As Good as Advertised

Lebron James is the best player in the NBA. He's got the skills, smarts and charisma to be the greatest in his sport for a long time. Tonight,King James showed us why he is this year's MVP when he singled handedly beat the Orlando Magic to tie this series. The game was no different than the first of this series with both teams swapping the lead several times in the final minutes. The Magic looked to be in control when Hedo Turkoglu hit a 12 foot jumper with just one second remaining to give the Magic a 96-94 lead. My friend Jon and I sat in his living room dejected after Turkoglu's clutch shot. But little do did we know that one second was all the Lebron needed to tie the series.
There are few athletes in sports who are truly living legends. MJ, Tiger, Barry Bonds and Tom Brady are four that come to my mind as athletes who time and again can live up to the hype.
These players are separated from the rest of their competitors because they live up to their hype in clutch situations. You can add Lebron to that list.
In these playoffs he is averaging nearly 40 points a game. Tonight he only had 35 points but that's all the Cavs needed.
As Mo Williams threw the inbounds pass to James he caught and released it as time expired. In the back of my mind I thought "He's gonna make this." Just like we think Tom Brady is bound to drive the Pats down the field in the 4th quarter or Tiger will make this 20 foot put on the 18th green to win it.

As the ball went through the back of the net we both went nuts. Lebron had done it again and nobody was surprised. I'm not sure what will happen in this series but there is no doubt in my mind that Lebron James is the best player on the planet.

Why Not This Year?

All the experts say that the Rangers are built for 2010 and beyond, but after watching them win seven games in row this week they may be ahead of schedule. I went to every game this week at The Ballpark and it was well worth my time.

The Rangers showed us everything that is evident of a playoff contender this week. They had great starting pitching, timely hitting and solid bullpen help when they really needed it. Every Rangers' pitcher went at least six innings during this streak including a Matt Harrison complete game against Seattle.

The return of Josh Hamilton showed just how valuable he is to the middle of this lineup.

He had three big home-runs this week including a 460 foot bomb in the right field porch which was measured as the third longest in Ballpark history.

The defense of Elvis Andrus this week proved that the decision to move Young to third base was the right one. Even though Elvis is just 20 years old, he made plays this week that you expect only of a handful of shortstops in the league. Not only did Josh Hamilton hit the cover off the ball, he made one of the greatest catches I've ever seen right in front of our seats against the Angels.

The best part about this week was that we had a chance to show the rest of the American League that we have the players to compete with anybody this year and beyond. Now I give you the five best moments of the Rangers longest win streak of 2005.

5) Matt Harrison tosses a complete game against the Mariners.

Harrison (4-2) threw a five-hitter to win his fourth consecutive start. He retired 16 of the last 18 batters after Seattle scored twice in the fourth to end his scoreless innings streak at 22 in a row. He was completely dominant even though he trailed 2-0 as he left to a standing ovation after the top of the 9th.

4) Hank Blalock's walk-off double in extra innings against the Mariners.

It was one of those games that there was a ton of scoring in the first half of the game and then a drought ensued until the 11th. Seattle took the lead in the top half of the inning but it didn't matter. Young singled, Hamilton walked and one out later, Blalock hit a line shot right beneath our seats in right-center. Ball game.

3) Josh Hamilton's 460 foot homer in the eighth inning that proved to be the game winning run.

I was there for Jose Canseco's 491 foot home run in 1994 to the back of the visitors' bullpen but this one seemed a lot farther.

From our seats in right-center, we knew this ball was out from the second he hit it, but I literally thought it was going to go over the roof and out of the stadium. I was in shock.I've seen thousands of balls hit in that park but never that hard. It went 30 rows up in the upper deck and it was still rising when a lucky fan caught it. And he said after the game he didn't feel like he hit it as good as he could have...wow.

2) Chris Davis's walk-off homer against the Mariners. Matt

Harrison pitched a complete game gem but was slated to be the loser as he walked off the mound behind 2-0 after the top of the 9th inning. But leave it to the Rangers to wait until they absolutely needed it. Blalock homered, Murphy doubled and Davis wins it with a 410 foot walk-off homer. As he flipped his bat in celebration the crowd went nuts and his teammates flooded out of the dugout to mob him at home.

1) Josh Hamilton's game saving catch in the final game versus the

Angels.

I was there three years ago when Gary Matthews, Jr. made the greatest over the wall catch I've ever seen. That catch was more improbable but we were getting killed by the Astros at the time so it didn't really matter. Howie Kendrick hit a ball that carried right to us and it looked like the Angels were staring to rally. But Hamilton came out of nowhere and flew full speed into the wall just below the 407 sign ten feet from us. The irony of this picture is that our sign said"He's Back" and after making this catching he had to come out of the game with a strained groin. But it was completely worth it. Not only did it save the game, but it gave the Rangers a sweep of a team they will have to compete with for the A.L. West title.

