Looks like The Supremes today will rule on Texas' congressional redistricting plan. A ruling in our favor might just be the tonic Dems need to get back in the game. It'll give us something to get excited about. Just think about it. A few congressional races, a race inspired city charter election in H-Town, some key state house races across the state, major independent candidates running for governor, and a lot more folks not too happy with the GOP. When you mix it all up and add some resources, well, you get the picture.

I had the tube tuned into the World Cup yesterday and there was a brief argument on the field between the Dutch and Portuguese players. My question is, is there a universal soccer arguing language? I mean, what is the Dutch player saying to the Portuguese player and do they understand each other? Spanish, English, Portuguese, Dutch, German, French, Italian, and Ukrainian are languages that made it to the Round of 16.

Some Sterling Thoughts: At the yard during the Kiss Kam segment, there is a growing trend where after a couple kisses, the fella will drop to a knee, pull out the ring, and propose to her. The fella's girl always says yes. Thoughts are if a woman ever gets asked on the Jumbotron, she has to say yes. She shouldn't get p___ed off in front of 35,000 baseball fans. If she's not cool with what went on, wait until the game is over, get in the car and then let the fella have it.

I was told a true story about a woman that was going to be given a birthday dinner in her honor by her boyfriend. A number of friends were invited to the dinner. The birthday woman suspected that her boyfriend was going to propose to her at the dinner in front of the friends. Advice was given to the woman to say yes at the dinner in order not to cause a scene. Then after the dinner, shove the ring up his you know where. FYI: the boyfriend did not pop the question at the dinner. Like at Kiss Kam, say yes, then tell folks later you or both of you decided not to get married after all.

Back to the Kiss Kam, I wonder how many of the couples that go through this yard proposal routine actually get married? Maybe I'll file an Open Records request with the 'Stros to get the names of the couples that have gone through this yard proposal routine, then go to the courthouse to check and see if they were issued marriage certificates.

The bad things about the 'Stros' three game series with the Chicago White Sox: we got punked by grand slams in all three games. Lidge, Qualls, Springer and Pettitte all looked bad. We lost on national TV. The good things about the series: we won on national TV. We didn't crater after blowing an eight run lead. We finally beat the White Sox.

June 26, 2006, 9:00AM