The quarterback from Texas State U.

If you remove the two underclassmen who may not turn pro, the third highest-rated college quarterback that awaits the NFL draft next spring is Barrick Nealy of Texas State University.

That's the college in San Marcos formerly known as Southwest Texas State University. They're called the Bobcats. Grrrrowwlllll.

Nealy, from Dallas, first went to the University of Houston, where as a redshirt freshman he was starting quarterback for the mighty Coogs, but then he hurt his knee and after that his coach got fired. That's how he ended up in San Marcos.

He's 6-foot-5, 230 pounds and has a cannon for a right arm. They say he runs like the wind. Golly, I wonder if UH coulda used him this year.
[gbnreport.com]
[txstatebobcats.com]

2 sports items

1. Peter King, answering a question from "Felipe in Houston," predicts Cam Cameron, the offensive coordinator in San Diego, will be the new coach of the Houston Texans.
[si.com]

2. At what point in the War on Drugs timeline did retired football player-turned-ESPN-commentator getting caught with a pot pipe become Major News? Just wondering. Did you know that more than 16,000 people in the USA each year are killed by drunken drivers?
[espn.com]

Stephen F. Austin Statue @ Daybreak

 
I was doing my usual early morning tai-chi out by the highway when I paused to take this picture today. It was 7 a.m. 

It's Not Even December Yet

 
 

Whataburger Wins Best Fast Food Poll; Now Vote on Best Xmas Song!

Ya'll like your Whataburgers.

In Banjo's Mini-Poll, 31% said Whataburger is the best fast food.

Chick-Fil-A came in 2nd with 18%, followed by Wendy's 11%, Taco Bell and McDonald's 6%, Burger King, Long John Silver's and Jack in the Box 5%, and Kentucky Fried Chicken and Sonic with 3 percent. (80 votes were cast)

Harmon Dobson began Whataburger in 1950 in South Texas. If you want to start a Whataburger franchise you'll need a lot of money.

To help get you in the holiday spirit, our new poll asks what your favorite Christmas song is. The selections were chosen from this list, except for the last choice.

Cows on parade

 
More on the Banjo Pics. 

Paul McCartney in Houston

I finally saw a Beatle after listening to their music for 42 years. And what would the chances be, out of around 20,000 people in the Toyota Center, I'd be seated next to drunkest person in the house?

The night got off to a promising start. We bought our tickets the night of the concert -- floor seats, Section E, row 14, seats 1 & 5. Two seats together couldn't be purchased since it was the night of the concert, but we figured we'd just trade with someone in order to sit together, since the atmosphere of the night was bound to be overflowing with peace, love and understanding.

Standing in line waiting to go in, we met a 14-year-old girl and her mother from Suglar Land. The teen-ager was the big Beatles fan. She had all their music, read all the books. I couldn't tell her anything she didn't already know, including the fact that the original manuscript for the new Beatles bio came in at 2,000-plus pages. The kid already had asked for the book for Christmas.

Once inside, we found our seats. I went ahead and sat in Seat 2 next to my executive assistant. Finally a fellow comes in alone and sits down in Seat 4. I strike up a conversation, hoping to befriend the guy before the music starts to pave the way for the seat reshuffling. He immediately launches into an explanation of what a big influence the Beatles has been on him, his family and all his friends. Oh, you play? I used to, he said. Then he started mumbling and jabbering in a language I didn't understand, and I realized, uh-oh, he's really, really drunk. I don't think he ever comprehended that I told him my actual seat was seat #5, next to his seat #4, but that I wanted to sit in seat #2.

I backed off, not wanting to encourage further conversation. He'd say something that appeared to be directed at me, I'd look at him briefly, smile, and shake my head yes, then turn away quickly.

When the music started, the other two people on our aisle hadn't shown up. So it was me and my executive assistant in seats 1 & 2, seat 3 empty, seat 4 occupied by the drunk and seat 5 unoccupied.

