Ask Sports Sturm: What is an Ace?

What makes an ace? Where is the definition of what constitutes an ace? The topic of today’s Ask Sports Sturm:

Dear Sports Sturm-

I heard you yesterday say that you thought Chad Billingsley is now a true ace. I have a hard time believing that, but first, I guess we need to know what you would consider an ace to be. Do you think each team has one? I would like to think that there are not more than a handful of aces in major league baseball, and that might eliminate Billingsley from being in that elite class.

Baseball Junkie

Believe it or not, after I threw that out on the air on Thursday’s show, I had to think myself about what constituted “ace” in major league baseball. I even googled it, to see if any baseball types have already done this study, and since I couldn’t find anything more than the occasional message board posts, I thought I would tackle the topic here.

So, after pondering it, here is what I decided for my ideas of what would constitute an ace pitcher in major league baseball today (given the state of stats in the late part of this decade:

1) – 200+ innings in the season . The idea here is that my ace has to take the ball 30+ times and average 6+ innings. I cannot have a fragile #1 starter if I am going to pay him ace money. Does he stay healthy? And does he pitch into the 7th inning on a regular basis? If he does, he satisfies my need for work load in a given season. This one is not really negotiable. A hurt ace is like having a Corvette that doesn’t run in your garage. What is the point? You still are paying for it, just not getting the positives.

2) - ERA under 3.50. Admittedly, this one is quite arbitrary, but I thought that in today’s baseball, 3.5 is a reasonable number. I know a sub 3.00 ERA is more attractive, but in this day and age, a sub 3 is nearly unheard of. I thought that baseball has changed enough to go sub 3.5.

3) - 200+ Strikeouts in the season . Again, you can likely be an ace without being a master of the strikeout, but I am a big believer in the art of missing bats. Strikeouts mean fewer balls in play. Fewer balls in play means less reliance in your defense. For instance, in a 7 inning start, if you are getting 7 strikeouts, you only need 14 plays made by your defense. The low strikeout guys need 20 plays made, where the butchers in the field can sabotage your efforts. I like my ace to be good enough that he will be great with any major league infield behind him.

4) Win more than 15 games . This is a highly controversial component of my “ace” definition, but I think it is one I am firm on. Obviously, you cannot get wins without your offense helping you and your bullpen helping you. But, I think that a true ace, assuming he is making 33 starts, must show the intestinal fortitude to emerge the winner in at least 15 of those starts. Tim Lincecum for San Francisco in 2008 is a great example of a 18-5 pitcher on a 72-90 team. That is a true ace performance. Yes, there will be no offense, and yes, there will be blown saves. You still have to get to 15 in my eyes.

5) Fewer than 1 hit per inning . This one is also one I am pretty committed to. There are quite a few pitchers who are able to perform a huge work load, but they give up 240 hits in 210 innings. I think this is Kevin Millwood affecting me, but regardless, the Mark Buehrle-types are not going to like it, nor are Aaron Cook or Jon Garland, but I think this is an important component of thinning the herd of what makes an ace.

So, again:
1) 200 innings+
2) Below 3.5 ERA
3) 200 K’s +
4) 15 Wins +
5) Fewer that 9 hits per 9

With that in mind, let’s check the numbers for 2008:

Name	Wins	IP	ERA	K’s	Hits
Sabathia	17	253.0	2.70	251	223
Halladay	20	246.0	2.78	206	220
J.Santana	16	234.1	2.53	206	206
Lincecum	18	227.0	2.62	265	182
E.Santana	16	219.0	3.49	231	198
Haren	16	216.0	3.33	206	204
Billingsley	16	200	3.14	201	188

Table Tutorial

And that is the whole list. After looking at the results, I did wonder how Cole Hamels, Brandon Webb, Cliff Lee, AJ Burnett, and Roy Oswalt missed the boat.

Hamels only fell 4 strikeouts and 1 win short. Webb had 183 strikeouts, otherwise he hits all the checkpoints. Lee was 30 strikeouts short. Burnett’s ERA was 4.07. And Oswalt’s strikeouts were too low, and his ERA was slightly too high.

Perhaps I should be more liberal in my strikeout requirements. But that means we have somewhere between 7 and 12 aces in baseball. 7 if I am really firm in my numbers, and a full dozen if I make an exception for those other 5. That sounds about right to me. 12 pitchers had “ace seasons” in 2008.

What do you say we look at 2007?

Name	Wins	IP	ERA	K’s	Hits
Sabathia	19	241.0	3.21	209	238
Peavy	19	223.1	2.54	240	169
J.Santana	15	219.0	3.33	235	183

Table Tutorial

Holy cow, just 3? Just missing the cut: Brandon Webb (6 strikeouts), Dan Haren (8 K’s), Scott Kazmir (2 wins). Also close, Halladay, Lackey, Hudson, and Zambrano.

So, 2007: 3 True “Sturm Aces” and 7 more close enough for a total of 10.

One more year, 2006:

Name	Wins	IP	ERA	K’s	Hits
J Santana	19	233.2	2.77	245	186
Smoltz	16	232.0	3.49	211	221
Zambrano	16	214.0	3.41	210	162

Table Tutorial

Just 3 here, With Brandon Webb close (K’s), Dan Haren, Chris Carpenter (K’s), Bronson Arroyo (K’s and 1 win), Oswalt (K’s), Halladay (K’s), Lackey (10 K’s and 2 wins) and Jeremy Bonderman (1 win and ERA).

So, 3 true “Sturm Aces” and 8 more close for a total of 11 in 2006.

The conclusion:

Each of the last 3 seasons, even if you allow the numbers to be somewhat flexible, you still can get just a dozen from each year. And the numbers reveal many of the same pitchers each year.

Sabathia, Johan, Webb, Haren, Halladay, and Oswalt are the 6 who seem to be routine on the list every year. The other 6 seem to change. But, quite an elite group.

Erik Bedard and John Lackey represent guys who don't quite get there, but are obviously close enough to consider in the mix when you are deciding who you have pay the big bucks.

Anaheim, Arizona, and Toronto all have had more than one guy, and the Yankees just bought two of them with Sabathia and Burnett.

I think this is what I am going to go with. My definition of an ace.

So, what do you think?

Blogless in Lewisville

I am sad to report that this is another one of those mornings that I have 15 minutes rather than 2 hours to work on this blog.

These mornings are happening more often than I would like, but perhaps it is becoming a reality that with a wife, a daughter, a son, a radio show, 2 blogs, 10 shows on "season pass", a Mavericks season, a Stars season, a NFL draft, a fantasy baseball team, a church, a treadmill, and a goldfish that a I might be running out of time in my day-to-day.

What does this mean for the blog? I hope not too much. But, today, I must go practice for this goofy basketball game against Lake Highlands girls.

So, congrats to the Mavs. I continue to underestimate you, I think.

Talk to you at noon.

Win One, Lose One

There are many reasons why living in a big sports city like this one is better than living in a one-horse town. One of them is mornings like this morning. For instance, if this were just a Stars town, we would be depressed with the absurd effort the Stars rolled out in St Louis. Instead, we will lead with the nice win from the Mavericks in Phoenix.

To the victors go the lead on the blog:

Mavs get a big and rare road victory …

They improved to 39-25, five games ahead of the Suns. They also will have the tiebreaker over Phoenix if they win the series finale in Dallas in April. The Mavericks aren't mathematically in the playoffs yet. But the odds are heavily in their favor. If they go just 9-9 the rest of the way, the Suns would have to go 14-4, plus win in Dallas, to catch the Mavericks for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West.

They remain eighth in the West, but only two games out of fourth.

"We know Phoenix is a team that's behind us," said Kidd, who was 4-of-8 from the field, all on 3-point shots, and had 12 points and eight rebounds. "Now, we're the ones chasing. We're looking up, not behind us. We want to get as high as we can."
The Mavericks' first road win against a Western Conference contender since Christmas Night in Portland came because they were tougher than the Suns in the second half. There's a reason why they came out and took this game by the throat. Carlisle sent a strong message at halftime.

"Coach always talks about how he's not a motivator, but he came in here at halftime and really tore into us," said Jason Terry, who had 25 points. "That's the first time I've seen him do that. He said, 'You guys are better than that team, so play like it.' "

Added J.J. Barea, who got the start in the backcourt in Josh Howard's absence and had 16 points, 14 in the first half: "He said we weren't tough enough, our basketball game is OK, but we got to be nastier."

And then there was Ryan Hollins, the slender center who comes close to literally being half the man that 300-plus-poundish Shaquille O'Neal is. But Hollins played big on this night, taking a hard elbow to the nose on one possession, drawing an offensive foul and finishing with six points and four rebounds in 14 quality minutes after Erick Dampier got in foul trouble.

"I've been waiting for this game for weeks," Hollins said. "History shows that when I guard bigger players, it's something I enjoy. I just tried to stay in front of him."

