Whether you're at the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt's End
*The scintillating debut of pitcher Matt Garza notwithstanding, the Rangers are going nowhere fast with this offense. We knew it'd be difficult to replace the bats of Josh Hamilton, Michael Young and Mike Napoli, but this is ridiculously anemic. Texas scored only 10 runs in splitting a four-game series with the Yankees' junior varsity. Rangers are now averaging 4.2 runs, their worst output of the millennium. Last club to score less was the 1990 outfit that won 83 games. Help? Lance Berkman and his bothersome hip/knee is pondering retirement and Manny Ramirez ain't lighting it up at AAA. Now imagine if Nelson Cruz gets suspended. Yikes.
*Amused at all the uproar over
Jerry Jones striking a deal to take "Cowboys" off his stadium in exchange for $20 million a year. I'd name my child "AT&T" for that, wouldn't you? Besides, most fans will still call it Cowboys Stadium. Not the media, but the fans. If you missed Thursday's dramatic video unveiling,
I gotcha covered right here.
*Radio waves: With the long-term direction of 97.1 The Eagle being murky (station management is currently pondering a format flip), Russ Martin and his crew are working these days on month-to-month contracts. ... I hear rumblings about yet another local sports station launching this Fall, supposedly on a 50,000-watt AM station. Stay tuned. ... Can't say who or why (yet), but 105.3 The Fan is about to lose a voice that's been at the station since early 2009. ... Also hear The Fan is attempting to attract a former Cowboys player to a regular appearance on the air. But if it ain't a Roger Staubach-Troy Aikman-Jimmy Johnson show, don't bother. ... For all it's b.s., what makes radio an appealing industry is the fame and fortune. At The Ticket recently George Dunham took his family to Hawaii, Craig Miller went to France, Donovan Lewis to Greece and some dude named Jake Kemp went on a multi-country trip through Europe. ... As
we documented a couple weeks ago, The Fan's ratings have never been lower since it hatched in 2008. So the addition of
Dallas' Only Daily columnist Tim Cowlishaw Fridays 4-6 p.m. alongside
Ben and Skin can't hurt, right? ... Internet show I stumbled on that isn't half-bad: The 101 Radio Show on
DeepEllumOnAir, Thursdays 6:30-8:30 p.m. It's got something. Not exactly sure what, but something.
*Trading in my tennis shoes for some hiking boots. One - and, trust me, there are several - of the silver linings to getting fired from a 5-hour radio show is the time I now have to be selfish. I've done more for myself in the last three months than I did in the previous three years.
Hosted a pool party.
Played lotsa golf. Last week took
a trip with Sybil to New Braunfels which included John Newcombe's Tennis Ranch. Planned my wedding/honeymoon to Tahiti/ Bora Bora/ New Zealand/ Australia/ Fiji. And, on Tuesday, I'm crossing off another item on my bucket list - climb a mountain. Going with a an old high-school buddy to hike up the
14,064-foot Humboldt Peak in Colorado. With any luck - pray for me - I will be blogging from the air way up there.
*Remember my infamous "Dez Bryant to IR" Tweet from December 2012? Of course you do. Y'all never let me forget it. When I Tweeted the info I had two sources telling me the Cowboys had decided to end the receiver's season in the wake of his broken finger. And this week in Oxnard Cowboys' head coach Jason Garrett kinda corroborated my story, saying the team fully intended to put Dez on IR until "his will finally convinced us to give him a chance to play." Sorta softens the blow of me being wrong? Nope. Not even close. I still blew it. Close or not.
*After the greatest year in A&M football history, it's been a rough summer for the Aggies. We all know about
Johnny Goofball's exploits. Now Von Miller is facing NFL suspension for drug use and rookie receiver Ryan Swope will never play a professional snap because of concussions. Take heart, Aggies, you can always giggle at
former Longhorn Vince Young having to auction off his athletic assets to pay off debt. Young's first NFL contract, by the way, guaranteed him $26 million.
*
Hot.
*
Not.
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*We all remember Ed "Too Tall" Jones right? Dominant defensive end for the Cowboys' in the '70s-'80s. Made three Pro Bowls and won a Super Bowl ring in '77. Some forget, however, that the 6-foot-9 monster also was a badass boxer. He took a one-year sabbatical from the NFL in '79 to box, going 6-0 as a heavyweight with five knockouts before re-joining the Cowboys. These days he likes talking boxing as much as football, evidenced by his visit Thursday with the kids at
the legendary Montoya Boxing Gym in far east Dallas.
*Speaking of boxing, remember
the sorta-scheduled appearance of Floyd Mayweather at the Rockwall Elite Boxing Club I skeptically wrote about? Supposed to be this weekend. Stay tuned Monday for what went actually went down. Or didn't.
*When I'm not filling this blog with
information and entertainment crap, I'm moonlighting as a small-business owner. I'm one of three founders of
Pizza Buzz, a restaurant that will deliver pizza - and, yes, beer! - to northeast Fort Worth beginning in August. We're to the point where we're hiring. Managers. Cooks. Drivers. Counter. The works. Store is located at Basswood/Highway 377. Contact my partner Cliff@PizzaBuzz.com if interested.
*Most of us live check-to-check, and day-to-day. Thankfully, via long-term contracts and upcoming events, sports constantly reminds us that there will indeed be a future. Hence, this week Oklahoma extended the contract of head coach Bob Stoops through ... 2020.
*Once upon a time in 1998 Donnie Nelson was hand-picked by his Hall-of-Fame father, Don, to be the next head coach of the Dallas Mavericks. Now? Stripped of power via this week's hiring of Houston Rockets' VP Gersson Rosas to be the team's new general manager. Love Donnie, but the move is warranted. Flat out, teams like
the Spurs have done more with their crappy draft picks than the Mavericks have with theirs. Mavs re-signed Brandan Wright and traded guard Nick Calathes this week, but still don't see anything to convince me they are a legit threat for more than an 8th seed in 2014.
*Twitter and social media be damned, the English royals
announced this week's baby arrival via Town Crier reading aloud from a scroll and ringing a bell. There's tradition. And there's stubborn stupidity.
*Speaking of Donnie, he was this town's forgotten GM. I see Jerry everywhere with endorsements and this week there was Rangers' GM Jon Daniels doing a (horribly awkward) commercial for James Wood Chevrolet. Donnie is great, but most of his work is done out of sight.
*What's Rangers' stranger: Reliever Jason Frasor's follow-through high-kick? Or the fact that Berkman has the same number of stolen bases - 0 - as Jurickson Profar?
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*For my money, Fox 4's Fiona Gorostiza is one of the hottest, bestest reporters on local TV. Animated. Energetic. Informative. And did I mention extremely banana-ish?
*You'd think a movie featuring Bruce Willis, Vince Vaughn, Catherine Zeta-Jones, sports gambling and
Laura Prepon's boobs would be great. You'd be wrong. Sybil tricked me into
Lay The Favorite last night. Awful. Not surprised it cost $20 million and only earned $20,000.
*Swear this happened at Big 12 Media Day this week: Baylor stud safety Ahmad Dixon was asked if the Bears could really win the conference. His answer: "Can God save a hooker?" I smell T-shirts!
*I think we're just trained to complain. Walked into Tom Thumb this week and got the obligatory "Hot enough for ya?" from a cart-gatherer. Honestly, no. It was 94 degrees. Born and raised in Texas, I'm accustomed to the heat. Love the heat. In fact, the hotter the better. (Conversely, I'm a wimp when it comes to winter.) But this is by no means a hot summer. Only one day in the 100s so far and twice this week I've awakened to morning rain. Relatively speaking, this summer is mild. So far.
*Garrett was this week asked if he was a boring person. Expect to hear that during Super Bowl Media Day, but not during the early days of training camp. Only the Cowboys. By the way, I believe it was the
Star-Telegram's Mac Engel who authored the query.
*Speaking of Garrett, I got no problem with the Cowboys agreeing to allow
Sports Illustrated/NBC's Peter King to tape and broadcast his pre-camp speech to players. If Garrett signed off on it, that is. And I know what you're thinking, this was Jerry
telling Garrett to allow it. If that's the case, horrible idea.
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*Last week's death at Six Flags reminded me of the woman who died on
the old Roaring Rapids water ride back in 1999. If you had to choose, you taking a 75-foot plunge off a roller coaster or drowning in three feet of water trapped under a giant raft?
