Victor Vandergriff tells the Star-Telegram: His father, former Arlington mayor Tom Vandergriff, died at 3 p.m. today at the age of 84. Longtime locals are well familiar with Vandergriff’s myriad contributions made during his 26 years (!) in office, chief among them his convincing Bob Short to bring the Washington…
Is it time for Jerry Jones to step aside as general manager of the Dallas Cowboys, or do the three Super Bowl wins under his tenure validate his decision to remain in that role? The debate will continue until Jones either hands over the keys to his son Stephen or…
While the Texas Rangers waited for Cliff Lee to make up his mind, the best options to fill the team’s hole at designated hitter flew off the board. The Chicago White Sox snatched up the two best fits, re-signing Paul Konerko for three years at $12.5 million per season and…
OK, lemme see if I understand what happened in Philadelphia over the last couple days. Mayor Michael Nutter declares a state of emergency Sunday at 2 p.m. and tells everyone to stay off the road. Philadelphia International Airport eventually reports 12.4 inches of snowfall. The NFL responds by moving Sunday…
Without their head coach and best player for most of the game, the Dallas Mavericks improved to 17-1 since November 20 with a 103-93 victory last night in Oklahoma City. Six Mavs chipped in with double-digit points, and Caron Butler led the team in scoring with 21 points and 3-for-5…
After the Dallas Mavericks disposed of the Miami Heat for the second time last week, I boldly said they were the NBA’s best team at the time. My opinion stood firm as they overcame 26 points and 23 rebounds from Dwight Howard to beat the Orlando Magic before taking a…
Down below is that heads-up about the city’s plans for giving the city a proper pre-Super Bowl scrub-down — which, turns out, also merits a mention in the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee’s just-published list of things to watch for in the 41 days left till kick-off in…
As expected, the Texas Rangers inked Brandon Webb to a one-year, incentive-laden contract reportedly worth around $3 million guaranteed with a potential for the veteran right-hander to earn between $8 million and $10 million. The deal becomes official following Webb’s physical this week, but as Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports…
If there ever was an easy win to be had this year for the Dallas Cowboys, last night’s Christmas match-up with the Arizona Cardinals was it. University of Phoenix Stadium, as usual, was packed with Cowboys fans in the tens of thousands. The Cardinals were 4-10 and had lost eight…
It was quite the big deal back in ’80, when the Dallas Diamonds of the fledgling Women’s Professional Basketball League signed Old Dominion star and Olympic silver-medalist Nancy Lieberman to her first pro contract. I have a hazy memory of sitting among a few packed houses at Moody Coliseum, at…
On November 2, as you’ll recall, pro surfer Andy Irons’s body was found in a room at the Grand Hyatt DFW, a cache of prescription pill bottles by his bedside. His family insisted, no, those had nothing to do with the 32-year-old’s death. Instead, they said, the world champion, who’d…
It’s almost Christmas, and the Texas Rangers haven’t done anything to address the hole in the rotation left behind when Cliff Lee signed with the Philadelphia Phillies and the opening created at designated hitter after the club declined a $9 million option on Vladimir Guerrero. Aside from rumors and a…
Every Ranger Down in Tex-ville Liked Cliffmas a lot… But the Philadelphia Phillies, Who lived way north of Tex-ville, Did not! The Phils hated Cliff Lee and ignored Cliffmas! The whole winter meetings season! Now, please don’t ask why. No one quite knows the reason. It could be that their…
Mark Yost is the author Varsity Green: A Behind the Scenes Look at Culture and Corruption in College Athletics. But back in late September, he was more interested in a high-school game: Plano vs. Allen, which the Eagles won by the score of 30-13. Yost wasn’t really there to see…
The Mavericks continued to prove that they’re indeed the best team in the league as they improved their road record to a franchise-best start of 10-1 with a 105-99 victory last night in Orlando. Caron Butler led Dallas with 20 points and 4-for-6 shooting from three-point range, and Tyson Chandler…
The Mavericks are calling themselves streak busters after ending the Heat’s 12-game winning streak in Miami, but they should be calling themselves the best team in the NBA at this point in the season. After all, it was Mark Cuban who dubbed the Heat as the league’s best team a…
Since we can all feel OK about losing out on the Cliff Lee sweepstakes, it’s fair to evaluate Jon Daniels’ Plan B, especially with the trade of Zack Greinke — easily the best pitcher to be had on the market as a 27-year-old with filthy stuff, two years left on…
Back in ’08, Neiman Marcus offered in its annual Christmas Book something called the Super Bowl XL Opus MVP Edition, which, as you can see in the photo, is a mammoth keepsake — “the heaviest sports-related book ever published,” per Amazon’s description of the limited edition, not to be confused…
I know. I know. You’re tired of hearing about Cliff Lee. He’s a goner, and it’s not like the Rangers didn’t do their best to keep him here. Actually, I’d say Jon Daniels, Nolan Ryan and Chuck Greenberg did too much in their attempt to convince Lee to stay, making…
On the other side, the Dallas Mavericks square off against the worst Christmas song of all time. They do not win…
(With Richie Whitt on vacation for the next two weeks, Dallas Observer staff writer Sam Merten has graciously agreed to pitch in. Commenters, on your mark…) Long before the Cowboys’ playoff chances were officially toast, this season felt doomed from the beginning. The devastating 13-7 loss to the Redskins on…
On October 17, as the Texas Rangers were smack-dab in the middle of the American League Championship Series, The News ran a very nice story about Charles Wangner, who, more than most, knew what it was like to be a long-suffering fan of the ballclub. Wangner, you see, had worked…
