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June 2009
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Recently in Sports History CategoryThe United States men's national soccer team may have gotten lucky when they made it through to the Confederations Cup semifinal on a tiebreaker, but they certainly made the most of the opportunity. The team knocked off Spain, the reigning European Champion 2-0 Wednesday. After the team's lethargic loss to Brazil last week, many fans and journalists were calling for the firing of Coach Bob Bradley. Now, after a 3-0 victory agai...
June 19, 1999. Do you remember what happened on that day which just happens to be 10 years ago? The Dallas Stars won the franchise's first and only Stanley Cup in dramatic fashion with Brett Hull's goal at 14:51 of the 3rd overtime in Buffalo against the Buffalo Sabres. I remember watching this game, at age 14, while on vacation in a hotel in New Mexico. I wasn't in New Mexico for vacation; it was a stopping point on the way ...
From the Texas Rangers: Toby Harrah, the Rangers first all-star who excelled at three infield positions, and Ruben Sierra, a powerful switch-hitter who captured the club's player of the year award four times in a five-year span, have been elected as the 2009 class of the Texas Rangers Baseball Hall of Fame, it was announced today. It' s been 20-years since Barry Switzer left OU and The Tulsa World is doing a big series on his departure. One of the stories talks about his next job: Head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. From the article:
Leon Lett occupies an unique place in Dallas Cowboys history. He came a few inches from scoring a touchdown on a fumble return in Super Bowl XXVII, which would have given the Cowboys the record for most points scored in a Super Bowl. Then the following Thanksgiving on that snow-covered Texas Stadium field he incorrectly tried to recover the ball after a blocked field goal attempt. The Cowboys would have won the game, instead ...
Corey Pavin has won every PGA tournament in Texas except one. He'll get what may be his last chance to win at the Byron Nelson this year, which would give him a career Texas Slam. "I'm not sure if I'll be playing in the future," Pavin said today. Pavin turns 50 in November and says he may not remain on the PGA Tour. "This is my last chance. I'd love to do it," he said. "I've won all the other Texas tournament...
Dale Hansen has a question for you... who are the top 5 golfers of all-time. He says we can all agree Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus are the top two, but who else fills out the top five? ...What a night for the UTA baseball team... a record hit streak and a player hits for the cycle. Here's the official release from UTA: Tuesday night was a historic evening for the UT Arlington baseball team as Andrew Kainer improve his hit streak to 27 games - breaking the all-time school record - and Michael Choice became the sixth Maverick player ever to hit for the cycle going 4-for-4 in the Mavs' 23-7 victory over Northwood U...
Subject matter: Autographs. Circa 1996.
The Texas Rangers released this special addendum on how Ian Kinsler's 6-for-6 cycle ranks historically. Here's George Riba's take. And here's more on the amazing night in local sports. FROM THE ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU
Just a little behind the scenes note on Mr. John Madden. Truth be told, Madden's wife, as any concerned wife would be, has always been concerned about her husband's diet. Because of this ...
Remember back in 2006 when the Dallas Mavericks were in the NBA Finals and the city announced it had a parade route ready BEFORE the Mavs won, which of course didn't happen. Well my bud...
The Cowboys went on to beat S...
We've all heard about Ian Kinsler's spectacular night, hitting for the cycle on a 6-for-6 night, but did you know he's the first player in 119 years to do that. The last player to get six hits and hit for the cycle was William Farmer Weaver who did it on August 12, 1890 when he was playing for the Louisville Colonels. Kinsler also tied a number of Rangers records enroute to becoming the only Texas player with six hits in a nine inning ...
John Madden is putting his telestrator away. The veteran NFL broadcaster and Hall of Fame coach is retiring. "It's time," Madden said in a statement. "I'm 73 years old. My 5...
Here is the Texas Rangers' announcement on the death of former Rangers broadcaster Merle Harmon: The Texas Rangers today issued the following statement on the passing of former broadcaster Merle Harmon, who died this afternoon at the age of 82: "Major League Baseball and the Texas Rangers have lost a legendary play-by-play announcer and a great friend. Merle Harmon called games with distinction and class in his nearly 40 years ...
The Masters may well be a tradition like no other, as Jim Nantz always says, but it hasn't been much of a tournament the last couple of years. The Sunday roars were gone because it played like a U.S. Open. Trevor Immelman wins with a final round 75 last year. That's okay in June, but not in April and not in Augusta. Bad weather might have been part of the reason for the bad golf, but not the only reason. The Masters is back to...
Syd Kitson played just one season for the Dallas Cowboys (1984), but the guard, who also played for the Packers is now being called a visionary developer. He has a plan to make a solar-powered city, as Time Magazine reports. ...It was 16 years ago today that former NASCAR Driver Alan Kulwicki lost his life on a short flight across Tennessee. His trade mark was the Polish Victory lap which he debuted after his first race win in Phoenix. He took the checkered flag and took a reverse lap. He went on to win the 1992 Winston Cup Championship. His Polish Victory lap was part of Denny Hamlin's celebration today. Hamlin raced Cowboys Tight End Jason Witten and member...
