One Shining Moment - 2008

One thing that is true about college basketball, despite the fact that I honestly don’t follow it closely at all anymore, is that every time I give that sport a chance, it delivers. Last night’s big effort from Kansas and Memphis was a solid show …

No better way to celebrate the anniversary of your most recent national championship by winning another one in spectacular, can-you-believe-that-comeback fashion,
Twenty years and three days after winning its second national title as a No. 6 seed, Kansas conjured a miraculous comeback to stun Memphis, 75-68, in overtime Monday night in the Alamodome.

Kansas’ victory gives the Big 12 Conference, which is in its 12th season, its first national championship in men’s basketball. Kansas (37-3) trailed 60-51 with 2:12 remaining. Keep in mind that the biggest halftime deficit overcome in a national championship game is 10 points.

“We made so many plays down the stretch,’’ Kansas coach Bill Self said. “I don’t know if we played well or we played bad. But we won.’’

Memphis, which had quieted critics who claimed it couldn’t overcome its shoddy free throw shooting, had made 70 percent of its free throws in the NCAA Tournament. But with a chance to send Kansas back to Lawrence with a a disappointing loss, the Tigers missed four of their last five from the line over the final 1:15.

“It came back and bit us,’’ said Memphis’ Chris Douglas-Roberts, who missed three consecutive free throws. “We missed ‘em at a crucial time. But we still had a three-point lead with 10 seconds to go.’’

Memphis’ Robert Dozier, whose three offensive rebounds over the last five minutes had been huge, made two from the line with 2:12 remaining to give the Tigers a 60-51 lead.

When Kansas was up 40-12 in Saturday’s semifinal, CBS Sports basketball analyst Billy Packer said it was over. It was. But the national championship game was a different story.

“I thought we were national champs,’’ Memphis coach John Calipari said. “They make a play, its OT and it’s on again. We were up five and we’re supposed to win that game.’’

Mario Chalmers capped Kansas’ regulation rally. The Anchorage native served up some
baked Alaska. His 3-pointer over Derrick Rose with 2.1 seconds created the extra period -- the first in the title game since 1997.

Brandon Rush’s layup following a Sherron Collins steal gave Kansas the OT lead. Darrell Arthur (20 points, 10 rebounds) followed with a dunk from a Chalmers’ pass to make it 67-63.

Good Stuff.

Opening Day in Arlington will commence at 1:05 …

Born in Dallas and raised in Mesquite, Jason Jennings grew up following the Texas Rangers but never stopping to dream about today.

How could he? During five-plus seasons with Colorado and an injury-plagued 2007 season with Houston, his start today in the Rangers' home opener seemed about as likely as winning the lottery.

"I would have never imagined being in this position right now to pitch the home opener for my hometown team," Jennings said. "... The last couple years, everything I've gone through, has brought me here and given me this opportunity."

Each Ranger said he is eager to play at home after spring training and a six-game road trip to open the season.

"I'm just trying to treat it like another game, just one of many starts," Jennings said. "It's obviously a special day for us to be able to get back home. The fans are anxious to see us, and we're anxious to get back home and put those white uniforms on."

More early reviews are in …

Give the Rangers some credit: They went out to the west coast against two divisional opponents and finished 3-3. They'll take it.

Evan Grant gives a good summary of what happened on that trip. Besides the starting pitching, which is clearly the best news of the first six games (five quality starts, 2.30 ERA in six games and a complete game), what are you most encouraged about and most concerned about?

• David Murphy. He's 9-for-22 and looks like that guy that hit so well as soon as he got to Texas last year. So much for "fourth" outfielder. That Eric Gagne trade with Boston keeps getting better, doesn't it?

• Road series win. Texas didn't have one of those until late May last year (eighth road series of the season).

• Ben Broussard and Gerald Laird. I had a feeling Laird would bounce back. But I'm surprised by Broussard. He struggled in spring training and kept assuring everyone that he was ready to go and that he just needs all of spring to get ready. I'll trust him next time he tells me that. He has three homers. Laird, by the way, had two on Sunday.

• Errors. Not good. The club has six in six games. That actually doesn't lead the league. Pittsburgh has nine errors in six games, Seattle has eight errors in six games and Philadelphia has seven errors in six games. Texas has to get better defensively. They won't continue to win games despite problems in the field.

• Hitting. The Rangers are batting .249 as a team, that's 15th in the league. That has to get better, doesn't it?

By tomorrow, I should have my Ducks-Stars essay ready for you and DallasStars.com; until then, let’s see what the world is saying…

NHL.com has the whole field …

The National Hockey League today announced dates, times and national broadcast information for the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoff Conference Quarter-final round, which begins Wednesday, April 9.

That night, an Atlantic Division rivalry continues as the New Jersey Devils host the New York Rangers, the Pittsburgh Penguins host the Ottawa Senators, the San Jose Sharks host the Calgary Flames and the Colorado Avalanche visit the Minnesota Wild.

Three other series open Thursday, when the defending Stanley Cup champions Anaheim Ducks host the Dallas Stars, the Montreal Canadiens host the Boston Bruins and the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Detroit Red Wings host the Nashville Predators.

On Friday, the League’s top point- and goal-scorer Alex Ovechkin makes his NHL postseason debut as the Washington Capitals host the Philadelphia Flyers.

National network television coverage of the Stanley Cup Playoffs will be provided in the United States by NBC and VERSUS and in Canada by CBC, TSN and RDS.

Stars Claim to be healthy…except Zubov…

Brad Richards missed three games that he probably could have played and snapped his consecutive games-played streak at 354 games, but the Stars center said it was worth it.

"I mean, the plan was to take some down time and get healthy and get energy, and I think that worked," Richards said of sitting out the last three games of the season after missing only two previously in his career. "These games meant something, but not as much as some other games, so this was the time to get it done."

Richards, who was diagnosed with mononucleosis in January and battled through that virus while a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning, said the recent bout he had with "overall soreness" was not related. He said he felt much better Sunday.

"I expect to be at practice Tuesday and ready to go," he said.

Stars coach Dave Tippett said he also expected to have Mike Ribeiro (flu) and Jere Lehtinen (flu) back for practice. Steve Ott had the flu Friday and returned to play in Sunday's game.

Canadian Press …

Anaheim (4th, 47-27-8) vs. Dallas (5th, 45-30-7)

This was the price to play for San Jose winning the Pacific Division over Anaheim and Dallas - two great teams like the Ducks and Stars having to mash it out in the first round.

The Stars won five of the eight season-series games but the Ducks took the last two. Dallas may have taken advantage of an Anaheim team that didn't have Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne in the first half of the season. With both veterans in the lineup beginning Feb. 5, the Ducks went 20-5-1 to close out the regular season, their .788 winning percentage the best in the NHL in that stretch.

Dallas, meanwhile, won only four of its final 14 games (4-8-2) although went 3-1-2 in the last six games. This, as Burke said, will be a dog fight and don't be surprised if it goes seven.

Toronto Star …

Just look at Anaheim's season-ending stats. Last season, the Ducks scored 254 goals, nothing thrilling but respectable. This season, they managed to come up with only 205 goals, almost a 20 per cent drop in production.

Ah yes, you say, but that was before Teemu Selanne got bored of the quiet life.
Nope, not true.

The pop-gun Ducks averaged 2.5 goals per game before Selanne returned from his quasi-retirement, and 2.5 goals per game in the 26 games for which he was an active participant.

With the team's top goal scorer, Corey Perry, still out with a lacerated quadriceps tendon, it would be hard to imagine that the Ducks will all of a sudden become the Edmonton Oilers, circa 1985, when they begin their playoff matchup with the similarly gritty Dallas Stars on Thursday.

Now look at the defensive side of the Duck ledger.

They officially allowed 191 goals, but seven were shootout-related debits, so in regulation play and OT sessions this season, the Ducks really allowed only 184 goals, second best to Detroit.

More than a third of those were power-play goals as Anaheim was shorthanded 408 times, 20 more than the next-highest total of any other NHL club.

So unless these Ducks are going to change drastically over the next 2 1/2 months, they're going to have to repeat while scoring less often than last year's squad and while having to kill off more penalties than the other team most nights.

That doesn't leave much room for error.

Two major factors work in the Ducks' favour, however. First, in Jean-Sebastien Giguere, they have a brilliant playoff netminder who owns a 31-13 record all-time in the Stanley Cup tournament, including 12-1 in overtime matches.

Second, they can buckle up the chinstraps and grit their teeth more than any other club. Consider the fact, for example, that in the 10 regular-season and playoff games for which defenceman Chris Pronger has been suspended since last May, the Ducks have won eight.

The ultra-conservative Stars, meanwhile, did win five of eight against Anaheim, but find themselves facing a first-round opponent that is actually more defensive than they are.

Without Sergei Zubov, out since Jan. 19 with a host of injury complaints, and with Brad Richards having contributed just two goals and nine assists (five in one game) in the 12 contests he played for Dallas after joining the club at the trade deadline, you have to wonder if the Stars will be able to create enough offence to beat the low-scoring Ducks.

Still, given Anaheim's 28th-ranked offence and penchant for penalties, there's obviously a formula for a Dallas victory and it revolves around having an effective power play.

