My Busy Bye Weekend

In a week with no Cowboys game, I must have watched more sports than most thought possible. So, without further ado, I offer you:

Top 10 Sports Events of my Cowboys bye Weekend - In no particular order.

- Lewisville BaD Radio Vikings – City Champions. That is right. In another dramatic finish, this time with plenty of controversy, the Vikings held on to win 13-12 over the Buccaneers for the Lewisville 7 and 8 year old city title. Moments before the final gun, a Buccaneers TD was called back for a holding penalty, and the Vikings also scored on a miracle final play of the first half. To call this a fortunate outcome for the Vikings is a vast understatement. They were fortunate, but then again, they made their own good fortune. Congrats to Coach Kevin Murray, and all of the young lads who fought hard for the show (yeah, right). Way to go!


Also, Grubes amused the young kids with his trademark Chipmunk costume. For all of the pictures, Click here ...I dare you.



- Liverpool 2, Aston Villa 0 - Sure, Fernando Morientes is still sparing us to death. Sure, Cisse still looks off from his broken leg of 2004. But, we will take a road win anyway we can get it, and Peter Crouch, despite his goofy look, changed that game. A much needed 3 points for the Reds, as they creep up to #11 on the table.

Other Random Premiership notes: Chelsea must be good, because that is the only way that I could possibly root for Manchester United. ManU showed a great fight on Sunday beating Chelsea, and ending a 40-game streak for Chelski without a loss in the premiership. A dazzling goal, and then they held on for over 60 minutes to win at Old Trafford… Meanwhile, Thierry Henry had a sensational return in a win over Sunderland, with 2 goals, and nearly a third on an amazing bicycle attempt that just missed the far corner. For my money, he is the best striker of the decade. Add the 1998 World Cup with all of his huge strikes for the Gunners and I will take my chances…Somehow Wigan won again. They remain #2 behind only Chelsea. The odds of this are similar to the Arizona Cardinals sitting at 7-1 right now. Wigan has no business this high, and yet they have earned it...

- Stars win at Colorado. Bravo, Marty Turco. 2 wins in 2 games??? Stars only 3 points out of first place, but also only 2 points out of last place. Can they keep it up against Edmonton tonight at the AAC?

My full hockeybuzz.com report here …

I am old school. I don’t need hockey shootouts, and I cringed when hearing of the new rule. I compared it to ending tie basketball games with a free throw competition. Did not like it. But, one month in, I must agree that a shootout at the end of an exciting game is a climactic way to end a game and send everyone home either feeling great or disappointed. Ties did little to result in a feeling one way or the other, but this shootout, despite its inequitable way of deciding a game, does what is intended: provide the fans with a payoff. And I suppose that is what really matters.

- Mavs beat Spurs at AAC in Finley’s return. A fabulous effort that combined great defense, Dirk Nowitzki playing like the great player he can be, Devin Harris playing like a player who needs to be on the floor a whole lot more, and the Spurs looking very beatable. We certainly cannot read too much into this, but as the quote in Bull Durham suggests, “winning. It’s like better than losing!”. Mavs off until Wednesday when they play at Philadelphia.

- Texas Tech buries Texas A&M. This 56-17 was exactly what everyone expected. It almost is not worth my energy to discuss it. Tech wrecks em.



- Rashad Evans wins and highlights a night of wars at the Ultimate Fighter 2 Finale on Spike TV. It was worthy of my time for sure. For a full recap, Click Here …

- My Packers failed again. I really am building character this season. I promise to never take another 10-6 record for granted. Ever. Even without Big Ben and Bettis, the Steelers still roll in, make almost no plays of substance and win rather easily. To think that less than 2 years ago, the Pack were on the doorstep of a Super Bowl (until 4th and 26 and Freddie Mitchell). It feels like the 80’s all over again.

- Virginia Tech was exposed by Miami...I genuinely like Frank Beamer, and therefore root for his program. I was stunned by the thrashing they took at home Saturday night. The beauty of Tech is that they normally kick Miami around, and don’t fear the Canes like the rest of America. So much for that theory.



- Carl Edwards won in Texas to complete the Roush sweep of our fair cities races this year. Edwards, and his trademark back-flip ended a successful weekend at TMS that showcases the sport twice a year now.

- Eagles lose as Terrell Owens tries to single-handedly trash a franchise. I have never been more right about a prediction than I was the day the Eagles acquired this cancer. Now, I think we are safe to assume he is done there. The beauty is that he doesn’t seem to get that 75% of NFL franchises will no longer offer him a contract over 1 year. He has taken this stand, and in doing so destroyed any market value he once had, and therefore could not even get another team to offer the contract he is said to be unhappy with presently.

