Horns Up, Horns Down for this week
Vol. 2, No. 1: I hate the word "startup" but I do want attention.
Horns Up, Horns Down is an occasional column that provides snarky, insightful analysis of local news. We use a simple metric for classifying each story we cover: Do we vibe with it? Horns Up. Is it stupid or infuriating? Horns Down.
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Horns Up: Strikes get the goods (we hope?)
When news broke that Teamsters at the Molson Coors brewery had secured a contract and were ending their monthslong strike, it seemed like an unquestionable Horns Up moment. Lost in Panther City supports unions and the Coors workers deserved a win after the company offered them 99-cent raises and then dicked around for months instead of negotiating.
But things took a weird turn Friday.
The Fort Worth Report published a story about strife within the union — specifically, trouble between the Fort Worth-based Teamsters Local 997 that represents the Coors workers and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, its parent organization. The conflict resulted in the removal of the local’s leadership and the establishment of an emergency trusteeship appointed by the IBT, a move which at least some Fort Worth union members resent and see as a major injustice.
How exactly this internal reshuffling affected contract negotiations isn’t clear, nor do we know much about why national Teamsters leadership removed Local 997’s board. Adding to the confusion, the Teamsters also scrubbed any mention of the new contract with Molson Coors from their social media, even going so far as to remove the press release posted on their website, which is now just a dead link. Almost everything about the situation is unclear, including what’s even in the new contract.
I emailed a Teamsters spokesperson on Friday to ask for more details about the contract and got a response that was very light on specifics. Here’s what she told me:
I can confirm Molson Coors Teamsters in Fort Worth, Texas, voted to ratify a new three-year agreement. The contract secures wage increases, improves benefits, and restores retiree health care.
I’ll be honest, I was hoping for more. For starters, it’d be good to know how much of a wage increase was secured in the contract. Sure, it’s good that the Molson Coors workers got a better deal as a result of their strike, which certainly wasn’t easy on them. But the situation is too messy to fully celebrate yet.
Call it a provisional Horns Up?
Horns Down: Dr. Phil in a cowboy hat
Regular readers already know this newsletter hates Phil McGraw (aka Dr. Phil) and deeply regrets his recent move to the Alliance area in North Fort Worth. The reasons are numerous: He’s a vapid television personality and pompous jackass; his career is built on emotionally exploiting people for ratings; his shows are full of far-right propaganda and lies.
But now I have a new reason to detest him: For cosplaying as a cowboy.
This cringeworthy image of Dr. Phil in a cowboy hat comes to us courtesy of a new broadcast deal between PBR and McGraw’s company, Merit Street Media, which will soon begin streaming coverage of bull riding and other PBR events. Predictably, the video announcing the partnership is crammed full of pandering, err, bullshit:
In the Old West, the character of a man was based on his merit. America was built on true grit, hard work, sweat and competition. Some think this nation has lost its way, that we’ve lost our spirit. We call bull.
It’s ironic for McGraw, who has devoted a not-insignificant portion of his new prime-time show at Merit Street Media to fearmongering about the Southern border, to hold up bull riding as quintessentially American because there’s ample historical evidence that the sport originated in Mexico. But no matter! Contemporary invocations of the “Old West” aren’t about real history; they’re about mythology and how much money you can make by cashing in on that mythology. So if Dr. Phil wants to prove his red-blooded American manhood by taking on Dragon’s Breath in a PBR arena to juice ratings, who am I to stop him?
Horns Down: Lost in Panther City snubbed by online site
CultureMap, the Texas-based sponcon company that also dabbles in fluffy lifestyle “news,” wrote up a list of new media “startups” in Fort Worth. Alas, your favorite newsletter was excluded. I’m not sure if it was an honest oversight or intentional disrespect, but as Fort Worth’s only good blog, it’s a slight we can’t ignore. It’s true that I’m allergic to the word “startup” because of its association with tech-bro dipshits and rise-and-grind freaks. But to be denied our moment in the attention economy spotlight? Unforgivable.
Per CultureMap:
Dallas-Fort Worth is already a media-rich town, with multiple newspapers, magazines, and online sites. But it's about to get richer in 2024, with expansions from local players as well as newcomers arriving and setting up shop.
One could argue that because Lost in Panther City was founded in 2022 it shouldn’t be included on a list of “new media startups happening in 2024.” But that would be a stupid argument because CultureMap’s list included existing media like the Fort Worth Report, that introduced new imprints this year — i.e., The Arlington Report and the Weekend Worthy newsletter.
On an unrelated note, I’m extremely pleased to announce the launch of our newest vertical: the Lost in Panther City squirrel bureau. This dedicated team of reporters and photographers is responsible for capturing the adorable antics of local tree-dwelling rodentia. I expect this new lifestyle offering to significantly enrich the media offerings in the “town” of Dallas-Fort Worth.
So here’s a PSA to CultureMap’s editors: There’s still time to issue a corrected list!
A dispatch from Lost in Panther City’s squirrel bureau:
