Seriously, who are these guys decked out in red? *The starting pitcher (Kevin Millwood) throws six shutout innings, the first Ranger to do so since Charlie Hough in 1989. *The 20-year-old shortstop (Elvis Andrus) gets a hit in his first at-bat and ranges on the first-base side of second, turning…
How’s this for Elvis Andrus’ Major League debut? A two-out double down the right-field line, with reigning American League Cy Young winner Cliff Lee on the mound and former President George W. Bush in the TV booth offering his thoughts on Fox4. Not bad, I say. Especially for a 20-year-old – third-youngest…
Not exactly the type of skin we’re used to on this blog, but intern Kelly was brave enough to meander through Texas Motor Speedway over the weekend. Her report from the mayhem and mullets … I wearily ventured into the world of NASCAR last Friday, knowing I’d stick out like…
Minutes after two jets shook our loins with a flyover, the 43rd President of the United States strode to the mound – the mound, not the rubber – and fired a ceremonial first-pitch strike to Rangers’ outfielder Josh Hamilton. The Prez, who somehow received nary a boo, then autographed the ball…
First pitch in T-minus two hours … *When I stepped on the field at 9 a.m. it was 39 degrees. Factoring in the northern howl of about 30 mph and it felt, ya know, about 0. *You know it’s a different, bigger day when you get on the press elevator…
No time to dilly-daddle this morning, as I’m headed out to Arlington for Texas Rangers’ Opening Day. Gotta get there in time to beat some traffic, smell the fresh-cut grass and, of course, see former Prez George W. Bush throw out the first pitch. I know it’ll never happen, but wouldn’t…
At long last, the LeMaster Group has sent the long-awaited Official Response from Hicks Sports Group concerning the report that the owner of the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars defaulted earlier this week on $525 million in loans. The upshot: Hicks decided not to pay interest due on HSG’s debts…
Where were you for Magic vs. Bird 30 years ago? Some of you were just twinkles. Some of us were already hip-deep in bracketology. None of us, however, envisioned Dick Enberg’s career outlasting Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Al McGuire and Billy Packer…
Only days before the beginning of baseball season, Tom Hicks is, apparently, already down a strike: Something called FINAlternatives, which serves up hedge fund and private equity news, reports this morning that Hicks Sports Group — the holding company for all of Hicks’s sports-related ventures, including the Texas Rangers and…
After all, this is The Sportatorium. Right? I grew up watching Saturday Night Wrestling on Channel 11. While the adults played Canasta the kids were banished to the TV room, where we couldn’t wait for Bill Mercer on the black-and-white Zenith. I remember Blackjack Mulligan and Frtiz Von Erich and…
I’m 44. But I’m about to sound 84. It was a better world when paddling was a part of school. A safer world when “licks” between a teacher and student were punishment rather than perverted pleasure. Hear me out: I’m not condoning the 21 “licks” allegedly applied to the backside…
Okay, now I’m intrigued. For all the Texas Rangers’ promise of a better future, yesterday they made moves geared at providing fans an improved today. I squawked last week about the Rangers not being serious – much less serious contenders – if they trotted out really average re-runs like Frank Catalanotto and…
Eddie Gossage thinks I’m an April Fool. Texas Motor Speedway’s president told me so—in no uncertain terms—when I trial-ballooned my thesis that NASCAR drivers aren’t athletes. “You’ve lost your mind,” Gossage retorted from his office overlooking TMS, home to this weekend’s Samsung 500 out in Fort Worth. “That’s the dumbest…
About a month ago in this cover story Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told me his team didn’t fear a first-round NBA Playoff matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers. “The Lakers don’t intimidate us at all,” Cuban maintains. “In the West it’s going to come down to whoever stays the healthiest…
Sad – and surprising – that your Dallas Mavericks are reduced to trying to hold on to 8th place in the Western Conference over their final nine games over two weeks. But with that gut-gouging home loss to the Denver Nuggets last Friday night, I think they fumbled away any…
I play sports because I love them. But I watch sports because I love to see done what I can’t do. I watch Tiger Woods because I can’t hit a 7-iron 210 yards. I watch Andy Roddick because I can’t hit a serve 149 mph. I watch Kobe Bryant because I…
This is not the time to talk politics. It’s the time to talk baseball. I’ll put my liberal left leaning on hold today because the Texas Rangers have announced – no surprise – that former Prez and former co-owner George W. Bush will throw out the first pitch before next…
My March Madness bracket has long been in shambles. But my pick to win it all – UConn – is alive, well and poised to win the title next weekend in Detroit. If you called Michigan State over Louisville, kudos. If you predicted UConn, Villanova, North Carolina and the Spartans as…
The NBA is a bunch of nit-twitts. Over the weekend the league fined Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban $25,000 for his “criticism” of officials via Twitter, the real-time social network that allows schmucks like you and me to be flies on the walls of the rich, famous and exhibitionistic. Or…
Earlier today, the National Basketball Association lifted $25,000 from Mark Cuban’s pocket for comments Twittered after Friday night’s game against the Denver Nuggets. Tweeted the Dallas Mavericks’ owner, “how do they not call a tech on JR Smith for coming off the bench to taunt our player on the ground?”…
Went out and toured “new” Rangers Ballpark last month. Well, not exactly new, but how about refurbished? New video scoreboard in left field. Information ribbons wrapping the place. A fashion-forward brick wall behind home plate. My thumbs-up review is here. With a heralded youth movement playing in a spit-shined stadium, there’s…
First, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says quarterback Tony Romo is untouchable. “I wouldn’t trade Tony for anybody.” Now head coach Wade Phillips – who never addressed his team after last season and has been publicly silent since 2008 – says he hasn’t talked just because, um, he hasn’t wanted to…