NY Times …

Anaheim Ducks vs. Dallas Stars

The Stanley Cup champion Ducks started slowly, found their stride once Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne returned to the fold, and finished strongly. The Stars started unsurely, changed their front office, shot off to a big lead in the tough Pacific Division, got white hot in February, then lost their way entirely in March.
Season series Dallas, 5-3

Last 10 games Anaheim, 8-2-0; Dallas, 3-5-2

Goaltending J.S. Giguere has a Cup with Anaheim. He was third in save percentage at .922. Marty Turco finally had a strong playoff last year, but the Stars lost again in the first round.

Offense Ryan Getzlaf (24 goals, 81 points) leads the Ducks in scoring. Selanne, as deadly a scorer as ever, has played only 25 games and says he feels absurdly fresh. Chris Kunitz has 20 goals to go with a snarly game. Corey Perry, who led the Ducks in goals (29) and teamed with Getzlaf, is trying to return from a deep cut to his quadriceps from a pileup in the crease. The Stars’ Mike Ribeiro has had a career year (27 goals and 83 points) and was rewarded with a five-year, $25 million contract extension. His linemate, Captain Brenden Morrow, also has had a career year with 32 goals and 72 points. Brad Richards came to Dallas at the trade deadline and has struggled to fit in so far, but the Stars liked his Conn Smythe credentials in the playoffs.

Defense The Ducks’ deep defense from their championship season got even stronger this year with the addition of Mathieu Schneider and Marc-Andre Bergeron to Niedermayer, Chris Pronger, Francois Beauchemin, Kent Huskins and Sean O’Donnell. The Stars would love to get Sergei Zubov back. They did get Philippe Boucher back from a shoulder injury. The rookies Matt Niskanen, Niklas Grossman and Mark Fistric have played beyond their years.

Injuries Ducks – Corey Perry (lacerated leg), is expected back sometime during the playoffs; Ryan Carter (wrist) is day to day. Stars – Sergei Zubov (foot) is out indefinitely.

GAME 1 Thursday, 10 p.m. Eastern, at Anaheim

James Mirtle looks at the best defensive forwards in the game …

And it is all about Travis Moen, Rob Niedermayer, and Sami Pahlsson…The Ducks have the best shut-down line in hockey…

Meanwhile, I am very concerned about today’s fixture at Anfield, as Liverpool attempt to take Arsenal out of the Champions League …

'I spent 20 years at Real Madrid and second is no good'
Rafael Benítez

Delirium or despair awaits Anfield tonight but Rafael Benítez has insisted that his Liverpool reign cannot be judged on the Champions League quarter-final with Arsenal. In an appeal for reason from the club's owners yesterday, the manager claimed that his long-term plan would reap further reward regardless of the outcome against Arsène Wenger's team.

Liverpool may hold a slender advantage in the second leg, courtesy of Dirk Kuyt's away goal at the Emirates Stadium last Wednesday, but it is Wenger who retains the unswerving faith of his boardroom despite the prospect of a third trophyless season. By contrast Benítez is planning for next season against a backdrop of uncertainty, with Tom Hicks, George Gillett and Dubai International Capital all vying for control of Liverpool and with only Hicks a confirmed supporter of the Spaniard.

Having been roundly criticised for another disappointing league campaign, Benítez wants another Champions League success to help him develop a winning mentality at Anfield, but he does not regard victory tonight as essential to the overall success of his reign.

"It is not easy when you talk about the Champions League and the money involved to be calm and to see the bigger picture, but as a professional you need to know it is not just one game that determines the idea and the future," the Liverpool manager said. "You need to have a long-term idea. That is quite important. To be here [in the quarter-finals] means we are doing something well and it shows we are going in the right direction.

And the Lineups are in …

Great Ramen Noodle recipes …

Is Dirk Clutch? The rankings say yes …


Email:

Hey Bob,

I just called in to talk about Dirk while I was on hold a guy called in to say Dirk is a defenisve liability... How about the play he was injured on blocking Udoka's shot? People forget so quickly, I bet the people who say he's soft don't even remember the 1 game suspension he got for sending AK47 to the hospital for observation.

I actually was just like them 3 years ago I e-mailed you after that ridiculous shot Dirk had at the end of game 6 in the 04-05 Suns series saying the Mavs would never win anything with Dirk as their best player and they needed to trade him for a high 1st round draft pick that year and start this thing over with a guy like Gerald Green (Ooops!) Since then I have done a huge 180 and I just wanted to take you through that on the air.....

Of course there's the famous drive to the bucket for an and1 courteousy Ginobili in the 05-06 Spurs series to get that monkey off the Mavs back. How about the time a guy named Tim Thomas, who probably feels the same way many of the brothers who e-mail you do about Dirk, got up in Dirk's face and started talking trash in game 5 of the 05-06 Western Conference finals, how did that work out for Timmy?

Then last season he goes out and puts up an MVP season there can be no arguing that he was the regular season MVP. You can fault him for Golden State if you want, but he's not the one who sat Diop and gave the Warriors a layup line to the hoop.

What Dirk did yesterday and against Golden State on Wednesday was clutch and there's no two ways about it. And for that matter the 3 he hit in LA (in the first game this season) was clutch. Dirk has been great ever since the 04-05 season in terms of stepping up and becoming a leader. If you want to find fault with the Mavericks I think there are a million and 1 other places to start looking before you turn your attention to Dirk.


Love the Compound keep mining radio gold!

Joshua in Plano

-====
Bob,

I share your appreciation of Monta Ellis’s game, but what’s even more remarkable to me is that he was a second round pick two years ago. In fact, when I look at the second and very late first rounders that Dallas could have taken over the last two or three years, it boggles the mind that the GM during that span doesn’t take more heat than he does. I mean, tell me if any of these second rounders might have helped Dallas avoid its current fate: Carl Landry, Glen Davis, P.J. Tucker, Craig Smith, Daniel Gibson, Paul Milsap, Ronny Turiaf, Ryan Gomes. What about these late first round picks: Jordan Farmar, Jason Maxiell, David Lee, Linas Kleinza? Sure, none of these guys are superstars, or even stars. But they are all solid contributors on good teams. Compare that to Dallas’s draft picks since Josh Howard in 2003; oh wait, you can’t, since Dallas doesn’t have a single player from its last four drafts on the roster. Unbelievable, and the trademark of a franchise with no one knowledgeable at the helm.

Dave in Tulsa

Crank Dat Family Guy



Final 4 Rap

Right. He Is Really Soft.

Day 1 at the Compound, where Dirk love flows….

Big Man brings it home in Phoenix …

Who knows if Dirk Nowitzki’s sprained left ankle can withstand this type of punishment in a grueling playoff series, but at least the Dallas Mavericks understand that whomever they might face, even with Nowitzki hobbling, they can take anyone down to the wire.
And finally, after Sunday’s come-from-behind, 105-98 victory over the Suns, buoyed by a 27-9 pasting in the final quarter, the Mavs also know they can pull one of these out.
The wounded Nowitzki, having put up a game-high 32 points and 12 rebounds, was sprawled on a training table after the game, his sprained left ankle and both knees wrapped in ice packs. It’s become routine.

The difference was Nowitzki’s giant grin and a locker room that instead of being awash in deflated silence after another hard-fought loss, was crackling with the sounds of laughter and singing.

Nowitzki’s highlight-reel play with 32.2 seconds left sealed it. Retrieving his own blocked shot by Shaquille O’Neal, he drove left, lost his footing and nearly stumbled to the floor. Somehow he regained enough balance to shoot awkwardly off his left leg, the one with the high ankle sprain, and drained it for a six-point cushion.

“I stumbled about 18 times,” Nowitzki said.

It put the capper on a wild final 12 minutes, a finish the Mavs have long said was overdue.

“It felt great to finally get over the hump,” said Nowitzki, who logged more than 38 minutes, including every second of the fourth quarter. “Everyone in the locker room was pretty hyped up that we had finally pulled this one out, and hopefully this can build some momentum.

“We still have some tough games until the playoffs. If we can get some momentum here in these last games, then we could be a very dangerous team in the playoffs.”

The question of if the playoffs are in the offing are fading. At 48-29, the Mavs seem to have the seventh seed cornered, three games back of sixth-place Phoenix with five games to go.

“We’ve been building on so many losses, this might have helped us turn the corner and build on wins against quality teams,” said Kidd, who scored eight points with seven assists and hit a key driving layup with 2:51 remaining. His biggest impact came defending Steve Nash, shutting his counterpart down in the fourth quarter while amassing four steals and four blocks, tying his career high for the latter.

“The big thing for us,” Kidd said, “we’re concentrating on us and nobody else.”
Sunday’s victory, the first on the road against a playoff-quality team since Feb. 4 at Orlando, matched the importance of Wednesday’s win over Golden State in terms of the playoff chase and surpassed it in displays of team character and grit.

View from Phoenix …

The Suns entered the fourth quarter of Sunday's game against Dallas needing only to score 20 points to become the NBA's top offense.

Instead, Phoenix blew a 13-point lead by looking like the worst offense around. The Suns went scoreless for nearly eight minutes in the fourth and Steve Nash missed his final seven shots in a 105-98 loss to Dallas at US Airways Center.

The team that had averaged 114.8 points to win 11 of its previous 14 games and had efficiently scored 89 points in Sunday's first three quarters disappeared.

