Christmas Cheer: Mavs' Luka & LeBron vs. NFL Brady & Kyler; Mark Cuban, Do-Gooder
WHITT’S END: 8.19.22
Whether you’re at the end of your coffee, your day, your week or even your rope, welcome to Whitt’s End …
*After another sweltering Summer the high temperature in DFW Monday is forecast to stay in the 70s. Which has me thinking, of course, about … Christmas. Because – 128 days and counting – it’s going to be one of the most hallowed holidays in sports history.
For one thing, we’ll learn if three is more than five.
The NBA this week revealed its traditional Christmas quintuple-header of stocking stuffers, including the Dallas Mavericks playing the Los Angeles Lakers. Also on the buffet: Steph Curry and the defending champs against Ja Morant and the Grizzlies. Bucks vs. Celtics in a battle of the East’s best. Knicks-Sixers. Suns-Nuggets. Every major star in the league on display except, curiously, Kevin Durant.
But for the first time in a long time, the NBA will have competition other than your new electronic gizmo or that coveted third nap. This year on Sunday, Dec. 25 the NFL is getting in the spirit with a triple-header of its own. Aaron Rodgers-Tyreek Hill at Noon, followed by Russell Wilson and the Broncos vs. Aaron Donald and the defending Super Bowl champs and, for the nightcap, Tom Brady vs. Kyler Murray.
Decisions, decisions, decisions.
Luka vs. LeBron will always be fascinating, must-see TV. But will three star-studded NFL games trump five star-studded NBA games?
One thing’s for sure: Better put an extra TV on your Christmas wish list.
*Most promising news out of Cowboys’ training camp? No, wise-acre, not the fact that they didn’t commit an 18th penalty in the preseason opener in Denver. Nor that recovering receiver Michael Gallup is on the field catching passes again. It’s that Brady – the toughest quarterback to beat in Cowboys’ history – is taking a weird, unexplained absence from Buccaneers’ camp and may not be ready for the Sept. 11 regular-season opener at AT&T Stadium. Without Brady, the Cowboys are likely to face journeyman Blaine Gabbert at quarterback. With Brady, they would play against a legend against whom they are 0-6.
*Couple weeks ago I opined that Texas Rangers’ manager Chris Woodward had become too comfortable with losing. Not sure if Ray Davis is an avid reader or if I should become a billionaire owner, but we’re obviously on the same wavelength. Davis, who rarely makes public appearances, okayed Jon Daniels to fire Woodward last Monday and then two days later up and fired Daniels. Said Davis, “I’m not a good loser.” Added new interim manager Tony Beasley: “We need to think more highly of ourselves.” Toldja.
*Woodward’s legacy will be … um, who are we kidding, he really has no legacy in Arlington. He was hired at the beginning of a monumental rebuilding process and simply endured expected bumps, bruises and beatings along the way. Daniels will be remembered – unfairly – as the guy who ran off Nolan Ryan. More accurately, Daniels was better at building farm systems than he was nurturing that talent into big-league success. To me, the Rangers were slowly-but-surely trending in the right direction until about 2019 when they became obsessed with analytics and infrastructure.
*Once upon a time I shared sushi with Daniels. Sharp, interesting guy that was taking subways to a Manhattan prep school at age 13 and survived two muggings and a near-fatal car crash before he was 21. Something tells me he’ll be okay without this gig. (For what it's worth, I was in his dog house for about a year for that "Boy Blunder" headline. But I stand by it still today.)
*Since 2016 the Rangers are 110 games under .500. Since their last World Series appearance in 2011 they have been through managers Tim Bogar, Jeff Banister, Don Wakamatsu, Woodward and now – through the end of the season – Beasley. Admits Davis, “We’re not good. And we haven’t been good for six years.”
*None of this – the owner, the manager, etc. – matters if the Rangers can’t develop their young arms into successful pitchers in Arlington. If talented prospects such as Jack Leiter, Cole Winn and A.J. Alexy aren’t 10-win starters come 2023-24, I’ll be writing about another new manager.
*High-priced coffee: Before their exhibition game in Europe this week, Slovenia’s Doncic and Serbia’s Nikola Jokic apparently went for coffee. A two-time MVP and a … future MVP?
*If you were around these parts during the Summers of 1980 or 2011 you know that heat and drought are merely staples of August in Texas. That said …
*Oh, and if you think it’s hot in Texas now just wait until 2052 when scientists predict those of us living in the “extreme heat belt” will regularly see temperatures over 125 degrees. I’d be 88, but not sure I’m sticking around to endure that.
*The Byron Nelson golf tournament’s move to McKinney is a smashing success. The event’s charity – the Salesmanship Club of Dallas – this week presented a $7.6 million check to the Momentous Institute. It’s the largest donation in the history of the 54-year-old tournament.
*Wait, some college football coach actually voted Texas as the No. 1 team in the preseason poll? The Longhorns went 5-7 last season and don’t have a clear-cut No. 1 quarterback. Texas isn’t “back”, but the call for the abolishment of preseason polls should be.
