If you thought Dallas was normal before 2025, you probably weren\u2019t paying attention. But if you thought Dallas would stay relatively sane during the year, you were dead wrong.<\/p>\n
This year felt like someone put our city into a blender with The Onion, a Reddit conspiracy thread and a shot of tequila, then hit \u201cpuree.\u201d We saw the football fields soaked in piss, we saw\u00a0the Cowboys do Cowboys things<\/a>\u00a0(but louder), and we saw the unthinkable happen out of the American Airlines Center. <\/p>\n So, maybe pour yourself a stiff drink and let\u2019s count down the absolute wildest moments that made us question reality in Big D this year.<\/p>\n 7. Texas DMV Plays \u201cNo Fun Police\u201d With Vanity Plates<\/strong><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tThis year, make your gift count \u2013 \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOur work is funded by readers like you who make voluntary gifts because they value our work and want to see it continue. Make a contribution today to help us reach our $30,000 goal!\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n We begin our descent into madness with a classic Texas tradition: citizens attempting to sneak in dirty jokes past government bureaucrats.<\/p>\n Early this year, the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles released its annual \u201cnaughty list\u201d of rejected vanity plates<\/a>, and folks, the creativity of our neighbors is truly inspiring. While we can\u2019t print all of them without getting a stern email from our publisher, let\u2019s just say the variations on \u201cDeez Nuts\u201d have reached near-scholarly levels of linguistic evolution.<\/p>\n There were plates referencing criminal records (\u201c1FELONY\u201d \u2014 honesty is the best policy, is it not?), plates referencing bodily functions (\u201cCKNBUTT\u201d) and plates that were just baffling cries for help. It\u2019s comforting to know that while the world burns, someone in Plano is still fighting the good fight to get a dick joke on the back of their Corolla. \u2014 Preston Barta<\/strong><\/p>\n 6. The War on Rainbow Crosswalks<\/p>\n Gov. Greg Abbott was quite bored this year, it seems. <\/p>\n In October, he announced a directive that would require TxDOT to enforce \u201croadway safety\u201d by focusing on the removal of \u201cnon-standard surface markings, signage, and signals that do not directly support traffic control.\u201d It was a not-so-subtle attempt to have rainbow crosswalks \u2014 like the ones that have existed on the Cedar Springs Strip since 2020 \u2014 quite literally whitewashed away as a political stunt. <\/p>\n But by attempting to dim the vibrancy of the city\u2019s historic LGBTQ district, the governor only splashed up more color. Oak Lawn United Methodist Church, situated at an intersection where rainbow crosswalks can be seen, garnered national praise<\/a> for literally stepping up to paint its entrance steps in the colors of the LGBTQ pride flag. JR\u2019s Bar and Grill got an exterior upgrade with a rainbow wrap along its perimeter. Salon Aura adorned its sigange with a rainbow underline. A community fought back with its most formidable defense: pride. \u2014 Alec Spicer<\/strong><\/p>\n 5. Golden Showers of Mischief: The Piss Bandits\u2019 Reign<\/strong><\/p>\n Move over, Banksy \u2014 2025 was the year the infamous \u201cPiss Bandits\u201d became one of the most discussed underground artists in Dallas<\/a>, and their medium of choice was (unfortunately) liquid gold.<\/p>\n For nearly two months, North Texas schools and parks fell victim to the soggy antics of these mischievous pranksters whose calling card was, well, peeing on things. Viral footage showed hidden figures casually relieving themselves on everything from football fields to campus statues, turning public spaces into their personal canvases. Their commitment to this, let\u2019s call it \u201cfluid\u201d performance art, was rivaled only by the citywide whodunit that ensued.<\/p>\n Reactions ranged from outrage to begrudging amusement, with some even expressing a weird sense of pride. Because, let\u2019s face it, only in North Texas could such chaos unfold. The \u201cPiss Bandits\u201d trended on TikTok, inspired amateur sleuth accounts and even sparked jokes about merch opportunities. How does Bullzerk<\/a> not have a \u201cI survived the Bandit splatter zone\u201d shirt yet?<\/p>\n Eventually, the law flushed them out \u2014 or maybe the Bandits simply moved on to a new mischief trend \u2014 but for a couple of months, they remained as elusive as the evidence they left behind. It was a moment of pure, unfiltered Texas absurdity and a shower of crime that left an indelible mark on the city\u2019s psyche (and sidewalks). \u2014 PB<\/strong><\/p>\n 4. The Big Spit and Cowboys Chaos<\/strong><\/p>\n Ah, the Dallas Cowboys. If they aren\u2019t breaking our hearts, they\u2019re making headlines for the weirdest reasons possible<\/a>.<\/p>\n Take the 2025 season opener against the Eagles, a game that started with a divine weather delay and ended with one of the most talked-about moments of the year: the Spit Seen \u2018Round the World. Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter, apparently mistaking Dak Prescott for a spittoon, was caught on camera hocking a loogie right onto the Cowboys\u2019 golden boy. The refs actually ejected Carter before he played a single snap, and chaos \u2014 and memes \u2014 ensued.