Smile!

See all of the details at the Smoking Gun.com here …
Revo wants Irvin to pee in a cup …

Mavs need late drama to beat the Raptors …I know we spend a lot of time rating and debating Dirk on whether he belongs in the Top 10 in the NBA or not, but last night was another example that most nights, the Mavs have a player better than anyone their opponent has. Dirk was very average all night, and then came money time. And he dominated when it mattered.

Nowitzki missed 17 shots against Toronto's normally forgiving defense. But with Howard and Jerry Stackhouse out, the Mavericks need him to keep trying.

"We told him you have plenty of clips," Terry said. "Just keep shooting it."

Nowitzki did, scoring eight of his 29 points in the final 1:42. His two 3-pointers and a fadeaway jumper over guard Jose Calderon with 18.4 seconds left gave the Mavericks a two-point lead. Toronto's Matt Bonner tied the score with two seconds left.

The Mavericks had the ball on the side.

The play was designed to go to Nowitzki, but the Raptors double-teamed him as soon as he came off the screen. The Mavericks called timeout and decided to get the ball to Terry. Del Harris designed the play, prompting Johnson to say he owes his assistant coach lunch.

Terry, who scored 26 points for the evening, never hesitated as he curled off the screen and went to the basket.

"He's as clutch of a shooter as it gets," Nowitzki said.

Also, very nice evenings from Devin Harris and the center duo of Dampier and Diop (The Mavericks big pair of D’s). They all look ready to really help this team through this period of no Christie/Stackhouse/Howard (not in that order). Also, Adrian Griffin is here to rescue us.

Howard looks out to mid-December …

An MRI exam revealed that Howard suffered a moderate sprain of his right ankle in the closing moments of the team's loss to Memphis three days ago. Club officials were reluctant to set a firm timetable for his return. But owner Mark Cuban was encouraged by the news and said it sounded as if Howard would miss up to three weeks but no more.

Avery Johnson said Jerry Stackhouse was still probably two weeks out before he can get back on the court.

To the surprise of only those who weren’t paying attention to Fightin’ Texas Aggie football, Coach Fran fires the Defensive coordinator …

"After evaluating our defense, I felt like it was in the best interest of our football program to make a change at defensive coordinator," coach Dennis Franchione said in a statement. "I think Carl is an outstanding person and an excellent coach, but for whatever reason, we were not effective on defense."

Franchione said that a national search to replace Torbush will begin immediately.
The Aggies, who lost their final four games of the season, failed to reach a bowl game for the second time in Franchione's three seasons at A&M.

Remember the time when the Rangers drafted Barry Zito, and then let him return to the draft over $50,000? Well, they are now looking for an expensive do-over …Why would the A’s trade him inside the division where they might see him 6 times?

The Rangers are getting more calls from other teams about Soriano while they continue to explore every possibility of acquiring pitching. That includes Zito, the Athletics All-Star left-hander who could be on the trading block.

Major League sources said the Rangers are one of the teams expressing interest in Zito. The Athletics signed pitcher Esteban Loaiza on Monday to a three-year deal worth almost $21.4 million and have privately discussed the possibility of trading Zito.

"It's fair to say we've talked to every team about every pitcher who could get moved," Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said. "But there's nothing we're ready to push the button on."

The New York Mets are also interested in Zito, who won a Cy Young Award in 2003.

Dat Nguyen to retire?…
What a good Cowboy he was…

Today’s “you can’t write this stuff” department: Eagles fan runs on the field, sprinkles mom’s ashes during game …

Christopher Noteboom, 33, of Tempe, Ariz., ran onto the field holding a plastic bag in his outstretched right arm, leaving a cloud of fine powder in his wake. As he reached the 30-yard line, he dropped to his knees and made the sign of the cross before laying down on his stomach. Security personnel reached him moments later and he offered no resistance as he was escorted from the field.

Noteboom, a native of Doylestown, said the substance was the ashes of his dead mother, a longtime Eagles fan who died of emphysema in January 2005, shortly before the Eagles' Super Bowl appearance.

