When we spoke to Mike Modano about his will-he-won’t-he-retirement-that-wasn’t in April, he had this to say about a certain teammate: “Lehtinen was a real treat to play with, obviously, and what he brought. He played hard and sacrificed his body, and I don’t know how much more he has left.”Even…
On a professional note, too bad Texas Rangers’ iconic voice Eric Nadel didn’t win the Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in broadcasting this morning at baseball’s winter meetings. He was edged out by Dave Van Horne, who’s been calling games (for Expos and now the Marlins) for 42 years. On…
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…
The Texas Rangers aren’t pro-actively shopping Michael Young. They’re simply listening when other teams call to talk about him. We can’t have a problem with this, can we? As I noted occasionally in the playoffs, Young’s limited mobility at third was on the verge of making him a defensive liability…
Prior to the beginning of baseball’s winter meetings yesterday at Walt Disney World Resort, a flurry of activity resulted in big-name players dealt and fat contracts inked. Predictably, Derek Jeter (three years, $51 million) and Mariano Rivera (two years, $30 million) returned to the Bronx, but not without painful negotiations…
I’ve seen enough. You? If Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones announced the hiring of Jason Garrett today as permanent head coach, I’d be fine with it. Elated, actually. It won’t happen of course, in part because of the NFL’s Rooney Rule that requires teams to interview at least one minority…
Couple of months back we noted that Mark Cuban and Jim Crane were trying to get back a few mil after unsuccessfully bidding on the Texas Rangers during the August auction. Cuban wanted $1.121 million; Crane, $1.527 million. The reason? The men behind Radical Pitch LLC figured that since they…
Is that doable? Seems like it. Although the Kansas City Royals are reportedly getting impatient with the Texas Rangers’ low-ball offers. I understand the odds are against the Rangers getting Lee, who is now also talking to the Boston Red Sox. But – dream with me here a little -…
After Dirk Nowitzki’s one-legged, fadeaway, high-arcing, 18-foot shot – off the glass, no less – Friday night in Utah, TV analyst Hubie Brown was almost speechless. “C’mon!’ he exclaimed. “Some of the things this guy does at seven feet is just unfair.” Nowitzki was again brilliant over the weekend, helping…
Very sad news. One of my first/favorite memories as a snotty-nosed little kid was sitting atop Dad’s shoulders at the Cotton Bowl, watching Bob Hayes race under beautiful bombs from a Dallas Cowboys’ quarterback named Don Meredith. Meredith, by way of Mount Vernon and SMU, was a two-time Pro Bowl pick…
I know he was miserable in Game 1 of the World Series and mediocre in Game 5, but the Texas Rangers wouldn’t have been to the Fall Classic in the first place without pitcher Cliff Lee. As baseball’s winter meetings start today at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista,…
First thing my dad said to me this morning: “Don Meredith died.” Sure enough. An awful sad day. Dad, a Mustang grad, found out from one his closest friends — Don Woodward, an All-American swimmer on the Hilltop and Meredith’s next-door neighbor when they attended SMU. Turn out the lights…
10. Been saying Marion Barber’s done for a while. If he gets another carry over Tashard Choice this season it will be criminal. I know the Colts’ run defense is putrid, but you can’t deny that Choice is a much better running back than Barber at this point. Maybe even…
On the other side is the announcement that just landed in the Unfair Park in-box, in which the Texas Rangers detail ” a series of significant improvements in the video, technology, and audio systems at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington for the 2011 season.” (None of which involve Cliff Lee.) The…
Mustangs young and old turned out at the Lakewood Theater last night, for a very special screening of Pony Excess — or “Exce$$,” if you prefer — Southern Methodist film-school grad Thaddeus Matula’s ESPN-bound documentary about SMU football’s high-scoring, well-paid glory days in the early ’80s, when each week brought…
I’m in. After watching the Dallas Mavericks win seven in a row and vault to the NBA’s second-best record I’ve officially got my basketball Jonesing. ESPN believes, as they have the Mavs ranked No. 4. So does Sports Illustrated, who shoves Dallas all the way to No. 1. I know…
Moment after a Dallas court date that cleared the way for the sale of Liverpool FC to New England Sports Ventures, attorneys representing Tom Hicks called it an “extraordinary swindle” and vowed to “apply all of their legal energies toward securing at least $1.6 billion in damages they expect will…
The season is a disaster. When it’s “Super Bowl or Bust” and at the halfway point you fire the head coach with a record of 1-7, “or Bust” wins. All is lost. But not all. When the Dallas Cowboys play the Colts in Indianapolis this Sunday they’ll be playing for pride…
Walk under a ladder. Get yourself pictured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Or, to ensure bad luck, crappy karma and repugnant results, just get on my pissy side. Turns out my hater hex really, really works. It started a couple years ago when I—like most sports fans in Dallas—tired…
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…
Rafael Palmeiro. Juan Gonzalez. A combined 1,003 home runs. A combined 0% chance of getting inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame. The reason? Steroids, of course. Both former Texas Rangers’ sluggers are on this year’s list of candidates and – sans the drug thing – could make a great…
I’m with ya. Tired of seeing Marion Barber. Watching him hop up and strut 10 yards down field to celebrate a four-yard run. Watching him dive into a pile for a 1/2-yard loss on 3rd-and-1. Watching him bounce inside runs to the outside. The Barbarian long ago deteriorated into the…