I'm a Dallas Mavericks Fan

Tonight, Chandler and I went to our first Mavs playoff game. We had to win after losing a third consecutive game to the Nuggets. Down 3-0 we had nothing to lose and we played like it tonight.

The crowd was loud after every bucket and even louder after every questionable call from the refs. The third quarter may have been the worst officiated quarter I've ever seen. Dirk continued to step up in the big game as he scored a game high 44 points. The problem with the Mavs is that they depend on Dirk too much. Dallas has to have Dirk score 40 in every game to win this series.

The Nuggets are a bunch of thugs ,but I will say though that Carmelo Anthony was brilliant at times tonight. He drove the ball to the basket as good as anybody has this year. The Mavs had the lead up to eight in the fourth quarter but it was quickly cut to three after two quick Denver buckets.

Nevertheless, free throws sealed the deal and gave the Mavs their first win of the Western Conference Semis. If the Mavs continue to play like they did tonight, they have a chance to become the first team to come back to win a playoff series after trailing 3-0. But let's get real; this series is over. The Nuggets are too good to lose four straight games.

My Prediction: Nuggets in 6 over the Mavs

The Steroid Era

Today Manny Ramirez, arguably baseball's best home-run hitter of the last few years, was suspended for 50 games for violating

MLB's substance abuse policy. I like Manny but it didn't break my heart to see him punished. He broke the rules plain and simple but the punishment goes much farther than just missing 50 games. Rameriz will now be grouped with living legends such as Clemens, Bonds and ARod who have all been accused of cheating with steroids in the past three years. This accusation brings with it a lifetime of negative speculation and almost no chance at the Hall of Fame.
Although extremely selfish,we are finding out that taking steroids over the last 15 years was just something that everyone of prominence did. They didn't have to, but they had to be exceptional. There are so many arguments out there that are against the use of performance enhancing drugs... but couldn't you argue that it has helped the game just as much it has hurt it? I know I may be in the vast minority here but hear me out.

In 1993, 70 million fans came out to ballparks contributing to the highest attended year in the sport's 120 year history.
But, the 1994 strike shortened season severed baseball from its fan base. The 1995 attendance numbers were down a record 20 percent to just 50 million; it's lowest total since 1986. Baseball was in trouble and desperately needed a hero to save our national
pastime. The first was Cal Ripken Jr. and his pursuit of Lou Gerhig's consecutive games played streak. During Ripken's magical run, the fan base slowly returned to a respectable 60 million in 1996.
Home-runs had steadily been on the climb since 1992 when there were 3,038 to 2006 when there were 5,386. From 1990-1994 the home-run leader each season was averaging 38 home-runs. From 1995-1999 the average went up by 21 homers to 59 per season. Those are some amazing stats.

June of 1998 was baseball's biggest chance to regain its popularity. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa stole the hearts and minds of sports fans across the world by putting on a nightly home-run spectacle.
An all-time attendance record was set that year at 70,601,147.
Sosa hit a record 20 homers in June giving him 33; just four behind McGwire's 37. The nation watched as on August 19 Sosa overtook Big Mac as he hit #48 of the year. Not to be outdone McGwire retook the home-run lead later that night when he hit his 48th and 49th long balls of the year. McGwire would hit 23 homers over his last 39 games and average a home-run once every 10.61 at-bats in 1998.
Over the next three weeks the two sluggers would garner more attention than any other duo before them. They traded leads back and forth but McGwire would ultimately win out hitting his 62nd home-run against the Cubs in St. Louis on September 8,1998. Over 20 million viewers tuned in to watch the historic record fall- nearly five times their average audience. I would say then and there baseball was back.


Over the following years, attendance and ratings for would continue to climb as we watched Barry Bonds break McGwire's home-run record as he hit 73 long balls in 2001.
But now we look at these players who revived our greatest pastime as criminals because they have been linked to steroids.
My question is where were these tests in 1998 or 2001 when the entire sporting world was on there doorstep?

The answer is simple. MLB turned a blind eye to this issue because they needed these icons to succeed. Just as we as fans wanted them to conquer those records because it was magical.
The fact is; I don't care if players take performance enhancing drugs to hit the ball farther because they know the risks. Who doesn't love home-runs? I know I do.
I don't care if Barry Bonds takes steroids to hit the ball 500 feet because it's entertaining and that's the most important thing to me. It sounds selfish but it's true. There are fans just like me everywhere. I know that steroids are dangerous but these are grown men making a decision that could negatively effect their lives. But that's not my problem. Baseball is game centered around numbers and records. And that's exactly what baseball traditionalists are worried about- records. They don't really care about these players; they care about marketing. I don't blame them because everybody wants to believe in something magical. Remember using this stuff was not banned it was simply frowned upon in 1998. So you could say that these guys did nothing wrong. But let me ask you this. If the players in the 1990's used performance enhancing drugs to get a leg up on the competition, don't you think players such as Ruth, Mays and Aaron would have taken them too? Just as people say if Jack Nicklaus would have had the club technology that Tiger Woods has today he would have won 25 majors. It may be true but we'll never know.
Bottom-line, sports is entertainment so let them entertain. We shouldn't be blaming these players from the past 15 years for the current state of baseball because without them who knows where the game would be today.