*Chris Davis since the All-Star break: 7 games, .214, 0 homers, 13 strikeouts. The fact that his slump coincides with Ryan Braun's suspension will do nothing to mute the skeptics crowing that the former Ranger's rise is steroid-fueled.
*I'm retro-actively pissed at Noah. Why didn't he do us all a big favor and just slap those two mosquitoes instead of welcoming them aboard?
*Aaron Hernandez is a pretty big dude at 6-foot-1 and 245 pounds. But have you seen the bailiff that escorts him in and out of the Boston courtroom? Dwarfs the NFL player. Gotta be 6-5 and about 275. And the fact that he wears a buzzcut and black horn-rimmed glasses makes his look even more menacing.
*Take your work seriously. But not yourself.
*Dwight Howard this week took a photo with the great centers in Houston Rockets' history: Elvin Hayes, Ralph Sampson, Hakeem Olajuwon and Yao Ming. Wondered what that Mavs' photo would look like: James Donaldson, standing beside Tyson Chandler. That's it.
*Circle Saturday night, Sept. 7 on your (smartphone) calendars. I'm hosting a
DFWSportatorium Launch Party at Baby Dolls in Dallas. I'll handle the cover, the suite and toss out some T-shirts and caps and goodies, you guys take care of your liquor and your lap dances. Should be lots of college football on the TVs and some decent "entertainment" in our suite. See you there.
*This weekend? For the first time in a long time ... nada. Just sit back and relax and ... Oops, take that back. Tennis Saturday morning and a grudge-match golf outing with long-time family 'n friends at Eldorado Country Club Sunday afternoon. Other than
that, rest and Pizza Buzzin'. Don't be a stranger.
OK, so you're going to leave us hanging on the Fiona bananish comment.....no way. If you had said strawberryish nobody would have give a shit.
ReplyDeletegive it up!
I think it's gonna be Elf. He's been there since 2009. I understand why Richie would want to hold off on publishing the info. Elf's a friend. Even if it's someone else, s/he is also most likely a friend. Besides, I think Richie has learned over the past few weeks that scooping a story doesn't really get you anywhere, at least not in his current forum. No offense intended, at all. I'm just stating what seems so far to be the obvious. Still believe the big BIG radio news that's yet to come down is the purchase of CBS Radio by Cumulus. Which would shake everything up. Which of course would most likely mean a merger of sorts between The Ticket and The FAN. Now how that would play out and what that would look like is anyone's guess.
DeleteHuh?
DeleteI'm surprised you haven't heard of this rumor. The Dickey's already have bought several of CBS Radio's failed sports stations (e.g., Tampa, FLA.). There has already been partnering between Cumulus and CBS in the DFW market. This is a very real possibility. Again, and especially considering your sources/position, I'm surprised you haven't heard of this.
DeleteWhy another station, people see how hard it is to compete with The Ticket, plus you have ESPN and The Fan. This is as bad as when Fox Radio was on 1190 for like year
ReplyDeleteI Hope Gavin Dawson doesnt leave. I think he is the longest tenured guy in The Fan. GBAG by far is the best show on Fan and one of the best on the Radio other than the Musers. If he does leave and the rest are spread out through other shows or terminated, it maybe the end of The Fan. Gbag probably has the most loyal listeners out of all the other shows.
Good guess. But I can't confirm or deny for probably another two weeks when the person actually leaves. Stay tuned.
DeleteI don't think it's a host. Richie says the person has been there since early 2009. You're right that Gavin is the host that's been there the longest, but it looks like he joined early 2010. It's probably one of the producers or Fan Flash people. I wonder if the "voice" was a hint from Richie and it's the voice of Cowboys I mean AT&T Stadium himself and Yo Roger Raps man Roger Emmerich (sp?)
Delete1. How the F is Jake Kemp going on a european trip? He's a board op...surely the woman is paying for it, right? Easier for the other guys making high 6 right at 7 figures. So who's going? I can't figure out who's been there that long.
ReplyDelete2. The Dez thing, the way I look at it, you have more hits than misses. There are national guys that have made mistakes too, but it happens.
