Thursday Blogging Hard

Today, I will post plenty of stuff from yesterday’s show. But, first, what is quick becoming a non factor on this blog and in the North Texas Sports Universe: Baseball talk.

First, Jamey Newberg’s essay on Buck and his future …I would advise you to read it all, but here is a small highlight:

Even the best managers have a shelf life. Circumstances inevitably lead to a breakup, sometimes by the manager's choice and other times anything but. But that's only the second most interesting thing about the SI poll.

What's most interesting to me is who was polled. We don't know which players SI questioned, and what criteria the publication used to determine which players to ask. Did they have to have played for more than one club? Did they have to vote within their own league? Could they vote for their own skipper?

Which players were polled is really not very important. But the fact that the survey exclusively involved big league players is significant, I think. Doesn't the fact that nearly two-thirds of the players in the major leagues were asked to weigh in mean something, when free agency is a bigger factor in baseball than in any sport?

Likeability certainly isn't on the list of prerequisites for a big league manager or coach, but isn't any reason that a marquis player may not want to play in Texas a reason that needs to be considered?

It was a players' poll. Four hundred seventy baseball players who are, by definition, current or potential Texas Rangers.

Here's what I think, and let me reiterate that I'm just a fan, entitled to an opinion because it's my team but not entitled, in this case, to assume my opinion has any basis in fact.

I think Showalter has proven that he is among the best in baseball at taking a bad baseball team and making it better. At taking a collection of young baseball players and teaching them how to prepare and how to manage the grind. At getting a team on the right track. But then what?

Meanwhile, someone whose opinion I respect far less than Jamey’s, Tom Hicks on the pitching …

As usual, that meant that a lot of talk centered on pitching. With less than 30 games to go in the season, only one spot in the 2007 starting rotation is guaranteed. That goes to Kevin Millwood.

Hicks said the team remains interested in all three of its potential free-agent starters: Vicente Padilla, Adam Eaton and Kip Wells. Padilla stands to command the most money and longest commitment. Hicks said the club does not view off-the-field issues as a problem with Padilla. Padilla was charged with DWI after a July 7 traffic stop, but those charges have been dropped.

"I think [Padilla] has responded well to [pitching coach] Mark Connor and to Buck [Showalter]," Hicks said. "He comes from a different place than the rest of us. I'm fine with his off-the-field behavior. He had one incident, but everything worked out fine."

Hicks said he also is interested in watching Robinson Tejeda and Edinson Volquez pitch in September but that he has made no request for top pitching prospect John Danks to be called up.

The rest of the answers will have to come during the winter trading and free-agent bazaar.

"We're going to wait and see how people pitch the rest of the year," Hicks said. "But we're going to have another busy off-season."

Galloway on the Guy Morriss – Gary Patterson fun …

So, here's Morriss, talking smack at Baylor alum functions about Patterson.

"Walk past him, and the hair on the back of my neck stands up."

"When he's around, my skin crawls."

"He likes to hear himself talk. And he talks a lot."

Yo, baybee.

My personal mission for this week was to stir this pot some more.

TCU-Baylor is an old Southwest Conference rivalry revived, and that receives my highest approval. Plus, we could also be in for a good game Sunday. And now the head coach at Baylor was throwing in some verbal jalapenos.

When bad blood is spilled in sports, I immediately go CSI.

Coach Patterson, what's this all about?

"Truthfully, I don't know," he said. "I've probably only talked to Guy three times ever. But some members of his staff are good friends of mine, have been for a long time, and will continue to be."

Are you mad, coach?

"Not really. More like puzzled. Don't know where it all came from. I know I'm a young coach, and I talk a lot, but if I don't talk about TCU, and promote us, who will?"

Gary, uh, would you like to fire back at Guy?

"Early in the summer, I put a gag order on our players for this opening game. I didn't want them calling friends who are Baylor players, or text-messaging, with any smack talk.

"I'd just say if Guy doesn't want to like me, then he doesn't have to like me. It's OK."

