Spiegel on Dirk

I thought it was a cool gift, Dirk

On playing for the German national team, Muhammad Ali and the interviewer's general disinterest in what gift he received.

How the hell did Joe John Barea become the posterboy for sabermetrics?

Joe John: The face of analytics

The other day, the brilliant Jonah Lehrer wrote a piece for Bill Simmons' Grantland about professional sports teams depending on sabermetrics to make personnel decisions.

It's a good piece where he doesn't really take a side one way or the other. Still, it's been ripped to shreds by folks a billion times dumber than Lehrer. Criticism is criticism, nonetheless. It's been fun reading it all because it's all worth it.

ANYWAY, Lehrer takes a couple of paragraphs to highlight Joe John "J.J." Barea of the Dallas Mavericks.

Lehrer brings up that Barea -- statistically -- was a pretty ordinary player in the regular season and the first 98 percent of the playoffs when he was inserted in the Mavericks' starting line-up in games five and six of the Finals. As we all know, the Mavericks won those games and the title.

This, Lehrer notes, was the Mavericks ignoring any statistical analysis of Barea's game and made a decision based on Barea's seemingly connection with winning game.

There are several problems with this analysis by Lehrer (again, a dumb guy calling a genius to the carpet). First, I must say that no one is a bigger critic of Barea and his game than me.

OK, that's out of the way.

The Mavericks and Stats
Mark Cuban, Rick Carlisle and the Mavericks have been pretty early stalwarts in the statistics/sabermetrics movement in the NBA. Several years ago, Cuban hired Roland Beech, the man behind 82games.com. According to Cuban, post-Finals:

“Roland was a key part to all this. I give a lot of credit to Coach Carlisle for putting Roland on the bench and interfacing with him, and making sure we understood exactly what was going on. Knowing what lineups work, what the issues were in terms of play calls and training.”

Cuban is not saying the Mavericks don't make gut moves nor do they ignore statistics. In fact, it seems that Beech's reach within the organization is wide and highly regarded. Thus, the insinuation that starting Barea -- a statistically ordinary player to, maybe, the untrained eye -- was not based on stats is off base. I don't think there's a question as to whether there was an advantage. However, I didn't need stats to tell me that Barea would be able to blow by Mike Bibby (which he did), but I bet the stats would support this ... that Bibby is old and can't stop the much faster Barea.

Barea's Value
Barea is just not a statistically ordinary or poor basketball player. He's an extremely one-dimensional basketball player. He's got two things going for him: A complete lack of fear and speed. Unfortunately, those two assets help him in one regard: Getting relatively close to the hoop on offense and, thus, opening up potentially open shots for shooters.

As close as Barea shoots most of the time, he doesn't make a lot of them. I would bet he makes more from 23 feet with his feet beneath him than his wild floaters three feet from the basket. Mostly because there are 7-foot monsters at the three-point arc.

Still, he's a so-so passer, a poor defender and his size disadvantage kills him in a lot of facets of the game. Don't get me wrong, he has his place in the NBA and as long as he has those wheels, a team will want him and he'll have value.

My point: Barea has little value statistically and actually; however, that one ounce of value (speed) was worth more than DeShawn Stevenson's pound of value (defense, size). It doesn't make Barea an exponentially better basketball player, but it does make him exponentially quicker and that's what they needed. You don't put your best sprinter in the discus throw.

Barea's Value in Winning
Fourth quarter. Game on the line. Who's on the court? Dirk. Marion. Chandler. Kidd. Terry.

The real issue is this: What is more important, winning the first quarter or fourth quarter?

Tiger 2.0

Yep, that's Rory McIlroy on a fucking cupcake

Media and fans of the game of golf have another love affair. Pun not intended.

It's Rory McIlroy, the 21-year-old dimpled Irishman who, if you haven't heard, won the U.S. Open by a billion strokes while having a happy-go-lucky, aw-shucks smirk with that shaggy haircut burrowing out from under that baseball cap. He probably doesn't need to save. He's played golf since he was a kid. He's been viewed as the Messiah. He had an emotional moment with his overbearing father when he finished his round.

Yeah, it sounds like Tiger Woods in 1997.

The more and more I've thought about the bullshit that's befallen Woods the last two years the more I've realized that he's gotten a bad shake. Yes, he cheated on his wife and he is a A No. 1 asshole for doing it (or doing them ... so to speak). However, he's not unlike anyone else. Why we are so angry is because Woods painted himself as a family man and all that bullshit. Again, he's not unlike anyone else.

We -- fans, media, spectators -- put these limitations on Woods and other celebrities and we see them as being beyond the basic carnal reflexes that wind many in jail for messing around with kids or raping women and send the rest of us to Internet porn.

We think celebrities or politicians who should be solely interested in their short game or running a country don't like to get laid. When we learn that they're as nitwitted as the rest of us, we get angry, for zero reason.

We love McIlroy the same way we all loved Woods in 1996. The kid that was a phenom and had known nothing but golf. The kid that had a weird relationship with his dad. The kid that was better than everyone else.

It's the same. McIlroy might win about six or 10 Majors. He could catch Jack Nicklaus. He is also going to get married. To some foxy chick because athletes get all the girls. More than likely, they will have children. There will be portraits. There will be blurred paparazzi shots of them -- sunglassed and in windbreakers -- taking walks and shit.

There will also be other women. There might be drugs or alcohol. There will be unfair expectations.