O'Neal had only eight of his 21 points and just two of his eight rebounds after
halftime, when Hollins got all of his minutes.
===

The road win was the Mavericks' first since Feb. 2 at Orlando and their first against a Western Conference team since the LA Clippers on Dec. 28.

The Suns are having a funeral …

It's over. It hurts. It's for the best.

In this case, the truth is that these Suns need to miss the playoffs. They need to take their chances in the NBA draft lottery, even though it's considered a shallow talent pool. Maybe the Suns can catch their first real break in a long time.

Maybe they end up with a top eight pick, and luck into a player who can lead this franchise into the future. After all, they certainly won't get that player in the 2010 draft, when the Suns do not own a first-round pick.

Without a playoff berth, the Suns can break up this flawed team without remorse or explanation. They can trade Shaquille O'Neal to Cleveland, a team that made a run at Shaq at the trading deadline and surely would be interested again if LeBron James doesn't bring them a championship in June.

They can trade Amaré Stoudemire and get something of value before it's too late.
They can start over with Alvin Gentry, a pro's pro and a great man who could make an imprint with a young team to call his own.

"I would love to be back," Gentry said.

In the NBA, it's easy to get trapped in mediocrity, where your team is good enough to make the playoffs, yet flawed enough to lose in the first round. That cycle can go on forever.

Such cold-hearted pragmatism isn't easy. Basketball fans in the Valley have poured their sweat and soul into this franchise, and over the past four postseasons the Suns have been a civic obsession. In perception, they were the gutsy team battling their own axis of evil: the dastardly Spurs, the crooked referees and the vengeful commissioner.

In the end, they have been the Little Engine that Couldn't. The emotional investment in this team has been massive, and the payoff has been only heartbreak. Cheers have led to tears, without fail.

As a result, it's hard to move on. It's hard to accept that the run is over, that our patience and persistence will go unrewarded.

It's easy to make excuses. This season, the Suns tried Terry Porter's way, and then Porter changed his ways, and then the Suns changed coaches. Though the lack of continuity has been crushing, the team still is playing hard.

Now, on to that nonsense in St Louis:

I would like to bravely look at my keyboard and assure every who reads this blog that everything is going to be alright in the wake of the St Louis Blues third pounding of the Stars in 3 tries this season.

But the reality is, after the debacle in Dallas Sunday night, and the no-contest in St Louis on Tuesday, this season appears to be hanging by a thread.

Is it just too much? Too many injuries? Too much adversity? Too many teams around the Stars now playing very well (Columbus, Edmonton, Nashville, St Louis) while the Stars cannot get a point out of the last 6 home games?

Have there been too many requests to Marty Turco to take the ice game after game? Have they pushed too many guys too far up the lineup hoping to replace 10, 91, 56, 26, and the rest of the injured?

Before last night’s game (if you can call it that), I figured the Stars would have to go 10-6 in their last 16 games. Well, now they need to figure out how to get 10 wins of their final 15. This will not be easy at all.

Is this how it ends? Or in this crazy roller-coaster ride of a season, is there yet another twist?

Let’s hope so.

But, let’s stay out of St Louis. Something about that match-up doesn’t seem to fit the Stars very well. That is a cumulative score of 14-4 so far this season. Somewhere, Doug Armstrong is pleased.

Thursday, let’s hope for a better effort on home ice.

Must win? dnspostarslede.3c434e0.html> FAIL …

The Stars suffered a similar fate. They got knocked down early, and like Parrish, never got back into the game. A close score was all that was missing in the bone-rattling contest at the Scottrade Center.

The Blues, who began four points behind Dallas in the tight Western Conference race, flexed their muscles. Although the Stars were willing to tangle – as Krys Barch's marathon fight against Cam Janssen showed – Dallas couldn't recover from the 3-0 hole they dug in the first 11:56.

Stars goalie Marty Turco was pulled after surrendering those three scores. And the Stars never got closer than two down.

"It wasn't my night," Turco said. "The guys battled hard but the mistakes ended up in our net. It's so much more disappointing because when you lose, you lose so much ground; you have to depend on others for help."

The Blues, 3-0 against the Stars, took control just 59 seconds in, when David Backes ripped a snapshot over Turco from the left circle. David Perron scored the first of his two goals just over five minutes later, and then former Star Brad Winchester stood unchallenged in the crease, swatting at the puck until he finally scored. That led to Turco's exit.

Here is Stephen Jones …unaffected by the gag order…

Stephen Jones discussed all of the Cowboys’ off-season moves to date, and looked forward to the draft:

Jones put his thumb and forefinger maybe an inch apart to explain the differences the coaching staff explained to him between defensive ends Chris Canty and Igor Olshansky.

The Cowboys lost Canty in free agency and signed Olshansky as his replacement. Jones would not say Olshansky would start, but it’s expected he will.

The team got no takers on trading safety Roy Williams.

"With what we are trying to do with our safeties he didn’t fit," Jones said.
The addition of free agent safety Gerald Sensabaugh on Tuesday means the Cowboys will likely not move Orlando Scandrick to safety.

Jones said the team plans to move Alan Ball from corner to safety.

Jones said the team wants to address the safety position as well as linebackers, quarterback and reserve offensive linemen in the draft.

He did not rule out re-signing free agent Keith Davis. If Davis returns, it will likely be at a veteran minimum.

The team is still negotiating with linebacker DeMarcus Ware, but "I’m terrible on speculating on when things will get done," Jones said.

BP check’s the Rangers farm …

Five-Star Prospects
1. Neftali Feliz, RHP
2. Justin Smoak, 1B
3. Derek Holland, LHP

Four-Star Prospects
4. Michael Main, RHP
5. Engel Beltre, CF
6. Elvis Andrus, SS

Three-Star Prospects
7. Martin Perez, LHP
8. Max Ramirez, C
9. Taylor Teagarden, C
10. Neil Ramirez, RHP
11. Wilfredo Boscan, RHP

Just Missed: Julio Borbon, CF; Blake Beavan, RHP; Jose Vallejo, 2B

Liverpool spanks Real Madrid …

Rafael Benítez insisted Liverpool can force their way back into the title race at Old Trafford on Saturday having watched his side inflict the heaviest Champions League defeat in Real Madrid's history on the fallen Spanish giants at Anfield.
"Awesome", was Steven Gerrard's description of last night's inspired 4–0 triumph, one that secured Liverpool a 5–0 aggregate victory over Juande Ramos's side and a place in the quarter-finals for the fourth time in five seasons under their manager from Madrid. The Liverpool manager admitted to surprise at the extent of the rout but, having delivered so emphatically at the start of a defining week in Liverpool's season, he claimed his team could maintain its outstanding form at Manchester United this weekend.

"This is the best way to approach the Manchester United game," said Benítez. "When you have an important game coming up and the players are playing this well and scoring four goals against a team like Real Madrid, you have to be pleased.

"We play a very good team on Saturday and we have to win. If we can reduce the gap we will be in the title race but we have to wait and see what happens at Old Trafford. Hopefully we have given Manchester United something to think about but they have a very good team. At least we will approach the game with a lot of confidence."

Liverpool were dominant from the first whistle at Anfield in what Benítez hailed as a complete team performance. "We played well from the beginning until the end," the Spaniard added. "I am very pleased for the players, the fans and the club. The whole team was good from the start, the players, the doctor, the physios, everyone. They all deserve this victory.

"I could not have imagined a 5–0 when the draw was made. When you play Madrid you know it will be difficult and tight, but we played very well away and won and did the same tonight playing a different way. That shows we are a very good team."

Today: Inter visits United …

After the final whistle, the Inter Milan players traded their sweaty, black-and-blue-striped jerseys for their Manchester United opponents’ bold red ones, and the crowd cheered. The postgame ritual provided the perfect cover for José Mourinho to slip away unnoticed by more than 85,000 people at San Siro stadium on Feb. 24.

Mourinho, the Inter manager, has done few things quietly since taking over Italy’s top club in June. But after the 0-0 draw in the Champions League knockout round, during which he repeatedly jumped from his bench to the sideline to shout instructions to his players and to argue with the referee, Mourinho left the field through a private door without shaking hands with his opposite number, Alex Ferguson.
Later, Mourinho, suave as ever, assured his friend and rival he meant no disrespect.
“I left a £300 bottle of wine in the hotel with a note saying we would meet each other after the game at Old Trafford,” he said, already looking forward to the pivotal return leg of the two-game series. “I am always close to him. I am always a friend. I will be there after the second game.”

But before the game on Wednesday night in Manchester, which will decide who will advance in soccer’s most prestigious club tournament, and before he faced the voracious Italian and British news media, Mourinho had some questions to answer for himself.

“There is always a question mark in the decision I make, in the decision I should make, in the reasons we did well, in what we didn’t do so well,” Mourinho said. “I am a man of question marks. I am not saying doubts, but a man of questions.”

The American species of football coach is a curious character, often overweight and disheveled, who stalks the sideline with a play sheet and a comically large headset — like Parcells, Belichick, Reid and Holmgren.