For the Love of the Game

Three days ago I made a dumb decision. I climbed into my brother's four door Honda Civic and decided to spend the next two days crammed inside a four passenger car with  four of my friends. Do the math that's five guys in a four seat car. It was one of the worst decisions of my life but it was completely worth it.  Our destination: Field of Dreams and Wrigley Field. 

About an hour into the trip between Jonathan Garner and David Jones I felt like getting out and walking. The trip ahead of us consisted of 1500 miles and almost 20 hours of driving. 

At our first stop to relieve some of the boredom Jonathan and I decided that at every stop we would throw the ball around.We threw at gas stations, restaurants, church parking lots and finally the ballpark -things like this made the drive bearable. 

We arrived in at our first stop- Devin Schadegg's church somewhere in Kansas at about 11 p.m. We enjoyed the break from driving and got back on the road at 7:30 a.m. 

After being on the road for almost 15 hours we arrived in Dyersville, Iowa where the movie "Field of Dreams" was filmed. 

We drove up to the house that is next to the baseball field and unloaded a bucket of balls and  a few bats.

The great thing about this day was that there wasn't anybody out there to stop us from playing an actual game on the field.

So we divided up and began to play. It was very surreal to be playing a game on the set of the most popular baseball movie ever made.  

Our travels continued with a four hour trip to Chicago where we stayed at a friend's house in their basement. The next morning started for us at 9 a.m. We drove about 45 min into the heart of downtown where we got our first look at Wrigley. It was awesome. We got off the bus right in front of the stadium and took in the sights and sounds. 

I've never experienced such a rich baseball culture- it felt like this was Game 7 of the World Series. Different than other stadiums Wrigley was full of passionate Cubs fans. Usually you see a lot of fans at games who are wearing polo shirts or other teams' logos but not here. Everyone was sporting some kind Cubs gear. 

It just doesn't much better than a day game at Wrigley Field. 

 We took some batting practice, bought hot dogs and found our seats just in time for the first pitch. The Cubs' ace Carlos Zambrano pitched well, Derek Lee hit a grand slam and the Cubs beat the Marlins 6-4.

 As we exited the stadium the jubilation of the Cubs win did not last long. The realization of

an 18 hour road trip back Abilene loomed. We decided to tough it out and drive through the night back to ACU. 

Again another stupid decision, but it made the trip that much more memorable. We got back at 10 a.m. just in time to watch the Wildcats play for the LSC title. 

3 days, 3000 miles and 2 unforgettable baseball experiences.                                                  

Michael, It's May

I really enjoy listening to sports talk radio but only in small doses. I favor the national broadcasts such "The Dan Patrick Show" or "Mike and Mike in the Morning" simply because they discuss a wide variety of topics with an unbiased perceptive. Not only do they cover a wide range of topics they focus on what's going on right then and there as opposed to looking forward to a particular season months in advance. 

Unfortunately,  some of the local shows here in DFW do not follow suit as they should in my opinion. Today as I was tuning into the "The Michael Irvin Show"

I wanted to hear something about the Mavs playoff push or the Rangers early season struggles but I was was wrong.

The topic of conversation: Cowboys Rookie Camp. What? Really? It's May, right?

And when does training camp start?.... July. And when does the first meaningful snap occur?... September. So why on May 1 does the entire focus of  two hours need to be on how Cowboys' rookie QB Stephen McGee looked in practice today? It's just ridiculous. I know that Michael was the greatest receiver in Cowboys history but does he or the other two guys on his show know any other sport besides football?

 And here's a news flash that every Cowboys fan reading this and disagreeing should come to grips with: America's Team stinks. They are a sinking ship and that has not won a playoff game since the Clinton Administration. The Rangers have won as many playoff games in the last decade as the Cowboys... ONE.

So why don't we spend a whole show in December talking about how good or bad Ian Kinsler looked in the indoor batting cages that day?.... because nobody cares until the first pitch is thrown and that's the way it should be. Nobody cares about the Cowboys' rookie camp except the people who are getting paid to care which are the coaches and players. 

I know that this is football state but do your job and cover the teams that are actually winning and losing right now instead of in five months.