I admit I know nothing about writing. But has Galloway ever constructed an entire paragraph? Why not combine sentences into a paragraph sometimes?

The Barnhouse top 25 …

5 Texas The Longhorns should make a good run at defending their title, but Job One
is getting effective quarterback play.

13 Oklahoma If the Sooners can squeeze something out of the passing game, OU will be OK with RB Adrian Peterson aiming for 2,200 yards.

20 TCU The Frogs have outstanding depth at running back but QB Jeff Ballard must keep playing as he did last season.

22 Texas Tech Coach Mike Leach gets to prove his pass-happy attack can succeed with a non-senior at quarterback.

25 Nebraska Coach Bill Callahan's West Coast offense is finally producing as QB Zac Taylor has improved.

Here is a great link that shows you the television schedule for college football …nicely done…

Wow. The DMN with another blog! How original. Here is there college football blog ..

OK. Yesterday on the show we covered many things. Here are some items to follow up on those:

#1 – The blood letting UFC fight discussed during “What’s on my Tivo” – Watch at your own risk.



#2 – The great Nascar Audio from “Wally’s World” can be found Here …Gold, Jerry.

And #3 – The controversial Don Nelson segments yesterday generated a huge amount of feedback. Here is a sampling of my email. Some like me, some don’t:

Bob, I could not have agreed with you more on your comments about Don Nelson. While I give him a lot of credit for rebuilding the Mavs, his antics over the last couple of years have made me lose all respect for him.

The four reasons for being pissed were right on, but let me add a fifth - his refusal to even try to coach defense. One of the things that led to their breakup was Cuban's OUTRAGEOUS demand that Nelson try to coach some defense. When asked about it on Norm's show, Nellie responded that if a player wasn't a defensive player, he couldn't be taught to be one.

Excuse me, but isn't a coach's job to teach players what they don't already know? Avery has proven that while the Mavs will never be the Pistons, they can at least be respectable defensively.

I say good riddance to Nellie. I'm sick of him laughing all the way to the bank around here. Let him take his act to Golden State, where he can get back with his old drinking buddy, Chris Mullin.

Keep speaking the truth.

Larry in Garland

----------

I didn't get a chance to tell you what made me believe the Dampier deal went down the way I said it did. You have to understand , Nellie to me is like the bretts to you, I read every interview and follow every story about him. Soon after the Dampier trade went down and the team was preparing for training camp and the 03-04 season , Nellie was asked in an interview about his team and he said "it's Mark's vision now". Nobody paid any attention to this quote , except me of course. I knew then that this was Nellie's way of letting people know that he didn't make all the personell decisions anymore and I think it was his way of telling people that he didn't pull the strings on the Dampier deal. Remember it was only after the Dampier deal that Cuban put a muzzle on his announcers and told them not to talk about contracts anymore on the air.

Even if I'm wrong about the details , it's no secret that the realtionship was getting bad and it was only a matter of time before he left anyways.

Your behavior in all of this has been horrible. Instead of focusing on the big picture and all of Nellie's contributions while he was here you decide to rip him on his way out of town. You ripped him while he was coaching , you ripped for how he resigned, and now you rip him when he takes another job. The most ridiculous part of all of this is you ego driven stance on the media reaction to his new coaching job. Everyone else is sucking up to nellie , while you alone, the great Bob Sturm, is being objective, What crap. The rest of the media is doing the right thing, they are thanking him for his work here.

Has it ever occurred to you that you are the one who is not objective ? I fully admit my bias , maybe you should to. Go warriors ! Keith
---------

Bob,

I was ecstatic to hear your point of view on Don Nelson today (8/30) at lunch. I am one of the biggest Maverick fans in Dallas. I am a 5 year season ticket holder (thanks to Don Nelson and Mark Cuban) and I have more time and money invested in them than anything else in my life (except my house and marriage)

I was one of Nellie’s biggest supporters for 5 years. And while I agree he is/was a “good guy” a likeable guy I contended 2 years ago that he QUIT on his team and organization. No one can convince me otherwise. When I first heard he was letting Avery run practices I thought to myself that this was Nellie’s way of taking some time off to perhaps spend with his Ailing wife who had cancer or perhaps to ease the riggers of coaching and thereby improving his own Health!

