SURPRISE, Arizona–It’s a damp, overcast day. Not what you’d expect in the Cactus League. The Rangers are playing another intra-squad scrimmage. No one, save the knot of fans sitting just behind the Rangers dugout, is particularly thrilled with the idea of another intra-squad scrimmage. The players least of all. The…
About a year ago, Mike Murphy and his pal J.J. Miller were at his pad in Frisco shooting pool over a few cold beers and lamenting the state of politics. Murphy, who is now 30, and Miller, 33, couldn’t find a candidate whose ideas and values meshed with theirs, and…
Shortly after the Dallas Cowboys lost their playoff game at Carolina and before head coach Bill Parcells went into hibernation for the winter, he gathered the local media and offered us free counsel. The team was heading in the right direction, he said, but he cautioned us not to get…
The All-Star break couldn’t have come sooner for the Mavs–that’s the simple truth. They were starting to play better, sure, but the first half of the season was unexpectedly taxing on the court. The media often crucified the lot of them for not living up to the enormous expectations that…
In the distance, an elderly woman is cheering wildly. She is perched on the back of a restaurant booth while smoking a cigarette with one hand; she’s shaking the other–back and forth, hard, really getting into it. Her name is Rose. She’s fun. So are her friends–Joe, Marsha and Ellis…
Where I’m from, snowboarding and skiing weren’t chief pursuits. Growing up, my boys and I played football in the streets or pickup basketball wherever we could find a hoop–neither of which required an exorbitant lift-ticket fee. But now and again, when money was good, we’d skip school, leave Philly and…
This is all Antawn Jamison ever wanted. He’s trying to explain that to me. Again. The look on his face is friendly, but it also conveys another message. Something along the lines of: This must be the 10th time we’ve had this talk. He’s happy here, even if I don’t…
It was quiet on the practice court. Almost eerily so–like a wake without the dead men. But give it time on that score–by the end of the season, there will be plenty of corpses around here. Only a few of the scrubs remained when they let the media into practice–all…
The voice on the other end of the phone was probably kidding, but who the hell could tell? Not me. The holidays are generally brutal on my end–far from anything remotely resembling vacation. I’m not a big drinker, but there’s something about Christmas and New Year’s parties that turns me…
Another year has passed, leaving me older but certainly not smarter. Which is why I acquiesced in our staff meeting when told we were once again putting out a blanket year-end issue, adored by lazy, slow-witted journos everywhere. I figured I fit pretty safely into that category, and besides that,…
Years ago, before the world beat me down and left me a cynical shell of a man, I had dreams. I wanted to go places and do things. (What, you think I always wanted to become an alternative-weekly zombie?) But then I hit middle school, and I pretty much resigned…
In sports, particularly among the media, rumors are like venereal diseases: There are a lot of them out there, and they’re quickly and easily passed around. Who’s a nice guy, who’s a dick, who’s not talking to his coach, who slept with this actress or that celebrity–there’s never a shortage…
PHILADELPHIA–The week leading up to the Cowboys-Eagles clash told the story before a down had been played. It was quiet in Dallas, almost eerily so. That’s never good before a big game; it usually portends disaster. I couldn’t figure out why so few people in Big D were talking about…
At some point, my attitude about Thanksgiving shifted from acceptance–even, on occasion, anticipation–to discontent. That probably had a lot to do with my cousin Dave, who, sometime in the early ’90s, began telling the same dreadful stories at Thanksgiving dinner every year–stories that we’d heard hundreds of times. No one…
Warren Sapp is a large, loud man who is hated by some, loved by others. He is also a truth-teller. A few weeks back, the Tampa Bay Bucs defensive tackle went on national television and outlined a gross injustice that’s gone on far too long: the subjugation of the NFL…
This is not what Tony Delk wants to hear. Not now, not when he’s just finished practicing, not when a warm shower and some rest beckon seductively. Not ever, really, and certainly not from someone like me. The Dallas Mavericks guard was about to skip up the stairs that lead…
As you might expect, I’ve gotten my ass kicked plenty during the past 26 years. Generally it’s a direct result of opening my stupid mouth–an involuntary action that just can’t be helped, sort of like breathing. I am proud to say that I’ve never been beaten up by a girl…
It was early Monday morning, and I was on my way to the dentist. A friend called with good news just before my appointment: Raef LaFrentz had been traded to the Celtics. I didn’t even hear whom the Mavs got in return before I started doing a little dance and…
It is midafternoon, and another day of Mavericks training camp has wrapped up, sending the players scurrying from the practice court in the lower reaches of the American Airlines Center. Some head to the ornate locker room and gorge themselves on chicken and fish and warm, fresh breads; some camp…
It was Saturday night before the Eagles-Cowboys game, and some writer friends of mine from Philly were in town. They were looking for a grand time, but they had to settle for a grand amount of cold beer at one of those ubiquitous chain eateries in Las Colinas. We sat…
I’m a loser. There’s really no other way to put it. This probably doesn’t shock most of you, particularly those who know me personally or those who tend to send in letters to the editor, most of which generally begin or end, not surprisingly, with “you’re a (place expletive here)…
Legends don’t wait in line. That’s just the way it works. Tony Dorsett was out at Valley Ranch recently. He was standing with various media members and waiting patiently to sign the guest book and get a little visitor sticker that would allow him entrance to the Cowboys facility. The…
