Whether you're at the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt's End:
*Tony Romo took girlfriend Candice Crawford to the top of Reunion Tower last night to celebrate her 24th birthday. And then, yep, he popped the question. Very cliched and Dallasy of him, but cool. Marriage is great for centering and grounding and stabilizing guys. At least I hear it works for some of y'all. Guarantee at least one commenter is about to yell "Maybe now that he's an adult he'll turn his hat around!" Vomit.
*Tashard Choice may be a good running back in the NFL, but at this rate he'll never be a great Dallas Cowboy. He just doesn't get it. He says football stops after 60 minutes. Nope. Sorry. If you're a Cardinal or Jaguar or Bengal maybe, but you're a Cowboy 24/7/365. And I still seriously doubt his 2- or 3-year-old nephew has a favorite NFL player, covets autographs or that the kid's Christmas is ruined because he somehow deciphered that the glove was his surprise gift.
*In case you haven't heard, the Texas Rangers lost Cliff Lee. Who have they signed this off-season? A bunch of dudes who are going to be killers for Eric Nadel and Tom Grieve -- Yorbit Torrealba. Yoshinori Tateyama. Yhency Brazoban. Hirotoshi Onaka. Wow.
*For all of you who have for years proclaimed that I am a bitch...guilty. The proof is in this week's Dallas Observer cover story. Enjoy.
*Michael Vick says he wants to own a dog. Really?! Read his confession/testimony and you'll learn what happened to his daughter's former puppy. Yep, thrown into a pit of aggressive pit bulls for his entertainment. I know the Vick "He did his time!" supporters are quick to irrationally immobilize, but sometimes don't you just permanently lose privileges because of your actions? Vick can be NFL MVP. Vick can make millions. But Vick should never again be allowed to own a dog.
*Hot.
*Not.
*Can't put my finger on it exactly, but I don't trust the Mavericks' Caron Butler in crunch time. You?
*Jon Stewart > Larry King. Howard Stern > Jon Stewart.
*A name I bet you haven't thought about in months, but who has had as much of an impact on this disastrous Cowboys' season as anyone: Alex Barron. Yep, still on the roster.
*After an outcry from the you-know-whos, Fort Worth buses in 2011 will no longer display ads from religious organizations. Seems "Good Without God" was answered by "Better With God." Fascinating. The end result? The buses will carry the atheist group's original ads until the contract expires in 30 days. After that FW streets and our world world will get a little less interesting.
*In this "season of safety", if the NFL was genuinely concerned about its players would the Vikings and Bears be playing Monday night outdoors in 0 temperatures and on a college stadium's concrete-hard frozen artificial turf? And I don't get the uproar against Jets' strength coach Sal Alosi. Shouldn't it be illegal for a player to run out of bounds -- especially by the opponents' bench -- in the first place? To me Alosi is like the homeowner who shoots the intruder and then gets slapped with some bullshit charge. Trespass at your own risk, no?
*So if a two-hour shoot produces only 34 seconds of video, I'm not sure how a 2.5-hour movie ever gets made. At least I nailed my line. Oscar?
*Need a Cowboys-related Christmas gift that will bring back some warm-n-fuzzy memories from the good ol' days? How about a book co-written by a certain someone. Maybe Tashard's nephew's Holidays can be salvaged after all.
*Thinking back to the biggest sports stories of 2010 I was sorta moved by the Saints winning the Super Bowl, LeBron's LeDecision, John Wooden's death and Brett Favre's failure. But really it's a blowout. The year in sports belongs to Tiger Woods.
*This weekend? Going to Mavs-Suns tonight, Christmas party Saturday night and, of course, I'll be blabbing about Cowboys-Redskins on 105.3 The Fan's post-game show Sunday afternoon.
*Programming note: I'll be vacationing the next two weeks, returning here on January 3. In my absence, please enjoy the editorial stylings of Observer brother Sam Merten. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and, obviously, don't be a stranger.