After a Shaquille O'Neal turnaround opened the fourth quarter for a 91-78 lead, the Suns spent the next 7:51 with the sort of offensive helplessness that made Miami look potent. Phoenix missed 12 shots as the Mavericks' 16-0 run sent them to a win, making them 2-11 against winning teams since adding Jason Kidd.

The Suns still cinched a playoff spot with Golden State's and Denver's losses on Sunday but fell to sixth place in the West, three games ahead of Dallas, which now is firmly in the seventh spot. A Pacific Division title appears unlikely with Phoenix trailing the Lakers by two games with five games to play and Los Angeles holding the tiebreaker.
"Everything was going well for three quarters and their backs were really against the wall, so psychologically we were at two different places, and they played like it," Nash said. "It meant more to them, and they showed it."

Phoenix's seven-game home win streak ended with a 27-9 fourth quarter in which the Suns scored two more than the club's worst fourth quarter ever. In that 7:51, the Suns showed unfortunate balance, with six players missing and misfires coming from all over the floor. This came after shooting 50 percent with seven turnovers in the first three quarters.

"It's kind of like when you have a sugar high and crash," Suns forward Grant Hill said.
The Suns still had time to rally but did not score off two late Dallas turnovers. Then saw Dirk Nowitzki cap a 32-point game by scoring twice in the final minute after Phoenix had cut the lead to four.

"The momentum changed," said Stoudemire, who scored 31 points. "We couldn't warm back into it. They kept their guys in that got hot, and it was hard to slow them down."The difference in aggression was shown with the Suns not drawing a foul until the fourth quarter's seventh minute. By then, Dallas was in the penalty and scored 11 fourth-quarter points on free throws.

"The good thing is with Phoenix, you can be up 14 or down 14 and you're always in the game," Nowitzki said. "They play a fast-paced style and we play a fast-paced style so you're never really out of the game."

This Email: GBE Gabriel at 12:13 pm on Sunday

According to conventional wisdom in basketball a superstar always makes the players around them better.

Dirk has never done this and never will.

A superstar takes the team on their back and causes them to win in a clutch situation, dirk has never done this.

dirk cannot handle the ball very well in traffic and he is clumsy in traffic as well.

Dirk is the Mavericks and the Mavericks are Dirk everyone knows this. The Mavericks will never win a title as long as Dirk is on this team.

Dirk is a real good player but he is not good enough to win a title as long as he is the "go to guy".

Dirk does not finish strong in clutch situations and he never has.

The Mavericks need to trade Dirk while he still has good value and start over with a whole new team identity because the dirk led Mavericks have gone as far as they are going to go.

Dirk is thought of as soft around the league and that is why the Mavericks have had the reputation as being a soft team for so long because their franchise player is soft.

Just because dirk came back after 10 days from an injury that you compared to the TO injury does not make Dirk some kind of bad ass. For one thing the injury to Owens might have been a more severe injury as we do not know but when you say that means Dirk is not soft you are mistaken.

Dirk is soft and that means the mavericks are soft.

The Mavericks cannot win a title as long as Dirk is on this team is my prediction to you about these mavericks and if they do I will write you back as say I was wrong.

The Mavericks will lose in the first round of the playoffs, IF they get to the playoffs.

Your sports brain went way over the top when you tried to compare Owens with Dirk. That was a real bad argument to try to prove your point of how "tough" a guy Dirk really is.

Now I understand why I never listen to your show. I heard you make the remark about Dirk and TO on the Sunday ticket show.You truly are BAD radio.

Ask Dwayne Wade how tough Dirk is?

The Stars fight with San Jose yesterday, and now prepare for the most daunting task of Anaheim in the first round…

Schedule …

The Dallas Stars will open their first-round series with the Ducks at 9 p.m. CDT in Anaheim:

Ducks vs. Stars (All times Central)
Game 1: 9 p.m. Thursday at Anaheim
Game 2: 9 p.m. Saturday at Anaheim
Game 3: 7:30 p.m. Tues. April 15 at Dallas
Game 4: 7 p.m. Thurs. April 17 at Dallas
Game 5: 9:30 p.m. Fri. April 18 at Anaheim
Game 6: Time TBD Sun. April 20 at Dallas
Game 7: Time TBD Tue. April 22 at Anaheim

Some of yesterday’s fisticuffs:

Ott – Shelley



Michalek – Crombeen



Murray – Crombeen



Rangers are not depressing us yet! …bravo on 3-3 road trip..

•The starting rotation: Vicente Padilla gave the Rangers their fifth quality start in six games this season. The rotation, which pitched the fewest innings in the AL last year, is averaging almost 6 2/3 innings per outing for the young season. The rotation returns for the home opener with a 2.30 ERA and it has its first complete game since Aug. 29, 2006.

Padilla pitched seven solid innings Sunday even though he said he'd been battling the flu the last couple of days, too. Afterward, Padilla talked about the rotation as a whole rather than just his performance.

"Everybody was patting each other on the back," he said through a translator. "I think it's important that all the starters are doing the job and that we're all talking to each other and helping each other. We need to keep doing that."

When Washington went to him after the sixth, Padilla, with 93 pitches under his belt, said he wanted to go one more.

"First time," Washington acknowledged. "Last year, he didn't say much."

•Team play: The Rangers had perfect attendance at a team dinner last Sunday on the eve of the season, which was not overlooked by the club's veterans, who took it as a sign more players were on the same page.

Besides the flu, they overcame their own errors. They won twice despite committing multiple errors. Last year, they lost seven of their first eight multi-error games and didn't win their second until Mother's Day.

And one other example of the new team-first attitude: Given a choice of taking either Saturday or Sunday off, Laird chose to play Sunday. He was 0-for-8 against Saturday starter Jered Weaver and 1-for-6 against Sunday's starter Jon Garland.

That, he said, had nothing to do with it.

"I just wanted to work with Padilla," he said. "I feel like if we can get on the same page and get something going, we can really get on a roll."

•The road: Last year, the Rangers had the worst road-winning percentage in the majors (.346). Had they finished above .500 at 41-40 on the road last year, they would have ended up with 88 wins. By taking two of three from the Angels, the Rangers won a road series in just their second try of the season. Last year, they didn't win a road series until late May, their eighth of the year.

And from today’s Newberg Report:

Texas is hitting .249 as a team. The club is nearly the worst in the league in fielding percentage and defensive efficiency rating, neither of which fully accounts for costly plays unmade. The schedule makers sent the Rangers on the road for the season’s first week, pitting them against the two teams that have earned every expert’s nod to win the West, the first of whom sent Erik Bedard and Felix Hernandez to the mound.

And yet the club returns to Arlington, prepared to open the home half of the schedule, toting a 3-3 record. All things considered, we ought to feel pretty good about that.

Especially because the reason that Texas sits at .500 -- winning two games big and playing the other four tight -- is that the starting rotation has a 2.31 ERA (only Oakland and Seattle have better AL marks), twice as many strikeouts as walks, and only one non-quality start, which stands alone as best in baseball. On average, the starters are getting midway into the seventh inning, a remarkable feat for the first week of the season (and in the Rangers’ case in recent years, noteworthy any time of the year). Add the fact that four of the Rangers’ seven relievers to see game action have yet to be scored on (one of the other three, Joaquin Benoit, had what has to be the season’s filthiest inning of relief work in yesterday’s eighth), and it’s clear that the pitching is to credit for 3-3.

What makes a toolsy player? …

So MLB.com's reporters sought out Major League scouts in their organizations to break it all down -- by baseball tools, and by position. For the first installment of MLB's Best, it's about the tools.

And it's clear that Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki has a toolbox like none other in the game.

The proverbial five tools for position players -- hitting for average, hitting for power, defense, arm and speed -- are covered throughout the survey, in one way or another.

Only one player really scored high in all of the above: Ichiro.

The panel of scouts rated him tops in all of MLB in the categories of Best Hitter, Best Bat Control, Best Outfielder, Best Arm and Best Baserunner. He also rated second in the categories of Best Bunter, Fastest Runner and Best Basestealer.

Talk about elite among the elite.

"You could put Ichiro down for almost everything -- best arm, best outfielder (when he wants to be), best basestealer, best hitter, and he could hit 50 home runs if he wanted to, but he'd rather get his 220 hits and bat .330," said one scout.

Said another: "Magician with the bat -- hand-eye coordination off the charts."

Here are the Tools of MLB …

SI Vault gets more love …

Each week, the Browser features some pop-culture places on the World Wide Web offering the coolest in free interactive sounds and action.

Sports Illustrated magazine has created an online archive of its incredible coverage from the past 50 years and is offering it free to online visitors.

The SI Vault (http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com) is an overwhelming treasure chest for the sports junkie and sets a welcome — albeit slightly unsettling — benchmark for the free flow of information from a publisher's archived content. Unsettling, that is, for other publishers who now must reconfigure their profit models to compete against the Vault.

Visitors who can get past the unassuming and bland opening screen and just start clicking on navigation menus or images will dive almost blindly into sports moments entrenched in the thrill of victory and agony of defeat.

Sections such as Articles, Photos, Galleries, Video and Covers lead visitors on a historical journey through professional and amateur competitions told and photographed by some of the industry leaders of sports journalism.

