Why?

Why would this man take this woman, kill her, set her on fire, and leave her in this ditch?

That's what police in North Texas are trying to figure in the murder of Melanie Goodwin, a University of North Texas sophomore who was last seen talking to Ernesto Reyes, 20, at a Denton, Texas, convenience store around 1:30 Tuesday morning.

Goodwin's burned body was discovered about 11 a.m. Tuesday about 20 miles away in Carrollton by a guy named Randolph, who I happened to meet this afternoon. Police believe Griffith offered Reyes a ride (at one frickin' thirty in the morning) and it went bad from there.

As a UNT alum, I was interested in this case. And I office less than three miles from the crime scene. So I cruised by there at lunch today with camera in hand to see what I could find out. Not knowing exactly where or what to look for, I entered the lobby of the office building nearest where I thought the woman's body was dumped.

A Carrollton police officer was sitting in the reception area (gulp). I asked him for the location of the crime scene. Said he didn't work that case.

"I can show you," said the man talking to the receptionist. "Can I?" he asked the receptionist.

As we walked outside, Randoph informed me that he was the guy who had found the body.

Man . . . I always wondered about people who find murder victims. It's like they usually are fishermen or hunters or early morning joggers. Randolph, it seems, had just left a job interview.

"They said that I didn't meet the dress code," said Randolph. "So I was leaving to go change clothes, and that's when I saw [the body], laying face-up right over that hill. You couldn't have seen it unless you took a couple steps over the hill."

Wait a minute, I thought. This is Friday, that was Tuesday.

"Do you work here now?" I asked Randolph.

"Yep," he said.

Meanwhile, Goodwin's killer still is at large, and several workers casually came and went in the parking lot, just 15 feet from where Goodwin's two-hour "abduction" ended.

Who's On First?

My son and I were watching Rain Man the other night. The movie's main character, an autistic man named Raymond (Rayn-mon) played by Dustin Hoffman, recites Abbott and Costello's "Who's On First" routine when stressed.

How long has it been since you've watched the entire "Who's On First"? Enjoy.

Joba Chamberlain Ain't No Coward -- Airline Photos of Yankees in Oz

Who knows what kind of filthy sliders Yankee rookie pitching phenom Joba Chamberlain will be dealing in the playoffs next week?

But on Monday, the man with what seems to be a billion dollar arm strode courageously through two airports and onto a charter flight dressed as the Cowardly Lion (click on the photo left for a closer look at Chamberlain).

"Put 'em up! Put 'em up!" he said, taking on Jason Giambi and Mike Mussina, who couldn't fight for laughing.

Pitcher Ian Kennedy slipped on the ruby red slippers of Dorothy and followed.

Phillips Hughes, named the Yanks' top prospect in 2006, was the Tin Man.

It was all a part of a time-honored baseball tradition, Rookie Hazing Day. Veterans traditionally make the rookies dress like cheerleaders, celebrities and cartoon characters for the last road trip of the season. Last week saw Red Sox pitcher Dice K costumed as a Telletubby when the Sox hit the road for the final time.

With more than a dozen rookies on the September roster, it looks like the Yankees needed a theme with a full cast to pull off their shenanigans.

A friend of a friend of a friend of mine is a flight attendant, and worked the Delta charter carrying the Wizards of the Bronx to Tampa Bay. She sent these photos along for perusal. And yes, that's Chase Wright as the Good Witch of the North and Edwar Ramirez as the Wicked Witch of the West.

$753,000 Bonds 756 HR Ball to be Branded with Asterisk

An update to a Sept. 18 post: With 10 million votes cast (according to vote756.com) the public voted that Marc Ecko, owner of the Bonds 756 home run ball, should physically brand the ball with an asterisk and send it to the Hall of Fame. Voting ended at 12:01 this morning.

According to Ecko, 47 percent voted to permanently brand the ball before sending it to Cooperstown, 34 percent voted to send the ball intact to Cooperstown, and 19 percent said to launch the ball into space forever.

The Internet vote was held to gauge public sentiment concerning the validity of Bonds' home run record.

