Whether you're at the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt's End:
*Dallas Police Chief David Kunkel can apologize all he wants for the indefensible actions of Robert Powell, but unless the officer is fired it will be a complete and utter injustice. Powell, who detained, lectured and threatened NFL running back Ryan Moats despite the player's mother-in-law dying as he spoke, in no way should make a living that requires/allows him to use a gun. Kudos to Moats - who first told his story on 105.3 The Fan - who could've easily escalated the incident but instead acted with class, dignity and a calm I'm not sure if I could've summoned under those circumstances.
*Look, the Dallas Cowboys have had a lot of positive moves this off-season. Pacman Jones, Terrell Owens and Bruce Read all gone, for example. But as soon as stumbledoofus Wade Phillips starts talking again my optimism begins slowly circling the drain. He has zero credibility in the locker room. His refusal to address players after the season-ending loss to Philly - coupled with his owner's ensuing gag order - secured that. Plus, he's lame duck, without a contract for next season. I dunno, at this point I just have a very bad feeling about next season.
*This Jean-Jacques Taylor lede in Dallas' Only Daily caught my eye this week: You can spend a lifetime trying to understand God's plan for your life and never figure it out. Sounds great, sign me up! Long story short: The plan for Carrollton-turned-OU football star Corey Wilson is apparently to get partially paralyzed in an SUV rollover accident. Wait, I don't need to spend a lifetime trying to understand that. It's a shitty plan.
*Write off the Mavs all you want, but if they beat the Denver Nuggets at home tonight they'll be just one - one - game out of third place in the Western Conference. Imagine how differently we'd all feel if Dallas could somehow host a first-round series?
*Troy Aikman is now part-owner of the San Diego Padres. Sounds weird doesn't it?
*SMU's editor-in-chief is somehow pissed about The Ticket's basketball game against high school girls. In related news, I'm picking on the editor not because she's a girl, but because she can't write worth a lick.
*Since Facebook is soooo last week, I'm on Twitter now. It's micro-blogging, and I'm not real sure I "get it" yet, but I did sign on this morning to be greeted by these tweets: 1. "Good morning! I slept like a rock!! Feeling quite a bit better today" - Lance Armstrong. 2. "All these dancing with the stars injuries..dont they know the DWTS secret ? Its all about the performance enhancing drugs :)" - Mark Cuban. Cool?
*In case you missed it, the Cowboys' Anthony Spencer had charges of disorderly conduct and public intoxication dropped by Indy police. Don't look now, but the Cowboys' image is getting cleaner by the day.
*Isaiah Stanback? Wasn't the Cowboys' Felix Jones born to play Wildcat?
*I wish I had a dollar for every time I hear someone start a sentence with some variation of "In these economic times ..." I'd be a rich somebitch.
*I picked UConn in my crappy ass bracket, but I'm rooting for Missouri. The Tigers are by far the most entertaining - and relentless - team in college basketball. In a sport that's deteriorated into a 3-point shooting contest between no-name players, Mizzou's press-n-push style is refreshing.
*Hot.
*Not.
*Among the NFL's labia-friendly rules changes for 2009 are that defenders knocked to the ground can't tackle quarterbacks and kicking teams can't bunch together more than five players for an on-sides kick attempt. A discussion on new pads to protect players' ovaries was tabled.
*In a parallel, yet inverted universe I bet there is an informatin revolution afoot. There's a trend toward a new medium that can replace the bulky, boxy computers that have long chained workers to their desks. It gets delivered at your door and you can tuck it under your arm and take it on the bus or to the bathroom, anywhere. And when you're done, toss it. Imagine that, portable, disposable news! But, alas, here in the Milky Way my newspaper is dying. Fast. The print version feels like dead men talking and the online version can only be saved by - like it or not - charging for content. (iTunes charges .99 a song, duh.) Our current design flaw relies on customers being loyal not to the papers, but to the papers' advertisers. I see a day when - like DirecTV's sports package - consumers pay for a media bundle that includes the Morning News, D Magazine and your friendly Dallas Obsever. But even online, we won't survive unless we keep producing fresh, original, "breaking news" content. This is where I need your help. If I deteriorate into one of those "aggregators" - a blogger who simply links to other stories via one-line jokes - you have permission to shoot me.
*Texas Tech-Baylor at the Cotton Bowl in 2010 is intriguing. Not $57 million worth of intriguing, but intriguing.
*Want some good economic news? The Mavericks are cutting - I said cutting - ticket prices for next season.
*If Josh Hamilton and the Rangers can't agree on a new contract and he plays this season for $555,000, he has a chance to be one of our all-time bargains. A-Rod would make $27 million more than Hamilton this year. Lowest-paid Mavericks is James Singleton at $826,000.
*Tom Hicks looking for investors to own part of the Rangers totally makes sense. So does the fact that one of his partners will be Nolan Ryan.
*Didn't hear it myself, but a buddy told me that Mavs' coach Prick Carlisle basically apologized this week on The Ticket for his recent surly demeanor. If so, good on him. Now smile, dammit!
*Biggest TV turn-off for me these days is the talking baby. Too cocky. Couldn't tell you what he's even selling. Cockiness?
*Armstrong had surgery to insert a metal plate and 12 screws into his shattered collar bone. Now he's already itching to start working out and get back on his bike. Think about that perspective the next time you claim to be "worn out" after a day of sitting at your desk staring at a computer screen. I still say this would be a better country if Armstrong was President.
*Weird I know, but Saturday night I'll be the TV analyst for the Texas Brahmas hockey playoff game. Sunday I'll be back at my second career - co-hosting 7-11 a.m. on 105.3 The Fan.