2010 NFL Quarterback Rankings: Week 5

Like the BCS, style points count. So do geeky, black-and-white stats such as touchdowns and quarterback ratings. Wins and losses? Definitely. Leadership? Uh-huh. When it comes to my weekly NFL Quarterback Rankings — if I had one of those little encircled R’s to signify a trademarked idea, it’d go here — the…

Dallas Cowboys’ 2009 Draft Class = The Really Dirty Dozen

At the time – April 30, 2009 – I called the Dallas Cowboys’ draft class of 2009 a “dirty dozen.” And, no, it was a compliment. Fast-forward to today and, unfortunately, it’s uglier than ever. Making room on the roster for a tight end in light of another injury to…

GAME 5 – Rangers 5, Rays 1: My Top 10 Observations

10. Antlers > Rays. Ironic that the Rangers – who for years and decades floundered playing feast-or-famine baseball founded on the home run – scored their first three runs via speed. Think about it, the Rangers small-balled, manufactured and ran their way to the American League Championship Series. Yes, Texas,…

Do-or-Die in Dallas: How Our Teams Fare in Elimination Games

To the Texas Rangers, tonight’s do-or-die game is unprecedented, uncharted territory. But as metroplex sports fans, we’re accustomed to these elimination scenarios. And, you know what? We’re pretty damn good at them. While the Rangers take their pathetic 3-11 playoff pedigree into tonight’s decisive Game 5 against the Tampa Bay Rays,…

At Least One Cowboys’ Problem Is Fixed: Felix the Phat

Looks like about 3.5 times more of you – 885,000 homes to 250,000 homes – watched the Dallas Cowboys over the Texas Rangers on Sunday, so let’s not shun football today. Though Leonard Davis is admitting he sucks and Martellus Bennett is hurt and the Cowboys are 1-3 and old…

Rangers-Rays: GAME 5 Preview

History isn’t on the Rangers’ side. But everything else is. When the Texas Rangers face the Tampa Bay Rays tonight at 7:07 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, they’ll do so knowing they’ve never won a playoff series and that no 5-game baseball series has ever been decided via five wins…

Why Are We Harder on Tony Romo than Josh Hamilton?

In the aftermath of a stinging season-ending loss in Philadelphia in 2008, Dallas Cowboys’ quarterback Tony Romo shrugged his shoulders and infamously offered: “If this is the worst thing that ever happens to me, well, then I will have had a pretty good life.” In the wake of a stinging…

Titans 34, Cowboys 27: My Top 10 Observations

10. No two ways around it, your Dallas Cowboys are not a good football team. They are a collection of talented football players. But together they are not a good team. In linebacker Keith Brooking’s words, “We play really stupid football at crucial times in the game.” 9. Tony Romo was…

GAME 4 – Rays 5, Rangers 2: My Top 10 Observations

10. After a wasted weekend in Arlington we know this: Derek Holland isn’t ready to be a playoff pitcher. Saturday he allowed a single and a walk to ignite Tampa’s game-tying rally and in today’s Game 4 loss he served up a two-run homer to Evan Longoria that broke the…

GAME 3 – Rays 6, Rangers 3: My Top 10 Observations

​ 10. ‘Twas an occurrence about as rare as Halley’s Comet this afternoon out here at Rangers Ballpark. In the Rangers’ 39-year history they’ve played 3,092 home games in Arlington. Game 3 was only the fifth playoff contest. Texas is 0-5 all-time in home playoff games. 9. In the owner’s box: Nolan Ryan,…

Whitt’s End: 10.8.10

Whether you’re at the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt’s End: *A sentence I thought I’d never live long enough to type: The American League Championship Series — Texas Rangers v. New York Yankees — starts one week from today at Rangers Ballpark…

GAME 2 – Rangers 6, Rays 0: My Top 10 Observations

10. I know the Rangers banged two more homers and generally roped the ball around the park, but I think Josh Hamilton set the tenor with his back-to-back superb catches — one diving — in the second inning. 9. As expected, Tampa starter James Shields was, well, James Shields. In…

2010 NFL Quarterback Rankings: Week 4

Like the BCS, style points count. So do geeky, black-and-white stats such as touchdowns and quarterback ratings. Wins and losses? Definitely. Leadership? Uh-huh. When it comes to my weekly NFL Quarterback Rankings — if I had one of those little encircled R’s to signify a trademarked idea, it’d go here — the…

Rangers-Rays: Game 2 Preview

​We waited 5,100 days in between Texas Rangers’ playoff wins. Might we suddenly get two within 24 hours?   As dominant as Cliff Lee was in the Rangers’ 5-1 Game 1 victory on Wednesday, I like the matchup of C.J. Wilson over Tampa’s James Shields even more in Game 2…

GAME 1 – Rangers 5, Rays 1: My Top 10 Observations

10. Going up 1-0 in a best-of-five series is always nice, but an even better sign to me was the effective, aggressive play of Josh Hamilton. He singled in his first at-bat, cut loose a throw ambitiously behind a runner after a fly ball and even stole second base with…

Rangers-Rays Game 1: This is Why Texas Traded for Cliff Lee

Though they didn’t pop the champagne in Oakland until Sept. 25, the Rangers clinched the AL West on July 9. That day changed a season. Changed a franchise’s credibility. Changed October plans. That day, of course, brought Cliff Lee. The Texas Rangers now have a post-season polished pitching ace. The…

Down to Knoxy = Knoxy Goes Down!

Fox Sports Southwest reporter Jim Knox seems a fine fella. His job on Texas Rangers games — interviewing Boy Scout Troop #137, talking to face-painting Sally and whatnot — seems almost impossible to make interesting. But if you’ve ever wanted to see Knox get his, well you’re day has arrived. Courtesy…

2010 State Fair of Texas: My Top 10 Observations

10. After a Sunday of very unscientific research in the splendid sunshine at the fair, I have come to this conclusion: People are fat. 9. After ingesting — yes, in this order — a Fletcher’s jalapeno corny dog, beer, root beer, chocolate-covered strawberries, Sierra Mist, curly fries, beer, Belgian Waffle,…

Rangers v. Rays: Position-by-Position Matchups

Seems like everyone except ESPN’s Buster Olney is picking the Tampa Bay Rays to beat our Texas Rangers in the best-of-5 American League Divisional Series. Which makes sense actually. The Rays are a 96-win team, the winner of baseball’s best division, with a 4-2 season series edge on Texas, and…

Texas Rangers v. Tampa Bay Rays: An ALDS Preview

Be careful what you ask for. For the most part, seems like baseball fans in our parts feared the New York Yankees. Household names like Jeter and A-Rod and Pettite and Rivera and the 27 World Series have a way of intimidating opponents. Oh yeah, and the 1-9 playoff history…