Best Local Sports Radio Show 2007 | Norm Hitzges | Best of Dallas® 2020 | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Dallas | Dallas Observer
Navigation
Support Us
Search

Best Local Sports Radio Show

Norm Hitzges

On a station that delivers as much shtick as sports, Norm sticks out like Renoir amongst the kids coloring outside the lines on their Chuck E. Cheese menus. He's overdramatic, underappreciated and, ultimately, as endearing as enduring. When he's not busy being Gordon Keith's punching bag, the 60-something without an iPhone, MySpace page or a care in the world about being cool asks the old-school, tough questions of local poobahs such as Avery Johnson, Jerry Jones and Ron Washington. He spews unparalleled passion, whether toward his NFL draft board, weekly Picks of the Pole, some lame name game or his annual Normathon, an 18-hour event raising $250,000 for the Austin Street Centre for the homeless. He's quirky and nauseating and entertaining and informational, all stuffed into a peppy Polish caricature of himself. In other words, he's Norm.

Best Local TV Sports Anchor

Dale Hansen

Only one guy is good enough, cool enough, smug enough and—did we say good enough?—to interrupt his own nightly radio show with his own nightly TV show. He doesn't have Mike Doocy's hair or Newy Scruggs' hipness or Babe Laufenberg's history, but Hansen still has the metroplex mesmerized by being both plugged in and unplugged. On KESN-103.3 FM ESPN, Hansen is brash enough to keep us listening. And on Channel 8, he's smart enough to hire Erin Hawksworth and keep us watching. Though old enough to remember when the Hard Rock opened and when Deep Ellum was cool, he's still got it. We wonder, though, with Bill Parcells no longer around, if Hansen will continue his harsh criticism, bullish opinions and brutal honesty on all things Cowboys. Of course, we also wonder if his flirty verbal jousts with weatherman Pete Delkus secretly drove Troy Dungan into early retirement.

Best Maverick

Dirk Nowitzki

It's almost impossible to remember what the NBA's MVP did right for six months because of all he did wrong for six games. Sorta like Zac Crain and Kinky Friedman had some good ideas for a while, right? In the humiliating playoff loss to the Golden State Warriors, Dirk was soft, passive and even had his attitude questioned by coach Avery Johnson in a series in which he produced only three magical minutes. When he accepted the MVP trophy as the first Euro, first Maverick and first winner not to get his team out of the first round in 25 years, it was bittersweet if not altogether hollow. The award, thankfully, is for the regular season. And from November to April, Dirk averaged 24 points, nine rebounds and was undoubtedly the best player on the league's best team.

Best Olympic Training Center

White Rock Lake Park

For those of you who only visit White Rock Lake on a lazy Sunday afternoon, this may come as a bit of a surprise, but the most crowded the park ever gets is at six in the morning every day, except during our four-week winter. That's when the Dallas' marathon training groups flock to the park to beat the summer heat or just work out before work. Serious-looking cyclists, often in ravenous packs of 30 to 40 riders, also hit the lake, making the 9.3-mile loop their own personal Tour de France. On weekends, you'll even encounter traffic jams at the park's entrances before the sun has started to rise and a road race or two along the lake shortly thereafter. It's a strangely fascinating sight to see that many people working out furiously so early in the morning, but then again, where else are they going to go? Maybe if we had a park along the Trinity, say without a toll road?

Best Owner

Jerry Jones, Dallas Cowboys

How the hell can a guy who fired Tom Landry and signed Terrell Owens ever make it up to Cowboys fans? Simple. Super Bowl XLV. While Mark Cuban was lobbing lawsuits with Don Nelson, and Tom Hicks was spending more of his money on English soccer and less on his local losers, Jones dug $350 million out of his own pocket to build a $1 billion stadium and attract the 2011 Super Bowl to Arlington. At times during his reign more conniving than Elizabeth Albanese, Jones these days—along with sidekick closer Roger Staubach—seems capable of bringing peace to the Middle East. He meddles. He finagles. But most of all, he cares. More than football, the new stadium is the world's most profound act of vanity. Until, that is, the day he names himself head coach. Tick...tick...tick...

