Author: jbenton

Here’s my story on today’s front page, about why Texas high schools suck. (I phrase it differently in the story.) I forgot to mention it here, but I was also on TXCN last night.
Meanwhile, if the person who replaced my throat with a rusty razor-stuffed pipe could please return my esophagus, I would appreciate it. Thank you.

Braggart Watch: Longtime readers may remember that last year, I led my team to victory in the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers first annual trivia bowl. I, as the non-lawyer ringer, teamed with my college chum Dena (an actual attorney-at-law) to rip through the much better-paid competition. (Well, better paid than me. I can’t speak for Dena.)
Well, this year, we tried again (with a new and valuable teammate, Henry). The odds were against us, as they are against all returning champions. Our opponents included: a team we humiliated last year that recruited a new member purely to counteract me, a team with a former Win Ben Stein’s Money contestant, and a high-powered team anchored by a retired judge.
But the results were the same. You are now reading the weblog of the two-time Dallas Association of Young Lawyers trivia bowl champion. The highlight from tonight’s playoffs: a rousing comeback in the semis, from down 210-90 at the halfway point to a 300-220 victory. (Not to mention a 440-130 shellacking of His Honor in the finals.) I now stand at 19-0 in trivia bowl competition, the longest winning streak by a Cajun in bowl history.
The concludes tonight’s edition of Braggart Watch.

I can’t decide which is more annoying: having to listen to a coworker spend two hours on the phone with a customer service rep, complaining (unjustifiably, in my opinion) about some alleged wrong that has been done to him, swearing and yelling — or listening to him brag about his manly, tough phone call for the rest of the day, as if he’d just killed a wild lion with his bare hands.

Alas, Chanda’s run comes to a halt, as I feared, with a 6-3, 6-2 loss to Henin-Hardenne. Not that it matters much, since she would have been mowed down by Serena in the semis if she’d won, but still sad — Chanda’s still waiting for that breakthrough.
That said, she stalled in the fourth round of each of the last four majors, so this was an improvement — her first appearance in the quarters at a major since 2000, and just her second since injuries started messing with her game in ’96.
Anyway, I’ve got a good feeling about Wimbledon.
She also remains alive in the quarters of women’s doubles with Daniela Hantuchova, who I may have mentioned earlier is hot, hot, hot.

I just optioned my first story to Hollywood. So if you ever see an inspirational movie-of-the-week about a small-town Texas school that turns itself around, you know who to thank.

The perils of not shaving your mustache.
“Real-life Hitler look-alikes continued to get stopped at customs, and as late as 1969, German authorities were still rounding up men who resembled Hitler

Here’s my column from today’s paper, on why Texas test scores dropped this year. (Some day I will write about something other test scores, I promise.)
I also just noticed the paper’s publishing my bio with my column online.

Chanda is into the French quarters, with a victory over Petra Mandula. She dropped the first set 4-6, but rallied to win 6-2, 7-5. Next is Justine Henin-Hardenne, who I fear will be too much for our Rubinator.
For what it’s worth, Chanda’s also in the third round of women’s doubles with her partner, uberhottie Daniela Hantuchova. (By the way, the guy who runs that Hantuchova site must be about 12 years old — check out his collection of drawings.)

An Island to Oneself, the story of Tom Neale, who spent parts of three decades living alone on a South Pacific island. (This one’s for you, Gary, the lover of all things island.)
By the way, I’ll be on TXCN in the 7 o’clock hour, talking about test scores. It’ll repeat through the night. Not one of my best performances, though, so feel free to skip it.

I told you Chanda would be taken to three sets by the worrisome Laura Granville. But she rallied to victory, 2-6, 6-1, 6-3.
And my other prediction (“[Anastasia] Myskina won’t be a problem in the next round”) has proven accurate, since Myskina didn’t even make it out of Round 2. Instead, Chanda gets the malignant Magyar, Petra Mandula. Don’t know much about her, but she did make the quarters at Roland Garros two years ago. Prediction: Chanda, 6-1, 6-4.