Ted Madden, George Riba and HS Game Time producer Paul Melton and I were talking in the WFAA sports office this morning and Ted started talking about bunnies. Not the furry little animals, but something in basketball. Do you know what a bunny is? Let us know. George and I think it's some Chicago-term Ted brought to Texas. ...Lance Armstrong's story of overcoming testicular cancer to win a record seven Tour de Frances is among the most amazing in the history of sports. Now, at 37, he'll have to overcome a broken collarbone to win his first Tour since he stopped competitive racing after winning number seven in 2005. A broken collarbone isn't the same as cancer. But coming back again -- and after sitting out three years -- would only add to...
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones starting his 21st year as owner of this football team and it should have been a celebration, but it's not because of what the Cowboys have become. Jones wants to win -- I get that - but only if he can win doing it his way. It didn't start out that way. Two Super Bowls in the first five years, but then as former coach Jimmy Johnson said, Jones wanted to be part of the fun. Making money wa...
Troy Aikman was a serious football player. Very serious. A lot of you thought too serious. Not anymore. It turns out Aikman is one pretty funny guy. To really appreciate it you have to watch this clip from a luncheon in Fort Worth Thursday where he was talking about the upcoming Super Bowl in Arlington with Jerry Jones and Roger Staubach. Aikman said he's not making any money for his work, but it's not so mu...
I was at Spring Training for the Texas Rangers in Port Charlotte, Florida 20 years ago when the news broke that Jerry Jones had bought the Dallas Cowboys. Photographer Arnold Payne and I drove across Alligator Alley to Miami that morning to see what we could learn about Jimmy Johnson, the coach. We arrived there, trying to figure out if Johnson was still in town when he suddenly popped out of the Miami Hurricanes football offices. He ...
Where have the past 20 years gone? And what a 20 years it has been. A lot of people were skeptical when some Arkansas oilman bought the Dallas Cowboys for $150 million from Bum Bright. It was Feb. 25, 1989. A lot of people are still skeptical. But, and it's a big but, Jerry Jones has left his mark on the Dallas Cowboys, both good and bad. The success in the 90s is undeniable. Three Super Bowls in four...
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones can right some wrongs, or at least one big wrong, when he names his new stadium. It's unlikely he will get a big-name sponsor to put their name on his football palace in Arlington now because of the economy. But this negative -- financially speaking -- can be used for one big positive. He can name the stadium for Tom Landry, the only coach the Cowboys had in the 29 years before Jones b...
We all know Michael Johnson is one of the greatest sprinters of all time. Afterall, he won 4-gold medals and nine world championships. Today, he invited a handful of reporters to his Performance Center in McKinney to get a first hand look at athletes he's training for upcoming pro days and the NFL combine. Asked if he could make anyone faster, like plain old you and me, he said "I didn't say I could make you fast, I said I co...
Pittsburgh's City Council changed the name of their city to Sixburg for the day Tuesday because of their six Super Bowl titles. The Arlington City Council will vote to change the name of their city to Loserville (wink, wink to welcome the Cowboys). On the same day, South Carolina officials decide if they're going to press charges against Olympic champion Michael Phelps for smoking marijuana. He's been on the box of W...
In a statement, she writes the reason there is a controversy is because she was born out of wedlock. She says she is saddened by what has happened since Hayes was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Saturday. "Like many sisters, I am proud of my little brother," she wrote. "Hopefully, the legacy of Bob Hayes will focus on his accomplishments, and the hope a...
Here's something you've never heard before: Texas Rangers game on the FM dial. For the first time in the team's history, some Rangers games will be heard on FM this season. The Rangers and 105.3, "The Fan" (KRLD FM) announced a partnership where the station will carry the team's regular season weekday games (Monday through Friday) in 2009. All Texas Rangers regular season games on Saturday and Sunday will continue to b...
The woman who claims to be a half sister of Bob Hayes, Lucille Hester, says she wants his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame to go smoothly. It doesn't look like it will now, though. Mike Fisher has a story on dallasbasketball.com where friends and family members say Hester is a fraud. She's been telling people for years she's Hayes' half sister, while they have ...
The Dallas Cowboys were a part of the Super Bowl festivities because former Cowboys receiver Bob Hayes finally makes the Pro Football Hall of Fame. What the voters know now they didn't know the last 20 years or so I'll never understand. But there's something else a lot of people don't understand. Lucille Hester has been telling people for a long time she's the sister of Bob Hayes. She plans to represent him in Canton.
Although the last local professional sports championship win was a decade ago when the Dallas Stars won the Stanley Cup, it has been about two decades since all of our area teams missed the post-season in the same season. I know it's been rough with the Cowboys not winning a playoff game since 1996, but at least all of the teams from the four major sports (well, I'm counting the NHL as major) have made the playoffs since then. It is h...
TCU kicker Drew Combs is an inspiration. Now he has received an honor from another inspirational football player. Combs was born with a left arm that ends just below the elbow. But he story is deeper. Combs planned to play at Arkansas, where he his dad was also a walk-on. There, though, he was referred to as a "handicap kicker" and wasn't given a shot to really contribute. He transferred to TCU and s...