Offering 150,000 stories, 2,800 covers and 500,000 photographs from the pages of the magazine, the site's best navigation feature is a large search box and drop-down menu that breaks content into 11 sport possibilities, including NFL, NBA, MLB, High School, NASCAR, Tennis, Golf and College Basketball.

Ewing Jr




Chocolate Rain – 18 million views?

April 4 - Part 2

In other stuff....


The NHL Final Weekend is here. The Stars appear locked into the #5 spot. There is a remote chance they get to #4, but with the Ducks remaining games against the Kings and the Coyotes, I would not get too worked up about it.

I am told that we should expect Games 1 and 2 in Anaheim to be Thursday and Saturday, with Games 3 and 4 back here in Dallas on Tuesday and Thursday, April 15th and 17th.

Stars win as Carcillo tries to beat everyone up …




Barch Owned



Ott not owned, but still beaten

The Dallas Stars locked themselves into a first-round playoff showdown with the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday by taking a 4-2 win over the Phoenix Coyotes, but Stars coach Dave Tippett said his team wouldn’t start looking ahead to postseason play just yet.

"Our focus is totally on what we have to do right now, totally on getting our game where we have to get it," Tippett said. "They say, 'Know your enemy,' but we have two more games before we need to do that."

The Stars sat out Mike Ribeiro (flu-like symptoms), Brad Richards (overall soreness) and Marty Turco (coach’s decision) and still came up with a solid team effort. They will almost assuredly not have Sergei Zubov available in the first round of the playoffs after he went to Germany to have a procedure done that could help heal his sports hernia injury, but they still are starting to shake some of the dust from a miserable March.

With the win, Dallas is 2-0-2 in its last four games and moves to 44-29-7 (95 points). Sixth-place Colorado can only tie the Stars in the standings, and the Stars hold the tiebreakers. That means Dallas will play Anaheim in the first round. The only thing to be determined is who has home ice. The Ducks (45-27-8, 98 points) can clinch home ice by getting two points out of their final two games. The Stars need to get three more points than the Ducks in the final two games to move ahead in the standings.

"Any one of those teams is tough," Stars captain Brenden Morrow said when asked about locking up the Ducks. "We’ve had some great games against that team, and you’re going to have to go through them at some point, so we’ll have to do it in the first round."

The Stars say they need to continue to build their game, and they will get another chance tonight when they and the Coyotes fly to Dallas and finish the home-and-home series in a 7:30 p.m. game at American Airlines Center.

The Stars might get either Richards or Ribeiro back and will start Turco in goal, but the plan is the same – find a way to gain rhythm and momentum heading into the playoffs.

My Hero, Alex Ovechkin scores 2 more, trying to drag Washington into the playoffs ..

I don’t know about you, but 1 vs 8 in the East would be awfully fun if it is Pittsburgh and Washington…

Alexander Ovechkin's record-setting goal in the first period wasn't enough to calm the nerves of the Washington Capitals, whose march toward the playoffs was being threatened by a nothing-to-play-for last-place team.

His third-period blast that gave the Capitals the lead? Now, that did the trick.

Serenaded again with chants of "MVP!" from the red-clad sellout crowd, Ovechkin scored his 64th and 65th goals Thursday night, breaking Luc Robitaille's single-season NHL mark for left wingers and leading the Capitals to a 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

"As a whole, we were a little nervous," Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said. "It's getting down to the nitty-gritty, you know."
The win put the Capitals into the top eight in the Eastern Conference, although they have only one game left to play while Boston and Philadelphia still have two to go. Washington likely needs to beat Florida at home in Saturday's regular-season finale to reach the postseason for the first time since 2003 -- and for the first time in Ovechkin's young career.

"It's a good time for us right now," Ovechkin said. "We have a chance, and we have to keep it going."

Ovechkin squeezes into the top 25 goal scoring seasons of all time….

1 Wayne Gretzky 1981-82 Edm 80 games 92 goals
2 Wayne Gretzky 1983-84 Edm 74 87
3 Brett Hull 1990-91 StL 78 86
4 Mario Lemieux 1988-89 Pit 76 85
5t Phil Esposito 1970-71 Bos 78 76
5t Alexander Mogilny 1992-93 Buf 77 76
5t Teemu Selanne 1992-93 Wpg 84 76
8 Wayne Gretzky 1984-85 Edm 80 73
9 Brett Hull 1989-90 StL 80 72
10t Wayne Gretzky 1982-83 Edm 80 71
10t Jari Kurri 1984-85 Edm 73 71
12t Brett Hull 1991-92 StL 73 70
12t Mario Lemieux 1987-88 Pit 77 70
12t Bernie Nicholls 1988-89 LA 79 70
15t Mike Bossy 1978-79 NYI 80 69
15t Mario Lemieux 1992-93 Pit 60 69
15t Mario Lemieux 1995-96 Pit 70 69
18t Mike Bossy 1980-81 NYI 79 68
18t Phil Esposito 1973-74 Bos 78 68
18t Jari Kurri 1985-86 Edm 78 68
21t Phil Esposito 1971-72 Bos 76 66
21t Lanny McDonald 1982-83 Cgy 80 66
23 Steve Yzerman 1988-89 Det 80 65
24 Alex Ovechkin 2007-08 Wash 81g 65
25 Mike Bossy 1981-82 NYI 80 64



Wilhelm Scream

Ask Sports Sturm – Web Episode #1

This Friday bit on the radio is something that I really enjoy doing where I try to answer questions or find people who can answer standard sports questions that people have about the games we watch and enjoy. We try to do it every Friday at 12:50 or so.

I want to begin to document my findings on this blog, so that before or after the segment, or down the road whenever the mood strikes, you can search for this article, and find the results in the archives here.

So, without over-explaining this, here is today’s main topic.

Dear Bob-

I am a baseball fan who enjoys the fine art of statistics, and what they tell us about a certain team or a certain player.

My question is this. Often times, like yesterday’s Newberg Report, a player’s performance is listed like this: Nelson Cruz’s 2004: .231/.286/.538 I know that the three categories are avg/obp/slug, but I do not know what the reference points are for the stats. For instance, I know a .300 hitter is thought of as excellent, but what is thought of as average, so that I could tell who is an above average hitter or a below average power hitter.

So, could you please elaborate on these numbers?

Thanks,

Double Dave

Cool. I like this one. Let’s start with the easy stuff.

Michael Young’s 2007 looked like this:

.315 batting average/.366 on base/.418 slugging

So what does this mean?

Well, you could research that Magglio Ordonez led the AL by hitting .363, and
David Ortiz led the AL in On Base Percentage with a .445 mark, and
Alex Rodriguez led the AL in Slugging percentage at .645.

So, the league leaders in 2007 hit:

.363/.445/.645

Of course, that is an awfully harsh way to judge a player. Only one guy leads the league in a category, so let’s try to find the league average.

In 2007, the average mark in baseball looked like this:

ML:.268/.336/.423
AL: .271/.338/.423
NL: .266/.334/.423

From this, we can clearly see that our example, Mike Young, is a phenomenal average guy (.315), who gets on base 10% more than league average (.366), but a slightly below average power hitter (.418).

Meanwhile, you have heard people reference the atrocious 2007 of Gerald Laird. Here is what he had:

.224/.278/.349

Well below average in every category. Well below. Of course, I could really give you tired head and break down the averages for each position (since catchers are far below the league averages in general), but I don’t want to get carried away in this study.

I was going to break down every Ranger who had over 500 ABs last year, until I realized the Michael Young was the ONLY player with 500 ABs. So, 400+

Ian Kinsler
.263/.355/.441

Exceptional OBP and Power, especially at his position. This guy is worth getting excited about if his fielding catches up with his bat.

Marlon Byrd
.307/.355/.459

Again, better than average across the board. David Murphy will get the nod for playing time in RF over Byrd once Milton Bradley takes over in Left, but I don’t know that Byrd isn’t the better bat in the short run. Murphy, though, has a brighter future, so I understand the decision.

And finally, Sammy Sosa
.252/.311/.468

A fairly one dimensional power hitter. And an unemployed one.

And, for one bonus look, here is why I am not quite the buyer of Jason Botts (Sorry, Dan). Through 167 ABs, the 28 year old had this in 2007:

.240/.326/.335

No average, average on base, and incredibly below average power for a guy who was suggested to be a power hitter (He is no Travis Hafner, folks). He may break out and surprise me, but I shall not buy his stock.

So, to review, the major league average in 2007 for batting average was .268-
The league average for on base percentage was .336-
And, the league average for slugging percentage was .423-
That would make the league average OPS (On base + Slugging) .759

2007: .268/.336/.423

What is that? You would like the league average for other years? Sure.

2006: .269/.337/.432
2005: .264/.330/.419
2004: .266/.335/.428
2003: .264/.333/.422
2002: .261/.331/.417
2001: .264/.332/.427
2000: .270/.345/.437
1999: .271/.345/.434
1998: .266/.335/.420
1997: .267/.337/.419
1996: .270/.340/.427
1995: .267/.338/.417
1994: .270/.339/.424
1993: .265/.332/.403

So, there are the last 15 years. You can look for conspiracy evidence for juiced balls and steroids. Nothing jumps out at me too much other than how low slugging was in 1993, and how high it was in 1999 and 2000. Otherwise, nothing screams out at you as being out of statistical normalcy.