But after the first song started, the two other people showed up, a guy and his date. They slid in between me and the drunk. The whole crowd was standing, of course, so it wasn't a problem, but soon enough, the guy looks at his ticket and says he has seat #2. I tell him, over the din of the music, that I wanted the guy to our left so slide over a seat to make room. He tries to talk to the drunk but isn't getting through. I try to talk to him and he looks at me confused. But everyone's still standing, so it's not really a problem.

Still, it's an 2-hour-plus concert, and there comes a time to sit down (this is, after all, a middle-aged crowd).

The guy next to me tries to ask the drunk to slide over again and he suddenly blows up, launching a few F-bombs and inexplicably saying he offered to switch seats with me before the music started and I "f'ing" didn't want to.

I excused myself, get up and make my way to the bathroom, thinking when I return I'll just plop myself down in seat #5. No big deal, really.
But when I get back I find my executive assistant in seat #4, formerly occupied by the drunk, and seat #3 sitting there for me, while the guy and his date are in seats 1 & 2, happy as clams. They even insisted on high 5'ing me and my assistant, apparently relieved there was no physical violence to mar the evening.

What happened, I asked my EA?

She said she simply told the guy and his date to let her handle the drunk. She moved over next to where he was standing and asked him if he was having a great time. He was! He was! He pointed over to a friend of his, Jerry, who sitting in the next section. Jerry, apparently, is a musician, and the drunk kept yelling at him, waiving him, and saying he thinks Jerry's gonna get up on stage with McCartney any minute for a guest turn on the guitar. The executive assistant waves and hollers at Jerry, too.

While they're both standing and the music's going full tilt, my executive assistant every minute or so would scootch her left leg over a few inches and sidle to the left. After a song's worth of this shuffling she was standing in front of seat #4 and the drunk was in front of seat #5. When the time was exactly right, she plopped down in seat #4. The drunk didn't say a word. He was just happy to be in the midst of Sir Paul and looking forward to see his friend Jerry take the stage with the living legend (which didn't happen, by the way.)

The rest of the concert went well. I even liked the Wings songs, and I was never a big Wings fan. Best Beatle song of the night? I'd vote for "I've Got a Feeling," followed close by "I'll Follow the Sun," "Please, Please Me" and "Hey Jude."

The rest of the concert was super, but just after the first encore, the drunk leaned over and hurled in the seats in front of us. Luckily, the people in front were standing, not seated. The drunk lurched out and exited into the night. The row in front of us cleared out, too, and we followed suit, in order to avoid the stench, though we stayed within hearing distance on the concourse to catch the last few songs.

All in all, despite the problems, a splendid time was guaranteed for all, and a splendid time was had by all, even though Henry the Horse did not dance the anticipated waltz.

New radio ratings out

New Arbitron radio ratings for the Houston-Galveston market (7th largest in USA) shows that KBXX-FM "The Box" is still Number One and Charlie Pallilo-led KBME-AM "The Sports Animal" is still Number 32, one slot below the broadcasting pride of Baytown, KWWJ-AM "Keep Walkin' With Jesus," which remains solid at Number 31. What does it mean? Charlie Pallilo might be able to beat J.C. in a sports trivia contest, but no matter how big a smarty pants he thinks he is, he's still not bigger than the Son of God -- at least not this ratings period.

[radio & records]

Charley Casserly: dead man walkin'?

If you're a fan of the Houston Texans, you probably know the story about how Charley Casserly landed the job of becoming the first general manager for the new Houston NFL franchise.

Casserly, who had been let go in Washington, wrote Bob McNair a handwritten-letter offering advice on what the new owner needed to do to get his expansion franchise off the ground. McNair hired him -- 30 months before the team played its first game.

Now that the Texans have established themselves as the worst team in the NFL in a season in which they were expected to make their first legitimate playoff run, the Casserly critics are coming out of the woodwork, saying, `See, I told you.'

