FrontBurner

Mike Rawlings, known more recently as Dallas mayoral candidate, is also the CEO of Legends Hospitality, a company that handles the concessions at both Cowboys Stadium and Yankees Stadium. The company is partly owned by CIC Partners, where Rawlings was formerly managing partner.

Now, if you’ve ever sat in the non-cheap seats, you know that you don’t have to haul yourself to a concession stand to buy your hot dogs and such. A server will come directly to you, you can place your order and then someone will bring it to you. Now, on the bottom of your receipt will likely be something that says a 20% service charge has been added to your tab. Now, you might assume that this is like at a restaurant, where a gratuity is added to checks for various reasons – anything from larger parties to the time of day. But you would be wrong. In fact, it’s more like when you order pizza to be delivered and there is a $1 delivery fee added. It’s not a tip, but a convenience charge that likely goes directly to the company or franchise owner.

And that is the case here. That 20% goes to Legends. And now the company is being sued in New York, where three Yankee Stadium servers allege it’s in violation of state law.

A traffic-warning FrontBurnervian alerted me to this today: a T-shirt for Cavs fans who still carry a grudge against one decision-making, ESPN-time-wasting former Cav named LeBron James and therefore will be cheering for the Mavs, or at least against the Heat. According to the site selling the shirt, it’s been flying off the e-shelves.

Mavs Play Basketball Tonight. Before the season began, Jason Terry got a tattoo of the NBA championship trophy. He says he’ll have it removed if they don’t win it. This raises a question: if the Mavs win it all, will Zac Crain deliver on his promise to get a tattoo of Dirk’s face on the small of his back?

Tony Romo Is Officially off the Market. He got married to Candice Crawford on Saturday. Here’s my favorite picture on the DMN site. Does Karen Jones look thrilled to be there or what?

NYT Obit of Bill Clements. We lost a giant on Sunday. He was 94.

Qantas Flight Makes Unscheduled Stop To Get Gas. That new direct flight betwixt here and Australia stretches the outer limits of the 747’s range. On the trip out, one flight had to stop early to refuel. But, you know, no worries, mate.

Just a few minutes ago, Newsweek published a new article on Rick Perry and his possible bid for president in 2012. Yes, of course they used a picture of him holding a gun and shooting it, because, after all, he’s the governor of Texas. I’m sure if the photo was devoid of zoom we’d also see cowboy boots and a good half dozen longhorns moseying behind him.

The story begins with an anecdote about George W. Bush telling him that being governor of Texas is the best job in the world. However, I disagree with this. I’m pretty sure it’s test kitchen taster at The Cheesecake Factory. Or maybe quality control at Shiner. Anywho, the article explains Perry’s appeal to the GOP thusly:

The Republican base, unenthused by the party’s field of 2012 presidential contenders, seems to long for a candidate with less baggage than Newt Gingrich, less squish than Mitt Romney, and more magnetism than Tim Pawlenty. Recently, the right’s hot crush has been the archconservative governor of Texas, the man with the square jaw, thick mane, and a Ruger he takes with him when he goes for a jog.

Will update as more details emerge, but former Texas Gov. Bill Clements has died. He had reportedly been in declining health in recent years. He was 94.

Clements was governor from 1979 to 1983, and again from 1986 to 1991. In between all of that, he was chairman of the board of trustees at SMU during the scandal that ultimately resulted in the NCAA doling out the so-called “death penalty” for the school’s football program.

The state legislature adopted a budget Saturday that came to a $172 billion price tag through cuts and deferrals, without tax increases and without dipping into the reserve fund. The budget is $15 billion less than the current budget, but also doesn’t account for population increases.

And how did education fare? Districts will find $4 billion less in their coffers available for basic operations. Is that legal? Well, it probably will be by today, when the legislature changes the funding formula to make it legal.  It will also cut funds for pre-kindergarten, arts education, financial aid and teacher incentive grants.

Medicaid reimbursements were underfunded by $4.8 billion, and cuts were made to the funding to colleges, nursing homes, highway maintenance, state parks and  a bunch of other state agencies. Family planning was also cut by $73 million, because cervical cancer is way less expensive, as are babies.
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The two ads below were passed along by a FrontBurnervian. On the left is a Baylor hospital ad that’s running in the Byron Nelson program this weekend. On the right is a UT Southwestern Medical Center ad that’s part of a campaign that’s been running for, I’m told, many weeks. Coincidence?

Fine, I’ll take the bait. Only because I needed to remind you that voting for the Services round of our Best of Big D: Readers’ Choice poll is almost finished. At the end of Sunday, it’s all over, and your favorite shops need support.

So only because I needed a convenient excuse to post this reminder, I’m embedding the below video that Dr. Peay’s Booty Camp made for its campaign to be named the Best Fitness Program in Dallas. The short film’s artistic vision reveals just how exciting Best of Big D voting can be. Especially if you play a dance mix of the theme to Rocky III on your iPod while filling out your ballot.

VOTE NOW. And once an hour.

I’m a big fan of our national pastime. It’s the only sport that I follow on a daily basis. I consider the game one of America’s greatest inventions. It’s a beautiful thing, to quote Bob Costas.

It’s not for everyone. Fine. You think it’s too slow. Fine. Not enough action. Fine. Whatever. I’m not going to point out just how little “action” takes place in the course of a typical football game. (Because the Wall Street Journal already did.) I’m not going to point out that in 95% of NBA games nothing but the last four minutes or so matters in determining the winner. (And that four minutes typically takes three times as long as that to actually play, with all the timeouts and fouls and whatnot.)  Those games have their charms. I can enjoy them. I just don’t love them. And maybe you don’t love baseball. Fine.

But it’s ridiculous to say, as the Star-Telegram‘s Mac Engel wrote about John Rhadigan’s dismissal from the broadcast booth for the Texas Rangers:

The problem isn’t necessarily the announcer; the problem is the game of baseball is inherently slow moving and this generation of viewers requires constant stimulation. Baseball is not a product of constant stimulation. Hell, it’s a game that could go weeks without anything interesting happening. There is nothing any announcer can do to make the game what it isn’t.

Are you ready for the Miami Heat? It’s never too early to start making fun of their players. Like this.

Three things have become clear about the Dallas mayoral runoff between Mike Rawlings and David Kunkle. 1.) It’s turned into a virtual love-fest, so the basic dynamics are unlikely to change between now and June 18. 2.) Rawlings, the Dallas super-salesman with the big war chest, had a solid lead in the first go-round–and since has picked up Ron Natinsky’s endorsement. 3.) Kunkle, the former deputy city manager in Arlington, has emerged in the campaign as an uncharismatic but methodically accomplished sort–and a guy who wants a job again.

So, here’s the perfect resolution for Dallas. First, Kunkle withdraws from the race. Then, Rawlings announces that the ex-police chief will become Dallas’ next city manager succeeding Mary Suhm, who’s had a good run but is due for an exit from Marilla Street. (I know, it’s technically the city council that appoints the manager, but we all know Rawlings is a guy who “gets things done.”) The upshot of the plan: Rawlings-Kunkle makes a good team at City Hall. Everybody saves their campaign dough. We stop having to sit through or read about any more snooze-fest debate forums at the East Dallas Chicken-raisers Club. Everybody chills out and enjoys Memorial Day weekend.