3. I can't stand Stoops. He won't see 2020, you heard it hear first. Mack Brown said this week that players should get paid. He even points at UT saying they make millions of dollars off of these kids and they should be compensated. Stoops? He's against it.
4. Donnie--overrated clap clap clap clap clap. Nice guy, funny, but what has he ever done?
5. Fiona...wasn't she swimming at your place? How many deals have you made with the devil?
6. Theme park deaths---after doing some research none of them appeal to me, not even a killer whale drowning you.
7. Chris Davis, idk if he's a fraud. I do know the O's are still ahead of us with him sucking after the all star break and that it won't last long before he gets his crap together.
This weekend? All night softball tournament tonight in Carrollton, taking the kids to a NASA exhibit in Grapevine, Sunday funday lazyday.
Stoops has made it very clear that he has no problem with the "real scholarship cost" stipend. This would probably amount to around $2500 dollars per year. You ought to do a little fact checking before you allow your burnt orange ignorance to show.
DeleteWhat article are you reading? I found the original article I was talking about and he's blunt about it
Deletehttp://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2013-04-10/oklahoma-bob-stoops-paying-players-stipend-ed-obannon-scholarships-heupel
They get a $200k stipend in the scholarship itself. I understand that argument as I paid for my education out of my pocket. Stoops backed off of this initial stance within a day(I guess this is where you say he made it very clear--seems like backpedaling to me) and then said he would be for the $2000 full cost of attendance scholarship. So where do you get the $2500 or did I not do enough research?
Anyways, today Stoops made over $13k, or 6.5 stipends.
Jake goes on a European vacay because he also works at his parent's business. Not only that, he's from an upper-middle class family. In other words, he's not some poor schlub eking out a living. He's subsidized. I can only imagine his gf has the same thing going for her. Hence, Euro vacay.
DeleteLove your Top ... 7? LOL.
DeleteJake is subsidized??? Are you fucking stupid?? Hey Richie, you gonna tell us when The Ticket host buy a nice car??? You're a fucking joke!
DeleteBeyond a joke. Richie is a twit. No talent for radio. Good at kissing ass but has not credibility. Stay off the radio please Twitt
DeleteReference the town crier, "stubborn and stupidity?" There is elegance and class involved with tradition and ceremony. Will you skip the bachelor party and spend the evening in front of your computer with your whisky in one hand and your...in the other? Will you and Sybil have a wedding...or just tweet your vows? Come on now...you are nearly 50 years old, past middle age might I remind you, put your hat on forward, pull your pants up, get a belt, quit wearing team jerseys, and class up your act. Bill 2455
ReplyDeleteHola Bill, we probably won't tweet the "I dos", but he DID tell me he plans to blog during our honeymoon. So, we've got that going for us...which is nice.
DeleteI am glad you are civilizing influence upon him. That is what wives have always done since caveman days. Best Wishes.
DeleteBill2455
Thanks, Partner.
DeleteLove, Cavegirl
The town crier wasn't even invited, he just showed up, so even the Royals are past all that pomp and crap.
DeleteWho are you to judge people on what they do, what they wear, and who they do it with? If their relationship works and they're happy, does that bother you?
No one comes here for you to give them fashion tips or how to live their life, stop being bitter old white grandpa.
Yeah, I'm gonna take fashion/maturity/life tips from Bill so I can ... be just like Bill. What if I wanna be just like Richie?
DeleteTo the Real Dirty P1.
DeleteFirst off I am old (57), white(though my wife isn't, she is a hot as hell 57-year old New YorRican), yep and proudly a grandpa. But bitter, nope, because I am the luckiest man in the world. I have had an exciting life and have done and continue to experience things all over the world that a boy born in small farming town would never think could be done.
Now personally, it was never my intent to give you fashion tips, nor to tell you how to live your life. (Though I don't think it would be much of a leap to think someone should). Nope, just responding to an article that was written by RW. So whom am I to judge? Like I said in the beginning I am old; old people judge.
Riveting story, Abe Simpson. Tell us more.
DeleteAlways trying to find a way to blame your dumb ass mistakes on someone else. You reported Dez was going on IR. You were very cocky about it as always because you seem to think you know more than everyone else. You were f'ing wrong like you always are. Deal with it.
