Whitt's End: New DFW Radio Ratings, Cowboys Coronavirus Plans & No 'Stick To Sports' Right Now
Whether you’re at the end of your coffee, your day, your week or even your rope, welcome to Whitt’s End 3.13.20 ...
*Surreal. Straight outta the movies. Unprecedented. Fluid. Serious. You know what the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic isn’t? A time for sportswriters to “stick to sports.” We need all thinking, rational, researched minds on the case, helping us understand, comprehend and put into context a sickness that is directly impacting life and, yes, sports.
Maybe it took sports to scare us straight.
*Dallas Mavericks games: Suspended. Dallas Stars? Suspended. Texas Rangers’ Opening Day: Postponed two weeks. FC Dallas? Gone at least 30 days. Greenville Avenue St. Patrick’s Day Parade: Canceled. March Madness: Gone. Postponed: PGA, XFL, ATP, SXSW, Broadway, Disneyworld, countless school trips abroad, Spring Break and every cruise to anywhere.
“Out of an abundance of caution,'' our lives – sports and otherwise – are involuntarily hitting an eerie, unfathomable panic/pause button. Not to compare calamities, but this is quickly morphing into a post-9/11ish timeout. But at Wednesday’s Rangers’ “Open House” event at Globe Life Field in Arlington, it was as if Corona hadn’t deteriorated into coronavirus. Handshakes. Plates of food served by workers without gloves. No masks. No fear.
It was like … normal. Except for one familiar face, who greeted me while offering only his elbow. Elbows? Fist bumps? Chest bumps? Thumbs up? Knowing nods?
Or, considering NBA star Rudy Gobert testing positive amid this coronavirus pandemic era, do we simply resort to “Jazz Hands”?
*If I’m a computer/video game company, I’m working furiously to “play” a simulated March Madness tournament. People would fill out brackets and pay to watch. I know I would. Of all the events, the loss of March Madness stings the most. The other sports can make up games and resume seasons. But for teams like Dayton – which has its best team in history and legit shot at the championship – this was their chance. Poof. Gone.
*Was in Scottsdale last week for a guys’ golf trip. Of the eight, five still said they listened exclusively to The Ticket. To prove it, they repeatedly used the station jargon. As I’ve said repeatedly, The Ticket didn’t suddenly forget how to produce entertaining radio. And no doubt it’s ingrained into DFW’s 50- and 40-somethings.
But … in January’s radio ratings, The Ticket’s troubling trend continued.
In Nielsen Audio ratings for Jan. 2-29, the once-dynastic station again slumped behind 105.3 The Fan and placed none of its main shows among DFW’s Top 5 in the coveted category of Men aged 25-54.
Overall (Mon.-Fri. 6 a.m.-7 p.m.), The Ticket finished 8th with a 3.6 rating, well behind The Fan (3rd, 5.9). As for individual shows, The Fan continued to hold healthy leads in mornings (4.5-3.8), middays (6.8-3.5) and afternoons (6.1-3.3).
Ticket co-founder and forever afternoon host Mike Rhyner announced his retirement Jan. 6.
*We’re facing weeks – maybe months? – without a live sporting event. The Masters (April 9) is in jeopardy. The NBA Finals will be pushed to at least July. The next sport to “play” in DFW might well be the NASCAR race at Texas Motor Speedway scheduled for March 29.
*Tests for coronavirus should be readily available and – no-brainer – free. ... If there is a practical way to have that many tests.
*Thursday I went to a Lowe’s and a Jason’s Deli. People everywhere. Eating. Buying flowers. It was business as usual, with a looming backdrop of "business as usual'' -
*If this pandemic pushes too far, NFL training camps could be in jeopardy. Already, in a story broken by CowboysSI.com, new Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy has scrapped his “scouting” trip to see the team’s operational headquarters in Oxnard.
*Only thing falling faster than sporting events this week is the stock market.
*I totally get the Dallas Cowboys-Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Fame Game matchup to kick off the NFL season Aug. 6. Two Cowboys (Jimmy Johnson and, later, Cliff Harris) are being inducted, as well as three Steelers (Bill Cowher, Donnie Shell and Troy Polamalu). ... In fact, Jerry Jones says Jimmy is the inspiration for it all, kinda.
What I don’t get is the game’s official promo logo featuring Michael Gallup. Sure, there is uncertainty surrounding Dak Prescott and Amari Cooper. But shouldn’t Ezekiel Elliott have his feelings hurt?
*If, God forbid, the NBA season is not just suspended but ultimately canceled, our lasting Mavs’ image of 2020 will be … Boban Marjanovich.