We already knew former Cowboys wide receiver "Bullet" Bob Hayes would be a finalist this year for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, know we know the rest of the finalists. Here is the full news release from the NFL: Four first-year eligible players, John Randle, Shannon Sharpe, Bruce Smith, and Rod Woodson, are among the 17 finalists who will be considered for election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame when the Hall's Board of Se...
This is one of those really neat honors for Jason Witten and DeMarcus Ware. The two Dallas Cowboys were among 10 current stars voted by former players as NFL Alumni 2008 Player of the Year honorees. Former Cowboys assistant coach Tony Sparano was voted top coach in his first year as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. What makes this honor so special is that the players were honored by a voting process in which forme...
It was the most disappointing game of the most disappointing season I've ever seen. Any year. Any sport. Now I've only been doing this for 31 years and the last 28 in Dallas, so maybe I've missed a team or 2 along the way. But a Cowboys win in Philadelphia and they were a playoff team. Not the team they thought in July they would be, but there's a lot of reasons for that -- and some good ones -- and they only missed...
December 28th has been a very good day for the Dallas Cowboys. But maybe it has something to do with playing the Minnesota Vikings. The last time the Cowboys won a playoff game was 12 years on this day, Dec. 28, 1996. It was a 40-15 drubbing of the Vikings at Texas Stadium. And one of the most enduring playoff moments in NFL history came on Dec. 28, 1975 when Roger Staubach said a Hail Mary and hit Drew Pearson for a 5...
I am in total awe. I just walked off the field at Texas Stadium and the ceremony with dozens of Cowboys legends. Everywhere I looked another great -- and I am serious -- great player. Roger Staubach, Bob Lilly, Rayfield Wright, Charles Haley, Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin, Cliff Harris, Larry Allen, John Niland, Mel Renfro and the list goes on and on. What an amazing scene. What a way to end -- despite the loss...
I just had a nice chat with former Cowboys safety and Ring of Honor Member Cliff Harris. First, he's very happy they're taking his name and all the others from the Ring to the new stadium in Arlington. He played in the first game at Texas Stadium, 37 years ago. He told me the thing he'll miss most is the hole in the roof, the stadium's most distinct feature. It's a bit overwhelming at Texas Stadium right now. Pretty much everywhere you turn on the field right now you see another Hall of Fame player. Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin have walked by recently. Deion Sanders is here too, of course he is working. Other Cowboys are hanging out too, some with work responsibilities like Nate Newton and Larry Brown. More on all that and that little game too, ahead. ...In a blog just last week I talked about some of the greats in football and especially two early pioneers of the passing game who helped shape the NFL as we know it. We lost one yesterday. Slingin' Sammy Baugh starred at TCU before being a first-round draft pick of the Washington Redskins. He was part of the first Pro Football Hall of Fame class. ...It's one of those great bar discussions: Who is the best football player of all time? Joe Montana? Jim Brown? Emmitt Smith? Bronko Nagurski? Walter Payton? I've gone with Sammy Baugh (just partly because we're both TCU alums). It's really pretty simple for me. Baugh revolutionized the passing game in the NFL and wasn't just a great quarterback, but was also the best cornerback and punter of his day. Former Dallas Cowboys Charles Haley and Bob Hayes are semifinalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Haley, a defensive end, is among 25 NFL greats considered this season. Hayes, a wide receiver, is one of two seniors candidates. Claude Humphrey is the other. (I wrote in August, when Hayes was named one of the seniors candidates, that he belon...
On last night's 10 p.m. news, Pete Delkus had another surprise for Dale Hansen. This time it was someone from Dale's past... Barry Switzer. You can watch it here, it's worth it. Many of you probably know the back story. Dale and the former Cowboys head coach had a heated exchange during training camp back in 1994. It's probably Dal...
Pretty much everything, and I do mean everything, from the locker room urinal to every sign, players benches, lockers, the goal posts, from Texas Stadium is up for auction. It's kind of sad actually, but it's all yours. It will cost you, too. An online auction selling it all off is now live. You ...
Former NFL referee Red Cashion is prowling around the field at Texas Stadium. The man known for his enthusiastic and forceful first down call has been taking pictures with friends. He was an NFL official for 25 years before retiring in 1997. He worked the Cowboys Super Bowl XXX win over the Steelers, and Super Bowl XX a decade before. For the record, Red's first name is Mason. ...Here's my back in the old days lecture. In the fall of 1997, my senior year at Plano East, there was nothing bigger in the City of Plano, maybe save for the Balloon Festival, than the annual football game between Plano and Plano East Senior High Schools. The city virtually shutdown and more than 17,000 people filled Clark Stadium, with many high school students sprawled out on grass that lines parts of the area above the south...
The Pro Football Hall of Fame selectors have overlooked former Dallas Cowboys receiver Bob Hayes for too long. This year, they again have the chance to include the Bullet. Simply put, Bob Hayes changed the game. He was a dominant player of his era and he forced defense to go away from just using man coverage. As world-class sprinter and two-time gold medalist, he burned defenses with speed, while still having the toughness of...
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