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Today in Texas History – February 13

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Gen. Lee the last Confederate statue removed in New ...

From the Annals of Bad Decisions – In 1861, Gen. Winfield Scott ordered Col. Robert E. Lee to return to Washington from Texas to assume command of the Union Army. Instead, Lee resigned his post and was commissioned into the Rebel Army.  After a rather undistinguished campaign in western Virginia and a brief stint as military advisor to the Insurgent Leader Jefferson Davis, Lee succeeded Joseph Johnston as the Insurgent Commander in June of 1862.  Historians will never know and can only speculate as to how many lives were lost as a result of Lee’s decision. 

Photo of Lee’s statue being removed.

Quote for the Day

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“I am watching all the other guys doing what I want to be doing and I am sitting on a couch being a loser.”

Johnny Manziel on his attempt to climb his way back to the NFL.  Manziel says he has been diagnosed as bi-polar and is now on medication and has stopped drinking.

Today in Texas History – February 12

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From the Annals of the Blue Norther – In 1899, the coldest temperature ever recorded in Texas occurred in Tulia – south of Amarillo.  The town recorded a record minus 23 degrees Fahrenheit. This was part of the “Big Freeze,” an infamous norther that killed 40,000 cattle across the state overnight. This temperature was matched in Seminole in 1933.  Many other Texas cities set all time records or came very close.

  • Amarillo: −16 °F (−26.7 °C) all-time record
  • Austin: −1 °F (−18.3 °C) second-lowest ever
  • Brenham: 0 °F (−17.8 °C) all-time record for February
  • Brownsville: 12 °F (−11.1 °C) all-time record
  • College Station: 1 °F (−17.2 °C) all-time record for February
  • Conroe: 6 °F (−14.4 °C) tied for all-time record for February
  • Corpus Christi: 11 °F (−11.7 °C) all-time record
  • Dallas & Fort Worth: −8 °F (−22.2 °C) all-time record
  • Danevang: 3 °F (−16.1 °C) all-time record
  • Galveston: 8 °F (−13.3 °C) all-time record
  • Houston: 6 °F (−14.4 °C) second-lowest ever
  • Marshall: −9 °F (−22.8 °C) all-time record
  • San Antonio: 4 °F (−15.6 °C) second-lowest ever

 

Great Reading for Cowboys Haters

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Tony Spagnola writes about the sometimes tortured  and heartbreaking history of the Dallas (Arlington) Cowboys franchise attempting to argue that but for a few bounces of the ovoid ball, the Cowboys could be the greatest team in NFL history.   This is absolute must-reading for all haters of the Evil North Texas Football Empire.

They are remembered for such plays as The Hail Mary and Tony Dorsett’s 99-yard run. For Tom Landry and Tex Schramm and Jimmy Johnson and Jerry Jones. For Staubach and Aikman and Lilly and White, and of course for Emmitt becoming the NFL’s all-time leading rusher.

But funny, this occurred to me, oh, sometime after the Vikings’ seemingly cleansed the memory of the Hail Mary from that 1975 season with their Minneapolis Miracle to break the New Orleans Saints hearts three weeks ago:

These Cowboys, for all their greatness over all these years, sure can make a claim for simultaneously being known as The Heartbreak Kids. No, seriously. Do you realize the penance the Cowboys have paid over the years, the close call and seemingly cruel and unusual punishment at the end of games that has prevented them from becoming the greatest franchise in NFL history?

And Red’s personal favorite –

Remember 2006, Bill Parcells’ final season as head coach. Seattle. NFC Wild Card Game. Tony Romo’s first season to start. Cowboys trail 21-20, 3:10 remaining. Romo drives the Cowboys 70 yards to the Seattle 8. Only 1:53 left. Romo hits Witten at the 1, first down, right?

Oh, wait, there is a booth video review of the spot. And somehow referee Walt Anderson, after looking at video that was not shooting straight down the 1-yard line, announces he’s re-spotting the ball “at the 1½-yard line,” fourth down and one with 1:19 left.

Seriously.

And you know the rest of that story, Romo dropping the snap on what was going to be Martin Gramatica’s game-winning 19-yard field-goal attempt, and then is pulled down running for his life at the 2 by Seattle’s Justin Babineaux. Ball game. Season. End of Bill’s coaching career,

Things Mike Pence was Surprised to Learn

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Poor old Mike Pence seems to be out of the loop on most everything that happens in the Trump Administration.  Red has been keeping track of just a few of the things that the Vice-President has seemed to be the last one to know.

  1. That Michael Flynn had met with the Russians on several occasions about loosening sanctions and failed to disclose that to the FBI.
  2. That Michael Flynn had lobbied for the Turkish government.
  3. That Trump wanted to fire James Comey at least in part because of the FBI investigation into the Trump Campaign’s collusion with Russia.
  4. That Rob Porter was a known wife beater.
  5. That Donald Trump is largely bald because of bad hair surgery
  6. That Mike is actually short for Michael.
  7. That he was once elected governor of an actual state.
  8. That some men have dined with women other than there wives and have not gone to Hell.
  9. That dinosaurs actually existed.
  10. That tacos are considered Mexican food.