And that might have been the case at first. However, then I heard him say that he had actually planned to “miss” a few games and let Avery do the coaching.HuH? So he got kicked out of a few games (on purpose) so Avery could coach the team. Remember when he kicked the ball in the stands? Remember when he got kicked out of a San Antonio Spurs game in the first quarter!?!?! That was intentional too.

If Bill Parcell’s said “hey I’m going to take a few games off and let my assistants coach the game people would have flipped out! Double Standard.

Then to top it off Nellie got his feelings hurt when little Stevie Cash took the money and went to Phoenix. Boo Hoo. So Nellie decided to QUIT on his team mid way through the 2004 season. Thank god Avery was around to help pick up the peaces.
Plus I have heard Nellie actually try and take credit for hiring Avery and grooming him to be the next coach. That’s crap. I don’t buy that. But it was better that Avery was the coach and he is exactly what we needed.

So Nellie sits around doing nothing for a year and a half collecting a big fat check from Cuban and now that the money is drying up all of the sudden he is ready to coach again . . . . . how convenient.

Nellie is great at making a bad team into a good team but he can’t make a good team into a Great Team. So for Golden State he is perfect. For the Mavs it was time for him to go and Avery is perfect. So it all worked out. But I don’t think Nellie deserves a send off party or a pass.

Call him for what he is:

Good Coach
Fun Guy
Exciting style of play
Quitter
Who-re
The more I listen to you Bob the more I find that we have similar opinions.
Except for I hate Dan!

Perry Hood

-------------

Hey Bob,

I love you, i love Dan, i love your show but you're sounding like Dale Hansen when he's talking about the Boys. But seriously, you are losing your cred points here.

We know that what he did, by switching teams just when his checks from Cuban started drying out, is absolutely absurd. But this is also the fact about Nelly, he's a nice guy but do we really know that he didnt get pushed out by Mark Cuban? Mark Cuban had a lot to do with this, Why dont we list the last few years of his stay with the Mavs, we start with his demotion, Donnie's promotion, Dirk's benching in the series against the Spurs, Free-Agent players that Nelly wanted that Cuban ignored, to FA players that Cuban signed-off that Nelly didnt like, the hiring of Avery, and the final straw, the let go of MVP Steve Nash. Of course he also made bone-headed deals, like Bradley, Wang, that Euro player, but nobody's perfect.

There's a similar scenario happening now, the Parcells and Jerry Jones relationship. The only difference is that Parcells has more cred, and has more pull in his team than Nelly with Cuban. Also the fact that Jerry Jones wanted the Tuna while Cuban came in into Nelly's team. I think thats a big difference. Just think about all the Jones signings versus the Parcells signings. Its very interesting.

The truth could be, Nelly just squeeked out all the money he can squeeze out of Cuban as a sort of payback. Because the way he left the Mavs was more like a buy-out than anything else. I think he's just going where he is needed, which is exactly the opposite of his final seasons here with the Mavs.

If you do read this, Thanks man.

Love the Show!... Love everything!... though tell Donovan to put his ego aside a lil bit. I think he needs to know that the Ticket is about the little guy. The little guy that gets beat the hell out by punks. Remind him that the Ticket's history does say alot about Big Ego guys that used to work there. Shoot, even Big Dick got canned. I guess if your name is BIG DICK, that would explain it all.

Jobzki...
----------

Noone saying anything should be a slap in the face to Nelly. I think people around here feel that we are better off without him, we’re winning. If we would have struggled since his departure, people would have a problem. Golden State can have him…

Chris T. Lee

So there you have it. Those who agree with me think I am smart. Those who disagree think I am dumb. Welcome to Sportsradio.

Today’s Youtube:

Genius in so many ways.



I don’t care where you go to school, dorks are everywhere. Here are some from Baylor:



Well, the final preseason Cowboys game is upon us. Do you like me or hate me for going an entire blog without any mention of Owens?