Saturday, April 02, 2011

House Mouse, Senate Mouse



Weiner has been destroying for a few weeks now. Here he is speaking at the Congressional Correspondents dinner.



His Fox New interviews are instant classics.

Friday, April 01, 2011

Final Four activities today

And tomorrow and Sunday, for that matter. Thanks to the Chron for all of this. (For those of us who don't have -- or don't want -- tickets to the games but still want to play around in the vicinity.)


Friday

Bracket Town

Where: George R. Brown Convention Center

Time: 10 a.m.-8 p.m.

Tickets: $10 for 12-plus; $6 for 3-11, 55-plus; 2-under free

Tip-Off Tailgate

Where: Reliant Stadium Blue Lot

Time: 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

Tickets: Open to the public

What to know: The Tailgate allows fans headed to the stadium a place to buy food and beverage and listen to live music.

Final Four team practices

Where: Reliant Stadium

Time: noon-4 p.m.

Tickets: Open to the public

What to know: Watch the four teams participate in their last practice session before Saturday's games. I went to the regional version of this last year and spent about an hour watching the last half of Baylor's and the first half of Duke's practice and warm-ups. It can get a little boring, but if it's as close as you can afford to get to the court, it's well worth attending.

The Big Dance Concert Series

Where: Discovery Green

Time: 4-10:30 p.m.

Tickets: Open to the public

What to know: A block party and concert series sponsored by the NCAA. The day's headliner is Sublime with Rome.

College All-Star Game

Where: Reliant Stadium

Time: 4:30 p.m.

Tickets: Open to the public

What to know: Two teams of college seniors battle immediately following the open practices for the Final Four teams.

Saturday

Bracket Town

Where: George R. Brown Convention Center

Time: 10 a.m.-7 p.m.

Tickets: $10 for 12-plus; $6 for 3-11, 55-plus; 2-under free

The Big Dance Concert Series

Where: Discovery Green

Time: 11:30 a.m.-8 p.m.

Tickets: Open to the public

What to know: The day's headliner is Kings of Leon, scheduled for 3 p.m. and lasting one hour. Expect this show to go off on time, because the basketball games -- and the watch party there on a big screen in the park -- begin at 5:07.

Sunday

Bracket Town

Where: George R. Brown Convention Center

Time: noon-8 p.m.

Tickets: $10 for 12-plus; $6 for 3-11, 55-plus; 2-under free

The Big Dance Concert Series

Where: Discovery Green

Time: 3-10 p.m.

Tickets: Open to the public

What to know: Tonight's (8:45 p.m.) headliner is Kenny Chesney, but I prefer Uncle Kracker at 5:30 and Pat Green at 7.

Update:

Every year when I arrive at the Final Four city, I try to get the flavor of the place on the bus ride from the airport to the hotel. One of my observations after arriving in Houston is that it's a good city to get sick in. There seems to be a hospital or medical center on every block. Maybe that's why there are so many gun and weapon stores: people feel that if they accidentally shoot themselves, it's no big deal. There's a gun wound specialist just around the corner.

I saw a great billboard on the way to the hotel. It was an ad for a lawyer whose phone number is 713 - WASN'T ME. I'm not kidding. After seeing this, I kept hoping the next billboard would be from the prosecutor's office with the phone number 1-800-OH YES IT WAS. Unfortunately, the second billboard didn't pop up. It shouldn't have surprised me. I mean, what are the odds that those two billboards would be on the same street? I can't do the math and answer that question, but I'm pretty sure the odds of that happening are a lot smaller than the odds of seeing these four teams play this weekend.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Monday, March 28, 2011

The SHO/Final Four Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance is ready for another sports-related tourist infusion as it brings you this week's blog roundup.

If the goal of the 81st Texas Legislature and Governor Rick Perry is to stifle job creation in Texas for the next two years, then Off the Kuff says they're knocking it out of the park.

Letters From Texas rolls its collective eyes about the word games played by the Republicans in charge as they announce their Senate subcommittee to find "non-tax revenue." Earth to Republicans: if we used to own it, but now the government owns it, it's a tax.

Musings looks ahead to 2021 in Connecting the Dots: Killing Education, Killing Unions, Funding the Tea Partiers. Give it a look. The videos are worth the price of admission by themselves!

WCNews at Eye On Williamson has something to say about the austerity budget: House Appropriations passes budget - tea party blamed for cuts.

In the latest post regarding the poll he's conducting on the mortgage interest tax deduction, PDiddie at Brains and Eggs explains why he has never owned a home.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme warns that Republicans are near their goal of killing public education for K-12 and at the university level.

Neil at Texas Liberal apologized for ever having voted for Houston city councilmember C.O. Bradford for any public office. Neil feels that voting for Mr. Bradford was one of the worst ballot box mistakes he has ever made.

refinish69 at Doing My Part for the Left is ever amazed by the stupidity of the Texas Lege. It is the gift that keeps on giving. Case in point is Rep. David Simpson's Don't Touch My Junk Bill.

This week, McBlogger takes a look at what austerity will do to Texas.

And PDiddie adds: as a type 2 diabetic for almost ten years, this was the most interesting thing I read in the past week.