In two weeks I'm making the drive up I-35 for a weekend in Dallas. I'm taking my girlfriend, who has a pretty negative opinion of Big D, so I want to show her a good time. Fortunately, I have lined up what in my opinion is the perfect Dallas weekend. Basically, it consists of:

1. The Old 97s show at the House of Blues on Saturday night.

2. The Rangers/A's game at the Ballpark on Sunday afternoon.

For me, it just doesn't get any better than this. We may mix in a few other things like a trip to the 6th Floor Museum (which, shockingly, I've never actually been too), but a lot of the rest of the weekend will consist of seeing friends. I need to think of a fun place to take her out to eat, as well.

I was curious what everyone else's perfect Dallas weekend would consist of. Thoughts?

I found this article to be intersting. Particularly because it shows that even Mr. Sabermetrics is influenced a bit by emotion when thinking about a player:

http://www.slate.com/id/2184797/

Basically, James thinks Craig Biggio was the best player of the 90s and (presumably) a no doubt Hall of Famer. I guess that's the upshot, anyway, since Jr. Griff is generally thought of the as the best player of the 90s (right?), James thinks that Biggio was better than Griff, ergo, yada yada just read the article. k thx.

I hope this guy makes it. Now that Edinson is out of the system, I think he has the best name of any player in the Rangers system, which is saying something given the presence of a catcher named "Saltalamacchia." I hereby bestow upon young Wilmer the nickname by which I, and I hope you, dear reader, shall from here forward refer to him:

Times New Roman.

Similar to the D-tron's prospect project, the commenters on Sickel's sight are conducting a ranking of baseball's farm systems. Guess who is in the top three?

http://minorleagueball.com/story/2007/10/19/23216/233

Seems a little bit high for me, but heck I'll take it since the Rangers usually just get hated upon.

Anyone else going? I'm going to head out of here shortly to head down. People have started to really hate on it and complain about it in Austin, but I always have a blast. The White Stripes cancelled unfortunately, but there are plenty of other good bands playing. Bob Dylan headlining on Sunday night is going to be cool, but he'll have a tough time following up Tom Petty in that slot last year. Looking forward to Blonde Redhead, Spoon, The Reverend Horton Heat, and Bjork today.

I've been on vacation in the mountains, busy at work, etc and have for a few weeks only been able to follow the Rangers through LSB, Jamey, and boxscores/game stories. I haven't been able to see much of Marlon since he took over regular center field duties. I was curious to hear impressions of people regarding his play in center in recent weeks. Has he inspired confidence? Made any outstanding plays? Screwed up royally? I haven't ready much about him one way or the other, suggesting that he might at least be holding his own. Anyone willing to offer their thoughts? And a poll...

Very excited that the EPL season has started again, so I get to watch more of the most exciting professional athlete on the planet. Here a video of his free kick to win the match against Aston Villa on Saturday.

http://www.dailymotion.com/search/steven+gerrard/video/x2qz37_gerrard-vs-aston-villa_sport

This is cool:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2967582

A very inspiring story in a brutal season for the Cardinals.

This may or may not be diary worthy, but I just surfed over to Shroom's Farm Probs site and was blown away. I hadn't seen the site in a while, and I was impressed with what he's done with it. It's really cool. The hover text function totally rocks, and you can get easy stats on all the pitchers you care about. So, this is just a plug. If you've never seen the site, definitely check it out. Or if you haven't been there in a while, it's worth a visit.

http://my.calendars.net/farmprobs/

Cheers Shroom!

We'll have to wait another year for the showdown with Joey Chestnut:

http://tinyurl.com/2bvznl

Jaw pain. How the mighty have fallen. Now what am I going to do with my 4th of July? Without competitive eating contests, I have a gaping hole in my life.

How much can you really say about competitive eating? That's all I've got.