"She never cared for any other team except the Eagles," Noteboom told WPVI-TV after he was released from custody on Monday.

"I know that the last handful of ashes I had are laying on the field, and will never be taken away. She'll always be part of Lincoln Financial Field and of the Eagles," he said.

White trash?



Borat to Kazakhstan: Bring it on! …

Vince Young in High School …

Goal of the year candidate? New York Rangers’ Marek Malik …

Peter King MMQB …

And just one point about the Hall of Fame debate, which will likely include Irvin the day before this year's Super Bowl in Detroit: I will support Irvin as enthusiastically as I did last year, because it is not our job to judge a player's off-field life. That's a by-law. What happened on the field is all that matters.

Peter is speaking idealistically. Allow me to speak realistically: Irvin has screwed his chances in 2006.

Replay doesn’t work in Seattle …Norm’s first hour today, no doubt…

And now, some various pieces of email:

Well it's about a quarter through the season, and I gotta say I'm disappointed. I love the fact they are calling stuff in the neutral zone but that's about it. I don't understand why the NHL insist on it getting away from the physical play.

Sure I've heard "Oh it's still physical, the hits are up" BULL. I watch on average 2-3 hockey games (other than the stars) a week. I always try and watch rivlaries ie Montreal-Toronto, Philly-New York etc.... and I gotta tell ya it's a complete lovefest. Now I don't need to see a complete Gettysburg on the ice, but for crying out loud put a stick in someones side every now and then. Get a little mean.

I'm my perfect little hockey world this is what would happen:

A) Put a enforcer in the competition commitee and see what happens.
B) Keep calling the stuff in the neutral zone, and obvious other infractions- stress OBVIOUS
C) Get rid of that stupid 5 min left in the 3rd don't instigate a fight, in fact get rid of the instigator all together.

The bottom line is the closer you get to the net, the more you have to let things go. Let these guys battle. It's like a football line of scrimmage without contact, it's truely sick to watch. I keep hearing how great the 80's were with all the scoring and end to end action, well as I recall there was still some physical play also. Anyways Bob sorry for the rant, just had to get that off my chest. I'm going to cry now.

Brandon

Brandon, I wish I could disagree with you, but the truth is that I believe hockey may have made a horrible mistake of taking passion out of hockey. The games are now free of venom, and free of emotion. I am quite concerned that they have turned it into chick’s hockey.

Bob,

Going to color bars during MNF halftime may be the most brilliant idea you've ever had. That Tim McGraw bit has got to be the most life draining segment in the history of television! I keep picturing Al Michaels signing off at halftime as his voice is lost in test tones.

Michael

Amen

Regarding the undefeated Dolphins praying for failure. Only other one I can think of is when Calvin Murphy, calling a Houston Rockets game, was verbally trying to make Chris Jackson-Abdul Rauf miss a free throw as he attempted to break the record for best FT% in a season.

Doug in Coppell

That is right. And I thought the only reason Calvin’s name came up anymore was This …
And finally this:

Bob & Dan,

About the horse manure throwing incident. There is a public and a private response in Aggieland.

Public: this kind of behavior cannot be tolerated

Private: high fives all around.

The truth is that an enlightened few trumpet players in the sip band were using their instruments to try and "spook" the horses (very dangerous idea) and were told to cease. They did not desist and were promptly pelted with horse manure. Justice having been dealt out at the end of a shovel

And the beat goes on in the annals of Aggie and longhorn football.

I personally think it is hilarious. This freshman has become instant greatness in Aggieland, we will be laughing about it for years and years.

Sam

P.S. I understand the little Ticket is up for sale. You might want to ease up on the Aggies in general, Lowry Mayes who is Clear Channel is lurking. I mean he got rid of Howard Stern. I like you guys and hope you are around for a while.

Below, enjoy, Jeremy Shockey’s change of heart when he realizes the Field Goal was missed.