TL;DR: WNBA, The Fever's Insane Season and Collier Calls Out the Commish

Collier ponders coming for the Queen

Growing up, I watched mostly NBA basketball.  It was the era of The Lakers and Celtics when I started.  The Pistons were my team for a couple of years just to annoy Lakers fans, but I loved the Lakers (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was my favorite player), and eventually the Spurs and Suns.  I also watched the NFL on and off there for a while.  

But over the years, I've been more than happy to get into different sports.  I came very late to baseball, and y'all know I now watch a considerable amount of Cubs. I've watched Major League Soccer and National Women's Soccer League, and very much wish Austin had a women's NWLS team.

I recall the early days on the WNBA and feeling it was generally a great idea. Austin was a town where women's collegiate basketball was more important than men's as the University of Texas women's team generally did very well, and everyone likes a winner.  And I always thought it was dumb that American players had no pro league (of their own).

Flash forward to the 00's when we lived in Phoenix, and I liked going to see The Mercury.  It was inexpensive, the fans were nuts, and the play was solid.  I was there when Taurasi showed up to much fanfare, and then showed why Phoenix was so excited to get her.

But...  TV coverage of WNBA has always been spotty at best.  And when something isn't easily accessible, you kind of lose track of it.  And WNBA got back-burnered by ESPN.  You might be flipping channels on a weekend afternoon and see a game, but not much else.  And it never got mixed in with the Sports Center level coverage.  Because why talk about a whole league when you can make up stories about what's happening in football in the off-season.

Suspect Identified in the Yogurt Shop Murders

Over on the media review wing of League of Melbotis, The Signal Watch, we recently discussed the HBO documentary The Yogurt Shop Murders.  Before continuing here, I'd recommend jumping over to that post to get the context, if you're unfamiliar with unsolved murder of four teenage girls in Austin, Texas in 1991.  

It is, and has been, a haunting tragedy that seemed to have no end to it.  I expected that I'd go to my grave with the crime unsolved. 

However, on Friday, September 26th, the Austin Police Department announced that they had a suspect in the case.  Apparently they have DNA evidence and ballistics evidence, which is very promising, obviously.

And if the Golden State Killer can be identified through similar means decades on, it sure seems possible to do the same here.  

The problem is that the APD and investigators have announced their momentous discovery on the tail of the release of the HBO documentary that both embarrassed them, and called into question any motive for coming forward *now* with an answer.  It seems terribly convenient that APD and Travis County prosecutors suddenly have an answer, and that the named perpetrator is not around to poke any holes in their story.  

That said - follow the science on this one - as should have happened all along.  A DNA lab is unlikely to just make things up that would discredit them forever.  And - it sure makes a hell of a lot more sense that a monster like Brashers committed the crime than four teenage boys with no motive, and no prior or subsequent penchant for violence.

I just finished reading about another series of horrors in Austin, The Midnight Assassin, a non-fiction book covering a series of murders by a possible serial killer in Austin the 1880's.  And, yes, it's a real reminder that no one knows what they're doing, and we're all making it up as we go along, complete with our personal baggage as we come to solving a complex puzzle.  

Some folks are just wired to skip over the reality of what they're looking at and want to start using the crime to punish people they already don't like.  In a town where not much happens, like late-20th Century Austin, that included police and prosecutors targeting four young men, mostly for being punk kids.   

I tend to believe that they got it right or they wouldn't go public.  If there were opportunity they got it wrong, man, would that get people fired.  And the science of how they sort this out with DNA is our best chance at a definitive answer.  

On Monday we'll get more details, and I hope they can also definitively place the suspect in Austin at the time.  

Pixies (with Spoon) at Moody Amphitheater September 5, 2025

 

About a month ago, SimonUK told me he had a loose ticket for The Pixies at Austin's Moody Amphitheater.  I said "why, yes, I'll go."  And, indeed, I did. 

September 5, 2025, I found myself in Section 105, Row J, Seat 14.

I was surprised to learn that Spoon was supporting.  

Jamie's Latest Blog Post

Jamie finally returned to her blog and put up a post catching you up on what's been going on with us for the past couple of years.  

Shooting at North Austin Target

It's possible you've seen the news about the three people killed at a Target store yesterday in Austin.  I'm well aware of that location as it was my primary Target store when I was in college 3 decades ago, and then in the years immediately following college when Jamie and I lived in an apartment just north of campus.

I haven't had much reason to be in that part of town in a few years, or in that Target in decades.  

The crime is horrifying, but no longer shocking.  The perpetrator had run ins with law-enforcement for years and had been placed on mental-health holds, but wasn't necessarily this kind of threat.  That we need better support for these types of mental health recidivist cases is wildly evident, but no one will lift a finger to pay for what needs doing.  I cannot imagine much will change despite the fatalities of good people going about their day, including a 4-year-old child, her grandfather and a 24-year-old store employee.

The shooter was caught, after assaulting others.  

Expect the Texas lege to find some way that the policies they've set the past several decades in which they've had a one-party system controlling the state are the fault of the minority party.

Introducing: Emmylou

Y'all meet Emmylou.  

After taking some time since we lost Andre, we decided to head to the Austin Humane Society, where we adopted Scout and Jeff the Cat, and we walked out the door with a small friend who will be with us for the next 15 years, I'd guess.

Central Texas Flood - July 4th Weekend, 2025

It's difficult to know what to say about what has occurred here in Central Texas over the last week.  

For reasons that I cannot sort, we tend to get weather events on holidays.  You'll hear about Memorial Day floods, Halloween floods, etc..  This one happened on July 4th, 2025.  It is by far the most devastating flood in this area of which I am aware, and it's going to haunt this area for decades to come.

For years, the areas west of Austin have been starved for rain.  The ongoing drought has been of tremendous concern both west of Austin and locally and is a regular topic during weather reports (for more on Austin weather, I recommend KXAN).  This area is booming with unregulated growth by developers who will be long gone when we're out of water, so it's an issue.  The climate here is essentially scrub-desert.  Our native trees grow wide and knotty, and cactus and mesquite fight for space where soil is found between limestone outcrops.  Much of Central Texas and the Hill Country sit atop a thin layer of soil, which - in turn- rests on top of rock, which forms the lovely rolling hills you see in West Austin and beyond (thus the name of the area).  From the Balcones Escarpment, the hills extend for miles and miles before you hit the flat lands of West Texas - just prior to the mountains.