Whether you're at the end of your coffee, your day, your week or even your rope, welcome to Whitt's End:
*Jerry Jones announcing that head coach Jason Garrett will be back in 2014 should surprise no one. Nor should anyone be shocked if he changes his mind. If you don't think the headline-grabbing pronouncement was a planned counter-punch to the Rangers' signing of Prince Fielder, then you don't know Jerry Jones. But before you start making reservations to meet Garrett in Oxnard next summer, just remember that once upon a time - known as 2010 - Jerry claimed that Wade Phillips' job was safe because "I've never changed coaches in the middle of a season, and I never
will change coaches in the middle of a season." Two weeks later Phillips was fired. Despite Jerry's ploy on Thursday, Garrett's job should be - and is - on the line in this season's final six weeks.
*How good has Monta Ellis been for the Mavericks? He's already the best free-agent signing in the Mark Cuban era. In the last three seasons no Mav had a game of at least 32 points and 8 assists. He's done it twice in this season's first 12 games. Ellis and Dirk Nowitzki, by the way, are the NBA's third most prolific duo. I'll give you the details over at
NBC 5's Sports Blog.
*Using next year's "Football Four" college football playoff and this year's teams, we'd be looking at semifinals of Baylor-Alabama in the Rose Bowl and Florida State-Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl, with the winners meeting at AT&T Stadium. Deliciously fake.
*During a break from watching Sybil emcee an award-winning "What's In Your Pocket?" scavenger hunt at Blue Martini last night, I sneaked a peek at Stars-Rangers. As you know I don't watch a lot of hockey. And I was reminded why. In a 60-minute game there were 63 face-offs. Imagine if there were that many jump-balls in an NBA game.
*Some self-anointed experts -
like somebody at NFL.com named Adam Schein - predicted a Texans-Falcons Super Bowl this season. Those teams are a combined 4-17. My picks: Broncos-Niners. Still doable.
*As usual the weatherfolks over-exaggerated this "Arctic Blast!" Expecting to go outside in sub-freezing temps and dig the car out from under a foot of wintry mix, instead I awoke in McKinney to zero precipitation, cloudy and 38 degrees.
*Lots of right-wingers trying to compare
Obamacare to Hurricane Katrina as an "American tragedy." Katrina - and a certain President's slow response to it - killed 1,800 people and did $80 billion worth of damage. Obamacare is good intentions plagued by a bad website. Please stop.
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Hot.
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Not.
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*Where was I 50 years ago today when JFK was assassinated? In the tummy of my mom, who was working in the downtown Dallas office of Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurance. Eight months later, in July 1964, I entered this world to someday be a pragmatic punk who simply believes Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.
*Wanna warm up on a chilly night?
Cowboys Cheerleaders will autograph copies of their 2014 swimsuit calendar tonight 6-9 at the official launch party at the Gaylord Texan.
*So let me get this straight, NFL. A player who celebrates a touchdown with an orchestrated dance on the ground is penalized 15 yards. But a player - like the Saints' Jimmy Graham last night - who celebrates a touchdown by hanging from the goal posts, yanking them crooked and delaying the game seven minutes while they're re-aligned isn't penalized at all? Yep, makes
total sense.
*As a snotty-nosed kid growing up in Duncanville I had a record player by my bed. Yep, an old-school "needle on the record" contraption that featured a turntable and vinyl. Two of my favorite 33s to fall asleep to: Johnny Cash
Live at Folsom Prison and Bill Cosby
I Started Out As A Child. Haven't listened to the Cosby record in probably 40 years, but when I pulled it up on YouTube this morning it's eerie how well I remembered it. Almost word-for-word. Our brains are weird, man. Wait, what was my point to all this? Oh yeah! I'm totally gonna watch the 76-year-old's new
stand-up sit-down
Far From Finished Saturday night at 7 on Comedy Central.
*Fresno State and Northern Illinois are still undefeated. With four high-profile teams still yet to lose, those teams picked a bad year to have a good year.
*Very cool that - in the wake of the founder's tragic death last summer -
Kidd's Kids took a plane-load of children to Disney yesterday. Bravo!
*Is it wrong that I take much delight in the demise of RG3 and the implosion of the Redskins? Good, because I do. I really, really do.
*Crap we've invented but totally don't need in our cars: "Paddle shifters" and "Start/Stop technology." I've got the latter in my car and it works like this: Every time my car comes to a complete stop it automatically turns off. To re-start you simply turn the wheel or take your foot off the brake. But I can't imagine it's good for my engine and I'm 100% sure that it's completely annoying. Fortunately we've also got buttons to switch off these features. Carry on.
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Sports Illustrated says A.J. McCarron is "one of the best ever." Hard to argue against that, considering the Alabama quarterback has as many National Championships as losses. That's right, two each. I look at McCarron kinda like I did Duke's Christian Laettner. A great college player in the captain's chair of the peak of an epic dynasty, but whose talent won't translate to much of nothing as a pro.
