All You Can Eat Friday

Fortune has bestowed upon us this celebration of National Taco Day. Praise be tacos! Here’s Texas Monthly‘s 2007 list of the best tacos in the state. And, for good measure, here’s another list of (some of) the best tacos in Texas. Anyone seen at a Taco Bell will be arrested.

Twitter Wars

The General tweeted just once yesterday, and it was aimed at Davis. It also appears to be the first tweet in which he’s acknowledged his challenger. Let the games begin.

Daily Roundup

And They’re Off! — Wendy Davis announced yesterday that she’s quitting politics, effective immediately, and moving to Rugby, North Dakota, to open a Bollywood-themed miniature golf course with her new life-partner, Timmons, a former dolphin trainer whom she met on an unspecified web forum. Kidding. Wendy Davis is running for governor. The political star made the relatively brief and completely unsurprising announcement at the same Fort Worth gymnasium where she received her high school diploma. In what is surely not a sign of messaging and organization to come, however, her media team actually made the announcement a few minutes earlier in a press release. Oops. As our own blogger-on-the-scene Dan Solomon noted, Davis was smart not to mention the abortion-rights crusade that catapulted her to fame, and instead she rather ingeniously alluded to another filibuster of hers regarding education, one of several “bread-and-butter issues” she’s touted in the run-up to her official campaign. The aversion to typecasting will be an important one for the gubernatorial candidate, particularly since the anti-abortion group, Texas Right to Life, has already created a bilingual radio attack-ad campaign, which rolls out this weekend. Not that Davis doesn’t have her defenders. Opinion pieces in national publications are already being penned, with titles like “Why Wendy Davis’s announcement is a big deal” and “Wendy Davis Wins, Even If She Loses.” While most professional bookies are expecting her to lose this horse race, Davis’ numbers aren’t that bad. The latest poll has Davis eight points behind Abbott overall, and is in a “statistical tie” among women, 51 percent of whom are undecided. All polls suggest 100 percent chance of political mud-slinging and media salivating.

A Lucky Outcome — A win’s a win, right? Though you don’t get much closer to embarrassment than UT’s 31-30 clobbering of Iowa State yesterday. If you hadn’t heard about Davis’ run, at least you know about UT’s last-second hiccup in the game, in which they fumbled their way to victory. SBNation has a GIF of the play, though unfortunately, not of Cyclone’s coach Paul Rhoads “going nuclear” during the post-game presser. In another bit of UT “luck,” there’s a supposed frontrunner for DeLoss Dodds old AD job — Oliver Luck. No real surprise to anyone creating bucket lists (our sideline reporter Jason Cohen recently included Luck in his own). When asked if he’d consider taking the position, Luck initially responded with one word: No. But then, “Luck clarified that his official position on the subject was not to have a comment on it, making it one of the more swift jumps from denial to non-denial in the history of such non-statements that still say quite a great deal.” Regarding UT’s near-loss and Luck’s near-confirmation, Nick Saban could not be reached for comment.

Austin City’s Limited Parking — If you live in the capital, today’s the day you barricade the doors and hide your impressionable children. A bunch of sweaty musicians and troublemaking audiophiles arrive to town for not one, but two, weeks of Austin City Limits. Attendees may end up looking like Woodstockers, as rain’s expected for Saturday. Also expected: lotsa money for the local enconomy. As reported last month, ACL is expected to bring in about $80 million with each attendee spending over $800 each over the course of a single weekend, according to the Austin Business Journal. Unsurprisingly, business owner’s are quite happy, especialy with twice the customers. Of note: residents near the festival lash down their belongings and brace themselves for Hurricane Reverb; all the really cool kids are ditching the fest and have their own plans. The Horn, a UT student newspapers, has a do-and-don’t guide for all young attendees, including truly sage advice as “Don’t Buy Strange Drugs” and “Don’t Be a Dick.” For those ACL fans who could make it (and for those who couldn’t), the Austin Chronicle has the most comprehensive coverage of all the weekend events. Those who aren’t ACL fans can purchase earplugs at your nearest Walgreens.

Evil Spirits — All those “Cheerleading is Life” mottos and t-shirts ain’t no joke. Yesterday, it was reported that a Pflugerville cheerleader is going to be suspended from the extracurricular activity because she’s opted to attend another extracurricular activity. And, no, it’s not ACL, though it is a three-letter event — SAT. Senior Ally Batista received her “third strike” after declaring her intent to take the college entrance exam, saying “My priority is school and I am taking the SAT regardless.” According to KXAN, Batista’s other strikes include the time ”she had a lead role in a school play after cheer events were over for the term” and another banquet function for which Batista admits she’s deserved the strike. Batista’s mom appealed the decision, but dem’s da rules, and for the next three weeks the senior is banned from even attending the school’s games. The school’s defense that it is a “mischaracterization to say that any student is being punished for taking the SAT,” is as tinny as a rah-rah chant. Gimme a F, gimme a A, gimme I, gimme L. Considering their priorities, here’s hoping school officials actually know what that spells.

Clickity-Click These Extra Bits

Shootout at OK McCamey

All Units, Be On The Lookout For Lace, Satin, and Thongs

A ‘Sour Commute’

Old Man Dies of Completely Unnatural Causes

Gloomy Weatherman Raining on Everybody’s Parade

Arlington Residents May Soon Be Able to Drown all Their Ranger Sorrows

Day Three and Already Biggest A-Hole of Entire Gov’t Shutdown Is Declared

Friends, Family Shocked by Arrest of Anonymous Online Drug Kingpin

No matter the festival, Texas Monthly is always partying on Twitter. Jeff Winkler occasionally tweets about his days on the cheer team’s d-squad