The European species, like the game, has evolved differently. Its epitome is
Mourinho, 46, the confident, handsome, polyglot tactician who catapulted to the top of the soccer world when he won the 2004 European Champions League title with F.C. Porto in his native Portugal.

Mourinho has since delighted members of the European news media, who relish his bravado-filled news conferences, and entertained soccer fans, who find this confident and debonair coach almost as thrilling to watch as any superstar player.
“In Italy, we have many sorts of managers, and very, very rarely are Italians taken by surprise in football because they think they’ve seen it all,” said Gianluca Vialli, a former star on Italy’s national team and now a television analyst for Sky Italia. “Mourinho makes being a manager look cool.”

Mourinho always wears a finely tailored suit on the sideline and a carefully tied scarf around his neck. “It’s not a symbol,” he said. “I have a commercial relationship with Armani. This scarf is their scarf.”

Looking cool is only part of it. Acting cool is at the heart of his appeal, and his success. He speaks very highly of himself and of his abilities as a strategist, tactician and motivator. Although he takes credit for his team’s triumphs, he is careful to shower praise on his players. In defeat, Mourinho shoulders the blame.
“At this level of pressure,” he said in heavily accented but pointed English, “if you are not self-confident, if you don’t believe in your work, you are a step down. If you are a leader and you can influence people’s attitudes and you want people to follow you up and be as strong as you are, you must be strong.”

And finally, Ed Belfour takes his frustration out on Martin Lapointe



Getting to know Igor

Muchas Cosas Interesantes

It is Tuesday, and we have plenty to digest:

Thanks to Newberg, I was pointed to this column from Gil about Milton Bradley …gold:

Why did he leave the Texas Rangers?

"I never really understand," Bradley said after a thoughtful pause. "You can talk about money-this and money-that and whatever. But the bottom line is, if you want somebody, you keep them."

There is a measure of truth in that, but hold that thought.

The Cubs wanted a left-handed bat that could anchor the middle of their lineup and
play right field. They signed Milton in early January for $30 million spread over three years.

The Rangers weren’t even in that ballpark. And Bradley was outspoken Sunday in his feelings about that.

"I gave them a chance," Bradley said before taking the field against his old team. "I told [general manager] Jon Daniels on more than one occasion that this is where I wanted to be.

"I said, 'Let’s get it done. I like these guys. I like it here. I think we’ve got something going here.’

"He said, 'Well, you know, we can do one year, maybe two. But I " can’t make the commitment.’

What Daniels knew was that a .321 hitter, with a .436 on-base percentage and 55 extra-base hits, was likely going to command a regal price on the free agent market. What Daniels also knew was that Bradley, for whatever reasons, only played 20 games last season in the outfield. The rest came as the designated hitter.

"My agent was saying that Jon Daniels was telling him, 'There are " Bradley said. days when he doesn’t want to play because of his health,’

"Well, you can get a healthy guy to go out there and play 162 games, but he won’t do what I did in 120."

As crudely self-serving as that sounds, Bradley is mostly right. His numbers last season were All-Star quality.

But that shouldn’t excuse the fact that Bradley was prone to sporadically calling in sick, including missing 10 of 11 games in early August as the Rangers lapsed from wild-card contenders to pretenders.

Plus, at the same time when Bradley was randomly removing himself from lineups, Michael Young was playing nearly every day despite having broken fingers on both hands.

Young never complained about Milton. That’s not Michael’s style. But his teammates certainly noticed.

When asked about that Sunday, Bradley gave an unsettling answer.

"If I’m being paid, and I’ve got the commitment to me that I give to them, you make more of an effort to be out there every day," he said.

"When you’re on one-year deals constantly, you’ve got to put up as good numbers as you can. When you have days where you’re not feeling like you can contribute, you’re not going to go out there, because you’re not going to want your numbers to suck.
"So, if you’re in a situation like I am now, if they want me to go out there when I’m feeling a little banged up, I’ve got no problem doing that because they’ve made the commitment to me."

In a nutshell, therefore, Bradley just explained why Daniels and the Rangers were unwilling to offer him a multi-year contract.

In nine major league seasons, Bradley has played more than 101 games only twice.
The Cubs — and Cubs fans who grew up watching the blue-collar likes of Ernie Banks and Ron Santo — are going to expect Milton to play 150 games in right field.
"I know I can handle it," he said Sunday. "It’s not even an issue.

"The whole thing with me is I play so hard until I hurt myself. In the past, I’ve been accused of not hustling on more than one occasion, and that’s the thing that hacks me off to no end, that somebody would accuse me of that as bad as I care and as badly as I want to win.

"I’m coming into a situation now where, if I have to tone it down in order to stay on the field, I need to tone it down. It hurts to have to do that, but it’s what I may have to do."

Well, whatever. But here’s a suggestion to a player who, in my opinion, is immensely talented, smart and a lot more pleasant to be around than I would ever have imagined:
Just play. Your new manager is moody. Your new fans are desperate for a World Series. Your new city is a town that appreciates hard work.

Just play. Don’t tone down a single thing.

All that said, the Rangers are going to miss Milton Bradley this coming season. His dynamic presence in the 2008 lineup made all the hitters around him better.

Who replaces Bradley this season? Maybe Andruw Jones, but there are miles still to go before that ship comes in.

In Chicago, Bradley thinks he’s found the mutual commitment that was missing.
"For me it isn’t about the money," he said. "I understand that it’s a business and all. But I think we had one of most dynamic offenses in the league last year.
"Why would you mess that up? It just doesn’t make sense."

Yes, it does.

The Rangers are going to miss Milton Bradley.

But if he was paying attention, he just answered his own question.

More on Elvis Andrus and the service time question …I still say it is just smart business to delay his debut until after Easter…

Dallas legend and my wife’s favorite Star of all-time, Guy gets the Axe in Montreal …

Guy Carbonneau was fired as the coach of the struggling Montreal Canadiens, hockey’s most historic franchise that is in danger of missing the playoffs in its 100th season. The timing of Monday’s move was a bit surprising because the Canadiens were in the playoff race with 16 games left in the regular season. General Manager Bob Gainey, who preceded Carbonneau as the coach three years ago, will return behind the bench when Montreal plays Edmonton at home Tuesday.

The Canadiens started Monday in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, but they were only 1 point above the postseason cutoff. Montreal (35-24-7) went into a free fall in late January and February, losing 10 of 13. The Canadiens, 5-4-1 in their previous 10 games, won by 3-1 at Dallas on Sunday. In 230 games with the Canadiens over three seasons, Carbonneau was 124-83-23. He is the seventh N.H.L. coach fired this season and the fourth in five weeks.

Stars in St Louis tonight: They have lost both games to St Louis this year, 6-1 and 3-1. The Brenden Morrison honeymoon must be over …

Brendan Morrison said he was taking Sunday's public criticism from coach Dave Tippett in stride.

"I've been through a lot worse than that," Morrison said. "I get the point."

Morrison, 33, was picked up on waivers last week from Anaheim and was playing in only his third game in a Stars uniform Sunday. He was placed at the point on the power play for the first time with Dallas and was part of a man advantage that went 1-for-10 and produced only one shot on goal during a 2:51 stretch of 5-on-3 play.
"There's a lot of pressure down the stretch on this team, and that's a game we shouldn't have lost," Morrison said. "We should have capitalized on our power play, and I'm a part of that."

Tippett said he was hard on Morrison, because he believes the former No. 1 center in Vancouver can help the Stars.

"We're down to limited games left, we're in a tight race, and we need some people to make some plays," Tippett said. "He's a guy who I think has the capability of doing it. That's why we got him."

Suns and Mavs battle for #8 seed …

Remember when conference supremacy or a trip to the NBA Finals was at stake when these teams met? Well, tonight’s game in Phoenix is more about survival.
The Mavericks and Suns are engaged in a fight for the West’s eighth and final playoff seed. The Mavericks own the dominant position. Win tonight, and their lead over the Suns expands to five games.

We pause here to provide some mathematical perspective. If the Mavericks take a five-game lead and go .500 over the final 18 games of the regular season, it forces the Suns to go 15-3 to pass them.

"This one right here can really put a dent in their self-confidence," Mavericks guard Jason Terry said.

Both teams have endured their share of dents. The Mavericks won’t have Josh Howard against the Suns or for Wednesday night’s game against Portland. Howard remained in Dallas for the start of this crucial four-game road trip to have more tests conducted on his injured left ankle.

The Suns would extend their sympathy if Amare Stoudemire weren’t out for the rest of the season after undergoing eye surgery.

What is it about teams and their injured stars this season? San Antonio is still without Manu Ginobili.

But at least the Spurs have retained their status as one of the top teams in the conference. The Mavericks and Suns aren’t nearly as fortunate.

"I thought some of our battles with them and San Antonio were classics, or epics," said former Suns coach Mike D’Antoni, who is now with the New York Knicks
. "For me, it was the highlight of my career. And it was great.

"Everyone had their moment in the sunshine. I thought it was fantastic."
D’Antoni is in a nostalgic mood these days.