Time will tell whether Ecko follows through on his promise to effectively ruin any resale value for the three-quarter million collectible. Honestly, the most valuable ball Bonds will hit will be his last home run ball, which nobody knows when that will be . . . or has it already happened? That ball will be represent the HR record, tainted or not.

Gundy Delivers Hall of Fame News Conference

Mike Gundy's Oklahoma State team won a 59-55 shootout over Texas Tech on Saturday in Stillwater, but the real gun slinging came after the game. Tech coach Mike Leach ripped his coaching staff, his defense and himself . . . then fired his defensive coordinator on Sunday.

Then came Gundy's vitriolic Satruday afternoon soliloquy aimed at The Daily Oklahoman columnist Jenn Carlson, whose game-day article painted benched OSU quarterback Bobby Reid a gutless mama's boy. "This makes me want to PUKE!," said Gundy, who said he didn't read the column until minutes before walking into this interview room, and only then at the behest of several people "close to the organization."


In a Monday news conference, Gundy said he would not comment any more on the article or his reaction to it, then proceeded to field questions about the incident for the next three minutes.

Scoring in Wisconsin? 'They're going at it pretty good.'

It wasn't just the home team Badgers scoring at Camp Randall Stadium on U of Wisconsin campus a few weeks ago -- in fact, a couple was sexing it up in an upper deck bathroom stall during the Sept. 1 Washington State game.

The couple appeared in court Monday and were released after posting signature bonds. Under the bonds, each may no longer enter Camp Randall or drink at anytime anywhere while the case is still going on, which could last two to three months or more, according to Assistant District Attorney Mike Verveer.

Yeah, right.

As reported in the Madison Capitol Times, UW Police Officer Gerard Pehler was assisting a fan who had fallen due to heat exhaustion when a bystander approached and asked him, "Can you do anything about two having sex in the women's restroom stall?"

"They're going at it pretty good," added the fan.

Pehler summoned a woman concessions supervisor who, with little success, told the couple to cut it out. When Pehler entered, both of age and neither of them UW students, were scrambling to pull up their pants. You can read here about how the woman couldn't find her ticket because he pants were inside-out, and other lurid details.

Texas Teen Escapes Death by Rabies

His name is Jack Hunter (no, he is not one of the guys in these government photos), and by the time the rabid fox had wrapped around his leg, the crazed animal had sunk his teeth a inch into the 16-year-old Texan's leg.

After Hunter strangled the fox, he threw the diseased animal into his yard and stayed home from school a couple of days to recover.

Thank God for teachers, who realized that without rabies shots, Hunter would end up like these guys who have their photos permanently enshrined on the website of the Center for Disease Control.

Questions:

• What is Jack's IQ?


• Where were Jack's parents during all of this?


• How long did the fox lie in Jack's yard?
  
• Do you consider Jack a hero or an imbecile?
  
• Does the family of this man who apparently died a miserable death at the hands of rabies in 1958 know their ancestor's agonizing last photos are on the Internet?
  
  
  

Bonds HR Ball Headed to Moon?

Marc Ecko, the fashion designer and graffiti glitterati who last week purchased Barry Bonds' HR #756 ball for $753,000, says he will abide by public sentiment and either:

1. Donate the ball to the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.


2. Brand the ball (shown right) with an asterisk and ask the Hall if it will accept it into the museum.


3. Put it on the space shuttle, satellite launcher or some other kind of rocket and put it into orbit around the earth.

Ecko, who once produced a hoax film depicting him tagging Air Force One with graffiti, said yesterday during an interview on The Today Show that he wants to "democratize" the ball that eclipsed Hank Aaron's all-time home run record. Thus, he has set up a website where collectors can vote on the fate of the ball

The vote ends Sept. 25, but vote early and vote often. I hit my vote several times and the website never kicked me back for multiple votes from the same IP address, nor does the site require any log in or email recognition. For a guy who thrives on marketing and publicity, it seems Ecko missed a chance to grab some names . . . and maybe even a future buyer for the ball.

-- courtesy Beckett.com

Doctors and Cameras Mean Trouble

I thought I had an ingrown toenail. Emphasis on "thought," until some research and photo examination proved otherwise. However, I found some really disturbing photos of ingrown toenails. Foul, medical photos.

