That question ranks up there with "How long have you been a black quarterback?" as the dumbest question ever asked by a newspaper reporter.

That question ranks up there with "How long have you been a black quarterback?" as the dumbest question ever asked by a newspaper reporter.

Not necessarily! For all we know, this quarterback may have done the "reverse Michael Jackson" thing. We could just ask Mike how long he's been a white entertainer...

I remember that when state quarters first came out during the Clinton administration the right-wing was telling people that Clinton's quarters don't work in vending machines. In Michigan the rumor spread pretty deeply before being exposed as Stupid Republican Lie #14,843.

Looks like a moderately amusing use of irony and understatement to me.

This is not a dumb question. If Texas had been allowed to mint them they would be bigger, louder, stupider . . .

[Pardon my parochialism--I used to live in Arkansas, which unfortunately shared a border with Texas]

Just for the record, that "black quarterback" question was never actually asked.

The question was actually "Doug, obviously you've been a black quarterback your whole life. When did race begin to matter to people?" Doug Williams misheard the question and replied, "How long have I been a black quarterback?"

Related to the Doug Williams story: When Mickey Mantle's liver transplant was a big item, one of the surgeons involved gave a press conference. A reporter asked "Is the liver donor still alive?" to which the surgeon immediately replied:

"You're a sportswriter, aren't you?"

As the saying goes, "everything is bigger in Texas".

The reporter's question was actually a joke. You just didn't get it.

Lighten up.

Have to go with tradition here. When Don Larson pitched his perfect game in the World Series, a sports reporter asked, "Is this the best game you have pitched?"

That's a pretty design on that thar quarter.

It's not necessarily such a dumb question.. plenty of countries have had, and continue to have coins of a single denomination circulating at the same time in different shapes, sizes, materials, etc.

But for some reason I don't think that was the idea behind the question.. so, yeah, it was dumb.

c'mon, Charles. time to admit you overreacted a bit to this. it obviously was a tongue-in-check joke about the "Everything's bigger in Texas" saying. if you paid attention to the 3rd paragraph, which starts off as "Even more humbling...," it appears to be a not-so-subtle hint of that.

the journalist is just using some self-Texan-deprecating humor about the Texans' own sense of state pride. we all should be able to laugh at ourselves a little from time to time.

"may I just say that this is the most retarded thing you'll read about any of the state coins."

Retarded? Real classy. Thats just as discriminatory as saying "this is the most nigger-like thing you'll read about..."

Comon, lets raise the bar.

I was once at a bris and a woman asked the new mother how old was the baby.

I remember that when state quarters first came out during the Clinton administration the right-wing was telling people that Clinton's quarters don't work in vending machines. In Michigan the rumor spread pretty deeply before being exposed as Stupid Republican Lie #14,843.

let's agree for the sake of argument to blame malicious Republicans for spreading such easily falsifiable rumors.

Who do we blame for the fact that, twenty-five years after the Carter administration introduced one-dollar coins in a practical size and weight, and four years after the Clinton administration issued another design of dollar coins of exactly the same size and weight (so as to perform identically in vending machines), nobody uses them?

The question was actually "Doug, obviously you've been a black quarterback your whole life. When did race begin to matter to people?" Doug Williams misheard the question and replied, "How long have I been a black quarterback?"

I wonder if people haven't misunderstood Williams's response. There are two possibilities other than the misheard/misunderstood explanation. Obviously, Doug Williams hasn't been a black quarterback all of his life. He could've been responding to the absurdity of the claim that he's obviously been a quarterback his entire life, by pointing out that he's been black his whole life, and a quarterback only for a few years.

The other option is that he was saying that race has been a factor for as long as he's been a black quarterback.

Who do we blame for the fact that [...] four years after the Clinton administration issued another design of dollar coins [...] nobody uses them?

Because if you're anything like me, you lose more coins than you keep.