"You do reflect," he said. "I reflect, especially after we lose seven in a row or a night of heavy drinking."

The Western Conference landscape changed last season after Memphis gifted Pau Gasol to the LA Lakers. The Mavericks and Suns sensed their championship run was on its last legs and responded with bold moves.

The Suns acquired Shaquille O’Neal. The Mavericks acquired Jason Kidd.
Both teams went out in the first round. Both entered the season with a new coach. The Suns are already on their second coach since D’Antoni left.

D’Antoni still defends the trade, saying Phoenix made the right move. Owner Mark Cuban believes the Mavericks did as well.

Dirk Nowitzki? Well, he’s tired of the media bringing it up.

"At some point, you can’t look back all the time," Nowitzki said. "You’ve got to move forward.

"We made a deal. They made a deal. You’ve got to look why we made the deals — because neither team won the championship. I mean, that was the ultimate goal. If either team would have won one or two championships in that run, they wouldn’t have made a big deal."

Peter King puts his Jerry Jones quotes together for great fun …

Quote Chain of the Week

• "We have no plans to trade for a receiver. No. No trade for a receiver.''
-- Dallas owner Jerry Jones, last Oct. 6, asked if he was in the market to acquire a receiver, specifically Detroit's Roy Williams.

• "He will create a dimension that just adds to everything. As you know, Roy Williams can go out there and make spectacular catches, and he can sky up and has great hands.''
-- Dallas owner Jerry Jones, Oct. 14, announcing the trade for Detroit's Roy Williams.

• "If I gave you the answer you want to hear, then you would have had it. The fact that you don't have it ought to tell you something. It really should.''
-- Jones, Feb. 18, implying that what he thought reporters wanted to hear -- that he was going to cut Terrell Owens -- was not going to happen, and Owens would return to the Cowboys for the 2009 season.

• "We have made a decision to move forward without [Owens]. We will move on now with a new team -- a new attitude -- and into a new stadium.''
-- Jones, March 4, in a team statement announcing he was cutting Owens.

King also thinks Romo is the big winner here …

The biggest winner in the firing of Terrell Owens on Wednesday night? Easy. It's Tony Romo.

You cannot win National Football League games -- or North Dakota high school football games or Delaware Pop Warner games -- when the quarterback drops back to pass and has in the front of his mind, "I've got to make sure I look extra hard at one guy.'' And whether he'll admit it or not, that's the way Romo had to play the last three years, with one strategic hand tied behind his back.

A couple of weeks ago, Michael Irvin called to have me on his talk show in Dallas after I'd written that the Cowboys would fire Owens by the end of March. "How do you know?'' Irvin said. The fact is, I didn't know for sure. No one did. But as much as we in the media belittle owner Jerry Jones for being star-struck, I also knew this about Jones: He wouldn't let his team continue to be an embarrassment of riches. And the Cowboys were becoming more well-known for their inner churlishness than for football. Now Jones can look at his team, and his fan base, in the wake of cutting Pacman Jones and Owens, and he can honestly say: "The circus has left town. We're all about football now.''

I know a couple of times in the last three years Romo had to bend over backward, and do things he really didn't care to do, just to stroke Owens' ego and make sure T.O. didn't think he was favoring other players over him. Owens was the kind of high-maintenance player who just kills teams. Look at the recent winners, the big winners. Tom Brady hasn't felt a need, ever, to make sure he fed Randy Moss or Wes Welker or, going back a few years, Troy Brown. That's not the way the team worked. The Giants won when the Jeremy Shockey distraction went away late in their Super Bowl season; Eli Manning could drop back and never think about making a receiver happy, only about what was best to do on that play. Ditto Ben Roethlisberger last season.

Watch Romo this year. He'll be looser, happier, more relaxed -- and he'll have a better chance to win. In the 10 weeks the Cowboys employed Roy Williams after acquiring him from Detroit for first- and third-round picks, the wide receiver caught exactly 19 balls, for a 10.4-yard average, and one touchdown. One touchdown! You can't tell me Romo wasn't thinking, "I gotta make sure I throw more every week to T.O. or he'll freak out.'' That's no way to pilot a team. Romo will say all the right things about what a great teammate Owens was whenever he discusses this, but I can tell you it's political. He's thrilled at this move.

Champions League will know its final 8 teams by tomorrow …

English Premier League teams will look to go a perfect 4-0 in the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League this week as three EPL clubs take leads into their second-leg match-ups.

Chelsea must travel to Turin to face Juventus, with a one-goal lead the cushion the Blues enjoy after the first leg. Liverpool is in control of its series vs. Real Madrid, coming home to Anfield with a one-goal advantage.

While those match-ups highlight Tuesday's Round of 16 offerings, Wednesday's marquee is filled by the Manchester United-Inter Milan showdown. The teams finished scoreless in the first leg, but now Manchester United returns to Old Trafford looking to pounce on a short-handed Inter Milan defense (Many will also be happy to know that ESPN2 will now be showing this match live). In another England-Italy match-up, Asenal takes a 1-0 lead to Rome where Francesco Totti and AS Roma awaits.
Here is a rundown of this week's UEFA Champions League TV schedule (the ESPN games have all been confirmed with the network as being the new scheduled games so please STOP referencing the old schedule). Make your plans accordingly:

Tuesday

3:30pm- ESPN2/Setanta USA/ESPN360- Chelsea at Juventus (Chelsea won first leg, 1-0)
3:30pm- ESPN Deportes/ESPN360- Real Madrid at Liverpool (Liverpool won first leg, 1-0)
3:45pm- ESPN360- Sporting Lisbon at Bayern Munich (Bayern won first leg, 5-0)
3:45pm- ESPN360- Villarreal at Panathanaikos (first leg finished tied, 1-1)
6pm- ESPN Classic- Real Madrid at Liverpool

NHL GOLD: Spezza caught with an illegal stick



Today is Chuck Norris’ Birthday:

Happy Monday

Late blog, due to the insane nature of my weekend, you pretty much get links today.
Michael Lombardi on Owens to Buffalo …

THE GOOD

The Bills gain a big-play receiver who drops too many balls (second in the NFL last season) to play alongside one of the league’s more underrated players in Lee Evans. In my mind, the Bills have the kind of skill players to create match-up problems for many teams, but that’s just on paper; they never seem to make plays on the field. They have Evans, who can draw double-teams, but as the season progressed and he began to face all the rolled coverage, Josh Reed and Roscoe Parrish could not make plays and take the pressure off him. Marshawn Lynch is a very talented back, and he runs the ball with power and explosion, but he has not been able to make many big plays in the passing game. Based on his talent level, he should really excel in that area. Lynch had only one touchdown in the passing game and averaged fewer than seven yards per catch. Having T.O. alongside Evans will help open the passing game for the other players.

The Bills have been looking for a wideout all offseason. They expressed an interest in signing Joey Galloway and Laveranues Coles before they went in T.O.’s direction, so clearly they felt a need to improve and balance the passing game.

THE BAD

The Bills struggled with their passing game all season. They finished 22nd in the NFL in passing and were 25th in total offense. For me, these numbers are too low for their supposed talent level. Is it their scheme? Their players? Their coaching? When they make a move like this, it indicates the Bills feel it must be their players, but I’m not so sure. I feel it’s a combination of all three. They have not been very consistent at quarterback. Early in the season, Trent Edwards looked like he had a chance to be a very solid starter, but then he struggled to make plays and stay healthy, and his eye level went way down. In seven of their nine losses, they averaged 9.7 points a game, and when they were on their four-game win streak, they averaged 27 points a game.

It’s going to take more than T.O. for the offense to show improvement. First, the Bills must get their line playing at a higher level. They ranked 25th in the league in sacks allowed, showing an inability to protect at key times in the game. To their credit, the Bills have started to take some steps to repair the line, letting Derrick Dockery go. His play last year was poor, to put it mildly.

Bills fans should not look at the T.O. move as a magic wand. It will take more work in terms of finding talent, and it will take improvement in their scheme and their coaching to get them out of their offensive doldrums.

THE UGLY

I may be way off base here, but I’ve searched for a Dick Jauron comment about adding T.O. and haven’t been able to find one. The fact that Russ Brandon, the Bills COO, was the person who introduced Owens might imply that not everyone in the organization wanted to make this move. We know that Jauron, the Bills coach, and former 49ers head coach Steve Mariucci are close friends, and it was because of that friendship that I thought the Bills would not want to take on T.O. Clearly, I was wrong. Brandon handled the signing and now has become the football man in Buffalo. He is front and center on all decisions, which is interesting since his background centers more on marketing and business than football. Nevertheless, the NFL is not always about football.

Where this signing has a potential for disaster is in the locker room. The lack of any core leadership on the Bills gives T.O. an open forum to do his thing and create the dissension he’s famous for. The Bills have no one in the room who can control this situation if (and when) it gets out of hand. The Bills have always had a team approach under Jauron, and he has sought out players who were like him — very determined, very quiet, very self-motivated and very low key. This move is not a typical Jauron move, and I hope that my inability to find a comment from him means I didn’t look long enough, not that there weren’t any.