Here's the deal. If you ever go to the doctor's office -- for anything -- and they call for a camera, you are in trouble.

Want to Buy Donkey

A buddy of mine in East Texas forwarded this craigslist post:

Wanted: Spotted donkey
Date: 2007-9-1, 10:33PM
My grandparents are looking for a spotted donkey--903-762-6708...thank you very much.

I couldn't help myself. . .
on the phone, he sounded like a guy in his mid-20s who said he used to live with his grandparents but "wasn't around much anymore."

He said donkeys go for anything from $850 to $1,200, but he just missed a $50 classified sale on a juvenile donkey by a few hours the other day ("the guy was moving and getting rid of everything quick").

It seems his grandma's last of two horses recently died, and grampa is too old to care for more horses. But grandma still wants to care for something, and donkeys are smaller and don't eat as much.

"We wanted to get a spotted donkey because we thought it would be fun to look at," the guy said.

Years ago in the Farmersville Times, I saw a four-word classified that read Want to Buy Donkey, and I have seen several similar ads over the years.
"Lots of people use donkeys to herd with their sheep or chickens," the East Texan said. "They can be a little bit mean, and they run off foxes and coyotes."

Pull [off] My Finger?

One of the guys at the office today did an internal survey.

The questions:

• For $500,000, would you allow one of your pinkie fingers to be medically amputated? And . . .
  
• For $1.5 million, would you cut off one of your own pinkies using a hatchet, paper cutter, car door, chain saw, whatever? You could cut it off at at hospital if so desired.

I said "no" to both propositions, as I personally am against any type of elective disfiguration. About half of the people asked, however, said yes to the $1.5 million. I guess everyone has a price.

You won't, however, be cutting off any fingers with this table saw, which should be standard equipment in every junior high shop class. Check out what it does to this hot dog.

SportsCenter is Next

Who is this woman and why should she be thanked over and again?

Besides earning 1999 Songwriter of the Year in the Country Music Awards for penning the Faith Hill hit, The Kiss, Annie Roboff also wrote one of the most listened to tunes in history.

On an interview on her website, the webmaster interviews Roboff:

Interviewer: How does it feel to know that one of your songs is listened to by so many men every single day – The ESPN Sports Center Theme?

Roboff: Well, the thing about the ESPN sports center theme, was that it was originally music to the defunct Satellite News Channel. They went out of biz really fast and sold that music to ESPN. I love that so many guys know that theme...I never saw a penny from the everyday play, because it had been sold to the Satellite News Service as a buy out (it was the very early days of cable when no 'rules' had been established).

Roboff also composed numerous other Top 10 country chart songs, but at tip of the hat from BackPage for one of the best ever, the SportsCenter theme song.

You Ain't No Chicken Hawk!

[Update Sept. 12: Bird safely delivered to raptor rehab doctor in neighboring town. The doctor had no idea why this adult bird was grounded, but hoped to release him into the wild in days.]

I always thought a Night Hawk was a chain of restaurants in the Austin area, or a frozen dinner by the same name which frequented many a Mr. Peabody dinner table.

However, after a somewhat violent thunderstorm early this morning, this thing (right) ended up in my yard unable to fly. At first, I thought it was a robin. But photos sent to the local authorities revealed that the bird is a Night Hawk.

Last I heard from home, it is in a towel in my house. Did I mention I have two cats?

Great Lakes Are Great

Thought about the Great Lakes lately?

With 20 percent of the world's fresh water withing their shores, they actually produce their own climate, called the Lake Effect.




Spend a few moments surfing some information on the Great Lakes and their history, political impact, maritime significance, weather influence, and yes, even the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Here are a couple of photos. One shows the Great Lakes from space -- very impressive. The other (right) shows my son, Scott, contemplating the meaning of life while standing on the shores of Lake Erie, the shallowest of the Great Lakes at about 60 feet, a few weeks ago.

Evel Auction Snakes Seller

Where were you Labor Day Weekend 1974?

I was at Moody Coliseum on the campus of SMU in Dallas, watching what then was called "closed circuit television" of Evel Knievel's "motorcycle" jump over Idaho's Snake River Canyon.

