WHITT'S END: 10.2.13

      Whether you're at the end of your coffee, your day, your week or even your rope, welcome to Whitt's End

   *The fall of the female from Metroplex media continues, as Emily Jones and Gina Miller are leaving their respective TV stations. Jones, best known for her work as a Rangers' reporter, is done on Fox Sports Southwest at the end of this month. And Miller, sports co-anchor at CBS 11 and TXA 21, announced she is temporarily leaving TV. Jones, at FSSW for nine years, says she wants to find a better family balance while Miller, at CBS for eight years, plans to pursue "entrepreneurial projects." Miller recently asked for my advice on starting her own website, so perhaps she's merely expanding her empire in a different direction? Those two departures add to a 2013 that has already seen Jasmine Sadry, Sybil Summers and Jane Slater fired from 105.3 The Fan and Kelly Webster ousted at 103.3 FM ESPN. For viewers and listeners, this isn't a good trend. At all.

   *Still wanna bash Tony Romo? He's thrown eight touchdowns and only one interception. Just think, your quarterback could be named Josh Freeman. Or even Matt Schaub, who has thrown a Pick Six in three consecutive games for the reeling Texans.

   *Michael Jordan says that, in his prime, he could beat LeBron James 1-on-1. "I don't think I would lose," he said, "other than to Kobe Bryant, because he steals all of my moves." Jordan has six rings, accented by six Finals MVPs. Are we really having this discussion? LeBron is bigger and stronger. But as for basketball acumen and refined skills like dribbling, shooting, scoring and defense, Jordan has every advantage. Gimme Jordan in 5.

   *I'll give you a new iPhone tip, but I need some help in exchange. Deal? If you downloaded the new ios7, you can now see exactly when you sent/received a text instead of just a conversation approximation. Simply swipe left on a text and, bam, the exact time. You're welcome. Now, help me with this: How the heck do I delete an iCloud account? When I attempt this in Settings, it must first turn off the "Find My iPhone" function, which requires the password to the email I originally used to set up the account. That's my CBS email and, as many of you remember, I don't exactly have access to that anymore. How do I kill something that's already dead? Advice?

   *Wasn't ready for the Rangers' season to end. Hard for me now to get invested or, honestly, really even interested in baseball's post-season. Nor am I ready for what's next on the sports calendar: Hockey. As in, quick, who won the Stanley Cup last year? Yeah, me neither. Blah humbug.

   *Hot.

   *Not.

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   *Weird, but the Cowboys have turned Peyton Manning into a human in their four meetings. The future Hall-of-Famer has as many interceptions as touchdowns (7) and only a quarterback rating of 85 against Dallas. Details over at NBC 5's Blue Star Blog.

   *Pretty cool, chill-bumpy scene in Pittsburgh last night. After 20 non-playoff seasons Pirates' fans let loose on Reds' pitcher Johnny Cueto, relentlessly taunting him via singing his name - "KWAY-toe!" - over and over with him on the mound.  Obviously rattled, he dropped the ball out of his glove. Then threw it right over the middle of the plate, and watched as Russell Martin hit the first of his two homers. Pirates 6, Reds 2 was good for baseball. Nobody happier for the Pirates than the Steelers, who are 0-4 for the first time since 19 and 28.

   *And thumbs up to TBS' coverage of baseball. Keith Olbermann and Tom Verducci are great in studio (even though I can't understand a word Pedro Martinez is saying) and their game announcers and graphics are top-notch.

   *No other way to say it, Monte Kiffin looks stupid for attempting to blame Bruce Carter's benching on the "heat" in San Diego. No. 1, Sean Lee never came out for a rest. No. 2, it was 78 degrees.

   *If you - like me - miss you some Mark Elfenbein, I ran into him at Mavs' Media Day and, lookie here, he's already back working on Mavs.com.

   *Favorite song right now? Flip-flopping between Grouplove's "Ways To Go" ... and RAC's "Let Go." I know, it's a weird phase.

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   *Last week I got jazzed over $2.99 gas. Could I interest you in $2.66 gas? Be nice and I'll tell you where to find it.

   *You know who gets most of the blame for the Rangers' 2013 season? Jon Daniels. I love the guy, and respect what he's built in Arlington. But he failed to replace the departed bats of Josh Hamilton, Mike Napoli and even Michael Young. Alex Rios was a good pick-up, but penciling in Lance Berkman No. 3 in the lineup may have been the GM's biggest gaffe to date.

   *Jay Z apparently thinks he has an edge on being a sports agent because of his past. His past, that is, as a drug dealer. "I know about budgets. I was a drug dealer," he says. "To be in a drug deal, you need to know what you can spend, what you need to re-up. ... At some point you have to have an exit strategy because your window is very small. You're going to get locked up or you're going to die." Gripping stuff, but his biggest asset in attracting clients is the music. Right?

   *We're not supposed to cheer for injuries in sports, but neither me nor the Mavericks will miss Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook or his scowl while he's out 4-6 weeks after knee surgery.

   *White Truck Wednesday: Police chief involved in a crash with a ... White Truck.

   *I know the '08 Lions went 0-16, but this year's Jaguars are the worst NFL team I've ever seen. They're 0-4 by a combined 129-31. Lost to the Raiders by 10 and the other three by 26+ points. When they visit the Broncos in two weeks experts predict the betting line will be 28 points, the largest ever for an NFL game.

   *Don't visit this topic that often, but there's news in the world of marathon running. In fact, two unbelievable tales. Kenya's Wilson Kipsang cut 15 seconds off the world record last weekend in Berlin. He ran a pace of 4:43 per mile, for 26.2 miles. Never understood why the 100-meter dash gets more pub over the marathon because, athletically, there's no comparison. Running 26.2 miles at that pace is much more amazing. Think about it this way: Ussain Bolt can run 100 yards faster than you can run 65. But I'm betting Kipsang can run two miles faster than you can run one and 26 faster than you can 13. But even more eyebrow-lifting is the story of a woman accidentally winning a marathon. 34-year-old Meredith Fitzmaurice claims she had never ran 26.2 in her life, entered the half-marathon and - whoopsie - ended up winning the full-marathon. Sorry, you might reach for the french fries and instead grab an onion ring or delete a show off the DVR before you were done watching. But you don't accidentally win a full-marathon. Something's fishy in Canada.

   *Today? Pizza Buzzin' again in Fort Worth. After I - atchooooo! - gulp down my morning Claritin. Don't be a stranger.

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