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November 2009
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Cowboys owner Jerry Jones just made this announcement: Aug 27th Cowboy fans will get the chance to see the team workout at the new stadium. It will be a free event.
The bashing of Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo has to stop - it really does. Now since I am the voice of...
Cowboys Head Coach Wade Phillips says Quarterback Tony Romo did everything he was supposed to. "He made all the OTA's, did all the throwing. He's done everything we asked, so we've got to help him," Phillips said. Phillips was asked about Romo's passion for playing in a lot of golf tournaments during the off season and whether that might affect his focus this fall. "To be honest, I never noticed him not being focused," Phillips...
The Cowboys first workout without pads was something Head Coach Wade Phillips says he picked up from Marv Levy at Buffalo. "I just felt when Marv started camp that way, I thought it helped," Phillips said. "He got through training camp with very few injuries." Phillips says that wasn't the only reason, but easing into a schedule that includes 31 practices feels right. Phillips said he thought his team looked in good shape. They...
Coach Phillips was asked about beginning training camp with a practice during which players are not wearing pads (please don't mistake these for direct quotes, and forgive the typos): Marv Levy influenced me a lot there ... you pick up a lot of different things with different coaches. I just thought Marv, most of the time started that way .. I thought it helped. He got through training camp with very few injuries, just sta...
Before we get into the press conference, I wanted to share a funny moment today after practice. Wade Phillips was standing on the field and saw Dale Hansen walk by. Phillips stopped Hansen and said that he was in the store the other day, and someone approached him and said, "I know who you are - you're Dale Hansen!" They both got a pretty good laugh out of that. On to the presser ... Phillips has just said for the second time t...
We all know that Cowboys Head Coach Wade Phillips will be in charge of the defense this season, but apparently he will keeping close tabs on the offense this year as well. Specifically, he wants a dominant running game. Dallas has not had a 1,000 yard season from a running back since Julius Jones had 1,084 yards in 2006. He's the only Cowboys running back to top 1,000 yards since Emmitt Smith retired. "We've got to establish a...
2:35 p.m. A good 10 minutes after practice started, Tony Romo took the field to wild cheers from the AlamoDome crowd. I'm not sure how this factors into Romo's improved leadership skills; we'll see if there's a good explanation. If not, the move clearly sets him apart from his teamates (and I'm not sure how that helps). We'll get the explanation after practice — if Tony talks, that is. The first Cowboys' practice is underway at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Tony Romo walked onto the field 10 minutes late at 2:25. The crowd of a couple thousand gave him a standing ovation. Flashes from cameras put a sparkle on the practice field for about 30 seconds. Roy Williams and Patrick Crayton came out of the tunnel not long after. No word on the reason for their tardiness. ...A new change in the way Wade Phillips does business: special teams first. As they mentioned in the opening presser yesterday, the Cowboys will start each practice with special teams work. Owner Jerry Jones says that's how his Arkansas teams did things back in his college playing days. Given the way the Cowboys special team-ers played the past few years, the "Cowboy Nation" can only hope the time is well spent. ...What a lousy start to 1 of my favorite times of the year ... Cowboys training camp is like springtime to me ... everything looks and smells better now that football is back. But ... but .... I make the trip to San Antonio and the lovely Mrs Hansen forgets to pack my pants --------------- I have no pants! ... or after an off-season, apparently. Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips banged his first on the table during his opening remarks at Tuesday's press conference. When he was introduced to the fans at the "pep rally" Tuesday night, his overenthusiastic remarks were met with fans already streaming for the exits. Here is exactly what Phillips said, in front of about 21,000 fans in the Alamodome. "Well first of all, muy bien San Ant...
Coupe things really stuck with me regarding the Cowboys opening presser and I'm not sure if either are good. Its was a snoozer, by the way, an hour that seemed like a couple and in Jerry Jones media savvy mind I wonder if he's not under-mining his quarterback. It came off as both Wade and Jerry bending over backwards to make sure we know that Tony Romo's been working hard and that he's developing into the leader that this offense/team...
The Big 12 media week in Irving had Oklahoma Head Coach Bob Stoops front and center in Irving today. Stoops said that he would vote in the USA Today coach's poll again this year after he declined to do so last year. Asked why he decided to start voting again, he said "You don't need to make a point twice." The Sooners were at the center of a controversy last year over who should play in the BCS Championship game. His team finis...
