I like Ron Washington. Really do. I don’t necessarily trust his relentless optimism about everything and I lost a lot of respect for him for using cocaine in the middle of last season, but I like him. There is a part of him, however, that I don’t like. His in-game decisions…
A Friend of Unfair Park directs our attention to yet another Sports Business Journal story about Tom Hicks — this one, a massive profile that attempts to reconcile his personal wealth (“The Matisse on the library wall looks utterly appropriate”) with his professional woes (“his sports portfolio, once among the…
While you have been drowning your Mavericks sorrows, engaging in mosh-pit violence out at Edgefest 20 or keeping an eye on Dez Bryant’s wacko mom, the Texas Rangers have started doing something very strange. Pitching. Well. Don’t look now but the Rangers are now the first-place Rangers. During their four-game…
Wade Phillips is an optimist. But you don’t hear him gush like this very often. “He’s an absolute talent. You don’t get to be around many players that come in and look that good that early. It’s been 33 years, and there aren’t many that I can say look that…
A couple of weeks ago Major League Baseball threw a brushback pitch at Tom Hicks’s head and told the for-now owner of the Texas Rangers: Do not foul up this sale to Chuck Greenberg by going behind our backs and cutting a side deal with Jim Crane, who’s offering more…
I was really excited – re-invested, as it were – in the Dallas Mavericks and this year’s NBA Playoffs. The team was poised. The games are fun. The conversations about the games are entertaining. The city is empowered by the wins and somehow galvanized by the losses. But, alas, the…
While Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has cryptically blamed the refs yet again for his team’s fourth first-round exit from the playoffs in the last seven years, the Rangers haven’t even sniffed the postseason since the Y2K panic. Although Texas is stuck in last place at 10-12, it could be poised…
10. The Mavericks are now the only NBA team to lose in the first round of the playoffs as a No. 1 and No. 2 seed. Granted the four-time champion Spurs aren’t your pedestrian No. 7 seed, but it’s still an ugly epitaph to have etched on your tombstone. 9…
Wilt Chamberlain infamously said he slept with 20,000 women. More recently, Winston Bennett claimed a rate of three girls per day. And now – according to the National Enquirer – Tiger Woods is said to have confessed to sleeping with 120 women during his five-year marriage to wife Elin. Once upon…
Mike Ditka says someone ought to “whack him in the head.” National Football League Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith says teams cannot have the free reign to bring personal insult during interviews. And, indeed, Miami Dolphins’ general manager Jeff Ireland has apologized for asking new Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant if…
Dallas Mavericks’ guard Jason Terry is guaranteeing a victory in tonight’s Game 6 against the Spurs in San Antonio, which would force a dramatic Game 7 Saturday at American Airlines Center. “No question. We’re coming back,” Terry said. “We have to. It’s our mission. Our job is to go down…
He’s never been arrested. Never had a recurring problem with violence. Or drugs. Or alcohol. He loves his momma and has kept the same best friend since third grade. He’s 6-foot-2, 225 pounds with giant hands and minuscule body fat. He was, by far, the best, most talented receiver in…
You look at the Rangers’ 9-11 start through 20 games and mumble “meh”, same old Rangers. Right? But, believe it or not, this could be a lot worse. Consider: *Supposed ace Rich Harden is yet to make a quality start, issuing 18 walks in 17 innings. *Taylor Teagarden is 1 for…
10. Welcome to the playoffs, Tuff Juice. Caron Butler set the tone last night at the raucous American Airlines Center. 35 points and 11 rebounds were nice. But it was his aggression – and 0 turnovers – that punched the Spurs in the face. 9. Game 6 is Thursday night…
Thank you Jason Terry for acknowledging what a lot of us have been yelling out our TV screens the last two games: To play better, the Dallas Mavericks must play faster. Here’s hoping head coach Rick Carlisle and point guard Jason Kidd get the message. Before it’s too late. Down 3-1…
The good news: The Dallas Cowboys likely drafted the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year and a linebacker who will signal the end of the Bobby Carpenter era. The bad news: The Dallas Cowboys still don’t have a play-making free safety or any depth along the offensive line. The Cowboys…
10. Spurs’ rookie DeJuan Blair is a beast. Sunday he had seven points and seven rebounds in 11 minutes and even placed an elbow in Dirk Nowitzki’s ear to bait him into a technical foul. Roddy Beaubois may grow into the Mavs’ point guard of the future, but some of…
Kyle Rote Jr. — who, it was announced this week, is finally being inducted into the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame as a “veteran,” no kidding — did indeed call me back earlier this week. Said I’d have better luck trying him later — meaning, oh, ’round 11 p.m…
Hand-wringers who said the Cotton Bowl would sit empty now that the Cotton Bowl Classic took its wagons west to Arlington couldn’t be more wrong — why, just this morning, the stadium had to juggle its schedule because it had been double-booked.Of course, there was the big announcement we teased…
Thanks to Friend of Unfair Park PeterK, I spent a good hour this morning boning up on the professional (and personal) life of Lore Verne Bader — or “King” Bader or “Two Pairs” Bader, as the right-handed pitcher was known during a stint in the majors and minors that spanned…
Dallas Football Classic officials were in Arizona this week making their final pitch-presentation to NCAA officials. You remember that game, right? New Year’s Day? 11 a.m. kick-off? Beginning this January? At the Cotton Bowl? Pits the No. 6 team in the Big Ten against a rotating cast of cast-offs from…
10. As I wrote yesterday afternoon, the Cowboys talked to the Miami Dolphins about trading up. And Texas safety Earl Thomas was indeed one of their three targets in Thursday’s NFL Draft. The others: Idaho offensive lineman Mike Iupati and Oklahoma State receiver Dez Bryant. No matter which one of…
