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An Oral History of the Decade of Dirk: Deleted Scenes

In case a 7,000-word-plus oral history of Dirk Nowitzki wasn’t enough for you, after the jump, a few more quotes from the Big German that I couldn’t work into the piece.

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Tom Hicks Maneuvering to Keep Rangers

Randy Galloway doesn’t think that’s a good thing. According to Galloway, neither does the Ranger staff:

“I work for Tom, I wanted Tom to be successful at this, but, frankly, we can’t sell Tom,” said one. “Our fans, for the most part, will not buy Tom. And our former season-ticket holders, and we’d lost a lot of those because of Mr. Hicks, will not come back if Tom is still the owner.”

Really? That’s the problem in selling tickets? The owner?

North Texas Mayors’ Super Bowl XLV Confab

  Leaders from the farthest-flung reaches of North Texas converged on Cowboys Stadium yesterday for the second gathering of the Super Bowl XLV Host Committee’s Council of Mayors. Fort Worth’s Mike Moncrief was the big dog in the room (Tom Leppert wasn’t there), among representatives from places like Denton, Parker, Rowlett, DeSoto, Flower Mound, and Krugerville, and dozens of other spots, as well as the mysterious “Mayor G.” (See photo)

The meeting wasn’t open to the public, and even members of the media were shut out of the first bit. What we were allowed to hear were updates on the Slant 45 program, and transportation, aviation, and public safety plans.

For example, we were told that on the day of the Super Bowl there will be a no-fly zone within a 10-mile radius of the stadium. And only restricted flying will be allowed within 30 miles. The southern end of D/FW Airport is less than 10 miles away, and Love Field is about 15. So every plane traveling between 4 p.m. and midnight will be affected. Maybe don’t book a flight for Feb. 6, 2011.

Jump for more. (more…)

Ex-Hurler: Rangers’ Pitching Staff Needs Starters

While conventional wisdom holds that the Texas Rangers are set with their pitching for now–for a change–some experts like the ever-astute Evan Grant don’t necessarily agree. Grant contends that Texas still needs another “premium” pitcher, and Roberto Diaz, a salesman at the NorthPark Salvatore Ferragamo store, concurs with that assessment–and then some. Why listen to Diaz, a 51-year-old native of Puerto Rico? Because he’s a former relief pitcher in the Milwaukee Brewers organization who’s pals with the likes of Pudge Rodriguez and Juan Gonzales, who also hail from PR. (In fact, Diaz says, he moved to Dallas from Florida because of the connections.) The “Rangers are a pretty good young ball club,” says Diaz (pictured), who coaches kids at occasional baseball clinics in Plano. “But they need a couple more good quality starters, and they should go into the free [agency] market to get them.”

NFL to Build Youth Education Center in Arlington

Though he said the exact location hadn’t yet been determined, NFL vice president of special events Frank Supovitz revealed that the Super Bowl XLV host city itself (Arlington, not Dallas) is where the league will build a Youth Education Town (YET Center). They’ve been creating places like this as part of their annual Super Bowl investments since 1992. There are currently 15 in the country, including one in Honolulu (traditional site of the Pro Bowl). Generally these are put into low-income neighborhoods.

The YET centers house afterschool programs including tutoring, mentoring, and recreational activities. The NFL pledges $1 million for the YET, with the rest needing to be matched by local donations. I’m sure the Host Committee can help you out if you’re interested in contributing to the project.

Please, Dallas Mavericks, Stop Letting Chris Arnold Help The Other Team

I’ve always thought the Dallas Mavericks do a better than average job when it comes to game presentation. If nothing else, they are always willing to try something, and a lot of that works, in one way or another — whether it’s the (usually) funny bits they show on the big screen during timeouts or the Mavs ManiAACs or whatever. One thing they have always — ALWAYS — failed, though, is knowing when to properly deploy Chris Arnold.

I don’t really know Chris. I’ve met him once or twice. Seems like a nice guy. People who know him much better than I do confirm this. But at Mavs games, he is my kryptonite. I know from reading Glenn Arbery’s piece from a couple of years ago that game presentation is a complicated affair. But I think a little common sense is in order. Because here is what happens every game. The Mavericks go on a run. The fans go crazy. The opposing team — in last night’s case, the Houston Rockets — calls a timeout, specifically to calm themselves down and hopefully cool off the crowd, too. And then, without fail, Chris Arnold comes out and accomplishes that for them, by quieting everything down so a couple of fans can play some ridiculous game no one ever understands or really cares about. Momentum gone.

Look, there will come a time when it makes sense to trot out Chris. Maybe the Mavs have a big lead. Maybe the other team needs some cooling off. It’s not rocket science. You have to veer off the script on occasion. I don’t know why I have to keep bringing this up.

How Much Money Will Super Bowl XLV Bring?

I was a little confused in reading today’s Dallas Morning News story wherein Super Bowl XLV Host Committee CEO Bill Lively says the North Texas game will have a record impact, but declined to give a figure.

Lively gave us a figure just a few weeks ago: About $500 million.

Granted, the host committee hasn’t yet released any findings of the official economic impact study that it commissioned. So Lively’s number is probably just him doing what he needs to do at this point:  boost expectations. He’s optimistic that North Texas will come in higher than the record take for Arizona in 2008.

Of course some sports economists cast doubt on any estimates in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Pro Bowl Changes Affect Super Bowl XLV Planners

Had breakfast this morning with the NFL’s “Super”-Man, Frank Supovitz (pictured). His official title is senior vice president for events, and he’s the man charged with producing the league’s biggest spectacles, including the Super Bowl. He’s in town for a few days with dozens of event planners from the league and its sponsors and partners for what they term “FAM Week.”

That’s short for “FAMiliarization Week.” (Don’t ask why those first three letters are capitalized.) The Super Bowl XLV Host Committee has organized itineraries for these folks to get to know the area, Cowboys Stadium, and a host of other venues available for events in the run-up to the big game in February 2011.

Obviously putting together a Super Bowl is a major challenge. But the NFL’s experiment of changing the timing of the Pro Bowl will throw some additional hurdles into the process. Couple that with North Texas never having hosted before, and Super Bowl XLV will put Supovitz and his staff to an unusual test. (more…)

Cowboys Stadium a Magnet For Prostitutes

A completely unfair headline on this post, I’ll grant you. But since both the 2010 NBA All-Star Game and Super Bowl XLV will be played inside the belly of Jerry’s giant robot space turtle in Arlington, and since as many as 100,000 prostitutes are expected to come to the area for the games, I’d argue that it’s not entirely inaccurate.

Anyway, the Morning News had a good blog post about this already. I’m really linking to it to point out how quickly the comments on the DMN Crime Blog item degenerated into racial epithets.

Dirk Nowitzki Talks About Taking a Game Over

No, in the quote below, Dirk is not talking about last night, when he grabbed the game by the throat, turning a double-digit deficit into a double-digit win going away. Before InsideCorner took a dirt nap, I had been spending some time at Mavs practices and so on, trying to play the part of professional sports blogger. On one such occasion, Dirk and I were talking, specifically, about his 50-point performance against the Phoenix Suns in the 2006 Western Conference Finals and, generally, about what it’s like to go on rushes like that. So I think it’s applicable this morning.

I’ve had games where I’m stiff in shootaround, can’t make a shot in warm-ups, and all of a sudden, you get to the basket one time. You get fouled. You have an “and-1.” And all of a sudden, every basket you get, the basket seems to get bigger. I had other experiences where I felt like I could jump out of the gym in the mornings, and I miss my first six, seven shots. The game’s weird like that. I’ve had games where I wasn’t feeling well, and for some reason you can’t even get a rebound; somebody seems to tip it, and you end up with zero rebounds. You’re 7-feet — how the hell you not getting one rebound? And then that night, against Phoenix in the playoffs, it just seems like the ball is coming to you. I was getting offensive rebounds. I was getting good looks at shots. I was driving. I was getting to the foul line. It’s just funny how sports works. Sometimes it works in your favor and sometimes it doesn’t.

Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader (Allegedly?) in Blackface

Deadspin has the pictures. The Cowboys are “handling it internally.”

Least Surprising Headline Ever: “Kenyan Wins Dallas Running Club’s Half Marathon”

Cheers to Sammy Kiplagat.

(And before you set your comments to “stun” because you’re having a bad Monday and think I’m somehow being racist or xenophobic or something with the headline joke — “Kenyan wins marathon” brings up 3.8 million hits on Google. Its less discriminating cousin “Kenyan marathon” brings up more than 25 million. Kenyans are universally acknowledged for kicking people in the jeans when it comes to running long distances extremely quickly.)

InsideCorner, R.I.P.

It really was magic. When we launched InsideCorner at the beginning of the baseball season, it was an opportunistic move made possible by the Morning News‘ shortsightedness. They had on their staff the best baseball beat writer in Texas, Evan Grant, and they decided to make him cover football (a move forced by their content-sharing agreement with the Star-Telegram). So, with the support of some visionary advertisers (Dr Pepper, Pappas Bros., Texas Rangers), we were able to make a home for Evan in our humble digital outpost. You know what happened after that: the Rangers had one of their best seasons in club history as a direct result of Evan’s comprehensive, insightful coverage (along with the fine work of Mike Hindman and Jeff Miller, it should be noted). Then, at the end of the baseball season, the News got its shortsighted vision corrected by ESPN and hired Evan back.

Meantime, we’d brought along some other writers to round out the coverage on InsideCorner, most notably Bob Sturm, he of Ticket fame. Bob broke down the Cowboys for us in the way that only he can. And Gina Miller of TXA 21 has been pitching in on the Mavs front. Zac and Eric threw up a few posts, too, from beyond the arc.

Here’s what we struggled with: we had this great baseball blog run by a full-time employee whose job was to feed and care for the thing more or less around the clock. Then we had this parentless sports blog that was getting passed around from babysitter to babysitter, each of whom gave the thing good care when they had the time but each of whom also had a full-time job (in Zac’s case, keeping Twitter in business; in Eric’s case, breaking necks and cashing checks; in Bob’s case, mediating on-air fights between his broadcasting partner and his producer on BaD Radio; in Gina’s case, keeping Derek Harper’s six-button suits in check on Mavs broadcasts; in Mike Hindman’s case, lawyering; in Jeff Miller’s case, writing books). This is no way to raise a child. A kid needs stability. Rules. An engaged parent.

So. We’ve decided to give our baby to a better home. Or, more accurately, we’ve decided to put the baby down. And not just for nap.

On Monday, we’re pulling the plug on InsideCorner. Its content will still live on the interubes should you ever want to search for a bit of information you remember reading, but there won’t be any links to it on our site. Thank you to everyone who was a part of the magic while it lasted. Thank you especially for your forbearance as we’ve figured out the right course of action.

God bless us all.

Super Bowl XLV Workshop Pumps Up Local Business Owners

   That’s Henry Yiu and Katherine Dress of Plano-based Pacific Dynasty International. They were among the more than 800 small business operators who showed up for the first workshop of the Super Bowl XLV Host Committee’s Emerging Business Program at the Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth this afternoon. Henry and Katherine’s company imports a whole bunch of LED devices. You’ll note the row of lights attached to the bill of Henry’s cap, and the scrolling electronic message sign hanging around Katherine’s neck. The glowing orbs that they’re holding up are LED-toting centerpieces for tables.  They’re hoping to get their products used at Super Bowl-related events.

I also met Barry King, a former creative director with Radio Shack’s in-house ad department, who has spent the last several years selling barbecue sauce made from a recipe he invented 20 years ago. His Fort Worth-based brand is Brothers, and you can find it at Central Market. “If I get my sauce in your mouth, game over,” Barry proclaimed confidently. He’s hoping to get his products into what’s sure to be a host of gift baskets and party favors handed out at events throughout the week leading up to the Feb. 6, 2011, game.

What Barry and Henry and Katherine and what seemed like a sea of PR people on the first couple rows of the big audience heard wasn’t some dry Power Point presentation going over the particulars of the procurement process. This is the North Texas Super Bowl, and it’s clear that our local host committee plans to do everything big. Even its business workshops. (more…)

DeMarcus Ware’s Big Payday

It has been reported that DeMarcus Ware signed the biggest contract ever for a Cowboy, $78 million for six years. Mike Fisher reveals that it was actually $78,000,001. He reveals, too, that Jerry Jones is grammatically challenged.

Leading Off (10/27/09)

1. MAVS DAY! MAVS DAY! MAVS DAY!

2. Mayor Leppert is trying to rush through a complicated package of ethics reforms, in the wake of former Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill’s corruption conviction. Some council members want to take more time, some don’t think the reforms are needed, and none have answered my e-mails about how they think Erick Dampier will react to his new role occasionally coming off the bench. Where is your fancy talk of transparency now, city hall?

3. Southlake Carroll ISD is ditching its perfect attendance award so sick kids stay home. I, however, am still planning on maintaining perfect attendance at the games on my Dallas Mavericks ticket plan, starting with tonight against the Washington Wizards.

How to Make Money Off Super Bowl XLV

I previously mentioned that the Super Bowl XLV Host Committee is having its first Emerging Business Program workshop tomorrow at the Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth.

One correction: While the Emerging Business Program is only for minority- or women-owned businesses, any local business owner or entrepreneur is invited to attend the first workshop. Participants can learn about the procurement process for providing Super Bowl-related services.

With between $300 million and $500 million in local economic impact expected from the big game in 2011, there are lots of pie pieces available.

An Extremely Late, Almost Comically So, Review of Cowboys Stadium

I had already been to the new Cowboys Stadium once, but that was for a U2 show. I wanted to see how it performed during a Cowboys game. So I went yesterday. Here are some observations:

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Texans Like Fights More Than Minnesotans

So says Bob Gainey, the first general manager of the Dallas Stars, in an article on NHL.com. In moving the North Stars down south, Gainey decided on the best tactic to take with Cowboys-loving fans who didn’t know what icing was: play up the violence.

“We had a few comparisons (to football) and what we tried to utilize in any comparisons towards our sport and football was the physical contact. The Texans seem to be a very liberal and opened-minded people and they enjoyed the physical contract of ice hockey and they also seemed to warm up to the fact of the fighting in the sport and it was a selling point for us where it had been a detraction in Minnesota.”

Bob Sturm Makes a Cry for Help

Bob Sturm has a real job. Well, he’s got a day job, anyway. He’s got a wife and family. And yet over on InsideCorner today, he has put up a 2,600-word post about the Cowboys-Falcons game this weekend. It’s insane — in a good way. As Eric has pointed out, I’m not a sports fan. So I don’t understand anything that Bob wrote. But I can tell — like when my doc shows me my EKG strip — that it’s important stuff, meaningful to those who’ve been trained to read it. Last night, Bob’s small children probably sat naked on the kitchen floor and ate dinner out of a cereal box. All the while, he was click-clacking away at his computer, breaking down every aspect of the upcoming game for us. God love him. Go, Cowboys.

Leading Off (10/23/09)

1. I’ve never heard him conduct a concert. I have heard many people sing his praises. So I can imagine that there’s general excitement among the city’s classical music lovers now that the Dallas Symphony Orchestra music director has committed to staying until 2016.  Me? I don’t want to be a phony — like someone who calls himself a jazz aficionado just because he owns Kind of Blue – by claiming that I join them in their excitement. But I am glad he’ll be sticking around awhile. Because “Jaap van Zweden” is just plain fun to say.

