First, let's get this out of the way, shall we? It's clearly "yanny." We think everybody who claims to hear otherwise is a part of a vast conspiracy to freak us out.
• The problems with a couple of juvenile jails in this state were reported (again) in this newspaper last week. There's one argument about cleaning up juvee that should never be forgotten: These kids will get out one day. Any young person who's sent to the big house, which can happen in extreme cases, might be locked up for decades, but none of these kids in juvenile jail will be. At the very most, they'll only be kept till they turn 21. They will be on our streets, in our neighborhoods, again one day. We must reform them. And reform the way we treat them.
• One more word about the Hogs playing at War Memorial Stadium the next few years: Word around the campfire is that this contract is up in six years, just as the contract for playing Texas A&M in Arlington expires. So if the UofA and A&M go back to home-and-home games after 2024, which they should, then Fayetteville gets back another game every other year, and a game in Little Rock will be easier to handle financially. This whole thing is clicking into place beautifully.
• Speaking of football, the UofA got a four-star recruit at quarterback last week when a kid from Mississippi committed to the Hogs. (The young man had 20 some-odd scholarship offers, so this is a big deal.) The player said he knew he wanted to come to Arkansas, in part, after the spring game. The spring game? This past spring game? We almost attended that one, but the 33-degree temp, the freezing rain, the snow on top of all of it, the groans from the kids--and the look of disapproval in the eyes of the woman of the house--kept us away that day. But it's good to know that said player will be good to go if the weather turns nasty.
• The euphemism of the week, maybe the year: Some professional sports teams, looking to cash in on the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that will allow sports betting in all 50 states, want a part of the action. That is, the money. So they're looking to states to provide it once the betting light turns green. These pro sports teams are calling the fee, or tax, or vig, an "integrity fee." Why? Supposedly the money that will pour into team HQ will "help ensure gambling doesn't lead to improprieties in games," according to the Wall Street Journal. Oh, what abuse is heaped on the language. What's next, calling point shaving "unauthorized result moderation"?
• We've been a fan of Mary Steenburgen since she first made the big time in Goin' South. ("I just got out of bed, darling.") And we've followed her all the way to The Last Man on Earth. Our always with-it features section had an article on the Arkansas native who once, before stardom, waited tables in New York. She says she remembers a casting director who came in once a week and never left a tip. Years later, at a party, they met again. "She came up to me and said, 'I'm your biggest fan. I am the definite Mary Steenburgen expert.' And I just looked at her and said, 'Chicken parmesan, hold the spaghetti, Wednesday nights, Hudson Bay Inn.' She stared at me, went pale and walked away." We knew there was a reason we adored this woman.
• Dispatches say a 93-year-old man from Zanesville, Ohio, one Ben Bender, has enjoyed golf all his life. But he has hip bursitis, so he decided to put the bag in the garage and give up the game. He went out for one last round the other day. Got to the third hole, took out his 5-wood, and hit his first-ever hole in one. "I'd come close to some holes in one," he told the papers, "but this one was level on the green before it curved towards the hole and went in." Ah, that's swell. Give us a happy ending every time. Even for editorials-in-a-dash.
Editorial on 05/21/2018