March Madness in Dallas: Has It Really Been 25 Years?

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…

Mavs Are the S-Word. Rinse and Repeat.

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…

Check That, Neftali Feliz Now Wants To Be a Starting Pitcher

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…

Wait, SMU Will Be Included in March’s Madness?

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…

Surprise, Surprise. Chuck Greenberg is … Poof.

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 -…

It’s Never Too Early For Spring Training Knee-Jerk Reactions

You hear it every year around this time: Spring training stats are meaningless. And, sure, while that can be true for guys like Doug Deeds — the 29-year-old career minor leaguer who’s hitting .357 with two homers and four RBI for the Texas Rangers at the moment — there are…

Jon Daniels To Be Rangers GM Through 2015

The Texas Rangers just sent word: General manager Jon Daniels, who was only under contract through this season, today signed a four-year extension — the financial terms of which were not announced. Hard to believe, but should Daniels stick around through the 2015 season, that would mark his 10th anniversary…

The Last Time the NFL Shut Down …

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?…

The NFL Lockout: My Top 10 Observer-ations

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…

Covering the Dallas Texans, Beautifully

Good Friend of Unfair Park PeterK directs our rapt attention to yesterday’s installment of Paul Lukas’s UniWatch, which provides a rare glimpse into the inaugural 1960 season of Lamar Hunt’s Dallas Texans. Long story short: Bob Halford, the Texans’ PR man, loaned a longtime UniWatch-er named Billy Quinton his Mayo…

A Lively Stand-Up Bit About Super Bowl Sunday

At this very moment, something called the 8th Annual Texas ACG Capital Connection is taking place at the Fairmont Hotel; long story short, suits and ties and private equity and Ben Stein as the lunchtime speaker (ah, but will he do this for an hour?). Bill Lively kicked off the…

Cowboys Covet Doug Free. Gerald Sensabaugh? Notsamuch.

A year ago Doug Free was a question mark. Now he’s an exclamation point. The Dallas Cowboys professed their love for their left tackle yesterday, placing the highest possible tender on him as the NFL prepares for unchartered and unsettling free agency in the midst of a labor lockout. Under…