But, shall we pick a few other historical years while my calculator is out?
1988: .254/.318/.378 (20 years ago)
1961: .258/.328/.399 (Maris 61)
1927: .284/.345/.393 (1927 Yankees)

This may have been interesting to you, or you may never want to see another stat, but the next time you see a guy’s stats, maybe now you will have a reference to the league to compare it to, and therefore will have a better handle on what type of player he is.

Make That 1-10!

OK, OK…it was just Golden State, you say. They were tired, you say. They should have been routed, you say.

And all that could be true.

But for one night, wasn’t that fun? Wasn’t that the way it is supposed to look?

Dirk led the way (or was that William Wallace?), Josh and Terry played as well as they have, and some guy named Eddie Jones appeared.

And for just a moment, your mind started to race. You started to wonder where this could head if this was what they were. Yes, you dared to dream again about the Dallas Mavericks.

It may have very well been one game that wasn’t that special, but I appreciated the Mavericks giving us a smile for the first time in a long time. 1-10 against teams with winning records is still bad, but it is sure better than 0-11, right?

Now, keep it going.


Dirk Nowitzki is back.…

And maybe the Mavericks are, too.

The real Mavericks, they hope. The ones who on Wednesday treated Golden State like a team that was playing its fourth playoff-worthy opponent in five nights, which the Warriors were.

With Nowitzki pulling off a nicely orchestrated smokescreen – he had painted a bleak picture earlier in the day about his health – the forward returned from his high left ankle sprain to ignite the Mavericks to a 111-86 victory.

The win showed that the Mavericks remain heart-healthy after a disappointing March, during which that muscle and other body parts were questioned by just about everybody.

"If it would have been November, there's no way I would have been out there," Nowitzki said. "But we've got to get this playoff spot. We've been fighting all season long, so I tried to be out there and helped the team as much as I could. If we'd lost, it wouldn't have looked too good."

In essence, the Mavericks pulled off a rope-a-dope. Or a rope-a-Dirk. After the team's morning shootaround, it looked iffy whether Nowitzki would play. Before the game, Warriors coach Don Nelson said the reports he had gotten were that Nowitzki was out.

Then, the MVP started and played 27 minutes, mostly in short bursts. He finished with 18 points, and his presence seemed to rejuvenate everybody.

"It was big," Devean George said. "No, it was huge."

And it even impressed the Warriors, who are locked in a battle with the Mavericks and Denver for the final two Western Conference playoff spots.

"The big difference was Nowitzki," Nelson said. "It was quite an inspiration to their ballclub. They just went to a different level than we've seen this year. If they can keep that level going, they're as good as anybody in the West."

A boisterous crowd at American Airlines Center watched the Mavericks solidify their spot as the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference. They won the season series, 3-1, over the Warriors, giving them the tiebreaker should the teams end the season with identical records.

They are two games ahead of the ninth-place Warriors, with Denver in between.
And, of course, the Mavericks finally won a game against a winning team, the first time that's happened since the Jason Kidd trade after 10 losses.

David Moore is there …

If you believe Golden State emasculated the Mavericks in the playoffs last season, if you believe the Warriors exposed Nowitzki as an MVP fraud, what do you believe now?

This game was for those clueless souls who allege Nowitzki isn't all that tough. He played with a high ankle sprain and sore knee that would have kept lesser athletes on the bench in street clothes for at least another week.

Nowitzki wasn't at his best Wednesday. He labored to get up and down the court at times and had no lift to his jump shot. But he was able to pivot off his left leg on several occasions and get to the basket. He finished with 18 points and five rebounds in a performance that was more about sheer will and guile than ability.
Nowitzki did more on one leg than Golden State's Stephen Jackson did on two.

Jackson, who punked Nowitzki in the playoffs, had two points and was 1-of-11 from the field as Howard shut him down.

The Mavericks carried a 20-point lead into the final period and actually extended that lead. That's one way for the team to force critics to stop focusing on its struggles in the stretch.

The Mavericks made the closing moments of this game irrelevant, because Howard was once again dominant offensively. Jason Terry, who has seemed lost at times this season, found his way. Jason Kidd showed why the Mavericks mortgaged their future to obtain him, and Johnson left center Erick Dampier on the court rather than remove him to try to go small with the Warriors.

The result: The Mavericks pounded the Warriors into submission on the boards, 56-38.
"It was a must win," Nowitzki said. "If we had gone down tonight, things did not look good at all."

It wasn't just a must win. It was a game the Mavericks should have won.
Golden State was playing its fourth game in five nights. The Warriors had lost to San Antonio by 24 points one night earlier.

The story in the Bay Area this morning …

No one had to tell the Warriors or the Mavericks what was at stake Wednesday night. If ever there was a regular-season game that screamed playoffs at every turn, this was it.

"If we don't win this game," Andris Biedrins said before tip-off, "then we are in big trouble."

Consider the Warriors in a world of hurt.

Golden State's biggest game of the season ended in colossal disappointment, a 111-86 spanking at American Airlines Center that was every bit as lopsided as the final score read.

The Warriors were simply no match for the previously-stumbling Mavs, who rode Dirk Nowitzki's gutsy return and huge nights by Josh Howard and Jason Terry to the virtual brink of the playoffs.

With the Warriors losing the season series 3-1, they also lost every tiebreaker scenario with the Mavs and Nuggets should any or all finish the season with the same record.

Although the Warriors are officially one game behind the Nuggets and two behind the Mavs for the final playoff spots, Golden State is effectively two back and three back of the pack, respectively, with seven games left to play.

"Ain't nothing we can do, we got our butts kicked tonight," Baron Davis said. "At this point, we got to be able to shake off tough losses like this and get to our next game. We have to get our spark back, and that's going to start with Memphis."
It had better, or else the Warriors' make-or-break road trip will double as the end of their postseason push.

Golden State dropped consecutive games for the first time since Jan. 2 and Jan. 4, and its offense continues to stumble at the worst time possible. After shooting 38 percent against the Spurs, the Warriors followed up with another 38-percent outing against the Mavs.

Rangers lose the rubber match in Seattle …

One theme that ran through the Texas Rangers' spring training from start to finish was the need to get off to a different kind of start than in 2007.

After one series, though, things look eerily similar.

The Rangers dropped the series finale in Seattle, 4-1, on Wednesday night. And while the Rangers didn't get swept like they did last year at Los Angeles, that was about the only difference.

A year ago, on the way to a 23-42 start, the Rangers failed to field the ball and failed to deliver with runners in scoring position. That was exactly the case during their cold three-day stay in Seattle.

Fielding problems were the case Monday and Tuesday, when four errors really stuck out. Wednesday, it was situational hitting that came to the forefront.

The Rangers were hitless in six at-bats with runners in scoring position, and just 3-for-21 during the series. Only once Wednesday did they even advance a runner.

===

The inability to score runs rendered Jason Jennings' Rangers debut meaningless. He lasted only five innings. The third trip through the Mariners' lineup did him in.

Jennings had retired 10 in a row when No. 9 hitter Yuniesky Betancourt slapped a two-out single in the fifth. Ichiro Suzuki, who had seen nine pitches while grounding out in his first two at-bats, followed with a single between short and third.

Jose Lopez, who had seen 12 total pitches while popping out in each of his first two at-bats, fell behind 0-and-2, but Jennings missed with three straight pitches. Lopez crushed the full-count pitch for a three-run homer to left. Jennings also gave up a bases-empty homer to Jose Vidro in the second.

Jennings followed the homer with a walk, but he did get Richie Sexson to pop up to end the inning. Still, the 32-pitch inning put him at 91 for the game and ended his night.

It ended the Rangers' streak of quality starts at two. The club hasn't had three consecutive quality starts to begin the season since 1996, when it went on to win the AL West.

It also extended the Rangers' streak to 194 games without a complete-game performance by a pitcher. It ties the major league record set by Tampa Bay from April 14, 2001 through May 19, 2002. The Rangers could break the record for pitching futility Friday when Kason Gabbard faces Los Angeles. The last Ranger to have a complete game was Kevin Millwood on August 29, 2006 vs. Baltimore.

Revo is on board with David Murphy …and then, when we least expected it, he gave all the credit to RUDY!!! Amazing.

It's perfectly OK that David Murphy plays in Josh Hamilton's shadow in the Texas Rangers' outfield, as long as he stays in Hamilton's shadow.

Literally.

In other words, manager Ron Washington needs to keep doing exactly what he's done for every game so far this season: writing Murphy's name in the Rangers' lineup, as he did for the third time Wednesday night at Safeco Field.

It's called playing the hot hand, and let's face it, Murphy has been nothing but hot since he arrived in Texas last Aug. 10.

Hot the final two months of last year.

Hot this spring.

Hot to kick off the 2008 season.

Seems to me there might be a trend developing here.

Hey, I'm as surprised about this development as you are. The long, tall Texan (Klein High School in Spring) might have once been a highly touted first-round draft pick out of Baylor in 2003, but when the Rangers sent Eric Gagné to Boston for three players at the trade deadline last July 31, Murphy seemed like little more than a throw-in to complete the deal.

The headliners in the trade were left-hander Kason Gabbard, who was expected to immediately join the Rangers' rotation, and Class A teenager Engel Beltre, a reportedly immense raw talent with five-tool potential.

