Tuesday Vacation

Vacation plans for Tuesday:

Take Maddie to Madagascar, take me to a Rangers Doubleheader.

More great work from Juan Dominguez …The White Sox suggest cheating.

Buehrle speculated that the Rangers might have had some help on pitches.

"It depends. Are you talking about at home or on the road?" Buehrle told Chicago writers. "With the light out in center field or are you talking about something else? I don't know. They don't play too good on the road, and, here at home, every person is Babe Ruth out there. I don't know if they see pitches better at home or what. Just tip your hat to them."

No Rangers could be reached fro reaction to Buehrle's comments late Monday.
The Rangers are simply enjoying the fact that their starters have a 1.23 ERA in the first seven games of the homestand. And all but one start was by a 20-something pitcher, giving hope for next year.

Edison Volquez goes tonight. No pressure, dude. Just make us forget Koufax…

Cowboys Defense has upgraded the playmakers …



OU fans enjoy Texas Monthly…

Our friend, Brooks, takes a shot at LA Sports Radio, while propping up the Ticket …Very nice…

So why has L.A. sports radio never produced substantial listenership figures - including well before the NFL departed the Los Angeles area?

The main reason is that Southland sports radio programmers have forever failed to understand that big-name guests and championship teams don't drive sports radio talk show ratings. Personalities do.

Exhibit A: Dallas hasn't had a championship in years, yet KTCK "The Ticket" dominates the local Arbitron book and the station is now an icon in the Metroplex.
The Ticket has zero play-by-play properties and rarely features big-name guests.

Instead, the station has an amazing array of hilarious (and well-prepared) hosts whose personalities transcend the sports they discuss.

The shows on The Ticket also rarely include phone calls from listeners, which are usually dull and repetitive (not to mention a fallback for ill-prepared hosts).
That's the formula, however simple, for success in the sports radio biz. It's also something I've personally experienced in nine different markets over 16 years as a sports talk radio host and programming executive.

The challenge now for L.A. sports radio programmers is to find uniquely talented individuals with a modicum of sports knowledge, and then have the patience to stick with those personalities despite initial pressure from their bean-counting, corporate overlords.

Eventually, that philosophy will produce ratings, and the accompanying revenue. The blueprint is currently successfully employed in the aforementioned markets.
Otherwise, sports talk radio will continue to tread water here in Los Angeles, and perhaps even disappear eventually - as the huge companies that run the stations search for more lucrative local formats.

Don't scoff at the notion, who would've dreamt that the NFL would have abandoned L.A. for over 10 years?

Thanks to our athletes, We don’t trust their denials anymore …

The outrage just won't come. For that, as much as anything else, we should be angry at all of the athletes who have cheated, lied and been caught.

It should fill us with righteous anger when a French newspaper calls Lance Armstrong, bona fide American hero, a cheater. We should be furious when the director of the Tour de France, the event Armstrong made his for seven remarkable years, reacts to the paper's report by saying, "We were all fooled" by Armstrong.
So where is it? Where is the outrage? The sad truth is that we can't get angry for Armstrong because we simply can't trust anyone anymore.

We've heard every sort of excuse. We've seen the wide-eyed, who-me reaction of accused cheaters. We've watched superstars lie to Congress. We've heard all the carefully worded alibis and explanations. We've been told the tests were wrong, the supplements were tainted, the athlete was using some other legitimate drug and on and on and on.

If we can't simply accept Armstrong's word, blame Marion Jones and Rafael Palmeiro and Bill Romanowski and Kelli White and Jason Giambi and Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds.

Michael Owen heads to Newcastle …Liverpool, who I am still not convinced wanted him back, missed the boat. I take that back, Liverpool, as in their fans, management, and players desperately wanted him back, but Rafa Benitez, who makes the decisions over there, likely never wanted him in the first place.

Rescue Me Signed for a 3rd season …

RotoAuthority.com is now an approved blog…(see list on right)…

P1 Jason writes about how video games can help find the proper place to play Roy Williams …

An email from Chuck, former fat guy:

What do you think about the paradox in the NFL concerning the fat guys. They can't take steroid because of unknown health risk but are allowed and encouraged to gain unhealthy weight even though we do understand the related health risk associated with obesity.

Thanks, Former fat guy
Chuck

P1 Jim writes this:

I got a giggle out of this and so might you.

I was working at the FC Dallas vs. Chivas USA soccer game Saturday night at Pizza Hut Park. During the game, the announcer directed everyone’s attention to the large screens to welcome the groups and special guests. At the bottom of the list after a few screens, Pizza Hut Park welcomed the Rex Kwan Do Dojo. I’m sure someone was sitting back with their arms crossed in front of them and a big smile on their face. I wasn’t even a part of it and I laughed my arse off.

Check out this amazing soccer video Here …and then tell me soccer sucks.

Speaking of soccer, had big fun at the FC Dallas tournament at Castle Hills yesterday. Thanks to Jeff Busch, FCD management dude, who has a great golf game and carried us around the course. Our group was Jeff, The great Drew Moor and me. Drew is pretty good at golf, too, and maybe my new favorite FCD player man. He is a good dude. Not sure he is good enough to pass Bobby Rhine in the good dude category, but he is on his way.

By the way, for the first time in my very mediocre golf career, I won a "closest to the pin" on #7. I rule.



Not sure why mini-Grubes is shooting out of Dan’s Speedo, but…