Wade Phillips said, banging his hand on the podium - "We're ready, it's time!" Wade Phillips believes the Cowboys have taken steps to improve on the mistakes from last season. Phillips tells the media that Tony Romo has worked very hard in the off-season. Similar to the way John Elway worked when Phillips was with Denver. Phillips also acknowledged the team has a long way to go. ...Jerry Jones just began the state of the team press conference at training camp in San Antonio. Here are some news and notes from the presser: Jerry stated that the team enters training camp with the taste of the loss to Philly in the mouth. Jerry Jones also said, "I know its the best thing for the Dallas Cowboys for Wade Phillips to be our coach." ...Brief impressions of the four teams who were at Big 12 Media Days today (in order of appearance) Missouri: The Tigers may be the Big 12 team who has lost the most, with departure of their leading passer in QB Chase Daniel and two leading receivers in WR Jeremy Maclin and TE Chase Coffman. Coach Gary Pinkel said there is always a concern whenever a team goes through a transition like Mizzou will this year, but h...
From Joe Trahan in San Antonio:
We're outside the Grand Hyatt in San Antonio and cowboys quarterback Tony Romo has just arrived. Romo says he's doing fine. He's the first player we've seen arrive here and we've been here since just after noon. Several players are driving themselves here, and are expected to arrive thoughout the afternoon. A team bus carrying several of the younger players is expected to arrive between 1...
Brief impressions of the four teams who were at Big 12 Media Days today (in order of appearance) Nebraska: This team should challenge for the North title this year, but coach Bo Pelini and his players know that's not enough for Husker fans. Pelini said he understands those expectations, and especially wants the defensive side of the ball to improve. He also seems confident that QB Zac Lee will be able to lead...
The father of SMU record-setting quarterback Justin Willis was fatally shot while in Sandra Willis says her husband was a psychiatric technician and counseled adolescents dealing with substance abuse problems. Dallas Police say one was arrested and the investigation continues. Justin ...
Michael Vick has been reinstated to play football again in the Natiional Football League. The announcement came from the commissioner's office. The former Falcons quarterback will not be full reinstated until Week 6 of the regular season. Vick met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell last week. He was released from home confinement one week ago today.
Chelsea beat Club America 2-0 to take the pre-season World Football Challenge tournament in front of 57,229 fans at Cowboys Stadium. The game concludes the tour of the United States by both teams, and their fatigue was at times visible on the field. Also, several fan favorites from Chelsea didn't play in the game including John Terry, who in the morning ended speculation he would leave Chelsea for Manchester City, Frank Lampard, Petr C...
After telling followers to stay tuned for his decision on which team to sign with, center Drew Gooden tweeted "Dallas here I come!!!" Mark Cuban retweeted Gooden's message and added his own greetings to Gooden. Sources tell ESPN.com's Mark Stein the deal is for $4.5 million over one year. No word on if the contract was negotiated through T...
Chelsea and Club America will play the deciding game of the pre-season World Football Challenge tour tonight at Cowboys Stadium. The tour gives fans across the country a chance to see top-flight soccer teams (AC Milan and Inter Milan will face off in Boston before the match in Dallas) and gives the teams a chance to cash in on the revenue to be had in the States. Attendance at the previous matches has been high, and Sunday like...
15-year-old Jordan Spieth of Dallas is playing in the final match of the US Junior Amateur Championship right now, at the Trump National Golf Course in New Jersey. Coverage just began on the Golf Channel, at 3:00. We featured Jordan last summer in a story, and since then he's won a high school state title for Jesuit, and also won his second straight HP Byron Nelson junior championship earlier this month. Spieth is the number 1...
If you have the inclination and a few hours, this might be worth a read. It's the arbitration hearing between Don Nelson and the Dallas Mavericks (and owner Mark Cuban). It's 210 pages, about half of which includes testimony of Nellie and Cuban. The Dallas Morning News inquired about the documents earlier this week. Last summer, a judge rul...
It's 12:30 am Dallas time, and the LA Angles just got done scoring two runs in the 9th to tie their game with Minnesota. It's 5-5 going into the 10th. This is a hot team. The Angels have won 19 of their last 25 games, and while the Rangers have won four straight games, they have lost ground over the last week. Tonight's game isn't over yet, but another Angel win would push the Rangers farther back in the standings. ...
Notre Dame has been in touch with TCU about filling a spot on their 2010 football schedule Blue and Gold, a site dedicated to covering the Fighting Irish, reported Monday. The game would pit one of college football's perennially overrated teams (Notre Dame) against a perennially underrated one (TCU). These are exactly the kind of matchups college football fans love to s...