In fact, McIlroy has a better chance at winding up like Tiger than Jack. Because there is one Jack. There are millions of Tigers -- dudes with a divorce, alimony, a bad knee and shitty golf game.

A little bug

Once upon time, I would get worked up by all the peripheral bullshit that comes with watching and enjoying professional sports.

I hated the network announcers that seemed to perpetually downplay my favorite team and praise the opponent. I hated when opponents would get injured by a seemingly innocuous play. I hated when the opponent would mock or ridicule my favorite player. I hated when the referees were apparently fixing the game and making certain decisions that proved favorable for the opponent and not my team. I hated pundits that seemingly piled on my favorite team and could not withhold the praise for another.

Here's the rub: I was 15. The problem is that all you assholes are 40 years old and some of you are "journalists" with a certain obligation to provide insight and opinion about the actual game and not the bullshit that surrounds it. I'll give you a pass for not being impartial. Just give me something good.

Over the past month, Dallas Mavericks fans have bitched about the officiating, opponents hotdogging, opponents feigning injury, opponents being dirty, certain players getting calls and others not.

Again, I struggled with the same thing. Unfortunately, I was a dumb kid that didn't know any better.

I dare anyone to go and rewatch the 2006 NBA Finals. For every suspect call by an official, count all of the mistakes by the Mavericks. I daresay its a 3:1 ratio of bad plays to bad calls. The officials didn't steal that series for Miami, the Mavericks gave it to them.

Mavericks Nation -- ahem, the same crowd that for 41 games would stroll into the American Airlines Center in the middle of the second period and stay on their phones for the other period before leaving early to hit a bar -- was all a-titter over video of Lebron James and Dwayne Wade walking into the arena with their shirts over their faces, coughing, sneezing and pretending they were sick.

Clearly, this was comment on Dirk Nowitzki's game 4 when he played with the sniffles and a high temperature.

First of all, let's face it, we overblew Nowitzki's illness. It wasn't Michael Jordan's flu game. The flu knocks you the fuck out. Temperature and the sniffles (I believe Dirk called it the sniffles in the post-game interview) do not constitute the flu or any serious illness.

Does a temperature suck and could it affect a game? Sure. However, I saw Nowitzki with that temperature dash past Udonis Haslem for that clinching lay up and he didn't seem that weak to me.

We bitch when Dwayne Wade feigns a hurt hip and yet ignore our own innate ability to overrate our own guy's "illness." We're all cut from the same cloth: As assholes.

Two, Dwayne and Lebron know Dirk. They probably see each other relatively often. They're all three superstars and those two have the utmost regard for Nowitzki. Chances are, at some point, on the court they talked to Nowitzki and his "illness" and they all probably laughed about it.

What we watched and got all pissy about wasn't a "diss" as much as it was an inside joke that none of us were in on. It was dumb to get so angry.

The truth is, what does any of this matter. It doesn't. Still, everyone gets their feathers ruffled and gets so angry at these athletes. Meanwhile, Nowitzki and Co. could give a shit about officials, being disrespected or what the opponent is doing.

The Mavericks haven't lost sight of what is important. The fans and media have. It's about winning. It's about hoisting that trophy at midcourt on Sunday or Tuesday. It's about the ring.

Wade keeping his hand in the cookie jar too long or the "coughing" fit will mean nothing if Nowitzki and Co. finish this out. If they don't, fans will have nothing to bitch and moan about other than their own team.

Mavericks win, still picking my jaw off floor

High percentage

Some tidbits:

I spent most of last night "defollowing" folks on Twitter. Mostly because I'm sick of the Dallas-Fort Worth media going on the network and bitching again and again about shit that has no relevance whatsoever.

This includes ESPN's Tim McMahon, Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Jenn Floyd-Engel and ESPN Radio's Ben Rogers.

McMahon literally tweets as if his press credentials were on the line.

Rogers has spent the last three weeks pointing out when an opponent gets a call from a referee, but ignoring when the Mavericks are getting calls. I guess he thinks foul calls should be even whether you're shooting the ball from within 23 feet or not. Win or lose, it's not about the officials and all about execution. Only a shortsighted dufus would think otherwise.

JFE is a different story. I like and respect her. She's a quality journalist and I enjoy going the the Star-Telegram and reading her columns. However, she's either unhealthily obsessed with Lebron James or she's doing a bit.

For the last week, she tweets constantly about how much she hates Lebron James. It's so vehement that's it's kinda weird. A little too much. She doesn't bash anyone else. Just Lebron. This coming from the same woman that tweeted during the Portland series about how she's an unbias journalist and watched games as such.

It's unhealthy JFE. Get the fuck over it.

****
I read other tweets bashing Miami's fans, security guards, the ABC announcers, the ABC cameramen, the public address announcer. Let's rise above folks.

I even heard Dallas Mavericks play-by-play announcer Mark Followill claim that the Miami security guards were celebrating too much to do their jobs. Ironic considering Followill creams his jeans any time the Mavericks hit a shot during his telecasts. But, apparently, he's an asshole douche so who cares?

****
Most are making too much of the Heat "celebrating" in front of the Mavericks' bench. Boo-fucking-hoo. If it took that to get you fired up during THE NBA FINALS, then you need a lobotomy. That "celebration" was no worse than what I've seen 1,000 times this season.