Murphy? Might be a serviceable fourth outfielder was the report.

Yawn.

But then something strange happened on Murphy's path to oblivion on the bench. Hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo got hold of that "ugly swing," as he characterized it, and suddenly all that potential the Red Sox had seen in the now 26-year-old outfielder began to blossom.

In 103 at-bats with the Rangers, mostly in September, Murphy hit .340 with a dozen doubles and a couple of home runs. He picked up right where he left off when he arrived in Surprise, Ariz., this spring, hitting .359. Not many people noticed, though, because three teammates -- Hamilton, Ian Kinsler and Michael Young -- each batted better than .400.

Don Banks on Wade Phillips …

Speaking of bull's-eye, nobody starts the 2008 season with a bigger one on his back than Phillips, the Cowboys second-year coach. Dallas went 13-3 in the regular season last year, but got upset at home in the divisional round by the Giants, a team it had already beaten twice earlier. For all the Super Bowl buzz surrounding the Cowboys last season, the ugly fact remains that Dallas hasn't won a playoff game since 1996, a postseason drought longer than that of the Arizona Cardinals, who last won in the playoffs in 1998.

Phillips drew a lot of heat late last season and after the playoff loss, and deservedly so. He seemed a bit tone deaf when it came to his team and its less-than-rousing head of momentum heading into the playoffs, and he seemed to make excuses for its underachievement afterward, trying to cling to the ridiculous notion that earning a first-round bye equated to winning their first playoff game.

And after listening to him Wednesday, I'm still not sure Phillips gets it. He was back making the same basic points that won him some derision after the loss to the Giants. Asked about the Cowboys having an NFL-high 13 Pro Bowl players last season, but no playoff wins to show for it, Phillips again sounded more defensive than disappointed about last season.

"Well, we did go to the division round of the playoffs,'' Phillips pointed out. "And the team we lost to, I think did well in the playoffs. I think our players, a lot of them played up to their potential, which ended up with them making the Pro Bowl. And our team was good overall, certainly during the regular season.

"But you've got to be there [in the playoffs]. You've got to be there, and if you're there every year, you have a chance. Hopefully we can continue this process. You know, we lost one game by four points [against the Giants] and we were down there at the end of the game a couple times, to a team that certainly won it all. I'm proud of last year's team, but we think we can do better this year.''

They'd better. I've said this before, but if the Cowboys don't win at least one playoff game, and maybe two, Phillips can just about count on having yet another NFL address in 2009. Dallas owner Jerry Jones has been supportive this offseason, but he wouldn't have any choice but to lower the boom on Phillips and begin the Jason Garrett head coaching era if this season brings another one-and-done playoff showing.

Liverpool is severely outplayed, but get the away goal…and now sit pretty heading back to Anfield next week against Arsenal…

Everyone knew where this game was bound from the instant the draw was made, but the sides took a winding, scenic route to deadlock that nobody had expected. Frequently, there was more madness than method and this was not the type of stalemate anticipated in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final. While Liverpool, with their away goal, have the edge, Arsenal would surely have won had the substitute Nicklas Bendtner, in an offside position, not been in the way of a net-bound effort from Cesc Fábregas.

Arsenal are exasperated, too, that, with the score at 1-1, the Dutch referee, Pieter Vink, failed to see the tug at the left arm of Alexander Hleb by Dirk Kuyt that should have brought a penalty in the 66th minute. On broader reflection, Arsène Wenger should be happy about spells, after the interval, when his side had an expansiveness unseen since they held that five-point lead in the Premier League not so long ago.

Nonetheless, Arsenal probably need to reach the sort of peak at Anfield that they attained to beat Milan 2-0 at San Siro in the previous round. The overall situation will gladden Rafael Benítez at a time when this competition offers the sole hope, as it probably does for Arsenal, of plucking triumph from a muddled season.

And Chelsea loses in Turkey …but they should be fine..

My new column on Dallas Stars.com on Zubov …

Texas Rangers HD Schedule ….

Check this out:

Dallas animal rescue groups are giving a party for Bill Craig Friday night, a Georgia cyclist making an 800-mile marathon to raise money for the spay-neuter-adoption cause.

"Dallas-to-Dallas Ride for Wet Noses" is on the road April 5th—12th.

It's 7 days, 800 miles, 1 man and a bike.

The Big Send-Off is Friday night, 5:30-7:30 pm

3506 Cedar Springs, Dallas, TX

Cedar Springs at Sale Street, off Turtle Creek Blvd.

Donations at the door.

More information: D2D4Wetnoses.com or 214-350-7387.

Where MMA happens




Holy Cow, Is Kevin Love any good?

Order that Hamilton Jersey

Well, at the risk of getting sucked in by another amazing debut (see: Kapler, Gabe; and Richards, Brad), how can you not be amazed by what Josh Hamilton did in his 2nd game with the Texas Rangers? All he did was track down a few gap shots and then won the game with a 9th inning 2-run home run when you were down one.

I’ve seen a lot of things, but that…was…awesome!

I will say that I wonder if he can stay healthy all year, and as he slammed into the wall tracking down Brad Wilkerson’s would-be double I held my breath, but he looks like the real deal.

Tonight, the debut of Jason Jennings against the amazingly average and rich Carlos Silva…

A win seldom feels so good …

The expectation is that Josh Hamilton will do exactly what he did Tuesday night. He’ll deliver dramatic winning homers.

Here’s a bit of advice, though: If you sit around waiting for a Hamilton homer, you may miss some other compelling parts of his act. The guy can catch the ball, and he can run, too.

And when you put it all together, he’s got the ability to single-handedly deliver a game just like Tuesday’s 5-4 win over Seattle. The standings will say the Texas Rangers are 1-1 today. Make no mistake, though, the win was all Hamilton.

Even before he drove the first pitch he saw from Mariners reliever J.J. Putz into the right field seats with one out and Ian Kinsler on first in the ninth inning, he first kept the Rangers in the game with two running catches and then helped give the club the lead by beating out a rally-starting infield hit.

“When I’m not having a good game at the plate, and I wasn’t having one early in this game, I still want to be able to do everything I can to help the team win a game,” Hamilton said. “I love playing the outfield. I love it even more than hitting.”

When the Rangers acquired Hamilton, it was with the thought that possibly, just possibly, he was a franchise kind of player. He looked the part Tuesday.

Just consider:

•In the fifth and seventh innings, he ran down long fly balls off the bats of various Mariners to keep a 1-1 score tied. Brad Wilkerson had driven a two-out pitch from Vicente Padilla deep towards left center in the fifth. But with Richie Sexson lumbering around the bases, Hamilton, stumbling into the wall as he reached for the ball, made an over-the-shoulder grab. In the seventh, he went to right-center to take extra bases away from Raul Ibanez to start the inning.

•In the eighth, he started the Rangers' rally by hustling to first after chopping a pitch from lefty Eric O’Flaherty into the ground. Thought Sexson fielded the ball cleanly, the high bounce and Hamilton’s hustle gave him enough time to reach the bag just ahead of the Mariners first baseman. Hank Blalock followed with a double on a 1-and-2 count, and then Milton Bradley’s fly ball gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead. They expanded it to 3-1 when David Murphy doubled with two outs.

•In the ninth, after Kinsler’s hit, flu-ridden Michael Young struck out, leaving Hamilton to face Putz. In the season-opener, Putz struck Hamilton out to end the game. Hamilton saw eight pitches in that at-bat, though, including four fastballs.

Sergei Zubov has played 46 games – the Stars have played 79 And the hopes of his imminent return appear to be quite hopeful ….

Sergei Zubov looked good while he skated around the San Jose practice facility Friday.

He sounded positive, too, as he approached his return from foot and groin injuries.
But, on Tuesday, instead of skating with Dallas Stars teammates, Zubov was talking to doctors again.

And his return date is in question again.

Coach Dave Tippett said it will be several days until the defenseman will skate again.

It's unknown when he might play.

"It's always a concern when 56 isn't there," Tippett said. "He's going to see a specialist, and he'll be back in a couple days.

"It's a combination of a lot of things."

It's another setback for Zubov, who's had several over the past two months and hasn't played since Jan. 17.

He was originally supposed to come back in late February but underwent foot surgery instead.

Zubov skated most of last week and was expected to play this past weekend.

Now, more waiting lies ahead.

"We'll get the results and review it all on Friday," Tippett said.

By the way, I am now a columnist for Dallasstars.com. They have told me to write what I mean, and mean what I write (right) (translation: they have not asked me to be a homer, but to say whatever I want) so I accepted. I have a Zubov column that will be up today, but here is the first one I wrote
last Friday from San Jose …

Meanwhile, in what could be the biggest regular season game for the Mavericks in years, they take on the Warriors…with Dirk? ….

Dirk Nowitzki put in 45 minutes of court time in front of coach Avery Johnson on Tuesday. It's possible the forward could be in uniform Wednesday night against Golden State, just 11 days after suffering a high left ankle sprain.

It would be a remarkably quick recovery. But even if it's on the trip against the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix later this week, Nowitzki's return is imminent. Officially, he's been upgraded to day-to-day.

"He shot a few shots ... made a few, missed a few, and he moved OK," Johnson said.
"We'll know more when we see how he recovers and once he goes through [today's] shootaround. He was able to go through some contact. But is he ready to play in a game? We'll have to wait and see. But he felt pretty good."

