10. Think of the Ford Center Oklahoma City Arena as a ‘roided Reunion. Basketball here is still fresh and, let’s face it, there’s nothing else to do. I was at Reunion in the ’80s and Sacramento’s ARCO Arena with the cowbells in the ’00s, and this place is louder. Says Dirk…
10. You knew the Thunder wouldn’t be content to lose another game of one-on-one with Dirk Nowitzki. They fronted him in the post. They doubled him. They held him to 29 points. Nick Collison, touche. And, you’re right, that’s something I thought I’d never type. 9. Mavs coach Rick Carlisle…
Adrian Beltre got the big hit. Ian Kinsler made the defensive play. And, in a first, Mark Lowe salvaged what Neftali Feliz ruined. The Rangers beat the Royals in extras last night and — pending a weekend visit through Cliff Lee and the formidable Phillies’ pitching staff — might avoid these…
If the Mavs-Thunder somehow doesn’t do it for you, how about some Colonial golf out in Fort Worth or even a basketball game played by football players? After delivering a eulogy for his dear friend Ron Springs at his Carrollton funeral this morning, former Dallas Cowboy Everson Walls will help host…
The Mavs can play better than they did in Game 1 of the NBA’s Western Conference Finals. For the first time in the playoffs they allowed 100 points, 112 to be exact. The Thunder grabbed 11 offensive rebounds and, according to Mavs’ coach Rick Carlisle, corralled 13 of the game’s…
He’ll be here before you know it. Sooner than we all expected. He’s got the above-average arm in the outfield. The plus-speed on the base paths. Immeasurable instincts. That sweet lefty swing. Bat resting anxiously on his shoulder, ready to spray the ball, with power, to all parts of any…
John Blake just sent word: Josh Hamilton will return to the world of the baseball living tonight in Frisco, when he begins a rehab stint with the RoughRiders as Steve Buechele’s second-place squad takes on the Midland Rockhounds. Hamilton, benched with a non-displaced hairline fracture of his right humerus bone…
The Rangers lost a game because Matt Harrison walked two guys and then coughed up a home to the White Sox No. 9 hitter. We’ve dissected Dirk. And the Stars … who knows cares? At least there is news with our Cowboys. Sorta. While the NFL lockout storms toward its June 3 court…
Dirk Nowitzki was obviously unstoppable with 48 points and an NBA playoff-record 24 of 24 free throws, but the Mavs were stagnant and stale offensively until J.J. Barea entered the game in the second quarter. As Thunder coach Scotty Brooks said afterward, “He’s a handful.” I’m still shocked at his…
Last night, at the end of the first quarter of Mavs-Thunder, I spoke on the phone with Flula Borg — yes, that Flula Borg. The man behind “His Name is Dirk (Nowitzki),” who, according to the press release one of his friends sent out last night, is pushing to make…
For once and all, he pronounces it “No-WIT-skee.” Has since the day he stepped off the plane from Germany back in 1998 and arrived at the Mavs’ old practice facility at the Baylor-Tom Landry Center in Dallas. You call him “No-VIT-skee”? He shrugs. Doesn’t care. Likewise, it doesn’t bother him…
The Mavericks haven’t lost an NBA Western Conference Finals series in five years. Of course we all know what happened last time Dallas advanced this far — in the 2006 NBA Finals. The come-from-ahead loss to the Heat sent the franchise into a psychological spiral from which it is just now recovering…
Execution vs. Explosion. Savvy vs. Speed. Aptitude vs. Athleticism. You get the picture. Mavs vs. Thunder. While — yeah, I know — I shoulda took my Mavs-over-Blazers first-round pick and quit while I was ahead, I predicted a Lakers’ win the West semis and, happily, sheepishly, here we are in…
Ron Springs’ fight is dead. His litigation, however, lives on. While former Cowboys teammates Roger Staubach and Everson Walls prepare to speak at Springs’ funeral in Carrollton on Thursday, the ex-running back, who died of a heart attack while in a 3 1/2-year coma last week, is still being represented furiously…
While we await some Important Documents, let me distract you with this.No doubt you recall last week’s Greatest Video Ever (as opposed to this week’s), in which German musicmaker Flula Borg pays homage to his “most favorite Basketballer from all times,” one Dirk Nowitzki. Well, so happens that Borg –…
As I’ve said before, new Rangers TV play-by-play voice John Rhadigan is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Love him as a friend. Be honored to have him as a neighbor. Or a role model. Whatever. Great dude. But as the voice of my baseball? Um, let’s see…
By the way they reacted at their fog-machine introduction last summer and their tearful over-reaction last week, you’d think the Miami Heat already had won two championships this season. But no, after last night’s drubbing in Chicago they trail the Eastern Conference Finals, 1-0. And for those of us who…
I’ll have my position-by-position breakdown complete with, yes, the highly (smirk) coveted prediction tomorrow, but let’s get this party started pronto. Back in 1994 I covered the Mavericks for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and a team that featured point guards Jason Kidd and J.J. Barea. Well, not exactly. But funny how sports works. Kidd…
Ron Springs was pronounced dead yesterday. After dying on Oct. 12, 2007. I wrote about Springs’ sad plight in a March 2010 Observer cover story. But you already knew his tale. Former Cowboys’ running back who became a national poster boy — along with Everson Walls — for warm-n-fuzzy feelgoods…
On the afternoon of October 12, 2007, former Dallas Cowboys running back Ron Springs went into a Medical City of Dallas operating room for what he and his family believed would be a simple surgery — the removal of a cyst from his left forearm. But as Richie noted in…
While we anxiously await the Mavs’ NBA Western Conference Final opponent — looks like the Thunder — a couple of matters that get, well, right to the heart of the matter. Was talking to Mark Aguirre last week in the wake of his recent health scare. Aguirre, the first overall pick in the…
Meant to get to this two days ago, when Texas Rangers Executive Vice President of Communications John Blake sent out the announcement, but it’s not too late to make it to NorthPark Center by 1 p.m. That’s when C.J. Wilson and Chanel Iman (well, hello) are scheduled to stop by…