On the website Pro Football Talk, they say Casserly has managed to escape intense media criticism by being a regular leaker to sportswriters, who feel beholden to him for giving them not-for-attribution scoops. It's the same thing politicians do to the media in Washington and Austin.

Anyhow, all bets are off now that it's become virtually impossible to ignore Casserly, given the Texans' huge flop.

"How long before people figure out Casserly?" asked one high-level league source who has been following Casserly's career closely since he became the General Manager of the Redskins in 1989.
Our source believes that Casserly's strategy of serving as a regular off-the-record source for many key members of the media has resulted in Casserly being insulated from criticism of any kind, even as the team that he built falls apart.

snip

...
Tackle Tony Boselli, Casserly's first selection in the expansion draft, was "one of the biggest mistakes in NFL history," said the source. Boselli retired in 2003 due to chronic shoulder problems and never played a down for the team.
"Casserly had all the time and resources in the world to get that right, physical and everything, and he blew it."
But let's not just consider Casserly's history with the Texans. His draft record with the Redskins is hardly stellar. Heath Shuler in 1994. Desmond Howard in 1992.
Coincidentally, in the same season that Casserly and the 'Skins wasted a first-rounder on Howard, they gave up on a 12th-round pick from 1991 named Keenan McCardell.
"The media has created the legend of Charley Casserly, but what has he done?" the source said. "The draft record and win record speak for itself."
We've always believed that the head coach and the G.M. should have equal accountability. Either both stay, or both go. So in the Texans' case, if the team is bad enough to prompt McNair to fire coach Dom Capers, McNair also should poop-can Casserly.
Based on the fruits of his five years of labor, it hardly could be characterized as undeserved.

[pro football talk]

The Chron shows its true color

The Houston daily has unveiled its new website design and it is orange. Burnt orange.

In the old days, the Chron "intelligentsia" was comprised of the "Baylor Mafia," so named because virtually all its top editors were educated at the Baptist university on the Brazos.

Most of these guys have been run off by now, and those that remain on the payroll have been banished to the This Week suburban section or assigned to other demeaning tasks.

In their place are the Teasips. Teasips is derogatory slang used for alumni of the University of Texas @ Austin. Hence the new burnt orange look on chron.com

Bloggers and commenters at places like blogHouston are weighing the pros and cons of the new web design, but they've missed the not-so-subtle, semi-subliminal message the new chron.com is putting out -- the Baylor Mafia sleeps with the fishes and the new hydra-headed capo of the Chron Family rode into town on a bull named Bevo.

The most obvious manifestation of the power shift is in the paper's editorial message.

In the Baylor Mafia days, the Chron's editorial stance was decidedly conservative. Nowadays, the editorial page message comports nicely with the thinking in the People's Republic of Travis County.

Is it any wonder? The paper's editorial board is chock full of Teasips:

Cohen, Campbell, Georgsson and Minshew all wear burnt orange underwear.

Sports? Led by Texas Ex Dan Cunningham.

Star Sports Columnist? Richard Justice, another 'Horn.

The Head Geek at chron.com is Dwight Silverman, another UT alum who is known as "Evil Dwight" to his colleagues. They have a bunch of other reporters and mid-level editors who bow before the Shrine of Darrell K. Royal each Saturday during football season, but there are too many to name. I do not know where they hold their secret meetings.

Personally, I don't have a problem with this, as I too am a Teasip. I honed my journalism ethics at the UT School of Communications and made a grade of `A' twice in Marxist philosophy. My graduating class in 1976 heard Bill Moyers give the commencement speech. I don't recall the topic, but it wasn't the joys of supply-side economics.

But if I was an Aggie (or a Cougar, Owl, Red Raider, etc.) I might have a problem with this decidedly slanted pro-UT influence that dominates the Houston daily. I might even cancel my subscription if I were them.

Making burnt orange the dominant color on the newspaper's redesigned website could be the Chron's idea of doing the right thing ethically in the interest of full disclosure.

