The Omni Hotel and the Dallas Cowboys.

A telephone call from a F&FW staffer (my son) got me looking at the details of the new Omni Hotel in the Fort Worth Business Press. The details are here, and they are impressive: fwbusinesspress.com.

The related big news, made public a few days ago, is the Omni being made the host hotel for the AFC championship team when the SuperBowl is played at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, 2011. That's a good deal for reasons more than the Omni contract. It puts Fort Worth as a premier host for one the nation's top events and one of the most watched events in the world, it brings a ton of money into Tarrant County businesses, and it showcases downtown Fort Worth. The NFC team is going to Las Colinas, by the way. Dallas is getting . . . nada.

This is all good, but I think many local Fort Worthians have the same mixed feelings my son had when he called from inside the Omni yesterday. "Nice hotel, new obviously, good restaurants, definitely a convention hotel, but does it fit Fort Worth? It's more of a big city hotel." His comments reveal the challenge Fort Worth has to address. How do we keep our small town atmosphere and still have this kind of growth, bringing in these kind of events?

For me, I like the growth pace and I think it is worth the risk. It's not growth at any cost like Atlantic City or even worse, Orlando, it's a more managed growth.

The numbers of registrations that the Omni is getting proves that there was pent-up demand for a legitimate downtown convention hotel. The hotel is booking groups into 2015 and has booked 750 groups into 2011. That's not too shabby.

Is a 5-start hotel? No. Is it a cozy, boutique hotel? No. It's a comfortable, business hotel with a touch of Fort Worth. It's not perfect but it beats what we have had. And it will do wonders for the south side of downtown. A Bob's Steak and Chop House on the ground floor doesn't hurt either.

Late Night Eats

Fellow "Chowtowners"...

Where do you all head to for those late night cravings? You know what I'm talking about... Out having drinks with friends or up late reading your favorite super market checkout lane romance novel...

You get hungry. You want a meal.

Where do you go?

I'm still relatively new (a year fresh into Fort Worth) and found myself stuck ordering Papa John's at 1 am last night...

I hear Old South is open at all hours of the night, but... well... you know... But seriously? It seems like every other major city in the US has some really great food that can be served after midnight. I'm just struggling to figure out where it is.

Help me out...

(yeah, I totally came up with Chowtowners on my own)

Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul

The Conversion on the Way to Damascus
Caravaggio / 1600






If one were to ask for the ten most influential men in history, Paul of Tarsus would surely be one of them. His writings are some of those that we consider fundamental in the development of Western Civilization. They are the subject of more commentary, possibly, than the words of Christ Himself. Except for Peter, no man has inspired more men to a devout life.
It is the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, or the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul. I chose the latter readings because this year, 2000 years after his birth, has been dedicated as the Year of Saint Paul.

From the book of the Acts of the Apostles

"On that journey as I drew near to Damascus,
about noon a great light from the sky suddenly shone around me.
I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me,
'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?'
I replied, 'Who are you, sir?'
And he said to me,
'I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting.'

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Pope Benedict XVI, June 28, 2007
First Vespers of the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul

"Dear brothers and sisters, as in early times, today too Christ needs apostles ready to sacrifice themselves. He needs witnesses and martyrs like St Paul. Paul, a former violent persecutor of Christians, when he fell to the ground dazzled by the divine light on the road to Damascus, did not hesitate to change sides to the Crucified One and followed him without second thoughts. He lived and worked for Christ, for him he suffered and died. How timely his example is today!“And for this very reason I am pleased to announce officially that we shall be dedicating a special Jubilee Year to the Apostle Paul from 28 June 2008 to 29 June 2009, on the occasion of the bi-millennium of his birth, which historians have placed between the years 7 and 10 A.D."

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Mass times in the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth: www.fwdioc.org

Fort Worth's Catholic College: www.cstm.edu