THE RESULTS

Doing the one-year deal minimizes the risk to the Bills, and it will be interesting to see how much of the $6.5 million is in base salary. If the Bills were able to get more than 50 percent in base, they can observe T.O. and keep him on his toes. Normally, when there’s money at stake, Owens will bury the narcissistic personality and help a team win. However, once he has done that, all bets are off. In this case, the Bills hold all the cards. I believe in chemistry and believe in a team working together, so had I been in Buffalo, I would not have made this move. As long as Jauron signed off on the deal, I hope it works for the Bills.

Owens speaks to the issues in Buffalo …hint: none of it was his fault at all.



This tatooed human will replace Chris Canty …

On Friday, the Dallas Cowboys signed defensive end Igor Olshansky (formerly of the Chargers) to a 4-year/$18 million deal. Jerry Jones was wise to play the waiting game, and was rewarded by landing a solid, experienced player at a clearance sale price. The 6'6"/309 lb. Olshansky will man the defensive end position recently vacated by Chris Canty. Beyond the fact that the Cowboys have effectively replaced the departed Canty, what does this move mean for the 2009 Cowboys?

The signing of Olshansky most likely cancels out any chance of nose tackle Jay Ratliff kicking outside full-time. If the Cowboys intent was to move Ratliff to defensive end full time, they would have instead been looking for a nose tackle after Canty signed with the Giants. If the plan was to play Marcus Spears and Ratliff at the ends with Stephen Bowen providing depth, the signing of Olshansky would have been pure gluttony. The Cowboys would also have a gaping hole in the middle of the defensive line. Barring any unforeseen, dramatic change of events, the 2009 Cowboys will start Igor Olshansky, Jay Ratliff, and Marcus Spears across the defensive line.

This move also means that the Cowboys will have a bit more flexibility on draft day. After filling needs at inside linebacker (Keith Brooking) and now defensive end, the Cowboys will not be forced to reach at either of these positions on draft day. Unless the available talent is simply overwhelming, the Cowboys can focus on other needs early in the draft. With the Spears heading into a contract year, the Cowboys will likely draft some depth, but they can now wait until the middle or late rounds. The Cowboys may now also be inclined to draft a more raw player with more upside, as he will not be called upon to start right away. The more needs you have filled prior to the draft, the better chance you have at staying true to your board and getting value at your slot.

Perhaps most importantly, Olshansky's signing means that the Cowboys were able to let Chris Canty walk and replace his production for less than half the price. In Canty's four NFL seasons, he has averaged 37 tackles and 2.5 sacks per year. Over the course of Olshansky's five-year career, he has averaged 35.8 tackles and 2.2 sacks. As far as numbers are concerned, production is pretty much a push. Looking at film, it is evident that Olshansky has a far more consistent motor than Canty. Olshansky's relentless nature allows those around him to make plays as well, so some of his value will not show up on the stat sheet.

If there has been any theme to this Cowboys off-season, it has been familiarity. Tony Romo's new backup Jon Kitna is quite familiar with the teams new number one wide receiver Roy Williams. Newly acquired linebackers Keith Brooking and Matt Stewart are familiar with Wade Phillips and his defensive scheme. Phillips also has a certain familiarity with Olshansky, whom he coached for three seasons while running the San Diego Chargers defense.

In short, the Cowboys balked at the notion of handing $42 million to an inconsistent Chris Canty. The Cowboys then signed an equally productive replacement who is already familiar with the defense. Lastly, the team saved about $24 million in the process. Not bad for an owner who is supposed to be an old, crazy, free-spender who isn't a "football guy".

Evan Grant’s and Mike Hindman’s new blog effort …

will the Rangers play the service time game with Elvis? …

In the interest of cost control, might the club send Andrus to the minors to start the season, use Vizquel as the starting shortstop for a month or so and call up Andrus after he’s lost enough major league service time to not qualify for a full year of service? That could delay his eventual eligibility for salary arbitration and essentially push back his free agency by a year.

Tampa Bay made a similar move with eventual Rookie of the Year Evan Longoria last year. So there’s seemingly a model for such manipulation of the roster.

The similarities between the two situations end there. Don’t expect the Rangers to get too cute with handling of Andrus. While it’s still possible they could send him to the minors to start the season, here’s why his situation shouldn’t be equated with Longoria’s from a year ago.

• Contract status: Within a week of calling Longoria up, the Rays signed him to a six-year contract with options that could make it a nine-year deal. The contract essentially bought him out of salary arbitration all together, so those first two weeks that he missed didn’t end up mattering one bit. The Rangers aren’t likely to call Andrus, who is only 20, to the majors and bestow such a long-term deal on him immediately.

• Bad feelings: If they don’t do a deal like Longoria’s, it becomes plainly evident that the Rangers are trying to exploit the system at a cost to the player. This is not a good way to begin your relationship with such a highly-regarded player. In addition, the Rangers risk damaging the confidence of a 20-year-old who may not be well-versed enough in the language of baseball business to understand the club’s motive is business-based, not performance-based.

• Learning curves: In contrast to recent years, the first two weeks of the Rangers’ schedule are fairly favorable. They play nine of their first 12 games at home and all of the games are against teams that finished below .500. No matter how well he performs this spring, Andrus is going to have to adjust to life in the majors. Better to have him get used to it against the Clevelands, Detroits and Baltimores of the world than against more highly-regarded teams.

Al Trautwig video blogs the latest episode of Lost …

My gift to you today:



Sawada can handle himself

For DallasStars.com

Lost opportunities. Lost composure. And, a lost point. All in Los Angeles in that Staples Center, a place that has become a bit of a difficulty for the Dallas Stars recently.

I don’t know what happened to the Stars last night in the final 5 minutes, but I would say it was equal parts Los Angeles Kings pressure and desperation, and equal parts Dallas Stars losing its composure and self control.

And now we are left to wonder about how much that point last night will count the Stars in their playoff run. I know, from being close by, that this team is smarting this morning in Anaheim.

I think we could gripe somewhat about some of the calls made last night in a game that had the Kings with 10 Power Play opportunities and the Stars with 3. But, the last few, and the most crucial were tough to argue. As much as I have complimented every move Mark Fistric has made up here, he cannot punch Dustin Brown after the whistle at that point of the game. Marty Turco, cannot take that slash at that portion of the game. But they did. And they lost. Lesson learned?

Now, they must drag their tired squad over to the Pond to settle the score from Saturday afternoon where the Stars also had another 3rd period meltdown that cost them crucial points. When last we saw the Ducks, they were pummeling Steve Ott after the game had ended. Ott took some stitches, and his team mates took a challenge to their manhood for not defending eachother. Tonight could be really pesky.

They need points. Badly. The clock is ticking away.

Donovan meets Mary Carey

Has the Circus Left Town?

Wow. Hardly seems real. I will never forget where I was when Terrell Owens news broke. I was at a Clippers Game , but as you can imagine, I was awfully distracted by my phone blowing up.

So, the Cowboys have released Terrell Owens.

I see the message boards indicate that this is a massive mistake, according to many Cowboys fans. You folks are crazy. No disrespect, but crazy might be an understatement.

Today confirms what we knew all along – that every last rumor and story from the Cowboys locker-room that was reported was true. Ed Werder and Calvin Watkins have been vindicated.

Fantasy Football is all about statistics. Real Football is about much, much more than that. It is about building a team. It is about embracing adversity, not cowering. It is about pulling in the same direction for the same cause.

Is he the only problem? Are the Cowboys now going to automatically win every game next year? Of course not.

But, if ever I believed in “addition by subtraction” – it is right here.
Perhaps there is cause to believe that Jerry is not becoming Al Davis just yet.
Before we get to the fresh reports, here are my thoughts from the day after the debacle in Philadelphia back in December …

I certainly don’t want to be the old man here, especially if the “young man” needing the lecture is Jerry Jones, but what kind of team has been built? What kind of selfish, narcissistic, ego maniacs have you assembled here? This season has revealed so much. It has shown that when adversity hits, this team reveals its character. And while a large portion of the team may have the “good” kind of character, there is a faction that certainly seems to lack it. That faction affects everything. It undermines leadership, it teaches the kids how to conduct themselves, and when things go poorly, they are the first to turn knives on the team. As they say, this team is not a team of character. It is a team of characters.

So, now you combine a team of characters – many who have already been promised their money - with a coaching staff that seems to command almost no respect from those that would undermine them, and you have what you have right now…a pile of rubble.

What do you do with this underachieving crew that seemed to shrink to the occasion for the better part of the entire year? Jerry Jones has already said he plans to do nothing to his head coach, Wade Phillips. What folly that seems. The statistic Fox offered yesterday says plenty about this entire crew: The Wade Phillips Cowboys started 12-1, since then, they are 10-10. For anyone who thinks that Bill Parcells had this team set up to dominate, and then Wade and Jerry have allowed this thing to erode back into a mess, that statistic will make your case pretty well.

