Baseball has its problems: A reluctance to use instant replay. Arrogant umpires and their customized strike zones. An All-Star exhibition game that actually affects the World Series champion. But of all our national pastime’s woes, the most ridiculous is that the American and National Leagues play by different rules. They play a…
A few weeks back we noticed that Mark Cuban and Jim Crane wanted their millions back for trying to buy the Texas Rangers out from under Chuck Greenberg and Nolan Ryan (and Ray Davis and Bob Simpson). Long story short: Cuban and Crane, as Radical Pitch LLC, figured they’re owed…
In his first NFL action in almost two years, Jon Kitna immediately served notice of one thing Monday night at Cowboys Stadium: When starting quarterback Tony Romo went down with a broken collar bone, the Cowboys’ season swirled down the toilet with him. Kitna’s stats don’t look awful: 16 of…
10. Cowboys’ fans can bemoan bad luck at having quarterback Tony Romo knocked out of the game – and the season – but this was more bad play. Rookie fullback Chris Gronkowski missed a simple blitz pick-up, allowing New York’s Michael Boley a free shot on Romo. He didn’t miss. 9…
Over on ESPNDallas.com, Richard Durrett tells the tale of how Texas Rangers general manager Jon Daniels came to hire Ron Washington instead of one of the four other contenders for the skipper’s gig following Buck Showalter’s ouster: Manny Acta, John Russell, Trey Hillman or Don Wakamatsu. Washington talks about what…
Remember waaaay back in July when I posted this and took all kinda heat for getting ahead of myself and/or jinxing your Texas Rangers? With the Rangers seemingly headed for their first World Series championship, even the folks who matter are starting to ask the question: Where the heck would we…
A little part of me dies inside every time another Lingerie Football League slide show graces the virtual pages of our paper product, but I understand that the unabashed ogling of scantily clad women is now, more than ever, what makes the legitimate news world go round (see Post, Huffington…
It’s 1972 vs. 1958. It’s also, unless I’m seeing something terribly wrong and homerish, a clear advantage for your Texas Rangers over the San Francisco Giants. Right? The Rangers, born in ’72, have never been to the World Series. The Giants have been here three times since moving from New York…
October victories: Texas Rangers 8, Dallas Cowboys 0. This is better be the week the Cowboys stop making mistakes and start salvaging their 2010 season. In going 1-4 they have committed 62 penalties and forced only four takeaways. (Giants’ defensive lineman Osi Umenyiora has forced six fumbles over the last three games…
Groans Erik Boland of Newsday: “All the elements that put the Yankees in a three-games-to-one series hole materialized Friday night, ensuring they wouldn’t be able to completely climb out of that hole. It was another night of ragged starting pitching, ineffective relief pitching and next to nothing on offense from…
10. In retrospect, a great call by Rangers’ manager Ron Washington taking Nelson Cruz out of Game 5 early with a tight hamstring. Cruz hit the biggest homer in Rangers’ history in the four-run 5th tonight, shoving Texas to a commanding 5-1 lead. 9. Claw > Antlers? Very cool surprise…
Is tonight THE night? The lights are on. Clouds are circling but so far nothing but sprinkles. The wind is howling in from the south/right field, which means — as evidenced by Josh Hamilton’s extra-hitting session right now — the jet stream out to right-center is in full effect and it…
Writes Mike Lupica in the New York Daily News: “The Yankees showed up on Wednesday in Game 5, they did, hundred percent. Now they have to do it again in Texas, or they become another big, bad Yankee team of this decade that got hit somewhere before the World Series…
A Friend of Unfair Park directs our attention this late afternoon to DropWear.com — can’t believe someone didn’t think of this sooner. In short, it’s a tee-shirt company run by Ticket listeners who plan on turning those catchphrases and out-of-context utterances into, right, fashion statements. Brilliant.But right now, there’s a…
Following Friday’s hearing at the George Allen, Tom Hicks’s attorney in the Liverpool FC case, Fish & Richardson’s Steve Stodghill, issued a press release announcing that Hicks and George Gillett’s attorneys would “apply all of their legal energies toward securing at least $1.6 billion in damages they expect will result…
Like the BCS, style points count. So do geeky, black-and-white stats such as touchdowns and quarterback ratings. Wins and losses? Definitely. Leadership? Uh-huh. When it comes to my weekly NFL Quarterback Rankings — if I had one of those little encircled R’s to signify a trademarked idea, it’d go here — the…
Our Stephen Masker was at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport last night — which is to say, at 1 this morning — when Your Texas Rangers returned from a 2-1 trip to the Bronx. Stephen’s slide show’s here, and though he reports the crowd was on the smallish side — a…
I’ve had this feeling before. Oh, say, for example a couple of weeks ago before the 0-2 Dallas Cowboys played the Houston Texans. I thought it then and I believe it again: The Cowboys will win this week. In fact, the Cowboys will beat the New York Giants by 10+…
10. The better team didn’t win Wednesday at Yankee Stadium, but the more desperate team did. The Rangers are on a magical, unprecedented playoff roll, but asking them to be good enough – to be mature enough – to sweep the 95-win defending champions in New York was unrealistic. Those of…
I became a sportswriter because of the Texas Rangers. Well, them and my creative imagination, general obsession for sports and refined knack for exaggerating the details of a game so much so that it grew larger than life. Started something like this: In the summer of 1972 in Duncanville, there…
As expected, this thing is a blowout. Not even close. Think about it: The New Yankees entered the American League Championship Series with 41 AL pennants; the Texas Rangers 0. The Bronx Bombers play in Yankee Stadium; the Rangers in a ballpark once controlled by broke-ass bum Tom Hicks. The…
Sam MertenThis just in: Sporting News has named its 2010 Major League Player of the Year — and it’s a certain Anchorman-quoting center-fielder for Your Texas Rangers. And as SN is quick to point out, that’s the consensus among 326 major leaguers — this isn’t no sportswriters’ award, keep in…
