All-Star Dallas

Did any of you watch the NBA All-Star game that was held in JerryWorld last Sunday night? JerryWorld is what the Dallas sports writers have been calling the new Cowboys Stadium since it opened last Fall. Jerry Jones has taken quite a bit of heat in the local media over the past six months or so for the money he and the city of Arlington spent to build the stadium and for the outrageous prices that are charged. For example, the cheapest seat for a Cowboys game was $85, a pizza was $60, a Coke or a beer was $10-12, and it cost $75 to park. Now it seems all is forgiven because of the huge success of the NBA All-Star event and the other special events that have come to the Stadium. According to the reports I've seen on the news and the articles in the paper, it was quite a spectacle. First of all, over 108,000 fans attended. They said that even the NBA players were awed by the size of the stadium and the size of the Jumbotron. One writer commented that it was kind of comical to see the basketball court on the floor dwarfed in size by the Jumbotron screen above it...a regulation basketball court is about 30 yards long and the Jumbotron is 60 yards long. There were all kinds of special events in the week leading up to the game and all kinds of celebrities were in town. The economic impact for the Dallas area was said to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. So now Jerry Jones is a hero in the Dallas area media. The press has even been complimentary of Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, for his part in putting it on. They usually love to criticize him. It was all interesting to watch as it all played out, and the basketball game itself was pretty good.
After all the hype of the glitz and glamour of the All-Star game, it was ironic to see a front page article on Tuesday in the Dallas Morning News about the problem of pot-holes in the streets of the city. I guess no matter how glitzy you get, you still have to deal with some of the gritty realities of life.
I am looking forward to the weekend. Merilyn is set to come down to spend a few days with me in Ennis. She has been dealing with some illness the past few days so I hope she can still come. They've had a virus going through the school.
It has surely been great to see sunshine again! It seems we went about a month with gray, cold, dreary weather. That reminds me of an excellent Bible passage: For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For it is the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
I hope everyone has a good weekend. God bless!