****
The win is hiding the fact that Jason Terry had an awful game and had a monumental brain fart on Mario Chalmers' three pointer to tie it at the end of the game. Jason Kidd was awful. Brendan Haywood's hurt. And NO ONE's talking about the two dozen open-lane dunks given to the Heat.

John Rhadigan gets Jason Botts treatment

Friends, don't let anyone tell you that democracy is dead.

Fans of the Texas Rangers have proven this.

John Rhadigan was relieved of his post as play-by-play announcer of the television broadcast yesterday, a mere 50 games into his tenure.

Everyone knows the story here. Rhadigan was a longtime studio host and TV guy for the last 20 years, really. Over the off-season, the Rangesr jettisoned the polarizing Josh Lewin and hired Rhadigan despite having no play-by-play experience.

By all accounts, it was a disaster. This is no knock on Rhadigan. He's really good at what he does. However, getting good at play-by-play takes A LOT of time and the Rangers were not willing to give it to him. Without knowing any more about it, it would appear that complaints from fans were was lead to the move.

I thought Rhads was a bit off. I felt he was calling the game on a two-second delay. What I was seeing was always a little before the call. It actually makes you appreciate what Lewin, Eric Nadal, Dave Barnett, Mark Followill, Ralph Strangis and others do night in and night out, and all of them do it quite well.

The loser in all of this, kinda, is Rhadigan. Granted, he'll get his spot on the Fox Southwest desk back and all will go back to normal. But there has to be a little resentment considering they weren't willing to give him the chance to succeed and that they hired him in the first place.

Barnett, who I really like, will go to the TV broadcast and Steve Busby will pitch in the radio broadcast for the time being. I can't imagine them bringing in a full-time TV guy mid-season ... but I never thought they'd give Rhads 50 games to perfect something that's taken some years to get good at.

Dallas writer plays shock jock, gets ridiculed

First it was Jennifer Floyd-Engel. Now it's Richie Whitt.

I have an aggravated indifference to Whitt as a sports columnist.

Honestly, judging his writing, he sounds like he's 60 years old. He's not.

He also sounds miserable. Like he's so sick and tired of Dallas and its sports franchises that he'd rather be anywhere else in the world rather than writing another column about Dirk Nowitzki.

Otherwise, he's not a must-read, but he's not a guy that draws my ire quite like Jean Jacques Taylor or Tim Cowlishaw.

Whitt blogged about Corby Lewis' recent absence due to his second child being born, forcing a missed start and the Rangers having to make roster moves to accommodate.

To paraphrase Whitt: Professional athletes get paid millions and missing a start or game due to a birth of a child that you will see for the rest of your life is not a good enough excuse. He even suggest athletes schedule births to happen in the off-season.

In short: Whitt looks like a total asshole and it took him about 600 words to get there.

Whitt states, "Don't have kids of my own but I raised a step-son for eight years. I know all about sacrifice and love and how great children are."

Making this argument, why would you say that. Either you know about the "sacrifice and love" it takes to raise a child or you don't. Whether you've had a kid or not is irrelevant unless, secretly, it's totally relevant.

Whitt sounds like he's never had a kid and really doesn't understand all that sacrifice bullshit he's touting.

What you have to consider is that it's not even May yet and Lewis missing one start means absolutely nothing. There's so much time and games to be played. And the Rangers have bigger problems than Lewis having a baby.

Why dump on Lewis? Maybe because Whitt is a miserable turd. That's never had a kid. But he sure as hell understands the "sacrifice and love" it takes to raise a kid.

And the point that athletes are paid millions of dollars therefore they can't be there for the birth of their child is the most tired excuse ever.

Athletes are paid millions of dollars for one reason. They are cogs in a multi-billion dollar industry. It's not some kind of accident or a detail overlooked. It's because 99 percent of humanity can't do what Lewis does and the richest people in the industry never throw a pitch, field a grounder or take batting practice.

The Big Lead caught onto Whitt's idiocy. Now he's ridiculed nationally. Now we all look like dumpy assholes that are stuck in 1955 when women did women's work like baking.

Neil Ramirez impresses, writers write and Jonny D goes fishing

Call me Leonys

Neil Ramirez was forced into a spot start in Triple A Round Rock last night after Eric Hurley was placed on the disabled list. He promptly set minor league fans and pundits aflitter on Twitter.

His line: 6 IP - 3 hits - 0 runs - 0 walks - 5 strikeouts.

He sat down the final seven batters and 14 of the last 15. He struck out the side in the sixth and final frame.

****
As its been rumored for about a week, the Rangers are expected to ink Cuban defector Leonys Martin at some point.

He's 23, about to get $15 million (yes, $15 million) and a spot on the 40-man roster.

Martin is considered to be a better version of Julio Borbon: A speedy centerfielder with above average to good defensive skills, a good bunter, who can hit for average, run the bases and provide a little pop.

For one, you can never have too many centerfield prospects. And the Rangers have killed it in the Latin American countries the last several years. Due to his age, paycheck and 40-man spot, he should start in Double A Frisco.

****
Jon Daniels had made a career out of rummaging lower-rung free agency lists and the dung piles of other teams for talent. Think Darren O'Day, Warner Madrigal, Mason Tobin, Alexi Ogando, Matt Treanor to name a few.

Daniels made a very minor splash in signing Manny Corpas and Ramon Aguero the other day.

Corpas was the closer in Colorado. He will not pitch this year after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He's only 28 and the general idea is for him to compete for a bullpen spot next year.

