After watching their prized free-agent acquisition make his spring training debut last week in Surprise, Arizona, the Texas Rangers’ franchise brain trust was abuzz. “He’s the real deal all right,” said manager Ron Washington. Chirped general manager Jon Daniels, “He’s like a magician.” Forget pitching aces Cliff Lee and Zack…
Mike Napoli may help the Texas Rangers win some games this season, but right now he’s a big pain in the butt. How’s that? Because think of the team’s landscape had general manager Jon Daniels not acquired Napoli from the Toronto Blue Jays on January 25 for reliever Frankie Francisco…
Can’t believe the 22-year-old I covered as a rookie in 1995 is now a 38-year-old man with 107 career triple-doubles. Seems like only yesterday we were watching his first – in a 130-11 win over the Lakers at Reunion Arena…
Whether it’s Roy Williams’ pads or his friends’ sagging pants, Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant makes some mind-boggling interesting decisions. And whether it was his underwear exposed or whether he was banned from NorthPark mall over the weekend or whether he launched obscenities at the police and parked in a fire…
He has $165,000 in his checking account. He wants to come back as himself when he dies. And he hangs out with guys who kiss other guys on the lips. Wow…
It’s not exactly the same as NFL owners shutting down its $9 billion business, but unless outraged parents in Wylie are successful in lobbying city officials to find their children a suitable venue and ample playing fields there may be no 20011 youth football in this Collin County town next…
And I know the league has a new focus on health and safety, but I don’t like the proposed rule changes being kicked about at the NFL owners’ meetings in New Orleans this week. Owners are expected to vote today on a rule that would move kickoffs from the 30 to…
I went over to The Hilltop’s website this afternoon to look for something unrelated and espied this announcement: “SMU announces the newest inductees into its Athletics Hall of Fame.” At the top of the pops: running back Craig James of the Pony ExcessExpress. No word whether his former agent, Sherwood…
I know that stats are usually meaningless during baseball’s spring training. But trends and feels aren’t. The San Francisco Giants won the Cactus League in 2010 with an 23-12 record, but their opponent in the World Series – your Texas Rangers – went a last-place 10-19. Pitchers are usually ahead of…
I know the big news over the weekend for the Dallas Mavericks was another home loss to another potential playoff opponent – this time to the San Antonio Spurs – but the fine print after last night’s blowout of the lowly Golden State Warriors was a clinched playoff spot. Some…
I’ll admit it, my NCAA men’s basketball tournament bracket sucks. Got off to a horrid start with Louisville losing to Morehead State and got progressively worse as the weekend wore on. The Sour 16 carnage: I’ve lost three of my Final Four teams including my projected champion Pittsburgh. In other words,…
If St. Patrick’s Day wasn’t a good enough excuse to let the boss man cut you loose early to go drinking, perhaps you should consider a vasectomy. That’s right, you heard me. Dallas urologist Dr. Mitch Moskowitz is offering his version of March Madness, in the form of a vasectomy complete with…
Let’s make this simple, shall we? Sat down with Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington yesterday here in Surprise and asked him what I thought were some pertinent questions. Allow me to paraphrase, in the spirit of keeping this short and sweet in the wake of last night’s 3.5-hour, come-from-ahead 11-10 exhibition…
[jump] 5. I asked Jon Daniels the other day to give me an under-the-radar player to watch, maybe even on the back fields here on the Surprise campus. The name: Doug Deeds. And what do you know? Deeds started last night in left field and singled his first time up. Dude has…
You’ve waited for this moment all your life. Practiced. Rehearsed. Trained. Sacrificed. Compromised. Even went to college class, some of the time. But now, on the eve of a major company extending you a lucrative dream job, veteran workers at the company are suddenly urging you not to accept the job…
Don’t know what else to call it, I’m just getting a weird vibe here in Surprise, Arizona. The defending American League champion Texas Rangers somehow only have two starters (C.J. Wilson and Colby Lewis) inked into the rotation. Their elite closer (Neftali Feliz) might be a starter but his replacement (Alexi…
On the other side, for those who haven’t read it, is the class action complaint filed on Friday by the National Football League players (among those named: Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Payton Manning and homegrown Aggie Von Miller, who’s yet to be drafted) presently locked out by the team owners…
Couldn’t find the game on TV out here in the Arizona desert, but after watching the highlights I didn’t need to. I’ve seen this Mavericks movie a lot recently. The good guys die in the end. Last night in Portland the Mavs made their first 11 shots, hit almost 60…
Short shorts. Skinny players. No 3-point line. Jay Bilas at Duke instead of ESPN. A lot was different in college basketball the last – and only – time the Final Four descended upon Dallas. (College basketball’s March Madness will climax in Cowboys Stadium in 2014). In 1986 the stage was…
While I was out last week the Dallas Mavericks blew a seven-point lead in the final minute in a flabbergasting loss in New Orleans. Afterward, head coach Rick Carlisle called his team “soft.” Veteran shooting guard Jason Terry bristled at the suggestion, saying “I’m not soft, not me. I don’t…
After watching Neftali Feliz hurl an impressive first four innings of Monday’s 5-4 exhibition win over the Los Angeles Dodgers here in Surprise, Arizona, I sat down with general manager Jon Daniels to find out exactly where the 22-year-old fireballer fits in this season. Closer? Or starter? “I think that…
Never again let me criticize college football for rewarding 70 teams with bowl games. Because college basketball is now doing the same thing. And then some. This year – this week – March has increased, unprecedented Madness. Ohio State, Duke, Pittsburgh and Kansas are the No. 1 seeds as the NCAA…