With Kristaps Porzingis out, the supersized, soft-handed Serb shocked the Nuggets with a 31-point, 17-rebound performance. (Game story on Mavs over Nuggets is here.) Boban’s hands are so big and deft, when making a layup he looks like a kid putting a quarter in a gumball machine.
*When the ball is moving and the Mavs are free-flowing, they can beat anyone, anywhere, anytime, including deep in the playoffs. But when crunch-time arrives and the ball gets “stuck,'' they are a below-average offense that won’t win a series.
Too many times in fourth quarters the Mavs seem to suddenly stand around and wait for Luka Doncic to fabricate some magic. Often, he does it. Others, he needs help.
Recent losses are troubling, because they are trends.
In Miami, they were outscored by 13 points in the fourth. Against the Pacers they scored only one basket the final 4:40. In San Antonio they were outscored by 12 in the fourth quarter of a 10-point loss. To get to the playoffs, you need up-tempo energy. To win in the playoffs, you need half-court execution.
*Ran into ol’ radio partner Newy Scruggs this week. Reminded me that next month he’ll celebrate 20 years at NBC5. I also saw recently that Mike Doocy just passed the 27-year mark at Fox 4. And Dale Hansen has been at Channel 8 since 1983 (37 years).
I hope we appreciate – in a market that also boasts Brad Sham, Eric Nadel, Chuck Cooperstein and Daryl Reaugh – how fortunate we are when it comes to our media personalities.
*Best coronavirus live infographic I can find is right here.
*How does the coronavirus hit home? My Dad turns 80. Today. After two months of chemo to fight Leukemia, if he gets infected it’s likely fatal.
*Sorry, but if you have yourself tricked into Triskaidekaphobia – fear of Friday the 13 – then we’re probably not going to be friends. Coronavirus notwithstanding, life is hard enough without being irrationally scared out of your shorts. One of my pet peeves is being weak-minded, as in, falling for crap like superstition and phobias and knocking on wood and, yes, karma. Happiness is a choice. And choices are empowered by actions, not by crossing your fingers. Besides, Friday the 13 is no more “rare” than Friday the 6, or Friday the 20. It’s just Friday. Carry on. (P.S. I am on board with power of positivity in the form of 528hz binaural beats. Guilty.)
*Hot.
*Not.
*Kudos to Mark Cuban for his stance on coronavirus: “We will take direction from the NBA,'' the Mavs owner said. "They have all the people talking to the CDC and health authorities. We don't have the expertise to pretend we are experts. The league does. They have experts talking to experts . I don't know more than the experts.”
Sometimes leadership isn’t knowing the answer, but rather deferring to someone that does. More on Mark Cuban's live-action-at-the-AAC leadership here.
*82 games. 3-point line of 23-feet, 9 inches. Same team. But a wholly different sport. In 1984 the Mavs made the playoffs with a team that made 42 3-pointers. In 2020 the Mavs will make the playoff with a team that has already made 1,026. This year’s squad sports nine players that have made more triples than the entire roster did 39 seasons ago.
*As part of Italy’s nationwide shutdown, “all weddings and funerals are hereby canceled.” I get the rescheduling of a wedding. But a funeral? Do they just put the dead on ice and … never mind.
*The more you watch Luka, the more you realize he has two emotions: Smiling (after a made basket or nifty assist) and Whining (when he thinks he was fouled, preventing a made basket or nifty assist). In between complaining about non-calls, here’s hoping he goes ahead and makes the free throws he takes.
He was only 23 of 40 in a recent four-game stretch and missed all five in the first half of Wednesday’s win over Denver. He’s simply too good of a shooter to be missing one of every four (75 percent) at the line for the season.
*In 1918, the influenza epidemic was headed toward Dallas-Fort Worth. So what, according to the Morning News, was the sage advice of Dallas Health Officer Dr. A.W. Carnes?
“Keep bodily secretions active and bowels open.”
I mean, when is that not a good suggestion?
*Dallas is getting a new area code: 945. Some of us are old enough to remember dialing without an area code. Or, even more confounding, having to share a “party line.”
*Things are bad and we’re all doomed, but in Arizona last week gas was just under $3. Not $2, three! Feel better don’t ya?
*The Rangers unveiled a significantly upgraded “mobile experience” in conjunction with Globe Life Field. Wondering what virtual tickets on your phone is doing to the ticket-waving “Who needs 2?!” guy on the corner?
*This weekend? Friday: Washing hands. Saturday: Washing hands. Sunday: Washing hands. As always, don’t be a stranger.