A lot of people like singles, especially those frequenting certain adult establishments, but the average life span of a dollar bill is 1.5 years and we spend more the $700 million per year to destroy old $1 bills and remake them. On the other hand, coins like the Sacagawea Dollar and SBA Dollar routinely are in circulation for 60 years. Just a data point.

Now imagine if we could retire the printing plates for the $1 bill and use that engraving time to print up the new $5,000 bills with Ronald Reagan on them...

Folks the dumbest question ever by a reporter was asked of former Ohio Gov Dick Celeste by a Columbus reporter. During a press briefing dealing with the state's savings and loan crisis the reporter queried, "What's the difference between $95 million and $100 million?" You had to have been there.

Gotta say, it sounds like humor to me. I'll chalk it up to Kuff's sleep deprivation ;)

Theodoric of York: Can I make an appointment? I've got a small gnome somewhere I need to see you about.

The Post Office uses dollar coins as change in stamp vending machines. I like to get a bunch and use them as tip money when eating out. The problem with them is that when new and all the ads were out, you couldn't get any as people were grabbing them by the roll to keep, not circulate. It's still a good idea to have dollar coins.

Our local rag reran a column by Jim Shea at the Hartford Courant about "liberal bias". Somebody please tell me if that is satire, bad humor or what.

Trust Carter and Clinton to find such a novel way of funding the deficit. Mint dollar coins and then get people to grab rolls to keep.

I don't know whether it was a joke or not, but I live outside Texas, where everyone thinks Texans are a bunch of racist, self-centred, warmongers. Texas wanted to secede (or did they?), they want to elect all of our Presidents with their oil money, the state is run by a bunch of Osama-bin-laden-wannabe-extremists, the Bugman is a hero down there, who could anybody possibly think that simpleminded, bigoted Texans could understand a non-obvious joke? Does Texas even get the Daily Show?

Texas. Good riddance to you and South Carolina. Maybe just rope-off Austin...

"The Post Office uses dollar coins as change in stamp vending machines. I like to get a bunch and use them as tip money when eating out. The problem with them is that when new and all the ads were out, you couldn't get any as people were grabbing them by the roll to keep, not circulate. It's still a good idea to have dollar coins."

I find it ironic that the United States can't accept a dollar coin, while Canada has both a dollar (nicknamed the "loonie" since it has a loon on the front) and a two dollar coin (nicknamed the "twonie").

I used to love getting the Eisenhower dollars when I was a kid (yeah, I'm old, so what?).

I am a fifth generation Texan and the quarter sucks. No Alamo. No San Jacinto. No cattle. No oil derrick. Just a star over DALLAS. What the Hell is that? Dallas (as Amon Carter used to remind daily) is where the East petered out. And it gets the Lone Star. More evidence that Rick Perry (who approved the design) is a dolt.

I will take no Texas quarters. I will give them back and ask for a Georgia, a North Carolina, even an Ohio. But I ain't taking no stinking DALLAS quarter and calling it Texas.

When I was younger, I used to hand back dollars signed by former Texas Governor and US Secretary of the Treasury John Connally. Connally was tried and acquited of corruption in the Nixon Administration. I disbelieved the acquittal and refused to take money signed by a crook.

I say boycott the DALLAS quarter.

"I find it ironic that the United States can't accept a dollar coin, while Canada has both a dollar (nicknamed the "loonie" since it has a loon on the front) and a two dollar coin (nicknamed the "twonie")."

The Canadians are certainly more rational on this matter, but I must point out that a Loonie has frequently been worth about 65 cents US (versus the current 75 cents), so the need for a dollar coin was correspondingly more obvious. (I'm all for discontinuing the penny and paper dollar, myself.)

OTOH, India has the nastiest, rattiest five rupee notes in circulation -- equivalent to a US dime. Given the state of heath care among the poor, I was reluctant to handle them, let alone retain them for any time.

No one mentioned the story told in states with backward-perceived sections--In Michigan it was the upper peninsula--that the state quarter designed there had to rethought, since two dimes and a nickel glued together wouldn't work in vending machines.
I suppose the Texas quarter is no different from any other, it just makes more noise in your pocket.