows with my team. Through it all, I’ve remembered not to give Jerry too much credit for the glory days and not to throw too much blame his way for the lean years.

I realize that Jerry’s personality rubs some people the wrong way, but I also realize that many of those same personality traits are traits necessary to building a winner. Jerry wants to win and will spare no cost in the attempt to reach his ultimate goal.

Why then do so many Cowboys fans despise Jerry so much? Do they not realize that the Cowboys owner wants to win more than any other owner in the NFL?

Does he make some bone headed decisions? Yes, but we all make mistakes.

2.) There is a small, but vocal, contingency of Rangers fans out there who complain about the amount of attention being placed on the Rangers wild card chase compared to Cowboys preseason action. They seem to be offended that more people want to watch a Cowboys preseason game than a Rangers regular season game.  At this point, ”baseball hubris” kicks in.

“Baseball hubris” is a trait possessed by some hardcore baseball fans who feel that baseball is the only true sports and all others should be ignored. They’ll berate the other leagues and belittle the fans of sports.  

I love baseball, but I don’t get “baseball hubris”. I think football, basketball and golf all have something to offer as well.  In the professional ranks, my love for the Cowboys has never caused me to hate the Rangers or Mavericks. In fact, I find that my love for these teams compliment one another.

Why is it that some Rangers fans HATE the Cowboys (and the NFL) so much?