I just left the Scots’ basketball game at Pearce with cub reporter Zachary Koller. (“What’s that coach doing, Daddy? What’s that noise, Daddy?”) Two banners hanging below one basket caught my eye:

“Leave Skirts to Girls”

“Daddy Can’t Buy This Game”

NASA's Orion spacecraft slides under the Tollway Friday. (Photo: Strauss Marketing)

Don’t worry, there were no little green men driving the truck.

The above photo (h/t Strauss Marketing) is of NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which will stop in Dallas tonight as part of a cross-country tour. The photo was taken at Lovers and the Tollway.

Check out the interstellar ride outside the American Airlines Center this weekend, and for more information about the tour, visit NASA.

Last night, I spent some time reading this New York Times article about Patrick Witt, the former Rhodes Scholarship finalist/ Yale quarterback turned alleged sexual assailant.

I was somehow distracted and didn’t finish the article, which led me to miss the fact that he spent a few weeks at Highland Park before transferring to Wylie. Tim did read the whole article, and mentioned it this morning on FrontBurner.

A really well-reported story, and sad for lots of reasons. Worth your time.

Bradford Pearson contemplates whether he has enough road to reach 88 miles per hour, thereby activating the McLaren MP4-12C's flux capacitor. (Staff photo: Alana Harrison)

Park Place McLaren held its grand opening on Lemmon Avenue last week. To mark the occasion, we asked if Bradford Pearson could take a 2012 McLaren MP4-12C for a test drive. This is a car that’ll run you $257,000 — not $275,000 as I erroneously wrote in the headline. (And those $18,000 will make all the difference in your buying decision, right?) I highly recommend you pick up a copy of today’s paper to read Brad’s account of his ride around Dallas. Not only is it funny, it’s already prompted one reader to cancel her subscription.

Highland Park's Andrew Barnes (4) goes up for a shot between a pair of defenders. (Photo: Mike Wallis)

The Highland Park basketball teams will square off with Pearce in what could be the final meeting as district rivals between the schools for the foreseeable future. Pearce is expected to jump up to Class 5A for at least the next two seasons.

The Lady Scots (18-7, 6-4) will face the Lady Mustangs (14-13, 4-6) at Highlander Fieldhouse. Highland Park is tied with Wylie and McKinney for third place in the District 10-4A standings with four games left in the regular season. Pearce won the first meeting, 55-54, on a buzzer-beater.

Meanwhile, the Scots (21-2, 8-0) look to stay perfect in district play when they visit the Mustangs (12-11, 3-5). Highland Park held off Pearce, 65-63, in the first meeting.

Both games are at 7:30 p.m.

SMU running back Jared Williams fights for extra yardage. (Photo: Kendall Webb/RoadTripSports.com)

The SMU football team released its 2012 schedule today.

The Mustangs, who are coming off an 8-5 season that included a bowl win over Pittsburgh, will open up at Baylor on Sept. 1. The Bears went 10-3 last year, but they will not have Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III back at quarterback next season. He is headed to the NFL.

SMU’s home opener will be one week later against Stephen F. Austin. That game will be the first of three straight at home. The Mustangs will take on Texas A&M on Sept. 15 and TCU on Sept. 29 at Ford Stadium.

The Conference USA opener for SMU is Oct. 6 at UTEP.

The brainiacs on the Highland Park High School Academic Decathlon team have done it again. The Scots finished second only to defending state champion Rockwall in the Region X tournament, which was held last weekend at Conrad High School. Highland Park and Rockwall compete in the medium school division, but the Scots’ score was much higher than the 40,209 recorded by Plano High School, which won the large school division.

The Scots earned a score of 43,602 at the Region X tournament. That’s 889 points more than the Highland Park record established at last year’s state tournament. The Scots are ranked third among the 25 medium schools that will compete for the state championship Feb. 24-26 in San Antonio.

Highlights at the regional meet include Bo Schuh’s win in the varsity division and Thomas Mylott’s second-place finish in the scholastic division. While Bo, Thomas, Brooks Alexander, Arya McCarthy, and Jaclyn Zhou all won separate events, contributions were also made by Jean Luc Vorster, Will Nichol, Karis Dodd, Nathan Hardenburg, Ellie Reynolds, and Meg Brawner.

Luis Urrea will kick off SMU's 'Migration Matters' series.

That’s right. “Migration Matters: An Interdisciplinary Program on Immigration at the U.S.-Mexico Border” is kicking off at 6:30 p.m. at SMU’s McCord Auditorium, with a talk from Pulitzer-finalist author Luis Urrea. He’s the man who penned The Devil’s Highway – required reading a few years ago, by the way, for incoming freshmen — and first in a lineup of weekly speakers including artists, religious leaders, teachers, and people in law enforcement who’ll visit SMU through April 26.

“This subject isn’t about so-called ‘foreigners’ and making distinctions between ‘us’ and ‘them,’” says program coordinator and English professor Jayson Gonzales Sae-Saue, who specializes in Chicano/a and Asian American literature. “It’s about understanding how we imagine complex social relationships that implicate everyone.”

For scoop about upcoming speakers, visit the event page on SMU’s website.

The Associated Press reports that Winklevoss portrayer Armie Hammer, formerly of Highland Park, spent a day in jail over 0.02 ounces of marijuana, three medicinal marijuana cookies, and a brownie. Sounds like he’s beating those munchies to the punch.

Beverly Drive resident and TRT Holdings controller Robert Rowling was the recipient of much back patting at Dallas City Hall this morning.

His company, which owns the Omni Hotels and Resorts brand and Golds Gym, will relocate from Irving to Dallas (specifically a new building at 4001 Maple Ave.) as part of an agreement with the city. In return, the city granted the company a property tax abatement of 90 percent of the next ten years.

While showing off renderings of the building, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said the 170,000-square-foot building inside the the old Parkland campus “will last decades.”