Catchings a Rising Star

Tamika Catchings is one of Richie Whitt’s favorite ball players, and not just because they went to the same high school. She might not be the best women’s basketball player in America, but she’s officially the most popular. And the coolest thing about Tamika Catchings? She hails from good ol’…

The Missing Link: KeithVan Croshere?

Marquis Daniels is no longer a Maverick. Wait, he was still a Maverick? Since when? Obviously Marquis Daniels was on the way out. But didn’t we think something better was on its way in? Because of his fat contract, a lackadaisical style that often irked coach Avery Johnson and the…

Owens’ Sausage

Not an hour after Richie posted his item below about Terrell Owens’ forthcoming book T.O.–the guy’s second, following 2004’s Catch This!: Going Deep with the NFL’s Sharpest Weapon–I got an overnighted copy of the tome from Simon & Schuster, and a cursory glance reveals a few more tidbits the Philly…

The Beginning of the End

One day, likely in the near future, Jerry Jones will look at this picture and say to himself, “WTF?” Just in time for training camp, just like you knew it would, Terrell Owens’ tell-all book is about to hit stores. Some folks in Philly snagged an advance copy of T.O.,…

Nil Appeal

It’s 8:37 a.m., do you know where your drunks are? Nope, not sleeping one off down at Lew Sterrett’s joint. They’re right here, at The Londoner pub in Addison. Even at this ungodly hour on a Saturday they’re packed shoulder-to-shoulder, painting their faces, downing pints of room-temperature Guinness and chanting…

Worst Gift Idea Ever

Why is this man smiling? Maybe because some video company paid Bill Parcells a lot for an instructional video. How much? Dunno. Too much? Yeah, probably. My birthday is Saturday. Since I know you’re wondering, here’s one thing you can cross off your list: a football instructional video hosted by…

Be a Celebrity!

You can buy cans of Dr Pepper for a few hundy. And ya get some signatures from famous people too. And other stuff. Or, at least, be treated like one. OK, would you settle for just getting hold of the really cool free shit celebs get? For last weekend’s Reebok…

Field of Bittersweet Dreams

Chandler Jackon was killed a year ago during a freak golf-club accident. Tomorrow, his family will officially debut the foundation named for the 12-year-old. A year ago tomorrow Charmane Jackson bid her son Chandler farewell as he left their Frisco home early for the family’s annual July 4th reunion in…

Where Did You Go, Raffy Palmeiro?

The Rafael Palmeiro most of us remember, before the steroid test that ruined his career. This morning’s Baltimore Sun contains the first interview with former Texas Rangers first baseman Rafael Palmeiro since Congress cleared him of lying under oath. The paper’s reporting that a year after failing a test for…

Buh-Bye, Basketball

Ladies and gentleman, meet your newest Mavericks, Maurice Ager. Dude looks tough, which is nice. You know those old eight-panel leather basketballs you grew up with? Gone. The old, American-dominated game you used to love? Gone too. First the NBA announced it was making a radical change to the sport’s…

Helping the Healing

Saddened by recent spills but stimulated by his new grills, Dallas Mavericks guard Marquis Daniels steps into the batter’s box. Awkward and unsure at the plate, he resembles his NBA Finals team down the stretch. As the pitching machine expels the ball toward him at 60 mph, Daniels takes a…

Rough Draft

LaMarcus Aldridge could wind up at the No. 1 pick in tonight’s NBA draft. Some of us will always have him as No. 1 in our hearts. For the first time since becoming owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban won’t be sweating out the NBA draft, which takes place…

Cowboys in Third Place!

Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach’s Hall of Fame Racing team finally broke through on the NASCAR circuit yesterday. Wonder how Quincy Carter’s racing team’s doing. On the football field, that would be disastrous news. But on the NASCAR track, it’s a breath of better-late-than-never air. Giving hope to what has…

Yankee Doodle Crappy

Dallas-raised Clint Dempsey was the sole highlight in the U.S. loss to Ghana this morning in World Cup play. Another day, another disappointment. I know, it pales in comparison to the devastation from the Mavs’ collapse in the NBA Finals, but in case you were too busy still e-mailing Mark…

On Your Mark

I hate Mark Cuban. But just for a second or two. Then I come back to my senses and realize he’s the best damn thing that ever happened to the Dallas Mavericks. I’ve hated him momentarily since we met him back in 2000. Hated him for his money. Hated him…

Bummer Summer

I know what I’m not doing Thursday night: watching ABC’s lame-ass, over-promoted Master of Champions. And because the Mavs weren’t as mature or as mentally invincible as they tricked us into thinking for nine months, I also won’t be watching Game 7 of the NBA Finals. The Mavs’ complete collapse…

Thanks for Everything. And for Nothing.

Do you really need a cutline here? When I was a kid and the Cowboys or Mavericks or even Rangers would lose so much as a home game, I didn’t want to know about it the next day. Wouldn’t read the papers or watch TV; didn’t want to catch even…

This Explains Everything

Dunno how or where this pic found its way onto the Web; word is MySpace, to which we’d add the inevitable, “Ya think?” All we know for sure is this was snapped after the Mavs took the Western Conference title from Phoenix, and that Dirk ain’t been quite right since…

Free Tickets! Don’t Thank Us.

The Mavericks would be wise to recall the wisdom of Bill Murray in Groundhog Day: Don’t drive angry. Here’s something to make your daily slog through this daily bog of Mavs news-n-notes from around the country a little more palatable, not to mention profitable: Last night, the Dallas Mavericks’ owner,…

From Elite to Embarrassing

Only a few guys on the planet had a worse Father’s Day than Phil Mickelson, and they were all Dallas Mavericks. The Mavs left for Miami a week ago with a 2-0 NBA Finals lead and parade plans tucked in their duffle bags. They’ll return home today 48 minutes from…

Showering the Mavs…Sorry, With the Mavs

How did I miss during my morning Mavs round-up: On June 14, CBS SportsLine reported that after the Game 3 loss in Miami, two women snuck into the Mavs’ locker room and wound up showering with the players, chief among them Marquis Daniels, who invited the ladies to stick arond,…

Shaping Up to be a Foul Finals

“Gary Payton, you’re so great. How come you’re so great?” And other questions posed by NBA writers. Forget Game 4, the blowout you still can’t erase from the memory banks, and we’re just a few ticks of the clock away from the title that shoulda-woulda-coulda been the Dallas Mavericks’. Now…