Friday Sports Time

The Lewisville Vikings, the 7-8 year old tackle football team that wears “BaD Radio” on their jerseys, is in the final four this weekend.

We play Falcons Black at 1:30 on Saturday at Lake Park Field in Lewisville, under the direction of our great coach and Aggie great Kevin Murray. The Falcons Black are 8-0 this season, and drilled their first round opponent. Good luck, Vikings.

Mac Engle says Sunday’s game is critical …he’s right, you know…

A 5-3 record at the midway point means 10-6 is attainable; 10-6 appears to be the minimum for the Cowboys to reach the playoffs. Since the NFL realigned in 2002, there are only two wild-card spots in each conference. Only one 10-6 team, the 2003 Dolphins, did not make the playoffs. In the compact NFC East, the Cowboys will have to either win the division or finish second.

Some guys have hype and never live up to it. Some guys get very little hype and surprise you a ton. That, of course, is the story of Jussi Jokinen …He appears to be real good.

New Rules impact the NHL game ….

Entering last night's action, according to the league, games were averaging 13.4 power plays, up from 10.0 in 2003-4. And power-play goals were up significantly, 313 compared to 225 in 2003-4.

"When you play the game, when you watch the game on a TV, I think it's a more exciting game," Rangers right wing Jaromir Jagr, who leads the league with 10 goals (8 on power plays), said yesterday in a telephone interview. "It's more skating, up-and-down hockey. For offensive players, you can get more scoring chances and shots.
Plus the offensive zone is a lot bigger and it is better on power plays."

Teams have scored 851 goals (6.3 a game), about 27 percent more than the 4.9 goals during the 2003-4 season. Clubs have combined for 59 shots a game over 136 games; in 2003-4 they averaged 54 shots a game.
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Buffalo, Chicago, Dallas, Washington, Anaheim, the Rangers and St. Louis are the teams with lower attendance, although the latter three have experienced a decline of less than 1 percent.

Cuban institutes a little broadcast control …

You have Texas Tech coach Mike Leach, who won't let most of his players talk to the media.

You have Cowboys coach Bill Parcells, who will let his players talk to the media but not his assistant coaches.

And you have Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who will not let his media talk about his players' contracts.

Not talking has become a much talked-about subject.

Cuban announced last week that Mavericks radio and television announcers no longer will be allowed to discuss player contracts on game broadcasts. No one asked a question about it, but Cuban addressed it, so it became an issue.

Hot buttons exist in all professions, and a volatile one for the media is censorship. The faintest suggestion of it -- whether it involves players, assistants or announcers -- launches the first amendment flag up the flagpole where it flies grandly or, some might suggest, sanctimoniously.

The Supreme Court long ago ruled there are exceptions to freedom of speech. You can't yell "fire" in a crowded theater. Applying that to the current subject, it also means that if you are a Mavericks broadcaster, you can't say: "You know, Erick Dampier signed a $70 million contract, and tonight he is about as overpowering as a toy poodle."

In an e-mail, Cuban offered an explanation.

"Salaries aren't relevant to the game," he wrote, and announcers "are supposed to make the game fun for Mavs fans, not play amateur psychologist."

Old Friend, and intramural basketball teammate at Liberty, Dwayne Carswell, now of the Denver Broncos, in very serious car accident …

Carswell suffered a ruptured spleen, a ruptured diaphragm, multiple fractured ribs and a contusion of his entire left internal cavity, according to the Broncos. He underwent surgery to remove his spleen and repair internal organ damage.

According to the Broncos, Carswell was at the intensive care unit at Aurora South Medical Center but his prognosis was "very good." Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said Carswell wouldn't be allowed visitors until at least Friday afternoon.

Stern softens on dress code …

During a conference call Thursday with other top NBA officials, Stern said the league will not rush to suspend players who do not adhere to the dress code. However, he does want the players to follow the league's guidelines.

"The way that you will get suspended is if you flat-out refuse to do something," Stern said.

Stu Jackson, the NBA's vice-president of basketball operations, also said the league will work with players and teams to make sure they are in compliance with the dress code.

"If [a player] is in violation, we're not going to suspend him immediately," Jackson said. "We will make him aware that he is in violation, and tell him to clean his act up. And then if he doesn't, we will take further action."

Stern said the teams haven't been told the amount of the fine the players face if
they don't comply wth the rules. He also refused to say how much fines would be.

Virginia Tech rolls Boston College …

I wondered if it was just me. Nope. America didn’t care about the World Series, either …

The Chicago White Sox's first world championship in 88 years was also the lowest-rated World Series ever.

Chicago's four-game sweep of the Houston Astros averaged an 11.1 national rating with a 19 share on Fox. That's down about 7 percent from the previous low, an 11.9 with a 20 share for the 2002 World Series between the Anaheim Angels and the San Francisco Giants.

While the 2002 World Series, which went seven games, rated higher overall, it was only averaging an 11.0 through four games.

This year was a drop of almost 30 percent from last year's series, in which the Boston Red Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals for their first title in 86 years. That had a 15.8 rating with a 25 share.

Young passing fine …

Texas quarterback Vince Young owns a passer rating of 169.5, tops in the Big 12 and second in the nation.

He is just three-hundredths of a point behind the national leader, Louisville's Brian Brohm.

"I'm proud of that," Young said. "Because (critics) said I couldn't throw."

Dan?

Woman cop with hair trigger …

Wisconsin story of the day …

Another fine steroid rumor from rotoauthority.com …

This week we talked about this idiocy of the PC community trying to shake down the Iowa Pink Locker-room, well several readers reminded me of this from last spring: Arkansas had to drop the pink jersey …

Seems as though a few of Arkansas' players were loafing on defense during spring practice last week. The same unit that last year was 76th in the nation in total defense. The same unit that last year cost the Hogs a seventh straight bowl appearance. The same unit that Nutt upgraded by luring coordinator Reggie Herring from North Carolina State for an unthinkable three-year, $900,000 contract. The same unit that plays at Southern California, the national champion the last two years, in the Razorbacks' third game.

Hence the need for Nutt to shake things up. And the need for pink jerseys. Every defensive player who loafed in practice had to wear a pink jersey and couldn't get his cardinal jersey back until he'd earned it.

Which brings us to a certain gay rights advocate in Fayetteville, Ark., who placed a phone call to Nutt after hearing about the pink jerseys. He was outraged, demanding that Nutt remove the pink jerseys and stop insulting the gay community.

Nutt also received calls from breast cancer survivors who said they were offended because pink is the color of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

"I was shocked," Nutt says. "I'm just trying to get these guys to tackle."

And then, this, as a follow-up email to our discussion of the Michael Irvin vs. Keyshawn rift:

Check the numbers

Irvin 12 seasons:
750 catches
11,904 yards receiving
65 TD’s

Keyshawn 9 1/2 seasons:
704 catches
9293 yards receiving
58 TD’s

Once again Irvin needs to shut his mouth.

I think Keyshawn and Mike are the same guy. Listening to two ego-maniacs argue is amusing and tiresome all at the same time…