Aguero is a bit more of a wild card. He's 26, never played above Double A and back issues. In baseball, three strikes and you're out. Not here. Aguero has had decent peripheral numbers in his four years in the minors. It is said that he can hit 96 on the radar gun. No risk moves to watch.

****
A very good article on Alexi Ogando.

Jamey Newberg on Jurickson Profar.

Mark Cuban has it all figured out

I still love you, Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban's biggest problem is that he's an emotional fellow.

He yells at opponents, pretends like he's part of some sub-cultural of athletes because he owns a basketball team, he picks fights, he throws tantrums, and he will love you forever, but he reserves the God-given right to cross his arms in front of his chest, get in a huff, take his ball and go home.

We all know Mark Cubans. We've seen them, played with them, been friends with them and slowly distanced ourselves from them our whole lives.

They're the kid that will take their ball and go home. They are willing to not play at all rather than lose.

Mark Cuban HATES blogs. That's cool. It doesn't matter. What? Is he going to sue me out of my mom's basement? Hardly. All he can do is disallow "bloggers" from getting media passes and going into the locker rooms before and after Dallas Mavericks' games. And it burns the shit out of him that that's all he can do.

All the while, "bloggers" continue to write dumb-ass shit on the Internet.

In his latest little diatribe that reeks of ignorance and oozes this unquantifiable distaste for the Internet media, he takes on the media.

I don't mean hacks like me or any other asshole with a Wordpress account. I mean the Richard Durretts, Tim McMahons and other bloggers attached to mainstream media outlets.

Here's a guarantee: Some "blogger" wrote a nasty little piece about his Mavericks shitting the sheets the other night in Portland. Cuban's a vengeful, nasty little turd.

There are a few problems with his ideas.

1. Mainstream media will be blogs. They will be Twitter feeds and whatever else comes next. Texts or whatever. "Print" journalists are going online. They've been told to write more concise and shorter for the past 20 years. The convergence of media and new media was exactly what was going to happen.

2. Cuban hints at the needless journalists, saying as an organization they can get information to the fans and public.

True. That's called a PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT. Guess what? They're as full of shit as every other PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT. Send out all the press releases you want about Roddy Beaubois' "two-month injury," but we still need McMahon, Eddie Sefko and whoever digging and learning why Beaubois' not coming back until February.

3. According to Cuban (remember, this guy is a billionaire), "I’m a firm believer that their interests are not only not aligned with sports teams like the Mavs, but in fact are diametrically opposed. They tend to look at the number of page views they get for any article as ‘their ratings.' More is better. Which in turn leads them to gear their work towards generating more pageviews."

No shit. The media outlet whose "interests" (advertising dollars, readership) is every "aligned" with the Mavericks' (winning championships) are not a media outlet. It's a PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT. If the Dallas Morning News or The Big Lead had the same interests as the Mavericks, they would have told Cuban not to throw $50 million at Brendan Haywood.

4. Mark Cuban is a hypocrite anyway. He pays this douche to run this online swill.

What I truly don't understand about Cuban is that, relatively speaking, the Mavericks skate in this city, with non-media blogs and with the mainstream guys. No one hardly questions the bad drafts and bad free agent signings. No one questions why the Mavericks can't make a trade.

No one questions the abilities (or lack thereof) of Donnie Nelson and Rick Carlisle. As long as the team is winning 50 games a year, most deficiencies are swept under the rug, even by the haters.

Hating blogs and the bloggers who blog on them isn't such a bad thing. Why you rail on them over and over is a mystery. Why there must be fighting and strutting on YOUR OWN FUCKING BLOG about how you don't need the media is shockingly sad.

Cuban thinks he's proving some point, making some grand acknowledgement. Instead, he's taking his ball and going home.

While the rest of us shrugs, goes to our moms' basements and blogs about it.

Key to the Season: Ron Washington

The skip

The Texas Rangers are in Surprise, Ariz. getting ready for the 2011 season. I'm here in my mom's basement blogging. This is an installment of posts about those Texas Rangers and what they'll need to do to win. Keys: Tinkering, Neftali Feliz, Mark Lowe and Getting Better.

Have you read the D Magazine feature on the Texas Rangers' skipper, Ron Washington?

It's really an un-feature. Washington is featured prominently. All despite not speaking more than a sentence to the reporter.

Michael Mooney simply crashed Washington's lowly New Orleans home seeking an interview. Problem is, Wash doesn't give interviews in New Orleans.

The feature is fascinating. In one fell swoop, it pulls the curtain back on a guy that couldn't be more happy go lucky and, yet, we couldn't know less about the guy. I learned no less than four dozen things about Washington from Mooney's story.

I think I also learned why he's been successful as a coach or manager in professional baseball. It's no coincidence that the manager that the 25 guys on the Rangers' roster play their guts out for is the same man that Eric Chavez gave his Golden Glove award to and the same man that Jason Giambi wrote a $25,000 to after he lost his house after hurricane Katrina.

It's no coincidence that during the Michael Young drama over the winter, Washington was always the guy Young went to. It's no mistake that his players stood behind him -- when everyone else bailed -- after the cocaine issue of a year ago.

What does this feature tell us about winning baseball games? Almost very little. There some insight about Wash and his ability to coach players up. Other managers are admired and respected. Others know how to "coach." Not all of them win. Not all of them take a ragtag group to the World Series.

