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 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…

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…

And just like that, the man who saved Nolan Ryan’s job with the Texas Rangers has been replaced. By Nolan Ryan. I heard rumblings about this a couple weeks ago. Even hinted in a Whitt’s End and on 105.3 The Fan that there were – seemingly out of nowhere -…

Ah, the rites of spring. Trees blooming. Allergy sufferers sneezing. Michael Young bitching. Spring breakers partying. And the Dallas Mavericks teasing. Or, for the first time in forever, will their annual March push actually carry them to an NBA championship? Admit it, your heart believes. But your head—given the benefit…

It was different in 1987 because it was the players striking, not the owners locking out. But still, it’s always ugly in America without football. And 24 years ago was no different. Any guesses to who Peter Jennings’ “Person of the Week” might have been?…

10. Barring a last-minute agreement, the NFL will cease operations as we know them tonight at 11 when the league’s current collective bargaining agreement expires. The owners and players have met via mediation the last nine days with no significant movement. The owners, dealt a significant blow this week when a…

Don’t get too giddy if and when the Dallas Mavericks sign free-agent forward Corey Brewer today. Decent player at both ends of the court, but it’s basically one more attempt to fill in the gaps left by the absence of Caron Butler. Maybe with the additions of Peja Stojakovic, Roddy Beaubois…