And now a story you won't see on Channel 8!

"Save the Kid, not the Car...but please don't sue my ass on the way out.

That is right, this "great charity and worthwhile organization," at least Dale said it was great until a few months ago, is suing Dale Hansen of Channel 8.

I have a love-hate relationship with Dale. Yes, I know he works for Belo and he helped break the whole scandal, but Channel 8's sportscasts are the best IMO. Dale is also obnoxious and opinionated and I used to love that. However, Dale is also extremely full of himself. Frankly, his sports opinions are either self-righteous or generic. It is now becoming clear that he leaves everything on bad terms. Dale left Channel 4 on bad terms; he left the Cowboys on bad terms; he left the Ticket on bad terms; and now he leaves charities on bad terms?

Wow-DeMyron Tazer'd

There were reports back in February that starting RB DeMyron Martin and a handful of other SMU athletes were arrested on lower Greenville. The report out there was that DeMyron Martin had been tazer'd as well. This was from a post on ponyfans.com on February 21st:

Yes, DeMyron was unfortunately tazered. Yes, he was unjustly tazered. DeMyron was attempting to "point out" the actual male who assaulted one of the players while in the club. None of the football players were consuming alcohol. Resources say the officer was intimidated by DeMryons size and perhaps he jumped the gun or shall I say tazer.

Well, as it turns out, it appears it was all true. WFAA's Brett Shipp has been conducting an investigation in to excessive force by the DPD on Lower Greenville. That investigation led him to SMU's DeMyron Martin and Fred Turner (and their lawyer, of course).

SMU star running back DeMyron Martin told News 8 he was shot with a Taser and arrested by overly-aggressive officers—officers the department continues to defend.

Martin is one of the most gifted young running backs in recent memory at SMU. But the freshman scholarship athlete's promising future nearly came to a shocking halt at the hands of a Dallas officer last February.

He was jolted to the ground with a taser gun, handcuffed and charged with resisting arrest after questioning an officer who had arrested another teammate for fighting.
...
Teammate Fred Turner, who also witnessed the arrest, said Martin was not out of line and had committed no crime.
...
Turner then watched as the officer drew his Taser gun and took his teammate to the ground with an electrical jolt of 50,000 volts. "He was crying, tears, screaming. Screaming, 'No!' It sounded like they were torturing him," Turner said.

Turner said he was so disturbed by what he saw, he grabbed his cell phone camera and started recording the incident.

Here is the Channel 8 report.

Here is the print version of the story.

Here is the DMN's version.

Before you jump the gun, this may or may not be true. But I will say this, Martin and Turner came across really well on TV.

Buying a car on ebay

Anybody ever bought a car on ebay? I am seriously thinking about it. I have bought a lot of stuff on ebay, but a car would be the biggest purchase by far. I am curious if anybody has ever done it and what their experience was like.

Or, if you know a car dealer that can get me into the local foreign used car auction that would be great.

New Record by SMU Alum

Just thought I'd alert you to a new record by an SMU alum. Her name is Kelley McRae. Listened to a few songs on iTunes. Not bad.

Howdy

Where have I been? Well, around. Fact is there hasn't been much news. I think there has been one article on SMU in the Dallas Morning News that didn't involve the Presidential Library.

Sure, we could talk about recruiting, but recruiting specifics bore me. Talk to me when the class is finished. I refuse to get wrapped up on any individual kid's decision. Case in point, some people got all worked up because Nathan Dick committed to Rice. As if there were some sign of things to come. Todd Graham, maybe he can coach and maybe he can't. We will see. But he isn't the second coming. Now, DMN's recruiting blog does a good job of explaining the hill SMU had to climb to beat Rice:

When Allen quarterback Nathan Dick committed to Rice last week, a contingent of SMU fans voiced their displeasure, believing one of the area's best quarterback recruits shouldn't get away to a conference rival.

But realize this, Rice had a huge recruiting advantage with Dick: The Owls' coaching staff has five - count them five - Allen coaching alums.

Start with head coach Todd Graham, who was Allen's head coach/AD from 1995-2000. Add in assistant head coach John Peace, another Allen head coach in the 1970s.

Don't forget special teams coordinator Danny Phillips, who worked under Graham at Allen. Or tight ends coach Dean Jackson, who spent six years at Allen before working the last two as Hillcrest's defensive coordinator. Even offensive line coach Todd Dilbeck spent a season at Allen.

This is one kid. One kid with Todd Graham practically living next door. Tap the brakes, as they say. If a trend develops, then we can panic.

Well, what have we learned in the first few weeks of the Orsini regime? SMU athletics will be more visible and more accessible. You need to read the Matt Doherty's Blog; you need to read the Orsini and Bennett chats.

Now, about those chats. By and large, it is generic questions and generic answers. Nobody should be surprised by that. Bennett wasn't going to say SMU will crush UNT and Orsini wouldn't announce that it turned out that Jimmy Tubbs and Gary Vodicka are the same guy. Still, there are nuggets of information in there, such as the basketball practice facility will be built on top of the tennis courts, which was a surprise. As for Doherty's blog, it appears the man likes to eat.

Today is the Doherty chat. Can't wait to find out what other restaurants he recommends.

A couple of rumors out there are that fundraising for the practice facility is all but done and there will be an announcement fairly soon. On some message board, somebody said Orsini was interested in bringing baseball back. I would love to see it, but I won't be holding my breath. There are a lot of things to do before SMU starts adding sports.

The Houston Bowl is saved.

C-USA commissioner Britton Banowsky, who will attend the meeting, described the proposal as "a fresh start, not a continuation of the prior experience." He said a new name is likely for the game if the NCAA approves the plan.

Last year, I did a College Football Preview Mags Survey. I will do so again. The consensus is SMU is 4th in C-USA West and might win six games. As I have already said, six games is meaningless if SMU wants a bowl. SMU is going to need at least seven, possibly eight wins.

I just found out that I will be in Vegas the week before and weekend of the SMU-Tech game. I suppose I will make a number of SMU-related bets. Like getting beat by 50 by Texas Tech.

Today is Day 1 of the Orsini Regime