I’m not typically a huge fan of Nascar, but this is pretty wild:

And what’s sad about it, is that the dude should have won the race and ended up crashing 100 yards short and not even finishing. Wow.

Off the top of my head:

10.) Wanted to improve the Cowboys’ grittiness quotient.

9.) Ceding Austin television market to the Texans, he’ll be damned if they get Grimes County, too. 

8.) Replacing Jason Garrett with Tom Osborne, who needs (the other) TO when you’re running the veer?

7.) Cowboys fans can throw anyone under the bus just as good as any Aggie, why not someone who’s already used to it?

6.) Bob Gates has been secretly posting on the Cowboys.com message board. Convinced Jerry that the terrorists were going to win otherwise. 

5.) Gotta have some local flavor to fill those $2000 seats at Jerryworld.

4.) Testing new grass stain remover from the home uniforms.

3.) You just don’t get that same head-snapping effect practicing with tackling dummies.

2.) Wade Phillips lost a bet to Fran and decided against holding the jiz jar.

1.) Probably expects to lose multiple games by 40 points, needs someone expendable with situational experience talking back to the opponents’ bench.

My son was born two years ago today.  He got an early birthday present last week because he’s getting too heavy for me to lift up in the driveway every afternoon:

He’s already beaten me at a game of horse and broken both of my ankles. I am so embarrassed.

So the Astros outscored the Reds 13-10 this weekend!

And lost 3 out of 4.

There’s a great story at ESPN today about Tony Mandarich. How he was some sort of arrogant badass SOB out of college who turned into one of the biggest busts in NFL history (#2 according to the NFL network) and was using steroids all along. I find it quite interesting that the Cowboys considered him to be equal to Troy Aikman in that draft  - my how things would have turned out different in the NFL if they had drafted him instead.

Anyway, this part caught my eye:

All the while, against the general rules of nature, Tony kept getting bigger, stronger and faster. He hosted his own combine at Michigan State that spring. The numbers were staggering:

Weight: 308 pounds
Bench press: 39 repetitions at 225 pounds
40-yard dash: 4.69 seconds.

The hype machine was at full throttle.

Sports Illustrated, memorably, put him on the cover, shirtless and massive. It called him “the best offensive line prospect ever.” It bragged of his insane 15,000-calorie diet and his love for Axl Rose.

I put that SI cover on my dorm wall. Every lineman — high school or college — probably did the same. He was what all of us aspired to be: huge, cut and nasty on the football field. He was supposed to change offensive linemen forever. He was the anti-Reggie White, the guy who was built to block men like White and maybe even dominate them.

I know this is true because I was one of those guys myself. The Tony Mandarich craze was during my freshmen year of high school and damn, I wanted to be him. I played the same position and I wanted to be big and mean and nasty and fast.

(And I’m happy to say now that I have achieved a bit of incredible bulk myself – in a sense – and made it to three out of four, though unfortunately I think the last one will forever be out of my reach…)

First impressions can be misleading.  For some reason, I never really liked Mark Richt.  He just looked arrogant to me.  Man was I wrong.  I think this guy is now my second favorite coach in football.