More than a week after another disappointing loss to the Sacramento Kings, the same odd mixture of feelings likely ties your gut in knots. The All Star break probably did little to assuage your fears, and yet there is hope. That strange dichotomy is the burden that both you and…
It’s a strange sight because, really, Raja Bell shouldn’t even be here. If he were someone else, someone not quite as lucky–if he were me–he would be across the Atlantic Ocean, shaking his head over a decision he made that proved rash. Instead, he’s walking around the practice court with…
Joe Avezzano is living his nightmare. He’s coaching, just as he has with the Cowboys for the past 13 seasons. The wind is kicking up, and it’s cold enough on the field that the players can see their breath. The game is football. The trouble lies not in the similarities,…
There had been plenty of previous scrapes, but this one was different. This one made Aaron Downey take a step back. He breathed deeply thereafter, thankful that he was able to breathe at all. He was with the Blackhawks, sometime last year. They were playing Nashville, which perhaps meant less…
There’s a lot to see from the upper reaches of the American Airline Center, where the press box abuts the roof just beyond the last row of cheap seats. Mostly you’re overcome by drunks who’ve been duped into buying oversized foam novelty hands and families that come complete with kids…
When the phone rang last week, I almost didn’t answer. The long vacation was weighing on me, along with many pounds of pasta and a glutton’s share of homemade cookies. I moved slowly but managed to answer before the machine kicked on. A friend was on the other line, jabbering,…
The year started innocently enough. I was living and working back on the Right Coast, making a little bit of money, looking optimistically toward the future. That’s when things went horribly awry. I should have known. Hope is to me what a white Christmas is to Texans–a rumor enjoyed by…
It’s always something out at Valley Ranch, but it’s rarely good. This time around, the media pack–I wonder, if pack reporting were outlawed, would there be any sports coverage in D-FW?–has descended upon Dwayne Goodrich. Apart from being a terrible cornerback, Goodrich is also apparently fatigued; he’s fielding questions about…
It could be that Brenden Morrow’s head hurts, which might explain why the thoughts come slowly, even a little unwillingly. It would certainly figure. His face is decorated with black stitches across the left part of his nose and above the left eyebrow, and his forehead is spotted with what…
There are only two players in the gym. Practice ended an hour ago, and the others have long since left. These two, Walt Williams and Adrian Griffin, loiter beyond the three-point line arcing shot after shot toward the net. The sound of balls bouncing against the hardwood resonates off the…
Bruce Coslet is a quick learner. Really, he is. But not for the reasons you might think. The lot of you are probably still high from Sunday–a meaningless two-point win over a Jacksonville team that’s been nothing but average this season in record (one game below .500) and defensive ranking…
It was the day after Nick Van Exel went down with a knee injury. Avery Johnson–who became the team’s pro tem backup point guard when Van Exel bit it–stood by a set of black metal stairs that lead to the American Airlines Center practice-facility lockers. He talked about how his…
What are the Dallas Mavericks’ chances of making it to the NBA Finals this year? The following is the opinion of a Western Conference scout: On the Mavs: “I think [the Mavs] will be in the mix this year. They’ll be in that 3-to-5 category [for playoff position] if they…
The season hasn’t yet started, but I think Don Nelson is drunk. Donnie Nelson might be, too; who can tell? Half the Mavs fans in this room are loaded and twisted, and the other half are well on their way. It’s early, but I have no idea what time it…
“The only time I want to talk to a woman when I’m naked is if I’m on top of her or she’s on top of me.” –Former Tigers pitcher Jack Morris, on female sportswriters A few weeks ago all this gender stuff started rattling around the empty space in my…
Jerry Jones thinks you’re stupid. That’s the only possible explanation for the ugly way he handled the benching of Quincy Carter in favor of Chad Hutchinson. It’s the only explanation for the way he’s handled these situations since the Pokes started decaying in the mid-to-late ’90s. See, he speaks in…
It’s just not right, what you’re doing to him. This Emmitt Smith bashing, this short-term memory problem some of you have, it’s ugly and cruel. But then again, it’s nothing new. You ran Troy Aikman out. When his passes started to slip, when each throw didn’t have smoke spewing from…
There is a small child outside the window. He’s maybe 5 or 6, and he has a basketball tucked under his arm. It’s almost as big as he is. He’s looking through the glass–his nose is pressed against it, leaving a snotty smudge–just trying to catch a glimpse of Magic…
It was a hot, humid night in Atlantic City two years ago, the kind of evening that grafts damp fabric to skin. Ralph “Pete” Hunter was working at Trump Plaza as a valet. This was the summer before his senior year at Virginia Union University, a long while before the…
The cell phone crackles some as he drives down the highway, and there’s a foreign beeping noise muddling the conversation at times, but that doesn’t stop him from merrily rolling through an account of his post-career résumé. After a few unfortunate years away from the Mavs, Derek Harper has finally…
The laugh was his first sign of emotion. He wasn’t rude before, and he didn’t come off as disinterested, but he wasn’t flailing around with his hands, leaning forward or nodding, either. No, Herbert Perry was just sitting back in one of those comfortable black leather chairs that dot the…
He doesn’t look like a troublemaker. Doesn’t really talk like one, either. Not at first. The morning workout took a lot from him, maybe, and so he’s preoccupied with hydrating himself, quickly slugging back a cup of dirt-colored sports drink. Shirtless, wide receiver Antonio Bryant sits at his corner locker…