Washington's past and present -- the $110 house in New Orlean's Ninth Ward, his brother dying in Vietnam, his trials of growing up poor and in a bad neighborhood, his baseball career, the "NIGGER" etched into his front drive -- has either EVERYTHING or NOTHING to do with his ability to manage a baseball club.

I personally feel it has EVERYTHING to do with his ability to manage a baseball club.

There's not a more genuine guy in Dallas-Fort Worth sports history. What we learned in a magazine story four years after his hire, those guys in the clubhouse have probably known within the first 30 days.

That he's worth playing for. Worth believing in. Worth leaving it all on the field for.

Those trials and tribulations define Washington. It's why he's still living in a crappy house in a crappy neighborhood of a crappy city.

By association, Washington defines the Texas Rangers. Not always having the best, but making due with what you got.

We do not deserve Ron Washington.

Calling out a columnist

For my money, the best sports columnist in Dallas-Fort Worth is the Telegram's Jenn Floyd-Engel.

Always biting. Always thinking. Never backing down. Staying relevant and actually having an opinion.

She had a doozy Wednesday. She took the Dallas Cowboys, its fans, media, Dez Bryant and everyone in between to task for the latest and greatest of exploits from the wide receiver, which now includes various bills for expensive jewelry in Fort Worth and New York and unpaid apartment bills in Stillwater.

It's a mess. Bryant is, apparently, a mess. Like a Tiger Woods mistress, once one came out, they all came out.

Floyd-Engel's column is great. Sarcastic and pointed. Its sharp and challenging.

She brought it. Unfortunately, it contradicts a lot of the opinions she's had in the past. Never once in the recent column did she eat her own bowl of crow.

Floyd-Engel:

"The Cowboys never should have drafted this idiot. But they did. And everybody at Valley Ranch and beyond who argued that his talent justified this leap: this is what you signed up for, so quit looking so surprised."

The problem, as The Big Lead points out, is that Floyd-Engel has written just the opposite in the past 365 days.

Floyd-Engel in past columns:

"There also is the “absolutely must keep” crew, who do not merit much discussion, either, with Tony Romo and DeMarcus Ware and Dez and Witten and Ratliff and Bradie and Miles and Spencer and Doug Free and Mike Jenkins."

“The dude is a beast, one of those players teams will kick themselves for years for skipping over. Turns out, all of the “expert” reasons to draft Dez have proven valid while none of the reasons to take a pass has materialized."

“This team needs Dez; his swagger, his cocky, his intense drive to show up and show up big, his burning passion to not just be great but do it right now, immediately."

The odd thing about Floyd-Engel's column is that it would have been incredibly easy to admit that she was one of the millions that bought into the talent-over-attitude debate. We got taken in. The physical prowess mesmerized us. It's now clear to most that the Bryant-Cowboys marriage will not end well. Prediction from me: Dez Bryant will not be a Dallas Cowboys in two years. In 2013, we will be discussing his release.

Floyd-Engel is human. She's a sports mortal just like all of us. She makes mistakes. And just like every other human, she's rather unwilling to accept her comeuppance or admit to her own judgement on Bryant's attitude and personality.

However, to come out swinging, throwing uppercuts at everyone's chins looking for a knockout blow (if I can draw this boxing analogy out any further) and then not to look in the mirror (analogy switch!) is pretty sorry.

Can the lil' Ticket get a mayor elected?

The No. 1 cop

The Ticket is the most powerful sports media entity in the Dallas-Fort Worth spectrum.

Over 17-odd years, they've ingrained themselves into the local lexicon of media ... and sports, the latter almost becoming a footnote in the station's legacy.

For the longest, it was the area's only sports talk radio station. And if ratings are any indication, it still kind of is as it leaves the World Wide Leader and The Fan perpetually in the dust. Those other stations have their fans and that's commendable. However, it's an uphill battle against an enemy that is beyond entrenched. It'd take a nuclear war to wipe The Ticket from the map.

It's not that The Ticket has more listeners than the Dallas Morning News or Fort Worth Star Telegram has readers or visitors to their website. Or that less people watch Dale Hansen on WFAA at night. The Ticket may wane in these areas. However, should the war come, and we all had to pick sides, The Ticket's army of Johns from Plano, Blues from the Grove, plumbers from McKinney and delivery guys from Benbrook would greatly outnumber other media outlets.

The Ticket may have numbers. More importantly, they have emotion.

****
Several years ago, something strange happened on air. For whatever reason, The Ticket's afternoon drive show -- The Hardline -- was missing two of its regular hosts, Corby Davidson and Mike Rhyner. All that was left was co-host Gregg Williams.

Late in the afternoon, if I recall correctly, the six o'clock hour, Williams played host to the newish Dallas Police Chief, the No. 1 cop, David Kunkle.

For anyone who listens to The Ticket with any consistency knows what happened. The most bumbling, mind-blowing interview (or, first question) in the history of radio.

It was also indicated that Kunkle was a long-time listener to The Ticket.

Kunkle would serve as police chief through April 2010, when he stepped down to lead a quieter life as a consultant. He was pretty highly regarded and considering Dallas' veritable train wreck of past chiefs, his departure was probably pretty missed.

Fast forward three weeks ago. Kunkle's name is thrown back into the media ring after its hinted he might run for mayor of Dallas, as current mayor Tom Leppert is stepping down to run for a Senate seat.