Today in Texas History – February 9

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From the Annals of the U.S. Wars of Choice –  In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson sent a Marine Corps Hawk air defense missile battalion to Da Nang, South Vietnam.  The troops were deployed to provide protection for the key U.S. airbase there.  This was the first deployment of U.S. combat troops to South Vietnam.  The move provoked strong reactions to an apparent new level of involvement in the Vietnamese conflict.  Communist China and the Soviet Union threatened to intervene if the U.S. continued military support of the South Vietnamese regime.  The U.S. Embassy in Moscow was attacked by demonstrators (including Vietnamese and Chinese students) in a move orchestrated by the Kremlin.  Britain and Australia supported the U.S. action, but France called for negotiations.

LBJ had little appreciation of the horrors of war as he had avoided any real combat action in WWII and he was known throughout his life as being an intense physical coward.  He showed no hesitation in sending others off to die in his foolish war. The escalation of U.S. involvement in what had been essentially a civil war was now official and the mistaken judgment of LBJ in blundering into the Vietnam War would not end until more than 58,000 U.S. servicemen and women had lost their lives in the futile struggle.

Quote for the Day

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“If you say, ‘Well, I don’t have any symptoms of the flu,’ well, great! That’s the way it’s supposed to be. Just keeping saying that. ‘I’ll never have the flu. I’ll never have the flu.’ Inoculate yourself with the word of God.”

Texas Televangelist Kelly Copeland.

Red would like to inoculate himself with something that would make it impossible for him to hear or read the words of crazy TV beggar preachers.

Today in Texas History – February 8

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Dallas Texans Logo | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

From the Annals of Professional Football – In 1963, Lamar Hunt moved the Dallas Texans to Kansas City and renamed the team the Chiefs.  Hunt owned the AFL’s Dallas franchise which began playing , owner of the American Football League franchise in Dallas, TX, moved the operation to Kansas City. The new team was named the Chiefs.  It started operations in 1960, the first AFL season and the same year as the Dallas Cowboys. The team immediately faced serious competition from a new franchise in the older more established league.  The Texans had a strong home-state identity with quarterback Cotton Davidson (Baylor), fullback Jack Spikes (TCU), and running back Abner Haynes (North Texas State). Haynes, was named the league’s Player of the Year after leading the AFL with 875 yards rushing and 9 touchdowns. The Texans were an offense-centric, high scoring team, but three closes losses kept them from challenging for the division title.  They finished the 1960 season in second place in the West with an 8-6 record.  The Texans averaged 24,500 for their home games at the Cotton Bowl, the highest average in the league. Hunt is considered to be the founding father of the AFL and one of the main reasons the league was able to survive until it merged with NFL in the Super Bowl era.

Hunt’s team is not to be confused with the 1952 incarnation of the Dallas Texans.  That was an NFL team which was a transplanted version of the New York Yanks.  The team lasted only one season in Dallas and was the last NFL franchise to fold up shop when owner Giles Miller sold the ailing franchise back to the league.

Red desperately wants a Dallas Texans t-shirt with that logo.

Texas High Speed Rail Terminal Planned for Houston Mall Site

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Developers of a high-speed rail line hope to turn Houston's aging Northwest Mall into that city's bullet train station.

Texas Central Partners – the outfit that is attempting to bring high-speed rail to Texas –  has identified the site Northwest Mall in Houston as the likely location for its Houston station.  Northwest Mall is about eight miles from downtown Houston and sits near the intersection of the 610 West Loop and US 290.  That location is one of three sites that TCP was considering for its Houston terminus.  One major problem is that Houston Metro Rail has no plans for lines in that area and it would seem that a hook up to the local rail system would be an essential ingredient for success.

TCP plans to run high-speed trains (up to 205 mph) between Dallas and Houston with an average travel time of about 90 minutes.  The project is expected to cost about $15 billion and is to be completed without state or federal funding.

Red can’t really imagine how the economics of this work but he sure would love to take the train instead of heading to the airport to spend 3 plus hours for a 40 minute flight.

Today in Texas History – February 7

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From the Annals of the Code Duello – In 1837, to Generals of the Texas Army faced off in a duel for command of the Army. Brig. Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston was wounded in the pelvis by Brig. Gen. Felix Huston.  President Sam Houston had ordered Johnston to replace Huston as commander of the Texas Army.  Huston had attracted a large group of adventurers and undisciplined troops to the Army and Sam Houston believed that under his command the Army would not be able to repel the seemingly imminent invasion from Mexico.  Huston was offended by the lack of confidence in his leadership.  Even though he professed admiration for ASJ, he felt compelled to challenge him to a duel.  Observers claimed that Johnston refused to fire. Johnston’s wound was so severe that he was unable to take command.  Some believe that his wound in the duel caused nerve damage such that he was unable to detect that he had been shot during the Battle of Shiloh.  ASJ died after the battle from loss of blood – his wound had not been fatal.  Huston eventually moved to New Orleans where he opened a law practice and became an ardent secessionist.