The jump was a daredevil failure but a commercial success, as millions of P.T. Barnum's "suckers" paid up all over the nation to watch Evel shoot off the launching pad, his parachute on his rocket unfurled early, and he drifted into the canyon. . . it was a hell of a lot safer than when he tried to jump the fountains at Caesars Palace in 1967 (below).




The X-2 rocket? I had no idea where that thing ended up, until this week, when it showed up at auction. The guy, I guess the curator of a motorcycle museum in Niagara Falls, Canada, wanted $2,100 but didn't get it.

Ol' Blue Eye(s)

You're 29 years old and you're in the airport men's room sitting in a stall. For the past 10 minutes, that same blue eye has been peeking in at you through the crack by the stall door.
You are:

1. Mesmerized by the blue eye.


2. Scared of the blue eye.
   
3. Wanting to skewer the blue eye with a molten-hot poker.

If you're Sgt. Dave Karsnia of the Minneapolis Airport PD, you wait until the man sits down in the stall next to you and flirtatiously rubs his hand under the stall on your side. Then, you slide your badge under his side of the stall and point toward the door, like, "See you outside, buster."

It's old news that Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) is teetering on the brink of resignation from the world's most exclusive club. But if you haven't read Sgt. Karsnia's arrest report where he refers to the 62-year-old's peering, touching and preening, you're missing out on some serious social underbelly behavior.

'Course the real Ol' Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra, was booked into jail in 1938 in New Jersey, also for a sex crime -- the 23-year-old was messin' with a married woman. The charge of adultery later was dropped.

Vick's Apology Script at $10,000 and Rising

You have until Sept. 14 to bid on this unusual piece of sports memorabilia benefiting the Humane Society.

Currently nearing the $10,000 mark is this note on an Omni Hotel notepad (right) bearing the handwritten talking points for Michael Vick's "apology speech." It allegedly was found Aug. 27 at the hotel's news conference room on the speaker's rostrum in Richmond, Va., after Vick's address. You can see Vick carry the note into the room before the speech (see video below).

Is it Vick's handwriting? Can't say, but use of personal pronoun "I" seems to indicate a hastily-prepared outline from Vick.

The speech seemed to me as genuine and from-the-heart. But Vick has lied before, so who knows what a man is feeling when faced with hard time.

Was the note penned by a PR man, and why does a man need notes to say he's sorry? Well, even the Gettysburg Address was handwritten before Lincoln delivered it, so no harping on Vick for organizing his thoughts in writing.

Maybe as an afterthought on the notes, the author added "dogs have suffered." That never was mentioned in Vick's speech. For a guy known as a finisher, Vick never completed his game plan.

Someone else who will suffer when she sees Vick's spelling is the head of Virginia Tech Athletics Student Life program, Megan L. Armbruster, charged with making sure student/athletes make the grade in the classroom as well.

BTW, what the heck is a Hokie, anyway?

What Ever Happened to Hard Work?

Why would anyone want to spend thousands of hours teaching other people's kids how to play baseball? Good question, but one evidently oblivious to some parents of youth baseball players.

I personally enjoy this time with my own boys, and with the other boys on their teams. However, from time to time, you will have to endure an email or phone call from a parent explaining how busy their life is dropping and picking up their player from practices, or how difficult it is for Joey to bat in the lower half of the lineup.

(If more people understood how a batting lineup is supposed to work, it would all make sense.)

Parents want their kids to play a high level of select baseball, yet they many times do not encourage the player to work on his own to make it happen. Select baseball, like any travel-level sport, requires skills taught in practice by an instructor/coach. But those skills must be honed by the player on the player's own time. Whether it is the player's dad/mom helping him with the drills or encouraging him to work on his game, or time spent with a private instructor; it doesn't matter.

The point is, a player cannot expect to attend two or three team practices a week and make significant personal progress -- he must work on his own. Team practices make the team alot better; personal workouts make the individual player alot better.

It seems there is a level of entitlement (from which some, but not all, suffer) leaving some parents and players thinking, "If I want it, I should get it."

What ever happened to hard work?

Endangered Species

Endangered species:
* Two kids playing catch with a baseball in the yard.
* Football coaches being carried off of the field (instead of doused with sport drink) after a big win.
* Front-yard flagpoles.