Genteel Fans

Texas was not just outplayed yesterday in the Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament final. It was out-fanned. Looked to me like burnt orange outnumbered by about two-to-one the grape or periwinkle or whatever color Kansas claims, but the KU fans absolutely shook the American Airlines Center with their ardor. Texas…

Altered State of Mind

Remember way back when there were only two sports in Dallas: football and off-season football? Don’t look now, helmet head, but Dallas is suddenly imitating a pretty decent Mecca of basketball. The rise of roundball permeates all levels. Last weekend in Austin, Dallas-area high schools swept the three biggest classes…

Labor of Love

Not that we never really worried, but the National Football League we know and love was kept intact last night. Facing a do-or-drastically-alter deadline, league owners meeting at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport voted to accept a collective bargaining agreement proposal from the players’ union. I could tell you that the…

Oscar Overhaul

The tuxedos were suave. The carpet was royally red. Joan Rivers’ fashion fangs were bloodthirsty. And the cleavage deliciously breached its levees. Yet something was missing from Sunday’s 78th Academy Awards. Ahem, where was sports? Sure, host Jon Stewart played soccer at William & Mary University, and a boxing flick…

In Dallas, Even the Fans Play “D”

No doubt the Dallas Mavericks’ defense is tougher this season. So are their fans. During a particularly violent third quarter in last night’s gritty home win over the Portland Trail Blazers, three fans were involved in nasty collisions with propelled players. The first was the worst: Mavs guard Devin Harris…

Talent Scout

I’m not just saying this because he gave me oral favors on last Thursday’s WFAA-Channel 8 sportscast…OK, yeah, actually I am. But it doesn’t change the fact that Dale Hansen has a keen eye for talent. Who else in this town, besides Mike Modano, could lose Gina Miller and immediately…

Cowboys Getting a Bone(r)

After months of negotiations with almost every station on the dial, your Dallas Cowboys have announced this afternoon they’ve found a new radio home on KDBN-FM (93.3), better known as The Bone, and KTCK-AM (1310), or The Ticket, both of which currently fall under the Susquehanna Radio umbrella. The partnership,…

Ignorance is Bliss

When an athlete screws up, we cover it like World War III. So when an asshole finally apologizes, shouldn’t we cover it like a peace treaty? I think so and wrote as much in my Observer column last week, detailing the secret settlement between Kenny Rogers and Larry Rodriguez, the…

Dirk Diggling

He’s an �ber-talented freak, a legit MVP candidate and the best player on one of the NBA’s best teams. But at the biggest times in the biggest game of the season, a 98-89 loss to the San Antonio Spurs Thursday night, Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki wasn’t good enough–or even good…

Curveball

Finally, it was over. After seven months of pain and six hours of mediation, they reached an agreement. Documents signed. Sighs exhaled. Farewells exchanged. But wait, Kenny Rogers had one more surprise for Larry Rodriguez. As the former Texas Rangers pitcher, the KDFW-Channel 4 cameraman he assaulted last June and…

The Joy of Six

He amassed a 30-2 record, hung 467 yards and 41 points on Southern Cal and led the University of Texas to its first national championship in 35 years. But from this day forward, right or wrong, Vince Young will always be associated with the number six. As in “Act your…

Dork Nowitzki

Welcome to American Airlines Center, home to bells, whistles and enough sensory stimuli to obliterate the line between Mavericks game and Mardi Gras. On the court, roving reporter Chris Arnold prods fans, screaming into a microphone. Up in the stands there is a drum line, a section of freaky face-painters,…

Doogie Howser, G.M.

Truth: Old Texas Rangers General Manager John Hart once appeared in TV ads wearing sunglasses. Myth: On the cover of this year’s media guide, new Rangers GM Jon Daniels will wear a bib. Truth: Daniels was born five years after the Rangers arrived in Arlington. Myth: His name is temporarily…

Eight Is Enough

Spit happens. Sometimes saliva mixes with chewing tobacco and is expectorated into the bottom of a Coke can. Sometimes the pungent concoction is left sitting in the can long enough to begin coagulating. Sometimes that almost-empty can gets set down right beside the almost-empty one you are drinking from. Sometimes…

Play It Forward

What if Jose Cortez made the field goal? You know the one, the 29-yard chip shot that would’ve given the Cowboys a 10-point lead over the Seahawks late in the game back on October 23. Instead of losing 13-10, Dallas wins 13-10. And that whopping 180 is merely a link…

A Dirty Dozen

He wears bikini briefs. TiVos The View. Spends alarming time with his morning mirror, caressing his hair with extravagant product and bathing his skin with lush lotion. And when he’s not acting like our city’s most sensitive woman, Mike Rhyner is one of Dallas radio’s most powerful men. He can…

Tex-cess

How ’bout them Dallas Longhorns! What a great story. Vince Young, raised on the tough streets of Oak Cliff, survives to star at Carter High School and eventually matures into the leader of the nation’s No. 1 college football team. Wow! And it all happened here in our own backyard…

Still Crazy

Forget Bill Parcells. What would the Cowboys do without Wilford Jones? Considering the glaucoma and the strokes have left him blind, he’s probably not going to replace Drew Bledsoe. He’ll have a hard time upgrading the pass rush with an amputated right leg and that clunky wheelchair. And his Social…

Air Apparent?

For enduring this hell on earth, dedicated soldiers of God are rumored to be rewarded with the splendors of heaven. Eternal life. Vanishing love handles. Endless plasma TVs. Angels with big wings and bigger breasts pouring free beer into the biggest mugs. And for suffering this painfully unsuccessful era, devoted…

Title Nein!

One small head start for woman. One giant step backward for women. You know something’s screwy when the first runner to cross the Dallas White Rock Marathon finish line isn’t the winner. And when, in an era of monumental gains by female athletes on the cusp of competing against males…

Not So Fast

I was wrong. There, I said it. Wasn’t so bad. Humbling but not horrible. Therapeutic even. Won’t you join me, Bill Parcells? Because you, too, are wrong about Drew Bledsoe. After the Giant debacle two weeks ago I prematurely kick-started the annual Cowboys mystery, “Who’s Next?” As in, the next…

Card Shark

Where are your old baseball cards? I know, silly question. In this interactive era of Madden on your Xbox and madmen chewing buffalo bladders on your TiVo, spreading out sedentary sports cards on your bedroom floor sounds about as entertaining as playing Marco Polo with Helen Keller. Marco!… Marco!… Marco?!…