ReplyDeletePretty sure I wrote that I was wrong and am still wrong. Geez.
DeleteYeah kicking and screaming. You're still a dumbass
Deletelet me know when Pizza Buzz expands to Dallas, would be a regular during football season
ReplyDeleteGot plans for 5 stores in 2 years, and Dallas definitely on our GPS.
DeleteThe town cryer dude was a hoax. See either Daily Show or Colbert last night. I think it was Colbert.
ReplyDeleteWe'll add this to the Dez IR list.
Gimme drowning over falling...
ReplyDeleteGood luck in your new business. Take this from a guy who spent a lot of time in restaurants: be there. Be there a lot. Have a presence and keep your eye on the money. Restaurants are a cash intensive business, and if you're not there watching the shop on a daily basis - you'll get ripped off blind.
Amen to that. And do background checks on your managers including references from previous employers. If they balk at that, move on. Had a couple people under me that I thought at the time "man I'm lucky to have this guy" to find out that one of them was on the run from the law and the other had a bad drug habit and would throw parties after hours. Camera systems mic'd integrated with your point of sale is the only way you can get sleep at night.
DeleteThanks for the advice. We're doing both those, but I hear ya. Can't be too careful.
DeleteAnd I thought I was the only one who noticed that bailiff. When I saw him I thought "Shit, Aaron's not that big". Then I Googled his ass. Yeah, that's one big officer of the court.
ReplyDeleteDo miss hearing you guys on the Fan. I love the fact they're cratering. How Spittle gets regurgitated is fascinating. But hey, their giving away cars now That's it. That Honda Civic is worth a half point or so wouldn't you think.?.?
Bring that pizza to Frisco beeyotch. We'll eat it up.
Great minds think ... weird.
DeleteDefinitely. And sorry about the their, they're, there. Been a long week, so all I'm left with today is mush.
DeleteAdd Danny Ballis opening a bar to that list of Ticket stuff
ReplyDeleteJust got scooped by gbag its armem
ReplyDeleteThe sports station is KCLE 1460AM, a new hybrid ESPN Network/Local station. 1460 is local when 103.3 is on the network and when 103.3 is local, 1460 is on the network.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sports1460espn.com/index.php
The hybrid model is where terrestrial sports talk is going. As I said in my above comment, there is a very real possibility that this very thing might occur with The Ticket and The FAN. This could occur in the near future (within two years).
DeleteLove the Blackie Sherrod style 'Scatter Shooting.' More, we want more..
ReplyDeleteThanks and, no doubt, Blackie was the man. Couldn't wait until Sundays as a kid to read his column.
DeleteArmen leaving the Fan? Who. Gives. A. Fuck. Anyone even know he was still there?
ReplyDeleteSo, Richie doesn't listen to the Ticket, but yet he knows where they have all gone on vacay recently. What a joke. He lies just as much as Greggo.
I haven't listened to The Ticket - not a word - in at least 3 years. But that doesn't mean I don't know what's going on with their people and/or their ratings and/or their doings.
DeleteI distinctly remember you giving the Ticket props for their knock off on the Most Interesting Man in the World commercial and how they turned it into a Most Interesting station in the World spot. I guess that all came to you in a dream since you weren't listening.
DeleteGavin Spittle, isn't that the moron that used to take the daily beating on the Russ Martin Show? They don't need to fire his ass...they need to NUKE it!!!
ReplyDeleteHow can you write about planning your honeymoon to Tahiti/New Zealand/Bora Bora/Australia/Fiji and later state "most of us live paycheck to paycheck". One of the two statements is obviously bullsh. Don't brag about your endless supply of funds and then try to come off as the common man.
ReplyDeleteHey Lenoris...thanks for the shout out. I work at KCLE Sports Talk 1460 ESPN. We just launched this past week and got some exciting things we plan to add to the station in the coming weeks. Yall stay tuned. Our website is a work in Progresso, but would love for yall to check it out anyway. www.sports1460espn.com or find us on Twitter @sports1460espn.
ReplyDelete*website is a work in progress is what I meant. Lol
ReplyDeleteYou can also find us on Facebook at ESPN 1460 AM KCLE
ReplyDelete