By TomE. Curran
CSNNE.com
DALLAS - So here's that story I was telling you about Monday night. There's a guy down here in the Dallas media. Apparently, he's got a sister who works for an airline. And he overheard a friend of mine from L.A. discussing plans to fly to Hawaii with his family. So the Dallas guy - who might be best described as lovably eccentric - says he's going to do the L.A. guy a solid. He can get free tickets to Hawaii not just for the L.A. guy but the whole family.
This, of course, is a boon. The Dallas guy says he just needs to check something and he'll be in touch. A couple of days later, the Dallas guy calls my L.A. buddy and says it's all set. All my L.A. buddy needs to do is go down and officially change his last name at least 30 days before they're going to fly. That way, he's a family member. And the wife and kids? They need to officially change their last names too. But once the trip's taken and everybody's back, they can change their name back. Easy, peezy, lemon-squeezy. Anyway, it's like -44 degrees here on Tuesday and I ain't kidding. The coldest I've been this year was the day after Christmas in Buffalo when a snowstorm blew in after the game and I stood on the field for 20 minutes dressed insufficiently . . . and it was just as cold Tuesday in Dallas. It wasn't just that the temperature was about 15. It was the 40 mph winds and ice shards being swept through the air that got me. I mean, you know and I know what cold's all about? This was stupid. Painful. Of course, this being Texas, they were well-equipped to deal with the snow and ice falling on their sidewalks and roadways.
They just stared at it.
No lie. The highways were a sheet of ice in some spots and there was an intermingling of driving attitudes ranging from "If I go 11 mph I will survive this day" to "I'm from Texas, everything's bigger here and, dadgum, my Chevy goes 75 come rain, shine or sheets of ice." Some of those guys were no doubt among the nine spinouts I witnessed on the way from Arlington where media day was held at the Cowboys Stadium back to Dallas. I bailed on the Packers media day and wrote my 5 this morning instead and got over to the Steelers at 12. My goal was to find Chad Ochocinco (success) and ask him about the Patriots (success). I already knew I was writing on Roethlisberger's redemption and had my artillery so I was more there to observe than collect. All right, there's a media party with all the BBQ you (or I) can eat going on right now at the Hard Rock here in Dallas. So I'm gonna git some before it's all gone. The thing started at 8 central and it's 9:30.
Click here for my entry from Monday.
Check in tomorrow for more. This diary seemed like an awesome idea Sunday. Not as awesome today. I'll need a second wind.
Tom E. Curran canbe reached at tcurran@comcastsportsnet.com.Follow Tom on Twitter at http:twitter.comtomecurran