2. I’m under age 55, so I was not watching the Jay Leno Show last night. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was on via satellite from inside the belly of his giant robot space turtle. Judging from this clip of the appearance, the segment featured Leno’s standard brand of excruciating comedy. Jay asked about Cowboys players dating celebrities, like Tony Romo’s relationship with Jessica Simpson. “Spice is nice,” Jerry said. Other gustatory terms come to mind, but I’ve never particularly thought of Jessica Simpson as spicy.

3. I don’t even want to imagine the horror that Raul Garza has had to live through since April, when his wife was murdered. The man who killed her was sentenced to 15 years in prison yesterday. What I can imagine, and what I hope brought him some small sense of satisfaction, was standing across from the killer in court and flinging these words at him: “You’re not a man, but a shell of human being not worthy of love because you are incapable of showing that to others. You let evil rip out your spine and your guts.”

Troy Aikman to Pimp for Katy Trail

Tomorrow from 6 to 7 p.m., Troy Aikman will be hanging out on the Katy Trail to kick off the Friends of the Katy Trail’s first-ever membership drive. Laura, that sounds like your beat, runner woman.

Simmons: Rush Had Right to Bid for NFL’s Rams

Russell Simmons, the businessman, philanthropist and hip-hop impresario, has done a lot in his time to bridge America’s white/black racial divide. Now Simmons (pictured) is defending conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh, who was just forced out of a bid to buy the NFL’s St. Louis Rams for allegedly making racist remarks on his popular radio show. “I don’t know, he should be able to buy” into the team, Simmons said in Dallas today. “Yeah–why not? I think it’s up to the players to play for him or not! I don’t think he was really making policy. Americans have a right to their own opinions.”

Simmons’ take was somewhat surprising, since it came just days after a piece he wrote for the Huffington Post ripped people like Limbaugh for their “nasty” and “hateful” views on things in general. “One thing I think I did wrong in that article, I said ‘fearful and angry people like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.’ I wish I hadn’t done that,” Simmons said today. “Because I’m friends with [FOX honchos] Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes, too. I think they’re wonderful guys and they have an opinion. I think some of it–their choices–are based a little more on fear; that’s my opinion. Some of what they believe is important and useful, and it’s different from what I believe, and more important and useful than my views on certain subjects.”

Simmons was in town for a pre-event reception tonight for Dallas Rocks, a Nov. 14 fundraiser here for his Diamond Empowerment Fund nonprofit, which benefits African communities where diamonds are a natural resource.

Allen Hockey Team Begins Play Saturday

Allen has a minor league hockey team? And they have ice angels all their own?

They’re called the Allen Americans, the Central Hockey League affiliate of the Dallas Stars. Once upon a time I was the editor of the Allen American. I wonder if the newspaper’s parent company, Star Community Newspapers, is happy to have their name co-opted. I’m guessing they are.

Leading Off (10/16/09)

1. June Jones is bringing in real mustangs to inspire his Mustangs. Some of the SMU faithful fear that the Shetland ponies that have served as the team’s mascots since 1932 will be crowded out. When it comes to the image of a fearsome football team, size matters, sure. But which dimensions should we be measuring? “The two mustangs that SMU has embraced may be larger, Peruna supporters admit, but they are geldings. Just how powerful can they be? Unlike them, Peruna remains a rollicking rogue with an eye for the full-sized mares.”

2. Time to pick tomorrow’s really big game. I expect my alma mater, Trinity University, to put a beatdown on Sewanee: University of the South, 42-10. (You likely remember my Tigers from this astounding play.) As for that little contest out in Fair Park? Sorry, Krista, I’ll take the Longhorns, 30-20.

3. Highland Park High School alumnus Clayton Kershaw got the Game 1 start for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series last night. He started strong, but fell apart in the fifth inning. The Dodgers lost, 8-6. I blame the 21-year-old southpaw’s lackluster playoff beard.