It doesn't help that tonight's opponent is the Golden State Warriors, who play at as fast a tempo as any team in the league.

Mike Rhyner discussed the new website SI Vault , that features every story that Sports Illustrated has ever written…for free. Wow. Amazing resource. Amazing time waste. Enjoy.

I’ll get you started with the story from the day Alex Rodriguez was signed by the Rangers …

Both men got exactly what they wanted. Hicks landed one of the best and most marketable players in baseball as the center of an imagined universe that he believes will produce revenue streams and World Series runs to rival those of the New York Yankees. "We're Number 4 in [major league] revenue," Boras said Hicks told him, "and heading up."

===
Last Friday, Rodriguez flew by private jet to Las Vegas and checked into a hotel under the name of Pat Riley. He would spend the weekend playing golf with old high school buddies. On the way to Vegas the jet had stopped in Dallas to drop off Boras at the winter meetings, where he hoped to get the deal done.

Boras kept his ear to the ground for rumblings that the Dodgers or the Mets would enter the picture, but that didn't happen. He did schedule a Sunday-night meeting with the Mets' Phillips to settle what he called "an apparent huge miscommunication" between the two of them—and if that was entrée for the Mets to jump back in, fine—but that meeting had to be postponed because of the gathering momentum of the Rangers' efforts to close the deal.

The White Sox remained active, but on Saturday owner Jerry Reinsdorf told his first-year general manager, Kenny Williams, that he wanted to meet Rodriguez in private. The days for those meetings were long over, Boras said. Chicago was done. As for Atlanta, Boras made it clear that the Braves could not count on their reputation alone to get Rodriguez. "The Braves know they'd better get their running shoes out of the closet," Boras said last Saturday. "The race is on."

Atlanta never laced up. It refused to consider a no-trade clause, and that was a deal breaker. "In the last weekend it was Texas 1, Seattle 2 and Atlanta 3 in my mind," Rodriguez said on Monday. "Texas really won it, but the Mariners made it a lot easier by the way they treated me."

Word spread through the Anatole Hotel on Sunday night that the Rangers had offered about $240 million. One Seattle source, when told of that, said, "No way. That's ridiculous. We're still in it. If that were true, he'd be signed."

Of course, it was that much and more. The Mariners offered Rodriguez only a five-year contract for about $92 million. At 6 p.m. in Dallas on Sunday, Boras called Rodriguez in Las Vegas. "Alex, Texas can get this thing done," Boras said. "What would you like to do."

"Go ahead and get it done," Rodriguez said.

A few hours later, just as Rodriguez was leaving for a Las Vegas show, Boras called back to tell him the framework of a deal was in place. He would be a Ranger. Rodriguez enjoyed the show, flew home to Miami and played golf the next afternoon.

On Monday morning Boras sat slumped in a chair in room 2289 at the Anatole. He had gone to bed at 3 a.m. but couldn't sleep, still wired from the deal. He had slept maybe nine hours all weekend and had skipped several meals.

"Whenever a client changes teams, you worry because you're leaving a known situation," he said. "I have some of those thoughts right now, as I did with Maddux in 1992. But today I feel like the world only now will get to know Alex. Bigger and better things are out there for him. He's already a star, but this puts him on a whole different level. Today is only the beginning for Alex."

Those were the days…

Catching up with Gabe …

Gabe Kapler was perhaps the quietest player in the Milwaukee Brewers' clubhouse this sprin

"I believe you earn respect by the way you go about your business and the way you interact with your teammates, by the professionalism you bring to the clubhouse," the veteran outfielder said.

"I've tried to stay quiet and be an observer. You don't earn it by what you say or necessarily by how you perform, but how you get there."

It's impossible not to respect how Kapler earned a spot on the Brewers' season-opening roster. Showing absolutely no rust after a one-year retirement, the versatile Kapler won a job with a hard-nosed, high-energy style of play that caught the attention of manager Ned Yost.

Yost was informed beforehand by general manager Doug Melvin, who had Kapler in Texas, and third-base coach Dale Sveum, who worked with Kapler in Boston, that he'd like the native Californian's approach to the game.

"I heard about this guy from Doug for years," Yost said. "Then I talked with (Sveum) and he told me he was a winning player.

"He was very impressive, right from the get-go, in everything he did. He's got Brady Clark mentality with more talent. He fits our mold, what we like."

With centerfielder Mike Cameron beginning the season on a 25-game suspension, the
Brewers are able to carry an extra outfielder. That worked in Kapler's favor, but so did his ability.

Yost already has said he plans to start the right-handed-hitting Kapler in center against left-handed pitchers. And the Cubs will start a lefty, Ted Lilly, in the second game of the season-opening series today at Wrigley Field.

Asked about showing he still had game left after managing a year in the minors, the 32-year-old Kapler said, "Of course, it's satisfying. To be respected is very flattering.

"What I'm most excited about is thinking about situations already that I might be able to help this team. I kind of understand my role already and I feel like I'm going to be able to help this team win. That's exciting.

"This is a good team. I'm just starting to taste this. I'm anxious for it all to count, for the adrenaline and heartbeat that only occurs with regular-season games. There's nothing like it. I'm trying to be humble and quiet about it, and see what happens."

Can Ovechkin and the Caps make the playoffs? …

It's been quite a chase up the standings for Washington, but with a big divisional win over the Hurricanes at home, the Capitals are finally tied for the Southeast Division lead.

And finishing third is now a more real possibility than squeaking into eighth.

Both Carolina and Washington have two games remaining, and both face already eliminated Tampa Bay and Florida at home. Carolina's final game of the season is Friday night against the Panthers; Washington gets the cats from Sunrise the next night to close their schedule.

Under Bruce Boudreau, Washington's been 35-17-7, 77 points in 59 games or the equivalent of a 107-point campaign over 82 games.

At that rate, they'd be the best team in the Eastern Conference this season, and behind just Detroit and San Jose in the NHL standings.

Yet, still, they're on the outside looking in (given the 'Canes hold the tiebreaker).

That 6-14-1 hole posted with Glen Hanlon as coach looms large. But Washington has whipped off five wins in a row, and nine in its past 10 games, with Cristobal Huet allowing just nine goals in his past five starts.

They're red hot, and all that stands between themselves and the postseason are the Lightning and Panthers.

Cutler hates Brandon Marshall …

Jay Cutler has had it with all the drama and headlines surrounding top target Brandon Marshall.

In his first offseason interview, one sprinkled with unusually blunt criticism, the Denver Broncos quarterback called out his No. 1 receiver and fellow third-year star who suffered a gash on his right forearm while horsing around last month.

"Yeah, he's not my favorite person right now," Cutler said. "I mean, I support him, but it's always something with him right now."

With Jeremy Bates taking over the Broncos' passing game, Cutler said Tuesday that it was imperative for Marshall to participate in all the offseason workouts, but he won't be back in action until training camp.

"We're going to be fine. I'm not that overly concerned about it, but it just would be nice coming into our third year, coming off a big year he had last year, for him to get more work done and get more time in and just a little more trust out there," Cutler said. "But it's going to take some time now, maybe training camp, maybe even longer."

Marshall, who emerged as Cutler's primary target during a breakout 2007 season, said he was horsing around with his older brother at a resort in Orlando, Fla., when he fell into a television set, cutting an artery, a vein, a nerve, two tendons and three muscles in his right arm.

Marshall has found himself in the news a lot lately. He faces a DUI charge stemming from an October incident and had a spat with his girlfriend last year that landed him in court. And he was partying with Darrent Williams the night the cornerback was slain in a drive-by shooting on Jan. 1, 2006. Former teammate Javon Walker said Marshall sprayed champagne on some bar patrons, sparking a confrontation that preceded the shooting, which remains unsolved.

"I've talked to him many times. I think a lot of people have. ... He knows he's running out of chances," Cutler said. "This wasn't like his DUI and other stuff he's had. It was an accident, but still, things like that can't happen. He knows it.

"But like I told him, I said, 'Brandon, they're going to quit giving you chances and you're going to have to go somewhere else. And that's going to be a shame.'"

Marshall said last week that he realizes he has to grow up and that his freak injury was a wakeup call.

"His DUI was a wakeup call," Cutler retorted. "He's had many wakeup calls. I mean, he's been in [coach Mike] Shanahan's office many times. I've been up there with him. He said the same thing: 'This is a wakeup call. This is the last thing that's going to happen. Blah blah blah.' I mean, until he goes out and proves it, we'll see what happens.'"

Cutler wants to have trust in his No. 1 receiver.

"I love Brandon to death and he's a great kid at heart. I don't think he goes out there looking for trouble. He's not at bars late. He's not doing those things that other people do. It's just something about him. He's always into something," Cutler said. "Like I told him, 'I haven't lost faith in you. I'll still support you. But ... you're going to have to prove yourself this time.'"

Marshall, a fourth-round draft choice in 2006 out of Central Florida, blossomed into the Broncos' best receiver last year, facilitating the recent release of Walker, who was replaced by free agent Keary Colbert.

Leave it to the Mayor of Philadelphia to tuck his jersey in his jeans. Poser.



