L.A. Freeways
Have a way of making time
For yawning and a dreaming
'Bout an old flame of mine
I can almost see her
In the hill country dew
All lit up like diamonds
When the sun comes shining through

(Chorus 1)
I love Texas
I love the way she feels
In the moonlight
When everything is still
My body might wander
But my heart never roams
I love Texas
That's where I call home.

All the folks out here don't understand
Because they've never seen
Bluebonnets on the hillside
In the country, in the spring
Or the banks of the Guadalupe
Beneath a cypress tree
Fishing for the big one
My dog Jack and me.

(Chorus 2)
I love Texas
I love the way she smells
In the spring time
When everything is still
My body might wander
But my heart never roams
I love Texas
That's where I call home

(Bridge)
Then the guy behind me blows his horn
And I remember where I'm at
I'd trade this suit for some dungarees
And this car for an old straw hat
To be with some worthless Cowboys
Sitting round a fire
Telling jokes and telling lies
And playing the Wildwood Flower

Aw, let's go down to Texas.

9:45:33 PM    What do you think?  []  trackback []

Apparently, Clinton Portis, a second year running back from Denver, will be traded to the Washington Redskins for Champ Bailey, a fifth year, Pro Bowl cornerback, and a second round pick. In the trade, Portis will become the highest paid running back in league history, earning $50.5 million over the next eight years, an average of $6.31 million a year. How is this possible you ask, dear reader? I ask myself the same damn question. But first, some useful data on the players involved. As noted above, Portis will be a third year back. He was slated to make. . .wait, you should be seated for this, so sit down. . .ok he was slated to make $380K this year and $455K next. So assuming this trade is consummated, he will have just gotten an almost $6 million dollar raise next year. But that's not the shocker. The shocker is that the Redskins were under no pressure to do a deal because Portis had already said, in a rare, wonderful moment of team spirit, that he would not hold out in camp if his contract wasn't renegotiated. Plus, because he was currently under contract, Washington had no obligation to renegotiate his contract. It would have been perfectly acceptable to let him play a year, evaluate his ability, and then renegotiate the contract. Instead, the Redskins make him the highest paid running back in league history? Ay carumba.

So how can this make financial sense? I have no idea. You have a second year back who ranked third in the league last year, behind TCU product LaDainian Tomlinson and just barely ahead of Fred Taylor, two backs playing on terrible teams. You have a second year back who played in Denver, a team notorious for churning out backs (Mike Anderson and Olandis Gary come to mind) that weren't nearly as good as their stats given the fact they ran behind an amazing line. And this is the guy that Daniel Snyder is making the highest paid running back in NFL history? The thought boggles my mind.

Dan Snyder, owner of the Redskins, cannot be accused of making smart football decisions. Granted, he did manage to hire Joe Gibbs back this offseason after his experiment with Steve "I can't believe I can't play golf on Saturday" Spurrier but other than that, he's done nothing for the team since buying it. He's overspent on washed up veterans, he's meddled unnecessarily in team affairs, and he's generally made a nuisance of himself. But this deal tops them all. He's managed to trade away a pretty damn good cornerback (Pro Bowl, remember?!?) and a draft pick for a second year player with no real track record. It seems to me that the clear advantage goes to Denver in this deal.

The real winner in all this though is Portis. Of course, he just became an instant millionaire but avoiding injury, he would have done that anyway. Whether he continues to be successful remains to be seen. But what I find to be his most redeeming quality is his genuineness during the proceedings, committing to camp regardless of the outcome. This is something so rare to see in professional sports today and somewhere deep, it warms my heart. I hope that he's successful in Washington. I just don't expect him to be.
8:56:36 PM    What do you think?  []  trackback []

My own views on this are that both Clinton and Bush have failed in killing known terrorists when they could. I don't believe terrorists should be brought to justice, I think justice should be brought to them. If we had the chance to kill Zarqawi and passed, the blood of 145 innocents in Iraq may be on Bush's hands today. But he's not the only one who had the chance and passed so there's plenty of blame to pass around, Clinton included. Eventually, our good nature and civility has to come to an end in a justifiable Jacksonian wrath.
8:30:08 PM    What do you think?  []  trackback []