Willie Mays turns 80 years old today. I didn’t need ESPN to tell me either. When I was a boy, Mays’s birthday was a High Holy Day. He was, and still is, my dad’s favorite ball player. He still wears his New York Giants cap; still pines for the Polo…
C.J. Wilson was superb in last night’s much-needed win over Seattle. Pedro Strop is gone. Mark Lowe is back (uh-oh). Tommy Hunter and Nefali Feliz are getting close. And dazzling Cuban defector Leonys Martin is fast-tracking our way.In the middle of a very transitory Rangers season I was asked by a…
10. For the Mavs, a shocking 2-0 lead. For the Lakers, a Stinko de Mayo. L.A. missed its first 15 3-pointers and was booed off the court in Staples Center. As they head for Dallas and Friday night’s Game 3, the Lakers are muttering things like “dispirited” and “trust issues.” Surreal…
And with the ninth overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, the Dallas Cowboys select… Pat McQuistan? Hardly. But upon the arrival at Valley Ranch of their new first-round pick, the Cowboys showered Tyron Smith not with a red-carpet welcome fit for Kate Middleton, but rather an old No. 77…
Your Texas Rangers play the New York Yankees on Friday night, first pitch at 7:05 p.m. Got tickets? It’d be a lot cooler if you did.Because, see, the Rangers just sent word that Matthew McConaughey will toss out the ceremonial first pitch, right before he heads to Houston to pick…
Usually about this time of the year, the Cowboys will bring in their new draft class and rookie free agents for a minicamp at Valley Ranch. Workouts for veterans at Valley Ranch would have started back in mid-March. UPDATE: Now we know why Dez says he was absent Tuesday. Instead…
Watched Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler totally half-ass and boot a grounder Sunday afternoon in Oakland. On Monday Elvis Andrus made his seventh error of the season. Thought to myself, This team is getting lazy. Suddenly the laziness is compounded by the losing. Last night the beleaguered bullpen — this…
Not a secret in media circles that Tony Romo has long planned on marrying fiancee Candice Crawford at historic Arlington Hall in Dallas on May 28. Today TMZ is making a huge deal out of it. Guess it’s a good time to peek at the actual wedding announcement. We know…
I asked Mavericks backup point guard J.J. Barea what he was thinking as the ball left Kobe Bryant’s hand on the potential game-winning 3-pointer in Monday’s Game 1 at Staples Center. “I wasn’t thinking,” Barea said. “I was praying.” Despite playing 44 minutes of superb basketball — the four minutes of…
Neftali Feliz will pitch Wednesday night in Frisco. But if it’s up to him, he’ll never pitch in the Rangers’ starting rotation. While Texas continues to blow games — yesterday it was Darren Oliver allowing Hideki Matsui’s 10th-inning homer in a 5-4 loss — and erase the warm-n-fuzzies from the…
10. Don’t lie, you thought it was over. When the Lakers started the second half on a 7-0 run — thanks to some bone-headed play by DeShawn Stevenson — and pushed the lead to 16 you went to bed, didn’t you? Dallas’ comeback last night might have been even more improbable that…
Some of us have waited 23 years to “Beat L.A.!” Sorry, I don’t see it happening in 2011 either. When the Lakers and Mavs begin their best-of-seven Western Conference Semifinal series tonight at 9:30 in Staples Center, there is an undeniable fact that overrides any and all X’s and O’s: The…
10. The pick of Southern Cal offensive lineman Tyron Smith isn’t sexy, but it’s savvy. Thumbs up. And he says he doesn’t like jewelry. Two thumbs up. 9. Fifth-rounder and former Cedar Hill star Josh Thomas is physical and a good tackler in the secondary, but you wonder about a four-year…
The Mavericks are 0-4 in Portland’s Rose Garden this season. All-time they are 18-46 in Portland, including 1-8 in the playoffs. They lost Games 3 and 4 of this first-round series. Since 2006 they are a putrid 2-17 in road playoff games. The Blazers, meanwhile, have won 12 of their last 13 at…
The Cowboys need help at safety. Their 2010 pass defense was the worst in the 50-year history of the storied franchise and two culprits were Gerald Sensabaugh and Alan Ball. Problem: The Cowboys won’t take a safety with the 9th pick in tonight’s NFL Draft. Why? Because only UCLA’s Rahim…
We should really be used to this shit. In 1993, the Mavericks were 3-38 at the All-Star break. They managed to do one game worse the following year. In 1995, in a game at Reunion Arena, there was a jump ball near Cleveland’s defensive basket. Confused, the Cavaliers’ Michael Cage…
Two weeks back it came to light that the current owners of the Texas Rangers were feuding with the former owner of the Texas Rangers over some 12,000 parking spots around the Ballpark in Arlington. To recap, quickly: Ray Davis and Bob Simpson’s Rangers Baseball Express, LLC took Hicks’s Ballpark…
Now that the ridiculous birthers have their precious document, what to do with their time-wasting energy? UPDATE: What. The. What?! Dawg Pound over Dog Killer. Maybe aim their misguided anger at the video gaming industry, because at 3 this afternoon I suspect Michael Vick will be unveiled as the cover…
You know it’s a series when the towel-wavers are going at it. Mavs-Blazers has been relatively friendly. Portland coach Nate McMillan snapped at the refs after Game 1. Mavs owner Mark Cuban was hit in the face by a plastic straw during Game 3 and Brandon Roy pissed off all of…
As much as we’d all like to hear it, NFL commish Roger Goodell isn’t going to finish that sentence with “Patrick Peterson. Cornerback. LSU.”That’s because Peterson will likely be taken in the top seven picks of Thursday night’s NFL Draft, and Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones said yesterday he doesn’t…
Let me start off by saying I’m making zero correlation between Colby Lewis’ rough 5th inning last night and his recent sojourn to California to attend the birth of his second child. But let me continue by saying I’m starting to get worried. Why? Because — even though it’s early…
Was talking to Cowboys’ long-snapper L.P. Ladouceur yesterday when the news broke: “Judge Susan Nelson rules for players. Lockout to be lifted.”Him: “What does that mean? We’re back to work tomorrow?”Me: “Um, I’m not sure.” At the time — as usual — I felt like an uninformed dork, clueless to…
