Back Talk Preston Hollow

Free Dallas Stars tickets for tonight's game

UPDATE: Apparently we have some Stars fans in the neighborhood, because the tickets already are gone.

I have 2 tickets to tonight's Dallas Stars - Nashville Predators game available to the first blog reader who sends an email to rwamre@advocatemag.com. The tickets are in the front row on the glass of the upper level, directly behind the net Marty Turco defends in the first and third periods. You'll have to pick up the tickets at our office, but if you're interested, let me know...

Daily news roundup: Big Tex, Barefoot, toy guns and Warren Culbertson

If you're tired of reading about the big financial-system bailout, DISD screwups and how great the Dallas Cowboys look this year, check out these diversions in today's Dallas Morning News:

     • Remember the big city council vote in May 2007 to criminalize "displaying or brandishing a replica firearm in public? I don't remember it either, and apparently it's a law that even the police have forgotten about. Dave Levinthal reports that since the ordinance was passed, not a single ticket has been written for a violation — talk about your effective ordinance or your irrelevant one; take your pick. In the story, Levinthal asks councilman Angela Hunt: Was it all a big waste of time and resources? "Probably so," she says.

Hillcrest principal Crawford makes Baylor Hall of Fame

Hillcrest High School principal Marty Crawford has just been named to Baylor University's Athletic Hall of Fame.
He played baseball for the university from 1993 to 1996--and he graduated with a .368 batting average, which is the second all-time highest average for the school. In fact, Crawford is the only player in Baylor history to lead the team in batting average four consecutive seasons.
I'm not much of a baseball fan (or even a sports fan in general) but those are some pretty impressive stats. Congratulations to principal Crawford--I'm sure he's made all the Hillcrest Panthers that much more proud to call him one of their own.

Notes on watching the Cowboys in exile

I'm a Dallasite (with deep roots in North Dallas and greater Lakewood) who's in exile in Manhattan, and watching Monday night's Cowboys game -- the last Monday Night Football game in Texas Stadium! -- was an emotional experience. I remember going there with my dad, who would die in 1975; with my closest friend -- a frigid playoff loss to the Rams, then of Los Angeles; as a Morning News reporter to cover a mishap at a playoff game against the Vikings in 1977 (or early January in '78) in which a guy's snowman costume caught fire from a vendor's sterno can. (A drunk called the newsroom to slurringly tell us: "Dallas kills presidents and hates Vikings' fans.") My favorite moment from last night: T.O. egging on the crowd to cheer in the closing minutes, and there wasn't an empty seat in the house. I called my mom (also in exile, in South Carolina), and she also was emotional. At that moment, we were both missing and loving Dallas. ... What are your favorite Texas Stadium moments?

High school football season has begun

Friday night high school football has begun.  I went to our high school's first game of the season this past weekend with my youngest daughter and her friend and without my husband because he was out of town.  Our middle daughter, who is a senior this year, went to the game with her friends.  We have been going to these games for six consecutive years.  We have a three year gap before our next child is in high school.

On the way to the game I wondered if we would continue to go to these games next year when we no longer had a student in high school.  My question was partially answered as I walked into the game.  I saw four different friends whose children were no longer students at our high school but were at the game.  Friday night football in Texas really is "the thing to do", isn't it?

I realized Friday night football is as much about the socializing in the stands for the parents as it is for the students. The parents reconnect at these games each school year just like the kids do during school when the school year begins.  Friday night football has begun!!

 

Rename Dallas for Cesar Chavez? That's what Schutze says

He says he means it, and so I guess we'll take him at his word: How about renaming the city of Dallas after the late California migrant worker organizer. At least, that's Jim Schutze's take on the whole Industrial to Ross to Chavez conundrum in the Observer this week. My favorite part of the column, which talks about the rationale for the change and the implications — Jerry Jones would soon be marketing the "Cesar Chavez Cowboys", just in time for the North Texas Super Bowl!

Olympic kickoff party tonight

Our neighborhood is home to some of the world's greatest athletes. Don't believe me? Pick up a copy of our current magazine and read about Olympians who live in your neck of the woods.
And if you'd like to celebrate the start of this year's Olympics, head to the Crow center downtown tonight for the big watch party. From 6-9 p.m. the Asian art center will celebrate Chinese culture with with food, music, lion dances, calligraphy, and a live streaming of the opening ceremony in Beijing. The party is free to get into, but you have to RSVP by visiting the Crow Collection website.

'Lost Boy' of Sudan to U.S. flag bearer at Olympics

In July, we brought you the stories of neighbors who immigrated here. And this month, we brought you the stories of neighbors who have competed in the Olympics.
Fifteen-hundred meter runner Lopez Lomong just happens to fit the bill for both.
Lomong actually credits running with saving his life. As a 6-year-old boy in his homeland of Sudan, a militia faction abducted him with the hopes of turning him into a child solider. He escaped that militia camp by squeezing through a hole in the fence, and then traveling by foot for three days until he reached Kenya. There he was arrested and spent the next 10 years in a prison camp.
As a teenager, considered one of the "Lost Boys of Sudan," he was resettled with a family in New York. It wasn't long until he excelled as a track star, eventually qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team.
Lomong became a U.S citizen about a year ago--and tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. you can watch him take on one of the greatest honors bestowed on an American: he was selected to be the U.S. flag bearer during the opening ceremonies at this year’s Olympics. Now if that doesn’t make you feel at least a little twinge of patriotism, I don’t know what will.

Hillcrest's Darius Bell ready to shine for SMU

Hillcrest High School now has yet another panther to be proud of. Former student Darius Bell is now playing football for SMU, and university coaches expect big things from the young cornerback. Hillcrest parent David Look forwarded me a profile about the him on Conference USA Sports. Now I'm a typical female, so I can't even tell you exactly what a cornerback does, or what makes a good one--but if you follow neighborhood football, you can read more about this Preston Hollow rising star online.

Free yoga series at W Dallas-Victory and Galleria

I'm not sure about a gym with masquerade-costumed models on its homepage, but I can't help but be intrigued by a free 8-week yoga series.

The new fitness club Equinox (opening on Oak Lawn in August; another is opening in Preston Hollow at Hillcrest and Northwest Highway this October) promises to "wake your body gently with sun salutations and nourishing vinyasas" and will cater to you "whether this is your first time or you're a yoga pro."

Equinox is holding its classes on the 16th floor of the W Dallas-Victory on Saturday mornings from 7-8 a.m. (ouch) starting Aug, 2 and lasting through Sept. 27. (No class on Aug. 30, which is Labor Day weekend.) All you have to do is  RSVP. The flier does request, however, that "due to limited availability, your advanced and firm commitment to the event at the time of the reservation is highly valued."

If you're a first-timer, no need to bring your yoga mat; they're being provided by lululemon, which offers its own free yoga classes at the Galleria store on Wednesday mornings. Lululemon has also signed a lease for a Mockingbird Station location, but "they've hit a snag and have pushed back their store opening," says Mockingbird Station spokesman Mark Brinkerhoff. At this time, he adds, it's "an indefinite postponement."