It's not a good night when you win a game, but still lose ground in the standings. Texas won its third straight game last night to move back to 10 games over .500, but the LA Angeles were busy sweeping a double header to move 3 games in front of the Rangers. Still, this recent mini-winning streak improves the Rangers July record to 10-6 (this after going 11-15 in June). As the trade deadline nears, what should the Rangers do? Should t...
The Rangers pitching has improved this season, but it's hard figure out just how much. But a quick comparison to last year will show you the difference. The bull pen era last season was last in the American League at 5.15. Their era after 91 games this season is 3.91, that's 6th in the league. It shows a dramatic difference and one of the reasons the team is near the top of the American League West. Their bull pen has been eve...
I was listening to Norm Hitzges' show on the Ticket earlier today, and he was arguing that strikeouts by a hitter in baseball are really not a big deal. Basically, his argument came down to this list of the top strikeout guys in the league right now. If the player has a * next to his name, it means he was on the 2009 all-star team. The number to the left is how many times they've struck out. 125 Mark Reynolds, AZ Rangers 2nd baseman Ian Kinsler joined a select group of players Sunday night when he hit a leadoff and a walk-off home run. It's happened only three times in the last 40-years so that tells you how rare of a night it was. Coming in the bottom of the 12th made it even more special. No Rangers player had done it before. Darin Erstad did it for the Angels on June 25, 2000 and Reed Johnson pulled it off for the Blue Jays on June 15, 2003....
The Rangers start the second half of their season tonight against the Minnesota Twins, and though they're 7-4 so far this month, the team went 11-15 in June. The Rangers are two games back from the Angels for first place in the division, but they're apparently not sure if they have the horses to catch them. But they're interested in a horse that would almost certainly do the job. T.R. Sullivan reports on MLB.com that the Rangers have <...
I was talkin' with some friends at TPC Craig Ranch the other day, and Hunter Mahan's name came up. The Plano native plays at Craig Ranch often and I think he's made it his home course. I mentioned how well he's played this year, and after a little bit of research work leading up to the British Open, I found this delicious tid bit all North Texas linksters should know. There are 3 golfers who've finished in the top 10 in the ye...
The Mavericks missed out on Marcin Gortat, and now they need some front-court help. They still have Erick Dampier for one more year, but his expiring contract is a big-time trade chip. Ryan Hollins, who the Mavs picked up last year when they traded DeSagna Diop to Charlotte, is an unrestricted free agent. He's only 25 and has a very br...
I've read a lot of chatter about President Obama's first pitch last night, whether it made it to home plate or did Pujoles catch it on a short hop. That I don't really care about. What I was most excited about was the fact the President is representing the South Side! As a White Sox fan, I still feel like the franchise is viewed nationally with general indifference, despite playing in the 3rd largest market in the country and winning the World...
The process of selecting the Major League All Star team has turned into a popularity contest and doesn't reflect players who are having the best season. The selection of Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton supports that since he was selected as a starter despite having an injury riddled season. Hamilton remains a great story in baseball and is one of the nicest guys you'll ever want to meet, but his .243 batting average with only 6 home r...
The Orlando Sentinel reports that the Orlando Magic are prepared to match the Mavericks' offer sheet for center Marcin Gortat. That means the Magic would retain Gortat, and wouldn't be able to trade him until December. The Mavericks did not expect the Magic to match their five-year $34 million offer sheet, a...
We are almost there. This 3-day stretch is awful for us sports fans. The All-Star game is pretty cool, but the the day before, and especially the day after, are just awful. Tonight, at least we have the home run derby to watch - and that can be a lot of fun. I think there's also a WNBA game; the 15-second promo ESPN ran is as much of that game as I'll watch. But Wednesday is the day that really stinks. No All-Star festivities,...
The All-Star Break is upon us and the MLB season is more or less at its halfway point. The Rangers come into the break 48-39 and 1.5 games out of first place in the AL West, after going 3-4 on a West Coast road trip against division rivals the Angels and the Mariners. The team is exceeding nearly everyone's pre-season expectations, but has had a rough stretch recently. I got a text from one of the biggest Rangers fans I...
The Dallas Mavericks announced today they have re-signed point guard Jason Kidd. Kidd will remain a Maverick and will continue his second stint with Dallas after being acquired from New Jersey in a 2008 trade deadline deal. In helping the Mavericks to a 50-32 regular season record, Kidd averaged 9.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, 8.7 assists, 2.0 steals and 35.6 minutes in 81 starts last season. He became only the fourth player in NBA...