Where did Kunkle first run to when his name popped up in the rumor mill? The Ticket's Hardline, who else?

A week later, he was on the morning drive show, Dunham & Miller. He hadn't even officially filed to run yet for the May elections.

Kunkle's no dummy. He knows that local elections typically bring out an interested minority as a disinterested majority sits at home and hopes someone else fills the potholes and arrests the criminals.

If he can engage The Ticket listener, the everyday man, the person that attends Guys Night Outs and Ticketstocks, he might have an opportunity to overcome whatever financial deficit he'll be fighting through against richer, more well-connected opponents.

However, I don't know if The Ticket really understands their role in all of this. This is a sports talk radio station! It's the home of "Gay or Not Gay," "Gordo's Corner," "Homer Call of the Week," "The Pool Party," "The Reconsider Lounge" and "What's on Mike's Mind?"

This is not supposed to be the medium in which a mayor -- the leader of one of the biggest cities in the United States! -- should be elected. But, come May, The lil' Ticket might have elected itself a mayor.

Are journalists assholes?

I listened to The Ticket's vaunted afternoon drive-time show, The Hardline, today and I heard the segment on co-host Corby Davidson going to the Dallas Mavericks-Sacramento Kings game tonight and sitting beside owner Mark Cuban.

The show then talked for 15 or so minutes about how fucking awesome their lives are.

I know, I know. They sandwiched their thoughts with that "aw-shucks," how did we get so lucky rhetoric and we're supposed to believe this as a salve for the tortured and underprivileged lives that the rest of us are living.

See, The Hardline -- getting to go to World Series games in New York City, NBA Finals games and playing with Roger Staubach in a charity flag football game -- just fell into this.

That's supposed to make them not sound like complete idiotic assholes.

It doesn't. For about 15 minutes this afternoon, The Hardline sounded like complete douches as they compared notes about how all this awesome shit they get to do for free as all the stars align in their sports lives and they get to front rock bands to boot.

It's generally known that journalists get free shit. It's OK because a vast majority of them are severely underpaid. If some writer gets a free lunch at a chamber of commerce luncheon, that's the least they can get.

I was part of this rabble once. Fresh out of college making $17K at a weekly in Dallas. The free lunches and dinners were a nifty perk of the job.

And, yes, I've been to countless sporting events for free. A vast majority of them from the high school ranks. Still. Free and most include an air conditioned press box and free grub.

If you can handle making $20,000 a year, it's a sweet gig for free food.

However, there is a vast difference between the regular journalist peon and those guys on The Hardline. For one, the pay. Without looking at their income tax records, I doubt they're hurting like a lot of kids still working at newspapers living in shitty apartments, paycheck to paycheck.

Also, catching a Cedar Hill-Duncanville high school football game is vastly overshadowed by almost anything our radio heroes have gotten to experience.

Finally, you don't get to read about some print journalist bragging about some free cheese and crackers they got the week before. Some people have tact. They understand that everyone has perks to their jobs or careers. You enjoy those and move on.

Maybe it's not that big of a deal. To a certain point, many listeners to The Ticket live vicariously through those hosts. It goes beyond this relationship the station has forged with its listeners. To a point, the listeners probably look at it like this, "If I can't do these things, I'd prefer my buddies at The Ticket to experience them." Which is weird.

It's just odd listening to those guys lackadaisically talk about their exploits as if they really didn't feel they sounded like complete jerks.

Bad times at the Star-Telegram

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram just fired 22. Including three sports folks. Right after they worked them to death for the Super Bowl.

Also, there's apparently some bad blood that they gave Randy Galloway -- who hasn't done a thing worth while in 20 years and is half the writer Jenn-Engel-Floyd is -- a huge raise not to go to ESPN.

Little did they know that the Star-Telegram could do better than Galloway. As could ESPN.

Sucks for those now looking for a job.

Happy Super Bowl!

Coach canned

Sighting a need for a "fresher look," Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban unceremoniously canned longtime play-by-play guy "Coach" Bob Ortegal today.

He'd been there for 23 years, but hadn't been doing games for two weeks as Brad Davis and Derek Harper have filled in (Sam Perkins and Uwe Blab came off the bench).

No real word as why this change is being made mid-season. Ortegal is 70. Maybe it's a medical thing. Otherwise, Cuban kind of looks douchey firing a steady hand like Ortegal in the middle of the season.

As we'll all remember in 2007-08, Ortegal and Davis were flipped from radio and TV. Then they were flipped back. It's apparent something about Ortegal rubbed someone the wrong way. Why you just don't can him ... say ... five years ago between seasons is a mystery.

Meanwhile, Donnie Nelson is still employed.

Super Bowl update, Saturday edition

One day left. The verdict is in. The North Texas Super Bowl is a disaster. Or so say the media members.

What's odd is that some of the criticism is marked for people living in Dallas-Fort Worth. As if A) we have control over meteorlogical events; B) as if we planned this shindig; and C) as if we get snow and ice all the time.

Listen here, assholes:

1. Getting an inch of ice, day after day of 15-degree weather and then SIX inches of snow NEVER, EVER, EVER happens. Just hasn't. Not in my 30 years and I very much doubt in the 30 years before that. It's shitty luck.

2. For you New Yorkers or New Englanders, you're right. We freak out at ice and snow. We also know that people from your part of the country get this four three or four months a year. WE GET IT! However, there's a reason we live in Texas and not New York or Boston or Chicago. Because we don't like ice, sleet, snow and below-freezing temperatures. We don't like it. We don't know how to drive in it. Our governments aren't prepared for it. We freak out about it.