Links:

Panthers cheerleaders arrested after bathroom affair turned bad …seriously…

In the wake of ManU 1, Chelsea 0 The London Times makes fun of Glazer’s commitment to Manchester United …

THE GLAZER HEART BEATS WITH SUCH passion for Manchester United that, on the day that the empire was in greatest peril, not one member of the family bothered to cross the Atlantic. No doubt they watched the match on television, but that was no substitute at all for witnessing the stirring of a mighty beast within Old Trafford.

Whether or not this turns out to be a victory of lasting significance — and only a brave man will rush to predict Chelsea’s decline — this was a magnificent, memorable occasion witnessed by an estimated 750 million viewers worldwide. One that the Glazers should have attended if only to realise how much this great institution can stir the soul. “Caring for the club is done in different ways,” Ferguson said.

Staying at home to watch the Tampa Bay Buccaneers said everything about the devotion of the new owners.

Earlsboro 112, Hanna 2 …

The Hanna High School basketball team can take some consolation: It didn't get shut out. It did, however, lose 112-2 on Friday night to Earlsboro.

Blogging about Coach Fran …

When it comes to bashing Coach Franchione and the Aggies, everyone is getting in on the action. Fran’s struggles have brought particular satisfaction to folks in Alabama, where Fran jilted the Tide to join the Ags.

The Montgomery Advertiser quoted Pat Dye, the former coach at Auburn, as saying of the Aggies, “Lord have mercy, are they pitiful. Alabama people should be saying their prayers that (Franchione is) in Texas. And they need to send him something to make sure he doesn’t come back. Maybe a thank-you note. He is pitiful. You watch them play, it looks like they’ve got lice falling off of them.”

Go Here if you want to download the entire U2 show in Dallas from last week…Sweet!

Anti-Big 12 Column …

Revo tries to get payroll answers from the Rangers …

Hicks was equally coy when he phoned me back after I'd talked to Daniels.
"The budget will go up, and I suspect it'll be a meaningful amount," Hicks said. "But, as I've said, it's going to be player specific.

"It's a moving picture. We're just not going to give you a number to talk about."
They can play secret squirrel all they want right now. When all is said and done, we'll know the numbers, you can be sure of that.

When you deduct the $9 million Hicks was paying on A-Rod's salary, the Rangers were somewhere in the mid-$50 million range last season and that's simply not going to get it done. Hicks needs to give his new GM a fighting chance.

And now, some college football email:

Hey Bob,

I enjoyed the discussion today about who has the better program... I did some research several weeks ago about this topic and wanted to share it with you. The results start with the 1996 football season through the 2004 football season...

Since 1996 Tech has finished ahead of A&M in conference standings 5 of the past 9 years (better than 50%). A&M only finished higher than Tech in 1997, 1998 and 2004. In 2000 Tech and A&M shared the same conference record. This means that 6 of the past 9 years Tech has finished the same or better than A&M.

In this same time frame- Tech finished with a better overall record than A&M 5 of the past 9 years (including last year) and shared the same overall record with A&M in 2000. Again, 6 of the past 9 years Tech finished with the same or better overall record than A&M.

And as for Gribble's remarks about A&M being better than Tech last year- please let him know that Tech finished 18th in the final AP Poll while A&M did not even crack the top 25... Not to mention they got dusted in the Cotton Bowl while Tech was beating 4th ranked Cal in the Holiday Bowl.

Thanks Sport Sturm!

Shane

And, then this:

First of all, let me tell you my allegiance is to Texas Tech, so it really doesn't matter to me, but I think all these Francione bashers need to tap on the brakes.

Let's compare Bob Stoops to Fran. Stoops is in his 6th year, so his first three recruiting classes graduated last year (if we say it takes most players 5 years to graduate), and are juniors and seniors this year. Granted they had a good year last year, but where are they when they should be loaded with juniors and seniors this year. Stoops came in and Hypl and Jason White (actually 6 year player) were already there. He won a national championship and went to another one with John Blake's players.

Now if you look at Fran, this is his third year, so his recruits are Sophomores, red shirt freshmen and true freshmen. He is still basically playing with R.C. Slocums players. It was generally known that the proverbial cupboard was bare when Fran took over. You have to wait another couple of years to find out how he is going to do. He has been successful everywhere else he has been.

I think the perception is way off for both of these guys.

P1
Charlie

I still have a huge issue with people continuing to drop the level of RC Slocum’s job performance to compensate for Coach Fran tanking. With each loss, they drop Slocum’s players another notch to explain how bare the cupboard was. I don’t buy it, and neither does the NFL. If RC was such a joke, why does he have more players in the NFL than any other Big 12 program? And no, it isn’t all from the mid-90’s. Every draft, the Aggies put plenty in the draft (2005 here )…If RC’s players suck so bad, why are many, many playing on Sunday?