Though Ian Kinsler lost the fan's vote to be added to the American League All-Star roster, the Rangers will have one more representative joining Josh Hamilton and Michael Young in St. Louis. Outfielder Nelson Cruz has been added to the team, since Angels outfielder Torii Hunter will not play in the game due to injury. Cruz has 20 homer...
I was golfing with a friend of mine today who has been a Maverick fan since they came into the league. He said the Mavs are about to lose him as a fan. He's not real happy with their off-season moves to this point. I, on the other hand, think Dallas has had a pretty good (not very good, not great), but a pretty good off-season. And I told my friend this - but he said Marion is washed up and everyone else in the West is getting better while the...
As recently as one week ago the Mavericks were getting roundly criticized for making no offseason moves while rival teams were making trades and getting better. Throughout all the criticism owner Mark Cuban and GM Donnie Nelson continued repeating what seemed to be the company line that they were executing their plan. After all the ou...
The votes have been tallied and Ian Kinsler will not be participating in this year's All-Star game in St. Louis. Detroit's Brandon Inge has beaten out Kinsler for the 33rd and final spot. Kinlser was the leading vote-getter with 4 days left in voting for the starting 2nd baseman spot before he was passed in the final days by Red Sox nation and their choice of Dustin Pedroia. He was also second in player voting behind Aaron Hill. And n...
This is from the Mavericks PR department: MAVERICKS ACQUIRE FOUR-TIME ALL-STAR SHAWN MARION DALLAS-- The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they acquired four-time All-Star forward Shawn Marion, forward Kris Humphries, center Nathan Jawai and cash considerations from the Toronto Raptors and guard Greg Buckner from the Memphis Grizzlie...
The Ticket's George Dunham announced today on the station that he will no longer be the stadium voice of the Dallas Cowboys. Dunham was the public address announcer at Texas Stadium for 12 years. With the Cowboys moving to the new stadium in Arlington and, more importantly, switching radio homes to 105.3 The Fan, Dunham has been told he won't be returning. The co-host of The Ticket's popular morning radio show, Dunha...
I went up to Allen to shoot a story on the football team, and their off-season workouts. It continues to amaze me how much time and dedication it takes to be a varsity football player. It's a year-round sport for sure. The Allen school district actually hired a company - Performance Course - whose job it is to train athletes. The company works with several schools, including Southlake Carroll, Highland Park, and Flower Mound Marcus. Th...
The Dallas Mavericks announced today they have signed Quinton Ross. Ross (6-6, 193) joins the Mavericks after spending the 2008-09 season with Memphis. He averaged 3.9 points, 1.9 rebounds and 17.1 minutes in 68 games (seven starts) with the Grizzlies. The five-year NBA veteran, who began his career as a rookie free agent with the L.A. Clippers, owns career averages of 4.6 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 20.4 minutes in 370 game...
It sounds great: The Rangers should trade for Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay. Just don't expect it to actually happen. Yes, the Blue Jays are shopping Halladay, just don't expect him to end up in Arlington. Halladay is clearly an elite pitcher. He's 10-2 with a 2.79 ERA this season. He had great numbers last year, too (20-11 and 2.78 ERA). You want to know how good he is? He got a decision in 31 of his 33 starts last seas...
The Mavericks had their summer league's first practice today. Some familiar faces, such as Rodrigue "Roddie" Beaubois and Ahmad Nivins, were present. There was another figure that stood out in the group, Moussa Seck. He's the 7ft 4in center who traveled all the way from Senegal to take his shot at trying to make the Maverick's roster for next season. Though the Maverick's can only take one or two out of the 18 players on the t...
It's been a busy NBA offseason and we're only a week into free agency. Players can't officially sign until tomorrow, but numerous players already have new zip codes. From Richard Jefferson to the Spurs, Vince Carter to the Magic, Shaq to the Cavs and Hedo Turkoglu to the Raptors, contenders (Spurs, Magic and Cavs..nothing against Toronto) seem to be getting stronger. But, alas where is the Mavericks name on this list? To start,...
Former Dallas Mavericks coach Avery Johnson is not going to be the new head coach of the Detroit pistons, according to ESPN. Johnson, who has been working as an ESPN analyst since being fired in Dallas, could not reach a deal with the Pistons, who only wanted to give him a two-year deal, while Johnson wanted four years, according to ESPN sources. Jo...