I invite all of you back in August after the 20th straight day of 110-degree temperatures and then you can tell us how weather works.

3. None of this is our fault. For every member of the Super Bowl Committee there are a million people in this area that just have normal jobs making normal pay. We could give a shit about the Super Bowl outside of the restaurant owners and hoteliers that are striking out.

Get the fuck over it.

****
Whilst Peter King is having a hard time getting his fucking Starbucks and other media members can't get to the strip club, six people were injured at the stadium from falling ice. Perspective, assholes.

****
Jeff Pearlman on Jack Squirek.

Super Bowl update, Wednesday edition

Dallas-Fort Worth is on official lockdown. It's fucking cold. In fact, everyone should be in awe of the terrible luck the area has had. They get a Super Bowl and an ice storm rolls in as do temperatures not seen in decades. Yay!

****
Someone named "Les" was the first to bite on the "The Super Bowl needs to be in a city that can guarantee warm weather." For one, anyone named "Les" is a douchebag. Two, whilst I don't disagree, writers who pen these annual columns never provide good reasons. Three, I just think it pisses them off because it's tougher to get a prostitute.

****
The only decent Super Bowl story is Brett Keisel's beard.

****
Why is Hines Ward a turdburger? Because he's now denying going to a strip club. Give me a degenerate asshole, who admits to his jaunts than a egotistical, self-righteous prick.

****
Ben Roethlisberger handles the criticism and question of media day with the poise and charm of a rapist.

Troy Aikman gets blasted, coddled

And he loves French fries

It's been a whirlwind week for former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman.

Yesterday, we all got word that Troy and his wife of 10 years, Rhonda, are splitting up.

When I heard about this, I immediately thought about all the games, commercials and radio interviews I've heard Aikman give over the past year. As he's making jokes and talking about inane things like football, his home life was in shambles. Or something was disintegrating personally. It's an odd feeling for someone that is privy to a lot of Troy Aikman in a given year.

What's odder is that D Magazine just ran a cover feature on Aikman and it does not mention the break-up. Granted, feature stories are far in advance of publication, but updates are always shoe-horned in.

What also threw me off was the way the local media has tackled the subject.

The Dallas Morning News barely mentioned it. The Dallas Observer has stayed away completely. And the dudes at The Ticket gave it the "well, I don't see how this is news, but ..." treatment during morning and afternoon drive. Then they proceeded to bitch about how it's nobody's business.

I don't disagree. I do think it's nobody's business. However, to my knowledge as to how it's being reported, no journalist was digging through divorce filings and found Troy Aikman's name.

Aikman either offered up an interview or, probably, a statement. If he makes it public, then it goes public.

Also, I wonder how media would reacted or have reacted to other personal issues.

When Dirk Nowitzki had a drifter sleeping in his bed, wasn't that super-personal on par with Aikman's divorce? Yes, it was a criminal issue. But it was still a relationship-oriented thing that is no more interesting than Aikman not getting along with his wife.

How about drug issues or arrests? Or the Sean Salisbury brouhaha and multiple firings? Frankly, none of these instances should necessarily be any of our business. Then again, we don't hold Aikman in the same regard as Salisbury or, I guess to a certain point, Nowitzki.

Fact is, local media is coddling Aikman because he's a good guy and because they know him. Know him certainly more than Nowitzki and he appears to be a better guy than Michael Irvin or Quincy Carter.

That's the thing with Aikman: He seems like a super sweet guy. The D Magazine feature is basically a 2,500 blow job on how great of a person he is. Fact of the matter is that Aikman probably is a super swell guy. His post-career announcing gig has done wonders for his image. His personality is shining, his endorsements are booming and that's why I consider him one of the all-time top 5 Dallas Cowboys: He's on par with Roger Staubach as being the eternal face of the franchise.

However, that doesn't or shouldn't preclude him from the same scrutiny that local media gives other athletes.

****
One group not giving Aikman any leeway is Slate. The online publication called Aikman irresponsible for his, I guess, silent treatment on concussions.

Aikman, as is well documented, retired fairly early due to back problems and multiple concussions, 10 for sure, maybe a dozen or more.

Slate notes that Aikman is awkwardly quiet when concussions become something of a discussion point during his FOX NFL broadcasts and that he should take a more hardline stance (or any stance) on concussions considering they are a part of his career.

I like Slate and they probably have a point here. My problem is that they didn't quote or talk to Aikman for this piece. I am almost pretty sure he would've given an interview. If what's in the story is any indication, they did not go that route.

In the story, they quote Aikman from another story where he stated that he doesn't want to become a "poster boy" for concussions. I logical question to Aikman, then, would be why and why he says nothing or very little about concussions.

I have heard him talk concussions. Most notably, he stated that he would be careful about letting his son play football.

I do think Aikman purposefully doesn't talk about concussions. It may be because he isn't a doctor. Also, concussions are different. Some guys are out weeks. Some come back to play again in six days. I would bet good money some fight through them, still.

But there's a reason. And it would've been a good question for Slate to ask Aikman.

The Jay Cutler thing

This is what fans and media saw for two hours the other day

I watched the Chicago Bears-Green Bay Packers NFC Conference Championship game with the sound off for more than three quarters.