Or, it could be the newspaper's way of rubbing its readers' noses in the UT takeover of the state's largest daily newspaper. Do you think it's just a coincidence that chron.com suddenly turned burnt orange when the Longhorn football finally beat OU after a 5-year drought and is headed for a possible national championship? I don't think so. These people are hungry. They not only want your hearts and minds and to control the flow of information. They also want to win the football trophy. And if they do, they won't paint the town red, they'll paint it burnt orange, just like their website.

Bill Simmons: The Sports Guy

Bill Simmons couldn't get a regular sportswriting job on a newspaper, so he started his own Website and wrote about sports and other stuff he and his pals always talked about.

Now he's bigger than just about any MSM sportswriter around. The keys to his success were not trying to be objective and not being ruined by traditional journalism training.

In an interview with the NYT, Simmons recalls meeting some of the sportswriters who held jobs to which he once aspired. He always came away confused.

As a devoted fan of Boston's teams, Mr. Simmons said, he never understood how people could gravitate toward sportswriting while professing not to care which team won, in the name of journalistic objectivity.

"I met the other reporters," Mr. Simmons said. "They were 300 pounds and miserable. I never understood why they didn't enjoy their jobs. It's weird to leave your passion at the door."

He recalled that once in a press box he asked another reporter who his favorite football team was. "He looked at me like I'd asked, 'Hey, ever had sex with a guy?' "

[NYT]

Banjo on the CNN show

The nice CNN Radio Magazine producer, Sherri Maksin, directed me to the podcast of the show I appeared on yesterday. See link below. I'm on the the last quarter of the Quicktime dealie that plays the show.

[cnn podcast for 11-17-05]

"Fabulous"

Based on my email, none of my readers heard my interview on CNN Radio this afternoon. I've been waiting all day for congratulatory messages, and I am still waiting.

As I reported yesterday, I was to be one of three guests on the afternoon "magazine" show hosted by Renay San Miguel, (pictured). One of the four segments was on "blogger rights."

First he interviewed Mark Jen, a guy who briefly worked for Google before he was fired for his blog. He wasn't very interesting.

Then Renay turned to me. I had the foresight to jot down a few thoughts the night before so I would sound smart. Still, I didn't know what Renay was going to ask me. (If they had told me what the questions were beforehand, that would be considered "unethical.")

Sure enough, one of Renay's questions dovetailed with some of my jotted-down, pre-show thoughts, and I was able to say on the air: "I was ahead of my time. The hayseeds who run the Houston Chronicle didn't know what a blog was 3 years ago. Now they have 20 of 'em. They've even linked to me!"

This blew Renay away, and he chuckled. He asked (paraphrasing here) if I called the Chronicle up and said, `Hey, how could you fire me for my blog and now link to the very blog you fired me for?' (or something along those lines.)

I said, "No, but it certainly was ironic."

Then I said something about bloggers get fired by their employers because "Corporate America is driven by fear."

Then, Renay was off talking to the Electronic Frontier Foundation representative, and I didn't really pay much attention to what he was saying cause the sound quality on my cell phone really isn't that great since I live so far out in the boonies.

My executive assistant, who was listening to the CNN Radio online stream, said I was quite good. She talked to one listener in California who said I was "fabulous."

I'm not sure I was fabulous, but I've always wanted to say the word "hayseed" on international radio, and now that I've done that, I feel pretty fabulous.

Emissions events never sleep

Chevron Phillips Chemical in Sweeny emitted a whole bunch more 1,3 Butadiene and benzene than originally reported a couple weeks ago during its 29-hour emissions event, but now they've corrected the record, because they care.

Nice weather we're having, eh? The heavier-than-usual smoke seen coming outta the Sweeny Refinery was due to
the addition of absorbent material into the regenerator flue gas line, in case you were curious.

Yeah, and BASF had a problem yesterday with a valve failure in the Syngas Unit. The emitted Butyraldehyde and other pollutants were routed to the flare per usual, so it's like it really didn't happen, in a way.