<\/p>\n The entire thing played out on national TV, sparking debates, slow-motion replays and an unscheduled crash course in sportsmanship for all involved. If that wasn\u2019t enough drama, the Cowboys\u2019 offseason also featured the brain-boggling decision to trade Micah Parsons<\/a> to Green Bay, and an equally befuddling move to bring in George Pickens \u2014 all of which left fans more confused than an Eagles fan at a spelling bee. <\/p>\n Classic Cowboys: never boring, always a bit bonkers. \u2014 PB<\/strong><\/p>\n 3. UNT Being a Drag<\/p>\n The timeline of drag bans in Texas is annoying to follow, especially when you\u2019re reminded of how frivolous the concept of banning something like drag shows is to begin with. <\/p>\n In the spring, Texas colleges began enforcing \u201cpauses\u201d on drag shows as regional and school officials claimed they were at odds with President Trump\u2019s January executive action that forbade federal funds from \u201cpromoting gender ideology.\u201d A federal judge soon ruled that Trump\u2019s order was \u201ctoo vague\u201d<\/a> to be applicable to on-campus drag performances, specifically citing Texas A&M\u2019s Draggieland showcase in his judicial opinion. In August, the ban was officially struck down by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.<\/p>\n And still, UNT was dragging its feet to lift a similar campus-wide ban on drag. Organizations like the ALCU of Texas and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression quickly put the pressure on the Denton university to abide be the court\u2019s ruling, and it was finally lifted in mid-August<\/a>. By November, however, the ban was back in effect when Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton took to a federal appellate court to clear the way the state to enforce it<\/a>. The ALCU of Texas says it will continue to fight the ruling and \u201cwill not stop until this unconstitutional law is struck down for good.\u201d Drag isn\u2019t banned at our favorite gay clubs<\/a>, though \u2014 come and take it, as they say. \u2014 AS<\/strong><\/p>\n 2. The Tragedy of the Yoga Puppies<\/strong><\/p>\n This story was wild in the worst way possible<\/a>. The concept of \u201cPuppy Yoga\u201d sounds like a serotonin overdose waiting to happen. But a Dallas event turned tragic when reports surfaced that a batch of eight-week-old Dalmatian puppies brought in for a yoga class ended up catching parvovirus, and nearly all of them, plus their mother, died within days of the session.<\/p>\n Blame flew fast<\/a>: The breeder insisted the pups had only ever left home for the class or the vet, while the yoga studio claimed they followed strict cleaning and blamed a lack of diligence from the breeder. As social media users and animal advocates dove into the messy aftermath, questions about the wisdom (and ethics) of bringing such young, vulnerable puppies into a crowded studio for Instagram fodder reached a fever pitch. In a city full of wild stories, this one stands out as uniquely heartbreaking \u2014 and a stark reminder that Dallas wellness trends can sometimes go off the rails in a way nobody expects. \u2014 PB<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. The Trade That Broke Dallas: Luka Don\u010di\u0107 is Gone<\/strong><\/p>\n And here we are. The moment time stopped. The moment the simulation glitched. The moment GM Nico Harrison\u2019s villain arc (or perhaps hia chaos agent mission) reached its zenith.<\/p>\n Trading Luka Don\u010di\u0107 wasn\u2019t just a sports story; it was a civic crisis. When the news broke<\/a>, you could hear the collective gasp from Fort Worth to Mesquite. Why? How? For whom?! And taken from us literally in the middle of the night. <\/p>\n The aftermath was a blur of protests, angry radio calls and a general malaise that settled over the American Airlines Center like a dark cloud. Luka wasn\u2019t just a player. He was the Slovenian Savior, the guy who made step-back threes look like magic and the heir to Dirk\u2019s throne. Sending him packing felt like selling the Reunion Tower well below asking price for a pile of scrap metal. <\/p>\n Sure, Harrison got fired later in the year, which offered a blood sacrifice of sorts to the angry mobs, but the damage was done. We are now living in the Post-Luka era, a strange wasteland where hope is scarce and the scoreboard is lackluster. It is, without a doubt, the wildest, most inexplicable thing to happen to this city in 2025<\/a>. \u2014 PB<\/strong><\/p>\n So, there you have it, Dallas. We survived piss, the trades, the spit and the vanity plates. Here\u2019s to 2026 \u2014 which, believe it not, we\u2019re begging to be a little more boring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you thought Dallas was normal before 2025, you probably weren\u2019t paying attention. But if you thought Dallas…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":468720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5138],"tags":[9600,5229,8998,3139,7371,7372,345,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-468719","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-activism","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-dallas-cowboys","11":"tag-dallas-mavericks","12":"tag-fort-worth","13":"tag-fortworth","14":"tag-social-media","15":"tag-texas","16":"tag-tx","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115774166336848132","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Invest in local news that matters.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n