I think a new coach is very necessary. I also think that Jason Garrett is not who I would hire. I might entertain the idea of Garrett staying at coordinator, but I would surely not promote him after this mess.

I think the days of not considering elements of team building when assembling a roster needs to stop. From now on, if they are a head ache, they don’t play here. If they require special rules, they don’t play here. If I have to hire a special security detail to babysit them, they don’t play here. If Ed Werder makes a full time living reporting on what my diva WR says everyday, then my WR doesn’t play here.

And here, in mid-February were my thoughts on Jerry trying to convince us Terrell was staying …

It sure sounded like he was hinting that he is bringing that lunatic back. And if you don’t know who the lunatic is, just stop reading right now.

However, those of us who are convinced that he must be done with the lunatic can only assume this is a last-ditch effort to secure some level of trade value before the March 3/June 3 deadline hits and a decision must be made.

If you tell everyone he is not going to be with you, and then pick up the phone to work out a trade, the guy on the other end of the line will be fighting back laughter. Now, if you speak courageously, you might still hear giggling, but Jerry is trying to sell another used car.

Right? I am right, here, right? I mean, the alternative is that Jerry is just as lost without a compass as he has ever been.

Michael Lombardi is on the story this morning …

It finally happened. The Cowboys decided that the “chemistry” in their locker room is more important than the perceived talent in the room. This move makes sense for the 2009 version of the Cowboys, who seem to have taken a “less-is-more” attitude this offseason. The Cowboys appear to have a specific plan this year. They want to get DeMarcus Ware signed to a long-term contract, and they seem content to work the draft. They are not even kicking tires in the free agent market, which indicates that they’re happy with their team — assuming the “chemistry” is right. This move
is a step in that direction.

A few questions to ponder…

How will the Cowboys replace Owens? This is not going to be as difficult as you might think. They have to get Roy Williams to play at a higher level, and they must use his size and speed to secure the outside edges of the defense, then force teams to roll the coverage to him. This is a big step for Williams, but if he works hard and dedicates himself to the cause, he has the talent to be successful in this role. Owens was the major focal point of the offense last year; he was the target 140 times and produced 69 catches. He is a true talent, but there are times when teams roll the coverage into him that he still feels he’s open — and this is where he’s disruptive to the offense. On third down alone, he was the main target 43 times and had 15 catches for first downs (as a point of reference, the Chiefs’ Tony Gonzalez converted 29 third downs last season). Six of Owens’ 10 touchdowns came against the 49ers and the Eagles, and those two teams were responsible for allowing him to amass 405 of his total 1,052 yards, more than 40 percent. So replacing Owens will be, as Rocco told Michael Corleone in “The Godfather: Part 2” about getting to Hyman Roth, “Difficult, but not impossible.”

Who will make a move for Owens? Sorry, Matthew, but I doubt the Bears will even entertain the notion of acquiring him. Teams that value character and chemistry as much as talent will take a pass. And teams with coaches who have seen Owens’ act up close and personal will also pass. So who will be first to go after him? My guess is the Raiders. Yes, the good old Hotel needs a wide receiver, and they’re not going to care about chemistry in the locker room because they need someone who can help quarterback JaMarcus Russell become a better player. A tandem of Javon Walker and T.O. might be fun to watch.

The Bengals are no longer looking for a wideout after signing Laveranues Coles on Wednesday, so they won’t get involved. The Vikings, who were pursuing a wideout in free agency, have Brad Childress as their head coach, and he witnessed the Owens act the one season he was in Philadelphia. So count them out.

Go down the list. It’s very hard to find a team willing to handle the act known as T.O.

Mac Engle …

The Dallas Cowboys’ decision whether or not to keep Terrell Owens for 2009 had more to do with his talent, production, age and money than it would any perceived problem he created in the locker room.

On Wednesday the Cowboys finally decided that he no longer is worth the money and released the 35-year-old receiver, according to a source. The decision to cut Owens punctuates an off-season in which the Cowboys essentially have rid themselves of three of their bigger headaches — T.O., Pacman Jones and Tank Johnson.

The move ends three decently productive yet very expensive seasons for Owens, and clearly creates a path for Roy Williams to assume the No. 1 receiver slot on the Cowboys.

The decision came after weeks of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones soliciting advice and opinions from coaches, scouts and team executives regarding Owens’ future. The consensus was that Owens had become a distraction and if he was going to be released, the team needed to do it before the start of the off-season program, which begins in approximately two weeks.

Owens will count $9.675 million in dead money next season, but the team will lose only $680,000 in actual salary-cap room by cutting him.

The Cowboys also will save the $3.1 million roster bonus he was due June 1 and his
scheduled base salary of $2.67 million.

Jones had been cryptic thus far this off-season regarding Owens, only offering hints that he planned to keep the receiver. But Jones never actually said he would; he always stopped short to give himself an out if he changed his mind.

According to sources, the decision to drop Owens had everything to do with his age, and the fact he no longer is regarded as a legit No. 1 receiver.

When the Cowboys gave him a three-year extension that included $13 million guaranteed after the ’07 season, they expected him to remain a top receiver for at least the next two seasons. Instead, his productivity dropped sharply in 2008; in 16 games, he caught 69 passes for 1,052 yards with 10 touchdowns. His 69 catches were his fewest for a full season since 1999.

Last season, he routinely struggled breaking away from man-to-man coverage. He had only two 100-yard receiving games.

Last season was also filled with controversy and internal strife because of his rocky relationships with quarterback Tony Romo, tight end Jason Witten and offensive coordinator Jason Garrett.

The decision to cut Owens had nothing to do with any perceived problems he created with his legendary mouth. Since his arrival to the Cowboys in 2006, Owens routinely made headlines for his mouth.

But when the Cowboys acquired Williams from the Detroit Lions in a trade in the middle of last season, they wanted him to become the offense’s No. 1 receiver. With Owens in the offense, Williams was never going to become the main focal point of Romo’s passing.

The plan was to see how Romo developed with Williams in the off-season; if all went well, Owens was going to be released. If Owens did return, he would be insurance. But the Cowboys never even had to go that far.

By the way, Roy Williams is gone, too …

Roy Williams is no longer a Dallas Cowboy.

After attempts to trade the five-time Pro Bowl safety failed, the Cowboys decided to release Williams, their No. 1 draft pick in 2002. Williams confirmed his release Thursday morning in a text message.

By cutting Williams, the Cowboys save roughly $2 million in salary-cap space in 2009 and close the book on a player who was once the face of the franchise.

Williams was named to the Pro Bowl from 2003 to '07, earning a reputation as one of the NFL's most-feared hitters. He was also named All-Pro in 2003 and only five defensive players in franchise history have played in more Pro Bowls than Williams as a Cowboy. He finished his Dallas career with 611 tackles, 6½ sacks, 22 tackles for loss, 21 quarterback pressures, 56 pass deflections and 19 interceptions. He returned three for a touchdown, one shy of the team record.

Torry Holt? …hmmm…
And, sorry, Mavs, bad day to beat the Spurs …wait a minute, there is never a bad day to beat the Spurs…

The San Antonio Spurs arrived as the titan of the Southwest Division. The Mavericks came in more like the Titanic.

That being the case, Wednesday night offered proof that, whether their ship is sinking, the Mavericks still can occasionally take down the iceberg.

Two nights after a weak effort in Oklahoma City had owner Mark Cuban publicly calling out the team, the Mavericks poured heart and soul into a 107-102 victory over the division-leading Spurs at American Airlines Center.

Maybe it was predictable that the Mavericks would come back with a salty effort after getting embarrassed Monday. Maybe it was another wake-up call in a season when the alarm has been constantly going off and the Mavericks have continually hit the snooze button.

Whatever. They got exactly what they needed with crisp ball movement and solid execution to beat one of the legitimate title contenders and increased their lead over Phoenix to three games in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Josh Howard had 29 points, Dirk Nowitzki had 24 and Jason Kidd threw in 17. All three had crucial buckets late that cemented the win.

"It's a big win for us, especially after our last performance," said Kidd, whose 3-pointer with 31 seconds left put the Mavericks up, 105-100.

Cuban danced off the court with the players, who understood why he threatened repercussions if non-efforts like Monday's were repeated.

"He was just as excited as we were afterward," said Kidd, who resurrected a pick-and-roll out of last season's playbook that helped stake the Mavericks to a fourth-quarter lead.

Then, they made three big-time plays to preserve the win. They had led 98-88 – the only time either side led by double figures – before Tony Parker led a Spurs charge.
His free throws made it 100-98 with 1:17 left. But Howard pump-faked Tim Duncan into the air and found a wide-open lane to the basket.

"It parted like the Red Sea," said Howard, who played with a sore left ankle. "I was going to shoot the jumper, but when I saw that, I had to change it up. This was big for us. We've shot ourselves in the foot a few times lately. We needed this."