Zogby Poll: Kinky at 21%

The latest Zogby Poll shows independent Texas Guv candidate Kinky Friedman at 21%. He's still behind Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who had 41%, and Democratic ex-Congressman Chris Bell at 25%, but former Minnesota Guv Jesse Venture says that's real good. The Kinky campaign sent out this missive from Ventura today:

In 1998, my campaign didn't reach 20% in a likely voter poll until 10 days before the election. Ross Perot only received 19% in his presidential race in 1992, but Kinky is polling at 21% a full year before Election Day.

Remember, the Zogby poll really only counted voters that voted in the last Governor’s race. Since that was less than one third of the electorate, 21% is a pretty remarkable place for Kinky to be in this early.

I know about Texas pride; Texans like to be first in everything they do. Well, Minnesota's been the mecca of third-party politics for years. But Texas has a chance to steal the title from us.

Elect Kinky Friedman as your next Governor and the baton will be passed on to Texas. That's my challenge to you.

But Kinky can’t do it alone. He needs your help--your signature, your vote, and your dollars in his boot. Contribute now. Become a part of the revolution.

Governor Jesse Ventura

P.S.: Today on the Imus in the Morning radio show, Imus called the incument Texas governor Rick "I Wear My Wife's Panties" Perry. I'm not sure where that comes from, but it made me laugh. Is there something going on in the Governor's Mansion I don't know about?

Blogger "rights" to be discussed on CNN Radio

Do bloggers have rights?

Beyond the First Amendment free speech rights accorded to all American citizens, the answer is no.

In other words, you have the right to blog, but your employer, in most cases, has the right to fire you for it.

This may not seem fair, but it's the way it is.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is real interested in this topic and one of their representatives will be on CNN Radio tomorrow afternoon to talk about it.

Before the EFF guy goes on, they're gonna talk to Mark Jen, who worked at Google a couple weeks before they fired him for his blog, and to me.

Renay San Miguel will be hosting the CNN Radio discussion tomorrow, which should occur about 1:50 p.m. Texas time.

The nice producer, Sherry Maksin, who asked me to be on the show asked if they should introduce me as Banjo Jones or by my real name. I chose my real name. I'm not sure why.

Banjo's Mini Poll -- re: ghosts; now best f.f.

I have never seen a ghost, but there have been times, usually very early in the morning, when I have looked in the mirror and screamed like a girl.

Be that as it may, a majority of respondents (59%) to Banjo's Mini Poll said they have never seen a ghost. The rest (41%) said they have seen a ghost, or what they thought was a ghost.

Now on to more important matters: Who has the best "fast food"?

As always, please vote only once.

David Carr, nice guy quarterback

David Carr, quarterback for the Houston Texans, doesn't “hang out” with his offensive linemen, John McClain said on the radio the other day.

McClain, resident pro football expert at the Houston daily, said he was chatting with NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana about Carr when Montana asked if Carr socialized with the big guys who are paid to protect him.

The short answer is no. Carr goes to work early and leaves in the afternoon. This apparently is not good.

When McClain said he went over to the Houston Texans practice facility to tell Carr about his conversation with Montana, Carr already had gone home.

The theory, evidently, is that less socializing with teammates equals a lesser quality of that elusive “team chemistry” one hears so much about. That must not have been a high priority when Houston's NFL franchise decided to make Carr the quarterback. When the Texans spent their first pick in the team's inaugural college football draft, they knew what they were getting – a Dudley Do-Right.

Carr is religious, devoted to his wife and kids and attends Bible study classes. His dad, who moved to Sugar Land to be near his son, used to come to every one of his boy's Texans practice sessions, until the team finally told him, politely I'm sure, to butt out.

Now that the Texans are mired in a nightmare season, with only one win to show for all their carefully laid plans to build a team from the ground-up, the professional experts seem to be hinting that nice guys don't necessarily succeed in the blood 'n guts world of pro football.

Texans owner Bob McNair, it has been said, wants solid citizens on his team. It's good for public relations and apparently reflects the owner's personal values. Fair enough. It's his team.

