I’ve seen Spike TV’s Pros vs. Joes a couple times. Love the concept. Ordinary(ish) guys take on professional athletes in their sport. Handicapped, of course. Classic episode was Pacman Jones getting legitimately pissed when a nobody caught a touchdown on him in a game of flag football. Tonight the series…
Can’t recall the last time I recorded Rangers games — ’99, maybe? Nevertheless, even a few hours later Nelson Cruz’s 10th-inning walk-off last night was a thrilling thing of beauty — and towering enough to put the Rangers eight and a half up over both the A’s and Angels, so…
Cliff Lee is the shit. Tuesday night at Rangers Ballpark he proved it again. Lee went nine innings in a remarkable performance, striking out 13 Oakland A’s without a walk in a dramatic game the Rangers won, 3-1, on Nelson Cruz’ 10th-inning homer. It was the most strikeouts by a Rangers pitcher…
I’ll be down in San Antonio for Dallas Cowboys’ training camp next week. For now, I’m making calls. Talking to spies. Trying to get the skinny by chewing the fat. Some thoughts: New offensive tackle Alex Barron is better than expected. And Doug Free has struggled with his quickness at left…
Tampa Bay Rays’ pitcher Matt Garza tossed a no-hitter last night. It was the fifth this season in Major League Baseball, most since 1991. Funny thing is, now the San Diego Padres and New York Mets are the only current teams without a no-no in their history. Interesting thing is, what gives? Can it…
At this rate, Dallas Cowboys tight end Martellus Bennett will finish the season with more apologies than catches. Again yesterday Marty B was trying to explain another episode of “embarrassing the franchise”, this time when nude self-portraits showed up on the internet at a site called mediatakeout.com. No big deal, really…
I realize I’m getting waaaaaaay ahead of myself here, but some of us were sitting around the pool over the weekend drinking and getting creative and salivating over what if. As in, what if this is finally the year the Texas Rangers hold it together down the stretch and win the…
Sports Business Journal calls it a “unique marketing effort,” which is one way of putting it: The University of Texas at Austin, Crescent Court-based Branded Retail Energy Company and Houston-based Champion Energy Services this morning announced the creation of Texas Longhorn Energy. Which is? Well, put simply, it’s a marketing…
First, there were the billboards. Then, the poster. Then, the song. Then, the worldwide picture-taking campaign. And now, this: From an e-mail that just showed up in the Unfair Park in-box, “Liverpool fans kick off poster campaign against Tom Hicks. These are apparently going to start appearing in Texas.” So…
Roy Williams can’t carry Dez Bryant’s jock, so why should the Dallas Cowboys’ rookie receiver carry the veteran’s pads? Because he’s a rookie, that’s why. Troy Aikman baked cookies and took them on the team plane. As a Texas Rangers’ rookie, Jarrod Saltalamacchia wore a diaper on a road trip…
I’ll say it, Texas Rangers’ fever is at an all-time high. Sunday night’s 6-4 win improved Tommy Hunter to 8-0, allowed the Rangers to win three of four from the Anaheim Angels and pushed their lead to seven games with 63 remaining. More than 160,000 fans went to Arlington Thursday-Sunday…
The media hath spoken in regards to the 2010 Big 12 Conference football season and the winners are … Oklahoma. And Nebraska. We’ll get to the full pre-season predictions after the jump, but in picking OU over Texas in the South apparently the Big 12 media thinks Landry Jones will…
As promised, Sam just phoned in from outside the Fort Worth federal courthouse where, moments ago, Judge Michael Lynn sneak-peeked at where he’s leaning concerning the proposed August 4 auction of Your Texas Rangers. We’ll get to that in a moment, but perhaps the biggest revelation from the morning’s to-do…
Sam’s back in a Fort Worth courtroom this morning, where Judge Michael Lynn’s trying to decide just when to auction off Your Texas Rangers. Among those in attendance: Chuck Greenberg, Nolan Ryan and, for whatever reason, Rangers GM Jon Daniels and skipper Ron Washington, who, from the looks of a…
The Texas Rangers have a five-game lead in the American League West. Tonight they begin a four-game series with the second-place Anaheim Angels in Arlington. (And over the next 11 days they’ll face the Angels seven times. How the West was won, anyone?) In other words, time for new pitching…
Dallas Cowboys’ rookie receiver Dez Bryant may start once the NFL regular season starts. But he’ll be on the sidelines when training camp begins Friday in San Antonio. Almost assuredly. Barring an 11th-hour contract agreement, Bryant will be one of many NFL rookies to miss the official start of their…
For the last couple of days the Unfair Park in-box has been filling up with missives subject-headed “Mayor Mike Moncrief and Ed Bass to Make Announcement.” That announcement came this a.m.: ESPN will not only set up its production HQ in Sundance Square, but ESPN the Magazine will also plant…
I’m amazed that Texas Rangers’ pitcher Dustin Nippert is alive, much less well. When I initially saw Austin Jackson’s line drive hit Nippert in his right temple and carom over Michael Young’s head into left field for a double, I thought the worst. Didn’t you? The worst, as in, you…
Tuesday’s testimony in the Texas Rangers bankruptcy case from the court-appointed chief restructuring officer and one of the lenders revealed four potential competitors to the ownership group led by Pittsburgh lawyer Chuck Greenberg and Rangers president Nolan Ryan, whose bid for the team is $520 million, according to Chief Restructuring…
For the second time in 2010, Dallas Cowboys’ receiver Miles Austin has made the cover of Sports Illustrated. A sign of stardom? Or a jinx waiting to strike? Austin is on this week’s cover curiously wearing a No. 2 jersey (as a Yankees fan, he was honoring Derek Jeter during…
The answer to the headline is, obviously, yes. But how much better? Since their collapse in the 2006 NBA Finals, the Mavericks have won one playoff series. After last spring’s first-round loss to the San Antonio Spurs, another 55-win regular season amounted to nil. And now, another off-season has prompted…
At this very moment in a Fort Worth courtroom, all those involved in the bankruptcy and sale proceedings of Your First-Place Texas Rangers are trying to convince Judge Michael Lynn to auction off the team — or not — on August 4. Sam’s there too, and during this lunch break…
