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 -…
In a crowded room deep within the substratum of Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, team president-turned-CEO Nolan Ryan tried to cast Chuck Greenberg’s surprising departure this morning in a positive light heading into the new season. Leaving after only seven months with the organization, Ryan did little to answer questions about…
Odd news to wake up to this morning: After being the man leading the charge to take control of the Texas Rangers last summer, and having been very much the public face of the franchise in the months since, Chuck Greenberg’s gone. Did he jump or was he pushed? According…
In the two months since Nigerian soccer star and Major League Soccer alum Uche Okafor was found dead in his Little Elm home, press from his home country has followed the blow-by-blow between the Little Elm Police Department, which has called Okafor’s death a suicide, and his family, who insist…
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…
As a big fan of Tosh.0 — a 30-minute show on Comedy Central featuring YouTube clips and jokes from comedian Daniel Tosh — I set my TiVo for Sunday’s premiere of Tosh’s stand-up special Happy Thoughts. Finally got around to watching it last night. It sucked. Laughed maybe once. Nevertheless,…
In the comments of yesterday’s blog, commenter “sporty” posed the question of whether Neftali Feliz should be moved into the rotation since we both agree the Texas Rangers rotation needs help desperately. He said the “transition makes a lot of sense.” I disagree. The argument for Feliz becoming a starter…
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…
Speaking of Fair Park attractions …Here’s another one: Beginning with the March 26 season-opener — a double-header pitting the Deadly Kennedys against Viva La Revolucion! and the Bombshell Brigade against last year’s champs the Lone Star Assassins — Assassination City Roller Derby moves into the Fair Park Coliseum. Which means…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Jerry Jones re-surfaced last week, but we barely recognized him. No, not another facelift. But he did look—and sound—different. Getting run over in the middle of the highway by the humble Hummer will do that to you. As Jones spoke to the media at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis,…
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…
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…
The fear with the Dallas Stars is this: Tom Hicks would so bury the team that no one would buy them and eventually they’d leave Dallas. It appears, knock on ice-covered wood, that a savior has arisen. Goes by the name of Doug Miller. Everyone from Mark Cuban to Wayne…
