Mack’s Brand
Mattress Mack is all in, as in the deep end. That is too bad to see. His icon status has definitely shifted a bit. See this from the Chron today:
Houston furniture magnate Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale has filed a lawsuit against the Harris County Elections Administrator’s office accusing it of refusing to turn over public records related to the November 2022 election, adding to an array of GOP litigation aimed at the county’s elections process.
According to the petition filed Monday night, Wayne Dolcefino, a media consultant and former TV journalist, submitted multiple requests for public information on behalf of the Gallery Furniture owner, who was a major donor supporting Republican candidates including County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s opponent Alexandra del Moral Mealer.
And this:
McIngvale engaged Dolcefino’s firm months ago to investigate the 2022 election, which also faces scrutiny from a Texas Rangers criminal investigation, a Harris County Republican Party lawsuit alleging violations of the Texas Election Code and a forensic audit by the Texas Secretary of State’s office for which Harris County was randomly selected.
And this:
Asked if they had evidence or an estimate of voters disenfranchised by the events of Election Day, Dolcefino replied, “It hasn’t been the focus of what we’re doing.”
And finally, this:
(Harris County Elections Administrator Clifford) Tatum has said that while paper supplies ran low at some locations, the county has not been able to confirm whether any voters were turned away as a result.
When Wayne says that finding disenfranchised voters is not their focus, that means there are not any disenfranchise voters. Period.
Commentary will say it again. Mack is thin skinned. He got into a high-profile political campaign and ended up on the losing side. He let Judge Hidalgo get under his skin when she referred to him as a “furniture salesman.”
Judge Hidalgo used that term intentionally and he took the bait so to speak.
The Chron refers to Mack as a “furniture magnate.” Maybe if that is the term Judge Hidalgo had used Mack would not have gone off the deep end.
Off the Kuff used a different term with his headline on the lawsuit today. See this:
The furniture guy files a lawsuit
I saw a tweet that got good run yesterday when they referred to Mack as:
MAGA Mack.
I am thinking Mattress Mack’s brand has taken a hit. He is kind of like in the election denier camp. Only because he apparently let Judge Hidalgo mess with his mind.
Oh, well.
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Tags put this out today. A change is coming:
Astros pitcher Luis Garcia will have to put his “rock the baby” pitching windup to bed.
The Astros were informed in December by Major League Baseball that Garcia’s signature windup — in which he rocks his arms back and forth, then takes one step forward and one step backward before delivering the ball — would no longer be legal under the new pitch timer rules.
The new rule states a pitcher must have a clear point to begin his delivery in order to stop the pitch timer, and Garcia’s multiple steps and arm motions don’t provide that. The rule says the pitcher is permitted to take one step back (or laterally) and one step forward. Thus, taking multiple steps before lifting the free leg is now deemed an illegal pitch movement.
“We just had to get a hold of Luis and told him that it might not be allowed, so we need to practice something a little more traditional,” Houston pitching coach Josh Miller said.
Garcia’s pitching motion is one of the most recognizable in baseball and has been celebrated on T-shirts in Houston. He makes a motion similar to rocking a baby when he begins his windup, moving his arms back and forth while holding his glove. Garcia started throwing that way years ago while trying to find a delivery that was repeatable.
Now, Miller said, his windup will look different this spring.
“Yeah, he’s been throwing [a different] way since we talked to him there in mid-to-late December, so I’d expect to see a little different delivery from him from the windup,” he said.
We will see how Luis adjusts.