Unintentional Comedy Alert: Here…seriously, can this be real? Or, is Saturday Night Live developing a new skit in Fort Worth? I sit amazed as I watch and just wonder how this entire operation came to be….6 minutes of gold…


Spaghetti Prank of 1957



Craziest thing on this blog today



Liverpool plays at Arsenal today at 1:45 on ESPN2 in the Champions League. Wish them luck…they are going to need it…

No Perfect Season in 2008

Our first dose of Rangers baseball was oddly reminiscent of recent Mavericks games to me; A promising start (Michael Young takes Erik Bedard deep), followed by the slow methodical bleeding out of our heroes on their way to an all-too-predictable defeat, that ended up looking like a rather sound defeat.

But, I promise to keep the Rangers positivity going as long as possible, so despite feeling like I have seen this episode about a million times, I am eager for Game #2 tonight, with Padilla versus King Felix.

Kevin Millwood deserved better …

The Texas Rangers have twice removed opening day starters with no-hitters in progress. They once had an opening day starter go nine shutout innings and get no decision. In their first opener, the starting pitcher didn't yield an earned run – and they still lost.

So it probably shouldn't be considered all that strange that Monday, in their 37th season opener, Rangers starter Kevin Millwood outpitched and outlasted one of the AL Cy Young Award favorites while refusing to yield an earned run.

And lost, too.

With the strange sight of snow falling outside Safeco Field's cover, Seattle beat the snow-blinded Rangers, 5-2, by taking advantage of poor fielding and the Rangers' inability to capitalize on Erick Bedard's shaky command.

As a result, Millwood joined former pitching coach Dick Bosman as the only Rangers opening day starters to not allow an earned run and still lose.

"It's just one of those openers where you kind of shake your head," Millwood said. "And then you come back and say 'Let's get 'em tomorrow.' "

There really wasn't much else Millwood could do. After being limited to five "A" game innings during the spring because of a hamstring strain, he gave the Rangers the kind of opening day performance they'd not seen in his first two seasons in Texas.

Rangers wounds largely self-inflicted …

Afterward, the Rangers felt like they mostly had themselves to blame.

Asked later what he thought would happen if he knew the Rangers would force Bedard out of the game after five innings while Texas starter Kevin Millwood wouldn't allow an earned run in six, Kinsler said, "I think our chances would be pretty good."

They might have been, had the Rangers been able to execute a few routine plays.
Instead, an error led to two unearned runs in the sixth inning, one coming when the Rangers couldn't pull off a potential inning-ending double play. Two wild pitches helped lead to three Seattle runs in the seventh.

The Rangers stranded five runners in the first three innings against Bedard, feeling like they let him off the hook with ill-timed two-out swings.

"You'd like to have better at-bats in those situations," said shortstop Michael Young.

Young was briefly a Texas hero, hitting a solo home run in the top of the first off Bedard. But he booted a grounder from Ichiro leading off the sixth that led to two Seattle runs and a 2-1 Mariners lead.

"I should have made that play," Young said. "He hit it hard, but I would like to have that back, that's for sure. If he doesn't get on, that inning might have a different look to it."

Josh and Tom were using some Evan Grant writing for a discussion yesterday, so I dug his story up …get a load of these numbers…

Over the last five years, AL playoff teams have averaged 84 quality starts per season, 986 innings from the starting rotation and a .346 on-base percentage from their hitters. Over the last 11 seasons, 17 AL teams have reached all three benchmarks in the same season; thirteen of them have gone to the playoffs, and the other four averaged 91 wins.

The Rangers in the last five years have averaged 61 quality starts, 872 innings and a .331 on-base percentage. Last year, they had the league's fewest quality starts (55) and fewest rotation innings (838). Those are areas in which the Rangers could show meaningful incremental improvement in 2008.

Meanwhile, if only we could play the Clippers every night …

If the Dallas Mavericks had about a half-dozen more games against the Los Angeles Clippers, their playoff spot would be safe.

As it is, they began what amounts to a nine-game season with their second victory over the Clippers in a week. And it may have been a good thing for them that it took a rugged battle to close it out.

The Mavericks scratched and clawed down the stretch to hold on to a 93-86 win over the Clippers. The Clips are the only team they have beaten in a 2-5 stretch but at this point, returning to the win column against anybody was enough to put smiles back on faces in the locker room.

Their win at Staples Center pushed them a half-game ahead of Golden State and a full game up on Denver, which lost at Phoenix, in the race for the seventh seed in the Western Conference.

“Everybody in here has had their back against the wall at some point,’’ said Eddie Jones, who played 17 minutes and was part of a diversified attack. “In this league, if you don’t have perseverance, something’s wrong.’’

The Mavericks had it and needed it against a Clippers team that kept losing players to injury and kept getting step-up efforts from unlikely sources – like former Mavericks Nick Fazekas and Dan Dickau.

Jason Kidd had a huge night with 27 points. Josh Howard (25 points) and Jason Terry (20) provided the late-game buckets that staved off a heartfelt Clippers rally from 18 points down.

Is Dirk returning Wednesday? …

Although it's too early to consider a fireworks display -- and even too early for the Dallas City Council to announce a parade route -- the Dallas Mavericks seem close to a celebration.

Avery Johnson won't have a good idea until today, and he won't know for sure until shortly before game time on Wednesday, but it seems that Dirk Nowitzki is close to returning to the lineup.

Nowitzki was injured on March 23 when he blocked a shot against the San Antonio Spurs and landed roughly on his left foot. The ankle rolled, the leg gave and Nowitzki was out of the lineup with a high ankle sprain and mild knee sprain.
The Mavericks defeated the Clippers at home without Nowitzki, then lost subsequent games at Denver and Golden State. They played the Clippers in a late game here Monday night.

The Mavericks were scheduled to fly back to Dallas after the game and Johnson said again that he would take a group of reserves for a light workout with Nowitzki today.
If Nowitzki can withstand the pressure on his left leg, he could be back in the starting lineup when the Mavericks meet the Warriors at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday in American Airlines Center.

"I'm optimistic that he will be," Jason Terry said. "But if he doesn't, we'll still have to grind it out."

Johnson wasn't quite as positive.

"He's jogging a little bit," Johnson said, "but again, to play this game, you've got to cut, you've got to slide, you've got to jump, you've got to rebound and there's just a lot involved. We'll have a chance to see him and see what happens when we check him out."

The Mavericks have obviously missed Nowitzki's 23.6 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. But -- and this may be a shock to some -- Dallas has also missed his defense.
The Mavericks allow an average of 95.6 points per game, but gave up an average of 107 in the three games Nowitzki missed before Monday.

Stars prepare for life on the road to open the playoffs …

The Dallas Stars' chance of catching the Anaheim Ducks for the No. 4 seed all but ended Sunday night.

Trailing the Ducks by five points with three games left, the Stars will probably start the playoffs on the road for the second consecutive year. And Dallas coach Dave Tippett thinks that's fine with this group.

But the Stars have been a solid road team this season, going 21-14-3-2. Considering that, and the Stars' lackluster outings at home in the postseason, a road trip might be good.

"I don't think that would worry our group at all," Tippett said. "We've got some young players we need to get integrated, and some jumping on the road would be very good for them."

Road trips have been beneficial for the Stars this season. They went 4-2 on an Eastern Conference swing about two weeks after general manager Doug Armstrong's Nov. 13 firing. Marty Turco had some of his best games this season when the Stars went 3-0 in Western Canada after the All-Star break.

The flip side, however, is the energy the home team gets from being in its own venue in the postseason. Steve Ott said he remembers last April in Vancouver, where Game 7 "was a pretty hostile environment."

Oh, there's an outside chance of the Stars winning home ice. If they win their three remaining games and the Ducks lose their final two (at least once in regulation), the Stars could get the No. 4 seed.

The Stars, who went 2-7-1-1 in March, would take any positives -- especially victories -- they can muster heading into the playoffs.

"We have to continue to build on this," Tippett said. "We had some real positives on the trip, and we have to continue to build on them. We have to make sure we try to get as many mistakes and situations that could negatively affect our game out of there."

There's still some uncertainty of the Stars' finishing place.

They have 93 points, No. 6 Colorado has 91 with two games left, No. 7 Calgary has 90 with three left, and No. 8 Vancouver has 88 with three left.

If the Stars win two of three, they would hold on to No. 5.

Email from Justin:

I thought you all would like to know that while pacman made his first trip down to valley ranch to talk a contract out with Jerry Jones, He was later spotted by a group of friends at Baby Dolls. I don’t know if we should care or not. I just thought it was interesting.

How do you like this Star wars tattoo?



Finally, the Champions League is back today and tomorrow…

UEFA Champions League

Quarterfinals - 1st Leg Matches & Scores:

-Tue Apr 1

Roma v Manchester United - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
Schalke v Barcelona - delayed at 4pm central on ESPN Classic

-Wed Apr 2

Arsenal v Liverpool - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
Fenerbahce v Chelsea - delayed at 4pm central on ESPN Classic

Give me, United and Barca, Chelsea and Liverpool (I hope). I would say “watch out for Roma”, as they would want mucho revenge against United for the spanking of last spring, but with an unfit Totti and Ronaldo on simply another level, I don’t see it…

Christy Ronaldo with his highlighted-tips, is too amazing to hate too much…



Dirk in a happier time



Is this Racist?