*Hot.
*Not.
*Look, I’ve been as hard on Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy as anyone. But this narrative that he’s an undisciplined coach who teaches sloppy football is simply without merit. When he was head coach in Green Bay 2010-18, the Packers were the third-least penalized team in the NFL. Now, how do I explain Dallas leading the league last season, drawing 14 flags in its Wild Card playoff loss and another 17 in the preseason opener? I don’t have a good answer. But I know that lazily claiming McCarthy’s teams have always been heavily penalized is a bad answer.
*I tracked my eating and my workouts for a couple weeks and submitted to a professional nutritionist/trainer, just to see what’s what. Her suggestion: I need to be eating 165 grams of protein each day. Almost impossible. For me, eating that much is more difficult than the training.
*Last weekend during a game against the Mariners a bird flew around and almost upon Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe. By the end of the inning Texas rallied for the lead and eventually won the game. A “rally bird”? More like a vulture, who was feasting on the soon-to-be-carcasses of Woodward and Daniels. But who knows? Since the bird landed on the field the Rangers are 4-2.
*You know you’re getting old when you take defensive driving by choice rather than court mandate. Guilty. I did the math and determined I could save $375 on my auto insurance this year with a discount for taking a five-hour online class. So, essentially, I paid myself $75 per hour. I also was reminded of this statistical nugget I feel moved to pass along: Slow. Down! The No. 1 cause of crashes in Texas according to the Department of Public Safety: “Driving at an unsafe speed.”
*If only Mark Cuban - for all his passion and efforts - could have as dramatic of a positive effect on Mavs’ free agency as he is having on America’s prescription medications. His CostPlusDrugs website is apparently making real, tangible differences in people’s lives. More importantly, frankly, than any basketball game.
The Mavs making it to the West Finals is a big deal, for Cuban and Luka Doncic and all MFFL's. But this is way bigger. Kudos.
*If you’re up around 5 a.m. these days you’ll see a tiny sparkling dot close to the Moon. That blip is Venus, which is roughly the same size as the Moon. But one is 150 million miles from Earth; the other only 240,000. That kind of stuff simultaneously hurts my brain and tickles my fancy.
*Wanna know why most of America despises “America’s Team”? Because you can’t turn on an NFL game without hearing former players Troy Aikman or Tony Romo or Daryl Johnston or Michael Irvin or Marcus Spears or Chris Canty or and – despite a quarter-century of failure – without seeing current players land starring roles in national TV advertising campaigns. Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb yucking it up with “Real Housewives” for DirecTV is just sad. For those spewing the “Cowboys care more about fame than fundamentals”, here’s a fresh load of ammunition.
*Those shocked that Aqib Talib was involved in the shooting death of a youth football coach last weekend in Dallas weren’t paying attention in 2011 when he was arrested in another shooting in Garland. In that case, Talib allegedly attempted to pistol-whip his sister Saran's boyfriend, Shannon Billings, and then, after a struggle, used his mother Okolo's pistol and fired several shots at Billings as he fled the scene on foot. Talib was eventually acquitted, as Billings – the state’s main witness in the case – went to prison on an unrelated child molestation charge. Trouble and Talib have been loyal life partners.
*A realtor was murdered in McKinney in 2006 and the killer was put to death by lethal injection … this week. I’m all for exhausting legal avenues, but the guy got to live – albeit behind bars – for 16 years after killing another human being. The wheels of justice are slow, but that one got stuck in neutral.
*I want to criticize ESPN First Take host Molly Qerim for always yelling, as in “does she not know how a microphone works?”. But then – just before turning the channel – I remember that she works alongside Stephen A. Smith. That group of actors and actresses – they’re no more authentic than WWE wrestlers – is bringing its circus freakshow tent to Frisco Thursday to pollute the Cowboys official Blue Carpet & Season Kickoff Event.
*Sad news: The first star pro quarterback in DFW is in hospice care in Kansas City.
*Weird, so the “Defund the police!” people and the “Abolish the FBI!” people aren’t the same people?
*If you would’ve invested $500 in a share of Apple stock the day it unveiled the iPhone – Jan. 9, 2007 – today it would be worth $32,810. Well, didja?
*Maybe it’s just me, but if I’m innocent I DO NOT PLEAD GUILTY. Britney Griner in Russia and now Deshaun Watson – sorta – in Cleveland. Watson was accused by 25 women of sexual misconduct, etc. during massage sessions. He’s always claimed he did nothing wrong, and two Texas grand juries agreed in not indicting him. Why then, would Watson settle almost all of the lawsuits, publicly apologize and now accept the NFL’s new 11-game suspension and $5 million fine? Explains Watson, “I’ve always been able to stand on my innocence and always said I never assaulted or disrespected anyone. But at the same point I have to continue to push forward with my life and career.” Sorry, but truly “innocent” folks don’t settle lawsuits, issue apologies and shrug off punishments.
*This Weekend? No Whitt’s End next week as I sneak off for one final beach respite before working 24 consecutive weekends … better known as “football season.” As always, don’t be a stranger.