But now that the team is struggling, and may very well end up with the worst record in the league this year, there's a feeling amongst some members of the disgruntled sporting public that they wouldn't mind having a quarterback who showed up once-in-a-while with a faint whiff of bourbon on his breath, a la Kenny Stabler or Dante Pastorini, who both once played quarterback for the late and almost-great Houston Oilers.

Along the same lines, Richard Justice, in his blog for the Houston daily, observed the other day that the Texans players essentially are colorless, drab fellows who never provide the local sports media with quippy quotes.

This, according to Justice, is just the way Mr. McNair & Co. wants it. Don't rock the boat, don't give the media anything remotely scandalous to harrumph about, etc.

That's fine if you win. But it's a cardinal sin, in the eyes of the media, if you're both a loser and don't have the decency to provide fodder for lively copy.

Oh, if only the local pro footballers had a little more Carl Mauch in them. Mauch, the center on the O.A. “Bum” Phillips-led Oilers, was always ready with the outrageous line, as was Bum, the most beloved coach in Houston's 40-something year pro football history.

Dom Capers, so far, is not beloved. You have to win to be beloved. Capers is remarkably composed and measured when he gets cornered by the media, which is happening with alarming regularity these days. He never blows his stack, never utters off-color language and never reflects the remotest level of frustration. If that isn't bad enough, he doesn't bother to wear colorful head apparel like Bum did.

Capers, in fact, is the grown-up embodiment of his franchise quarterback. A Dudley Do-Right. Not untalented, mind you, but maybe a just a little too nice for this business of professional football.

Of course, the theory on Carr falls apart when you consider the likes of Roger Staubach, a Dudley Do-Right if there ever was one, and Bart Starr, another fly-right QB.

But Staubach had Tom Landry, who possessed a keen football intellect under his fedora, and Starr had Vince Lombardi, who was a bit of a maniac.

So maybe that's the problem. It's not that David Carr is too nice, too religious and too family-oriented. But when his personality is combined with the calm, in-control, public relations-conscious Dom Capers, it's a tepid combination.

Maybe, and this is just a theory, Carr needs to start drinking or Capers needs to start wearing a fedora, or acting more like Lombardi.

B.P. -- Beyond Pathetic

Everytime I see one of British Petroleum's ads on TV, I can't help but think they should be spending that advertising money on the actual refining of fossil fuels cause so far they don't seem to have that process down pat just yet.

Instead of saying B.P. -- "Beyond Petroleum" -- maybe it oughta be B.P. -- "Beyond Pathetic" -- or B.P. -- ""Buffoonish Prigs."

If you're vaguely familiar with current events here in the Petrochemical Underarm of Texas, you'll recall that 15 workers were killed and 170 injured in an explosion at B.P.'s Texas City refinery last March.

Preliminary findings disclose that the thing that let flammable material to escape -- a blowdown drum -- should have been connected to a flare under a recommendation made by the previous plant owner, Amoco. That never was done.

The preliminary findings were released Oct. 27, so that's kinda old news, but then on Friday the state released information that B.P.'s Texas City plant faces a $15,990 fine for violating its air permit, failing to maintain emission rates of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides and failing to determine if an emissions event was reportable.

What in the Sam Hill is going on over there? While the public is subjected to these incessant B.P. TV ads, driving home the point that the company is "Beyond Petroleum," the dadgum company can't follow the simple rules set out by the State of Texas regulators, who aren't known for being hardheads when it comes to policing the petrochemical industry. There oughta be a law, and I guess there is, but sometimes it doesn't seem like it.

[csb.gov]
[sos.state.tx.us]

Remembering Ernie Davis

Here in the year 2005, when sports fans get a steady diet of "T.O.", we can always remember athletes like Ernie Davis, who died way too young of leukemia at the age of 23 in 1963.
(thanks to H., a reader in Austin, for sending this to us.)

[stargazettesports.com]