Stuff like this never happens in the Unicameral

I don't know whether this is the coolest or the lamest thing ever: 49 Democratic legislators from Texas fled the state today to prevent a redistricting law from being passed.

Actually, now that I think about it, it's pretty awesome. I'll use a hockey metaphor to explain, for those of you who don't want to read the article, or who don't care about Texas politics. The redistricting bill is basically a power play strategy (can only be used when the other team has fewer players) to score a goal against the Democrats. But it's not just any goal, it's the game-winning (election-winning) goal. So to prevent that from happening, the other team basically took off their skates, ran out of the rink, and hid so their dads couldn't make them come play even though they were clearly going to lose anyway. If they wait it out long enough, the other team will get tired and start trying to think up a new strategy, and they can come back and play on more equal terms. The hiding-out plan is risky because the commissioner of hockey (if such a thing exists, he would equate to the voting public) could kick them off the team.

I love it. I always like trick plays in sports: the suicide squeeze, the fumble-risky, that play "Hawaii" we used to use in eighth-grade basketball...you get the idea. So, I salute you, Texas Democrats. Go for the hat trick.