From the Texas Rangers: The Texas Rangers announced prior to tonight's game that the club has reinstated outfielder Josh Hamilton from the 15-day disabled list. To make room on the 25-man roster, the club has optioned first baseman Chris Davis to Triple-A Oklahoma City. Hamilton is in the starting lineup for tonight's series opener in Anaheim. Hamilton was placed on the disabled list June 2, retroactive to June 1, with a righ...
The Dallas Mavericks are for some MFFL to be ManiAACs. Start letting yourself go now. From the Mavs: The Dallas Mavericks are searching for a few larger-than-life personalities to join the 2009-10 Mavs ManiAACs to make a BIG impression at Mavs home games this season. Men who are Mavs fanatics, beefy, love to dance and are at least 18 years of age are encouraged to apply. Applicants do not need to bring a routine, as a...
Former Dallas Mavericks head coach Avery Johnson is apparently close to being the next coach of the Detroit Pistons, according to NBA.com. Johnson would be the 10th coach for the Pistons since Chuck Daly left in 1992, that's less than a two season average per coach. Avery may want to rent, not buy a home if he ends up getti...
The Rangers just got done sweeping a pretty good team, and now they've won 5 straight games against pretty good teams (including two vs. the LA Angeles last week). It may not seem like a very big deal to sweep Tampa Bay, because even though they made it to the World Series last year, they're still Tampa Bay. They're not Boston or New York. It just doesn't feel like as big a deal. But consider this: the Rays had been as hot as anybody. ...
Former NFL Quarterback Steve McNair was killed in downtown Nashville today. McNair played 13-seasons in the NFL, including 11 with the the Tennessee Titans. He retired in 2007 after playing his last two years in the league with the Balitmore Ravens. McNair was a former NFL Co-MVP in 2003. He was 36 years old. ...Orlando gets 7 days to match Dallas' contract offer, but it's unlikely the Magic will for a guy who will play behind Dwight Howard. Reports are the Mavericks are offering Gortat a 5-year deal for the mid-level exception (I'm reading that's somewhere between $5.5 and $5.8 million per year). Gortat's numbers aren't very impressive, but mostly because of this number: minutes per game. He averged only 12.6 as Howard's back-up. Season numb...
From the ALS Association: Dallas--On July 4th, the Texas Rangers will commemorate the 70th anniversary of Lou Gehrig's famous "Luckiest Man" farewell speech that he gave as he battled the disease that ultimately took his life. This commemoration is part of The ALS Association's "Covering All the Bases" Hitting Challenge taking place during Major League Baseball's "4ALS Awareness" charitable initiative. Former Texas Ra...
The Texas Rangers seem to have their arrow pointing up again. Now if they can just have similar success against a team that was in the World Series last fall, they might be back on the right track. Granted a walk off home run by Hank Blalock on Wednesday night helped, but taking two out of three against Los Angeles was huge. They still trail the Angels by a game, but the team has won five of their last eight games. Another rea...
This from espn.com's Mark Stein. He also says that the Mavericks will likely re-sign Jason Kidd, but the Knicks will make a 3-year offer of their own. ...Texas Rangers spokesman John Blake said that the team has no comment on the team's financial situation, but that "payroll is made." I called him a few minutes ago after reading Evan Grant's blog. Take a moment to read his entry - Evan did the legwork on this story. Short version, t...
From the Texas Rangers: Tuesday night's Texas Rangers' 9-5 victory over the A.L. West-leading Los Angeles Angels was the highest-rated Rangers game of the season on FOX Sports Southwest. The telecast averaged a 3.8 Nielsen household rating in Dallas-Fort Worth, surpassing the year's previous high of 3.7 on May 27 vs. the Yankees, and was the best rating for a Rangers game on FOX Sports Southwest since a 4.0 on Aug. 7, 2008 vs. the Yank...
UPDATED: The Dallas Mavericks want Jason Kidd and are, apparently, willing to pay him well over $25 million over the next three years. The Mavs have offered Kidd a three-year deal, according to ESPN. However, ESPN says Kidd, 36, may be seeking more money. It's likely, according to reports, that Kidd will expect $10 million or...
We can debate the grammatical correctness of "A historic" vs "An historic" later ... suffice it to say I actually did a quick on-line search before deciding on it. To the point - the baseball season moves so quickly that we aren't given a chance to savor single games. It's neither bad nor good ... it just is. The football season allows us this opportunity; the downside is we only get to watch our team once a week. It's importan...
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