Stars make a cheap attempt to get help …

The veteran center, whom the Stars picked up on waivers Wednesday from Anaheim, played college hockey with Marty Turco and is the brother-in-law of Stars color analyst Daryl Reaugh. Morrison also knows several other Stars players through mutual acquaintances.

"It's almost like welcoming a member of your family in," coach Dave Tippett said. "I expect the transition to be very smooth."

Morrison concurs.

"It's good to go into a room where you know the people and you feel comfortable," he said. "I know they're really pushing hard right now, and I'm looking forward to being a part of that."

Morrison will skate with the Stars this morning in Los Angeles and is expected to play tonight against the Kings. He was the sole addition for Dallas before Wednesday's NHL trade deadline, but he is the right player, according to Stars co-general manager Les Jackson.

Morrison, who has 169 goals and 327 assists in 496 career games, brings many of the same qualities the Stars lost when Brad Richards fractured his wrist. Morrison also is versatile enough to move from center when Richards returns late this month or in early April.

"He's a smart player, a good playmaker, a power-play point man," Jackson said. "He just fits what we need right now."

So if Morrison is so good, how was he available on waivers?

After eight seasons with Vancouver, the 33-year-old underwent off-season knee surgery last summer and signed a one-year free-agent deal with Anaheim. Although he played in 62 games with the Ducks, he had only 10 goals and 12 assists.

On this trip, I have finally got around to seeing some of the Oscar Nominated movies, and this just in: Frost/Nixon is good …

Below, Which kid is more impressive?

Hey Jude!



Young Zidane

Hello, Win Column

Remember winning? 12 days ago was the last time that this team improved their point total in the standings. 12 days when this conference has teams moving north every single night with points of their own.

But, last night, the Dallas Stars found a performance that they can really be proud of by beating a frustrated Sharks team in San Jose.

Gritty, abrasive, and determined, the Stars rolled out quite playoff-like effort. Dave Tippett after the game reminded us that of the games in the 5 game losing streak, the Stars deserved a better fate in 3 of them. He has a point, but as he knows, the harsh reality of sports is found on the scoreboard, and the Stars kept breathing last night with their 4-1 win.

Things I liked:

• James Neal is a wonderful piece of this team’s future. 20 goals for the rookie, and the sky is the limit for the young lad. We all know for a fact that teams ask for him when they call in trade talks, and we also know that the Stars don’t even consider it. Good. He is a keeper.

• The Grossman and Fistric pairing gets me excited after nights like last night. Grossman was in the penalty box quite a bit, but you know what? Hatcher and Matvichuk were in the box, too. When you engage in 25 minutes of hand to hand combat, you are occasionally going to cross the line. That is ok. They are exactly what this team needed.

• Steve Begin was very abrasive last night. He was driving Dan Boyle crazy. If the 3rd and 4th line continues to bring the noise, they have a chance.

• The Penalty Kill looks very steady.

• That arena is awesome. If you go on the road with the Stars, I cannot recommend San Jose enough. It is no Calgary or Edmonton, but the building is full (really full – all seats taken), loud, and intimate. The concourse is a ghost town during game play. The fans are dialed in, and the building is alive.

• Mike Modano has scored hundreds and hundreds of goals. There is no question that spot on the ice where he scored from last night in the most crucial goal of the game was from his “hot spot”. I bet 100+ have been scored right there, where he is on the goalie’s left – almost on the goal line – and just spanks it home. What a talented player.

• This raises BaD Radio’s record on the Stars plane to 8-3-3. Points in 11 of 14? All road games? Not bad.

On to Los Angeles with a bit of pep in their step.

Heika reports …

The Dallas Stars were battling a lot of obstacles Tuesday night.

They had lost five games in a row, had not defeated the San Jose Sharks in four tries this season and were venturing into the HP Pavilion, where the Sharks had lost just twice in regulation this season (in 31 home games).

So just as their team was about to be written off for a sure defeat, the Stars put together one of their best team games of the season and routed the league-leading Sharks, 4-1.

"We got rewarded tonight," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "We created a lot of chances, we capitalized on those chances, we defended hard when we had to, and Marty Turco made some great saves when he had to. We competed really, really hard, and that’s the way it’s going to be if we’re going to be successful."

The Stars pushed their record to 30-26-7, 67 points, good for 10th place in the West. They are just one point out of seventh place with 19 games remaining in the season.

"It’s going to be a battle every night, but it was nice to be rewarded," said center Mike Modano, who broke a 16-game goal drought and had a goal and an assist. "From start to finish, everybody played with purpose. It was just a real complete game."
Tippett juggled his lines and put Loui Eriksson and Chris Conner on a line with Modano. He then moved Brian Sutherby onto a more skilled line with James Neal and Fabian Brunnstrom. That second line tallied three goals. Neal broke his own 11-game goal drought and scored his 19th and 20th goals of the season, and Sutherby chipped in a goal and an assist. Brunnstrom added two assists.

"The line of Sutherby and Neal and Brunnstrom was really good, right from the get-go," Tippett said. "They found a way to capitalize on some chances, but it’s creating the chances that makes you feel good, because they were putting the work in to get it done."

TSN’s Trade Central …

Cuban not smiling about his Mavs …Let’s see what they have for the Spurs tonight…

The fallout from Monday's non-effort in Oklahoma came quickly for the Mavericks.
The owner was not pleased.

Mark Cuban wasn't at the debacle. But he watched the sorry showing and probably could smell the stench from north of the border all the way back in Dallas.
And on Tuesday, he promised fans that changes will come if such lousy performances persist with the Mavericks.

"It's only one game, which I keep reminding myself," Cuban said Tuesday. "But let's just say I wasn't happy with our preparation, execution or effort. Not only did it look like we had no idea what we were doing, but we did it without effort.

"The effort and energy, on both sides of the ball, by each player will decide their future with the Mavericks. If each player can't take the personal initiative to make every game important and play like it, I don't see them being here next season."

Cuban, who pours his heart as well as his money into the franchise, wasn't finished.
"The ball won't always bounce the way we want it to, but every player can control their level of effort," he said. "If it's not important enough to them to lay it out every game the rest of the season, they won't be back. I don't care what their contract is. I would rather turn over the roster 100 percent than subject fans to another game like last night.

"This team has the talent to win in the playoffs. But that's only going to happen if all 15 guys know and execute their assignments and play every possession like it's important."

Cuban normally is a staunch defender of his team. But it's clear the Mavericks' inconsistent effort this season has left him just as mystified as the fans about this collection of talent.

Feature on Jason Kidd’s tenure here ..

Why did the Patriots accept a second-round pick for Matt Cassel and Mike Vrabel? …

In today’s economy, and in our collective interest in finding good value in everything we purchase, a second-round pick is noticeably more valuable than a first. For the amount of guaranteed money that’s required in the first round – especially in the top half of the round – the cost/performance ratio is low. With second-round statistical performance nearly equal to that of first-rounders, the cost/performance ratio is much higher for a second-round pick.

The average guarantee in the first round of the 2008 NFL Draft was $11.9M. The average guarantee in the second round of the 2009 NFL Draft was $1.9M. The $10M difference is striking and should explain why the Patriots opted for a second-round pick in the deal. It was a no-brainer.

The NFL is slowly becoming more like the NBA, where trades have become less about personnel than about economic value. My prediction is that we eventually will see a time in which teams in the top of the first round trade their pick and more to move down in the draft. Counterintuitive, yes, but economically prudent

I am sometimes asked why I use the Billy Beane quote at the top of my blog. , “Hope is not a strategy”.

Well, to me, it is one of the greatest mistakes that teams make about their team. They hope. And hope is not a strategy or a plan. It is what you do when you don’t have a strategy or a plan.

Michael Lombardi agrees …

Do Not Confuse Hope for a Plan…

I get the sense that some teams are hoping to get a quarterback in the draft and think that will solve their problems. San Francisco, Minnesota (I’m not sold on Sage Rosenfels as the short- or long-term answer; I have a hard time getting that Indy game out of my mind), Tampa Bay, St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, the Jets (I know they have Brett Ratliff, but I’m not sold on him and it has nothing to do with me hating the Jets) – all are teams that should have gotten involved in trying to trade for Cassel. He won in the NFL last year, and the college players won in college. There’s a big difference.

Mel Gibson in the Colonel



Coach Kige with a 3

Live from San Jose

It is Tuesday morning. I am in San Jose with the bruised and battered Dallas Stars. They look up for the game tonight, but honestly, the optimism on the periphery is not at an all-time high.

These last 5 games have not helped the “Believe” in many of us who follow this team. They look like a team that has gone through too much this season and now the odds seem stacked pretty desperately against them. Injuries have continue to chop off the legs of the squad, and the more players have tried to pick up the slack, the more they have tried to do too much which have resulted in mistakes behind them.

Regardless, the schedule doesn’t wait for you to feel better. San Jose tonight, Los Angeles on Thursday, and Anaheim on Friday represent another grueling week of divisional foes for the Stars to try and get results. The clarity of the urgency is obvious. This team needs results, and they need them now.