Best Place to Jog

Trinity Trails in Fort Worth

"Are they actually doing anything yet with the Trinity River project?" So asks my husband, who continually drives over Dallas' giant open sewer and reports no visible progress. He does spend a lot of time in Fort Worth, however, and has walked many miles along the Trinity Trails. These 30 miles of paved, landscaped trails can be accessed at numerous points—including Northside Drive off of Interstate 35W. The trails wind through Heritage Park, Trinity Park and Overton Park. For some reason, Fort Worth's Trinity never stinks. You can walk, bike or Rollerblade and not worry about getting grazed by a stray bullet or bombarded by exploding acetylene tanks. When it comes to river amenities, Cowtown rules.

Best Place to Watch Sports With a Famous Athlete

Ten Sports Grill

The night before they whipped the Mavs in Game 1 on their way to an epic series upset, the Golden State Warriors chilled here. The night after he finished a season in which he averaged more assists than everybody not named Steve Nash, Utah Jazz star Deron Williams celebrated here. This season SMU basketball coach Matt Doherty and Cowboys top draft pick Anthony Spencer will both host weekly events here. Nash, Shaquille O'Neal, Michael Finley and Eduardo Najera make it a regular stop when in town. There are more expansive and more expensive joints, but the bar at the corner of Main and Field adjacent to the Adolphus Hotel has evolved into a magnet for famous faces. With fresh fish and salads on the menu, Ten's food will make you forget you're in a sports bar. The clientele, however, will remind you.

Best Player You Wouldn't Recognize on the Street

Clint Dolezel

Not that many 6-foot-5, 205-pound guys with short hair, graying temples and matching goatees roaming our streets. Even fewer with 800 career touchdown passes. And even fewer, for what it's worth, walking around with Everson Walls' kidney. Point is, Dolezel, 37, is perhaps the greatest quarterback in the history of indoor football, but you wouldn't recognize him from Ron Springs, or Adam. He's already got an Arena Football League championship (with Grand Rapids in 2001), was last year's MVP and this year led the Dallas Desperados to a league-record 15-1 regular season before—all together now—a first-round upset loss in the playoffs. While Tony Romo makes $1.5 million and holds Carrie Underwood's purse, Dallas' other quarterback makes $100,000 and merely holds records. Maybe his next goal—1,000 touchdowns—will cure his anonymity. Probably not.

Best Pool Hall

Hawley's Billiards

Here's the only bad thing about Hawley's: It's a neighborhood bar as much as it is a pool hall, and everybody who plays there pretty much knows each other. In fact, the manager estimates that night in and night out, he knows 90 percent of the clientele. But even if you are a stranger, they'll welcome you with open arms, so long as you know how to play pool. This place is everything you'd imagine a pool hall should be: plenty of tables, good music, cheap beer and smoky as hell. This is a place where you can have some fun, but it's also for serious pool players, the sort who make instructional tapes and win national championships. And if you don't have your own equipment, don't worry. There's a billiards store next door.

Best Ranger

Michael Young

Yes, by default. Kinda the same way he made this year's American League All-Star team—because the rules mandate at least one representative from each team. Even the really crappy ones kept afloat by Kameron Loe and Marlon Byrd and, at 23-42, written off along with our taxes in April. Who are we to break from baseball tradition? No one, that's who. Therefore, we're crowning as "best" Ranger a shortstop who has hit below .290 most of the season, went a whole month without an extra-base hit and recently produced his annual bitch session about the team's directionless direction. Blah blah blah. Michael Finley never cried for help, not even in the Mavs' darkest moments. Young is a great player and a good guy, but if he wants to join baseball's elite—and if he expects to win this prestigious honor again next season—he needs less lip and more leadership.

Best Of Dallas®

Best Of

Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our terms of use, our cookies policy, and our privacy policy The Dallas Observer may earn a portion of sales from products & services purchased through links on our site from our affiliate partners. ©2024 Dallas Observer, LP. All rights reserved.
Do Not Sell or Share My Information
Powered By Foundation