I actually missed Jay Cutler getting hurt and him being pulled. Therefore, I came into the game A) not realizing that Cutler was "hurt"; and B) not able to easily figure out why he wasn't in the game to begin with.

Watching him on the sideline, looking at his stats, I thought he was pulled for being ineffective. He was on the sideline, with his pads on (or so it looked ... he was wearing a coat) and he was looking disgusted. If not disinterested.

I thought he was pulled for basically all of the third and fourth quarter.

Then I found out he was injured and I quickly realized, "Oh no. He's not going to last in Chicago." I automatically knew that fans and media would scrutinize him to death, possibly not allowing him to ever to really recover emotionally.

I, too, questioned his ... not his toughness ... but his motivation.

There's little doubt that Cutler is tough because he plays quarterback in the NFL behind one of the worst lines in the NFL. He played in the SEC. He's tough.

But is he motivated? Frankly, that's been a question hovering over Cutler his entire career.

Since, we've learned that Cutler has a partially torn MCL, that he went to dinner Sunday night and that he climbed stairs to get there.

Here's the real problem: Teams do not fully understand the TV and Internet media generation. These days, we have cameras everywhere. Somewhere, someone is catching Mark Sanchez put a booger on Mark Brunell's jacket or Lindsay Lohan stumble drunk out of a club. It's unavoidable.

Bill Simmons, the ESPN columnist, has noted for years that NFL teams should hire "Madden coordinators" -- 20 somethings that have played thousands of hours of Madden and know how to manage a clock, call timeouts, challenge plays and go for a two-point conversion.

I think teams need to hire Quality PR Control Coordinators.

If I were the Chicago Bears Quality PR Controll Coordinator, I would have done several things:

1. Go into locker room and assess the situation. Determine whether Cutler was returning.

2a. Upon learning he wasn't, I would have Cutler put into a very noticable walking boot, hand him crutches or put a fake cast on his leg.

or

2b. Or I walk Cutler out before the second half, have him trying to run around or throwing a ball and grimacing painfully. Make sure the cameras catch it or get a Flip camera and film it myself. Once this happens, I go back into the lockerroom and give him crutches and a walking boot or brace.

3. I'd instruct Cutler to exaggerate the limp.

4. I tell Cutler and a trainer to have an exaggerated argument, presumably about being held out. I tell said trainer to track down Pam Oliver and "leak" that Cutler wanted to go back into the game but the training staff wouldn't allow it.

5. I hand him a headset and clipboard. I tell him to slap asses, high five. Put your arms around a guy and talk to him. Take Caleb Hanie aside and talk to him. I don't care about what. Maybe how True Grit was your favorite film of the year. Who cares? Act interested. Act demonstrative.

You might say that I'm being ridiculous. I'm not. This is why companies hire public relations professionals. This is why the Bears hire public relations professionals.

Teams think these people are useful in getting media out to an event or helping control the press when some player beats up a girlfriend or is caught with weed at the airport.

No. These people should be on the sidelines controlling perception. Not reality.

You can have a website, a Facebook page and a Twitter feed, but you may not know just how others (fans, media) use it as a window into what is real.

If the Bears had hired me, Cutler would be a hero.

Rhad-ical

Yesterday, the Texas Rangers made official the poorly-kept secret that John Rhadigan, regional sports media icon, is their new TV voice.

Several thoughts:

1. I think John Rhadigan will do fine. Not because he's been around for 30 years, or because he listened to Ernie Harwell as a kid, or because he knows this team inside and out. It's because he's a professional and he does everything well.

2. Baseball broadcast folks have it tough. And I think it's why so many were anti-Josh Lewin (a sentiment I had no idea was so rampant until he was fired) folks. There's 162 games in the MLB season per team. I'd guess a vast majority of those that watch one game, on average, catch probably 20 total. Remember, there's probably a shitload more that watch five games than those that watch 100. Or 115. So the average person catching a game might listen to Lewin 15 times a season. Or less. So all it takes is a stinker, 10-0 loss or nice Rangers-Royals affair where nothing is happening for the random drive-by fan to catch Lewin dishing pop-culture references.

Point is: Lewin didn't issue three pop-culture references an inning. Probably less than one per game. Baseball broadcasters are in a no-win situation unless you get to stick around for 50 years. Then you're just accepted.

3. I was mildly shocked they went with Rhadigan when I thought they were attempting to go a different direction from Lewin. I kind of put both guys in the same arena: Not the typical "baseball" guy, outsiders (although Rhadigan's been around for 30 years ... he's still from Michigan), guys that cut their teeth on pop culture and both are slightly irreverent. I wouldn't be shocked if Rhadigan (unless instructed not to) didn't throw out his own brand of comedy during a random sixth inning.

4. I've heard that folks think Lewin and Tom Grieve didn't have chemistry. I couldn't disagree with that more. I really thought they had a good relationship. I thought Grieve did an excellent job, over time, in playing along with Lewin's humor. I think Grieve is a sweet guy and learned quickly it's a lot more fun drudging through 162 games if you learn how to laugh a little bit. Yes, Grieve was left on an island with some references, but he played an excellent foil for Lewin.

5. I do wonder how Rhadigan will handle the strain. Not to downplay his last 15 years, but doing post-game and anchor gigs at Fox Sports Southwest in the friendly confines of a studio do not compare to 162 gruelling games, rain delays, road trips, blowouts, pitching changes and West Coast first pitches.