A few emails?

With all the problems lately, you think it's time to see what Jamie Benn can bring to the table?

The 19 year old Benn is having another dynamic year in the WHL with Kelowna, as he is at 39 goals and counting. But, he is just 19. And he is likely not someone to bring into the meat-grinder of the NHL stretch run right now. You want to put him in a position to succeed and that would not be the big-leagues right now.

Bob,

Since you are going to be up close and personal with the Stars this week, I was wondering if you could help me figure something out. I would love to know why Ott didn't receive any help from his teammates. I mean I was extremely upset, but I can't even imagine how Ott felt. Knowing that he (along with his linemates) has been carrying this team on his shoulders, and to have none of them step in to help when he got jumped by Moen had to hurt. Why didn't anybody (officials are included) try to prevent this from happening? He has a broken hand for pete's sake! He can't properly defend himself, and his mates were just standing around watching. Though I know Brenden can't be replaced but Ott is trying to do the job that Brenden would be doing if he were in the lineup. What would the guys on the ice have done if it were their captain getting jumped, knowing that he wasn't able to defend himself? I am really upset at this team for various reasons, but this was the icing on the cake for me (not that the past 5 games couldn't have been). I would love to know what his teammates responses would be if you presented the question to them.


Thanks,

Chelsea

I won’t lie, Chelsea. I feel the same way in many of your thoughts. I thought that was not a good sign from his mates, and although you could make the case that A) they saw the clock go to 0:00 for the 4th consecutive game and were not aware Ott was being pummeled but rather exhausted and disappointed that they did not find the game tying goal; and B) the guys on the ice were not the Hansen brothers. Modano, Ribeiro, and Lehtinen (I believe those were the other forwards on the ice) are not known for their fists.

Either way, both of those excuses are not fully acceptable as all you want those other players to do is tie up the opponent – not fight them. Just make sure that Ott isn’t being pounded by all the Ducks at the same time.

Then on Sunday, Malkin ran Sydor, and nobody seemed too angry at Malkin. I also felt that was a bad thing to let happen.

It is one thing to lose, but you cannot go quietly into the night. Trevor Daley took a fight to defend Loui Eriksson on Saturday, and good for him. But, for the most part, the Stars, while exhausted, need to get back to the pack mentality as soon as possible. It looked at times this past weekend that the “Fight” in their game was gone. And I am not talking about literal fights – I am talking about not allowing anyone an inch to physically take liberties with teammates. That cannot be allowed to happen.

Bob,
I don’t believe there is any one deal that would right this team. We need a suitable Zubov replacement (I know there is not real replacement) and a forward. I can’t see Hicks working out one deal much less to. We may be very surprised. Unless Richards and Morrow suddenly have extraordinary recoveries, or Hicks makes the aforementioned deal(s), the Stars will probably miss the playoffs.
I just don’t see Hicks making any significant moves. I have not heard a lot of buzz about the Stars making any trades either, but I could be completely wrong. Here is the big question who would you trade? Eriksson, Ott, Neal?? Those three are untouchable in my eyes. Maybe someone out there is willing to take picks and some prospects, I just don’t see that happening.

When Smyth was a free agent I was praying he came here. How bad do you think Colorado wants to dump his salary? I think he would be a good fit, but does he really want out of Colorado? If he waives his trade clause and gets traded will he cry again???

I NEED ANSWERS SPORTS STURM!!!!!

Love,
Kirk

Kirk, I don’t think a trade is going to happen. I just don’t see a move that improves this team dramatically enough to be worth parting with a future asset. Picks and prospects are valuable, and the Stars have done a nice job of building the “next wave” of studs here. If you can get Bouwmeester or Gaborik then we can talk about picks and prospects (but then cap room is a major issue to do their extensions), but for rental players (Guerin, Smyth, Tkachuk) just isn’t prudent in my opinion. This team is in good shape in 2009-10 as their nucleus is still quite strong when healthy. But for the 2009 playoffs? I am not sure there is a move right now that saves them.

The Stars play a Sharks team that has lost 2 regulation home games all season. They have 3 road games in California, and they must figure out how to get 3 points this week. Otherwise, this thing may have run out of gas.

Hope for the best. Get em’ Marty.

By the way, here is the Stars history when they allow our radio show to join them on the road....

2/14/04 At Pho L 3-2
2/16/04 At Ana L 1-3
2/18/04 At LA W 4-3

3/5/06 At Chi W 7-2
3/7/06 At Edm W 4-3
3/9/06 At Cal L 1-0
3/11/06 At Van W 2-1

3/21/07 At LA W 4-2
3/23/07 At Ana OTL 3-2
3/24/07 At Pho W 4-3

3/27/08 at SJ OTL 3-2
3/29/08 at LA W 7-2
3/30/08 at Ana OTL 3-2

7-3-3 so far....

Linkage:

Great NBA reading – Michael Lewis on Shane Battier …long and great:

There is a tension, peculiar to basketball, between the interests of the team and the interests of the individual. The game continually tempts the people who play it to do things that are not in the interest of the group. On the baseball field, it would be hard for a player to sacrifice his team’s interest for his own. Baseball is an individual sport masquerading as a team one: by doing what’s best for himself, the player nearly always also does what is best for his team. “There is no way to selfishly get across home plate,” as Morey puts it. “If instead of there being a lineup, I could muscle my way to the plate and hit every single time and damage the efficiency of the team — that would be the analogy. Manny Ramirez can’t take at-bats away from David Ortiz. We had a point guard in Boston who refused to pass the ball to a certain guy.” In football the coach has so much control over who gets the ball that selfishness winds up being self-defeating. The players most famous for being selfish — the Dallas Cowboys’ wide receiver Terrell Owens, for instance — are usually not so much selfish as attention seeking. Their sins tend to occur off the field.

It is in basketball where the problems are most likely to be in the game — where the player, in his play, faces choices between maximizing his own perceived self-interest and winning. The choices are sufficiently complex that there is a fair chance he doesn’t fully grasp that he is making them.

Taking a bad shot when you don’t need to is only the most obvious example. A point
guard might selfishly give up an open shot for an assist. You can see it happen every night, when he’s racing down court for an open layup, and instead of taking it, he passes it back to a trailing teammate. The teammate usually finishes with some sensational dunk, but the likelihood of scoring nevertheless declined. “The marginal assist is worth more money to the point guard than the marginal point,” Morey says. Blocked shots — they look great, but unless you secure the ball afterward, you haven’t helped your team all that much. Players love the spectacle of a ball being swatted into the fifth row, and it becomes a matter of personal indifference that the other team still gets the ball back. Dikembe Mutombo, Houston’s 42-year-old backup center, famous for blocking shots, “has always been the best in the league in the recovery of the ball after his block,” says Morey, as he begins to make a case for Mutombo’s unselfishness before he stops and laughs. “But even to Dikembe there’s a selfish component. He made his name by doing the finger wag.” The finger wag: Mutombo swats the ball, grabs it, holds it against his hip and wags his finger at the opponent. Not in my house! “And if he doesn’t catch the ball,” Morey says, “he can’t do the finger wag. And he loves the finger wag.” His team of course would be better off if Mutombo didn’t hold onto the ball long enough to do his finger wag. “We’ve had to yell at him: start the break, start the break — then do your finger wag!”

When I ask Morey if he can think of any basketball statistic that can’t benefit a player at the expense of his team, he has to think hard. “Offensive rebounding,” he says, then reverses himself. “But even that can be counterproductive to the team if your job is to get back on defense.” It turns out there is no statistic that a basketball player accumulates that cannot be amassed selfishly. “We think about this deeply whenever we’re talking about contractual incentives,” he says. “We don’t want to incent a guy to do things that hurt the team” — and the amazing thing about basketball is how easy this is to do. “They all maximize what they think they’re being paid for,” he says. He laughs. “It’s a tough environment for a player now because you have a lot of teams starting to think differently. They’ve got to rethink how they’re getting paid.”

Having watched Battier play for the past two and a half years, Morey has come to think of him as an exception: the most abnormally unselfish basketball player he has ever seen. Or rather, the player who seems one step ahead of the analysts, helping the team in all sorts of subtle, hard-to-measure ways that appear to violate his own personal interests. “Our last coach dragged him into a meeting and told him he needed to shoot more,” Morey says. “I’m not sure that that ever happened.” Last season when the Rockets played the San Antonio Spurs Battier was assigned to guard their most dangerous scorer, Manu Ginóbili. Ginóbili comes off the bench, however, and his minutes are not in sync with the minutes of a starter like Battier. Battier privately went to Coach Rick Adelman and told him to bench him and bring him in when Ginóbili entered the game. “No one in the N.B.A. does that,” Morey says. “No one says put me on the bench so I can guard their best scorer all the time.”

Kirwan’s mock draft …

Maurice Clarett has a blog? …

Albert Haynesworth makes way more money than you …

Star Wars dork …bigger than me!

Suns Gorilla is assualted



Beckham Lizard