*Monta to the Mavs. Fielder to the Rangers. When's the last time the Cowboys made such a buzz with an acquisition? Maybe Brandon Carr in '12. Definitely Terrell Owens in '06. I look into at
NBC 5's Blue Star Blog.
*You Betcha Week 13: Okay, back in the game. The Broncos' expected double-digit win over the Chiefs boosted our confidence and padded our account with a cool $3,000. There's hope for a profitable season yet. Most confusing outcome of the season is Oklahoma State losing at West Virginia. The Cowboys have plowed through Tech and Texas in recent weeks. They're playing at home, in a game that will likely feature wind and cold and precipitation. When I looked for the line on this game I expected it to be Baylor by a field goal or perhaps closer. I love Baylor. I think they'll win this game. But by 10 points? A 9-1 team playing at home for a conference championship and getting 10 points is too good to pass up.
STARTING BANKROLL: $10,000
CURRENT BANKROLL: $7,825
SEASON RECORD: 5-7
LAST WEEK: 1-0
THIS WEEK: Oklahoma State plus +10 for $2,500.
*He might have carried an arrogance to the wrong place at the wrong time, but Freddie Roach is a legendary boxing trainer suffering from Parkinson's disease. If you kick him and make fun of him, you're a weak, bad person who deserves zero respect.
I'm talking to you, Alex Ariza.
*Since hanging 49 points on the Cowboys, the Saints have mustered only 40 in their last two games.
*Get this question a lot re:
Pizza Buzz: "Why don't ya'll deliver to (fill in the Metroplex city)?" Well, as of today, we do! On orders of $200+ we'll deliver to anywhere in D/FW, from Denton to Duncanville to White Rock Lake to White Settlement. So keep us in mind for your Holiday parties, etc. Enjoy!
*This exchange actually happened last night on our drive home at 11:37 p.m. Me: "Let's go to Whataburger!" Sybil: "No, but at home I've got some squash!!" Me: "What. The. What?!" We passed Whataburger, but I also passed on the squash. Call it a tie?
*I don't like a lot of NFL analysts, but I love the retiring Dan Dierdorf. Much as I hated him as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals' nasty offensive line in the '70s - they were members of the NFC East back then - I like listening to him break down NFL games. He will be missed.
*This weekend? Great for indoor activity. Today let's catch a couple movies -
Hunger Games and
Delivery Man. Tomorrow's time, grudgingly, to put up the Christmas tree. And Sunday, of course, is Cowboys-Giants. Don't be a stranger.
RW...not trying to take a shot, but that pic of Jerry shows a hairdo remarkably similar to the one you were sporting on Ch. 5 last week. As for the whataburger/squash debate, you lost. She got what she wanted, you got nothing.
ReplyDeleteHe actually got leftovers and a recliner in front of the warm fire.
Deletelike I said..he got nothing!
DeleteBasketball may not have jump balls like hockey has faceoffs but they certainly have enough timeouts to make up for it. Good blog overall today.
ReplyDeleteKnowing you're lacking in hockey knowledge I'll forgive you for missing this, the Stars added Tyler Seguin to their roster this offseason. He's tied for 4th in the NHL in goals scored.
ReplyDeleteExcellent blog today Richie except for the one paragrah regarding our incompetent President and his brilliant Obamacare policy. Obamacare will prove to be worse than Katrina someday!
ReplyDeleteShut up.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe comparison between Katrina and Obamacare originated at the New York Times and was quickly picked up by MSNBC. It wasn't the doing of right-wingers.
ReplyDeleteBut, there is no comparison between the two. Obamacare is a manmade disaster created by an incompetent President and administration. I agree. Please stop.
Mayoy Ray Nagin is to be blamed for Katrina Richie. Who by the way is about to stand trial for countless charges and then be bused off to fereral prison. :)
ReplyDeleteActually Gov. Kathleen Blanco should bear a lot of the responsibility. She is the one that refused to have the LA National Guard be federalized and also resisted federal troops moving into NO.
DeleteJust in case there is any question on where the comparison was first made.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/15/us/politics/parallels-to-bush-in-toxic-political-mix-threatening-obama.html
How many times do they go to the line of scrimmage in a football game? How long is the average puck drop vs hiking the ball finally after multiple changes on both sides?
ReplyDeleteJust asking. Oh delay of game because we can't get our shit together? Might as well go get another beer and some tamales. Now a time out. They get three of these things unless they win a challenge or two. And that is one half. Hockey gets one that is not always used in a game. Oh and we get to stop down to look at plays too. Hockey has a whole room of officials pouring over alllll the available shots of the replay while the NFL is at the mercy of ...well exactly who provides what they look at and how do they determine what they get? Yeah, football is soo much faster paced than hockey.
Let's not discuss baseball. No, let's not discuss hack fouls to slow down a game in the NBA. No, let's focus on a game we don't really like anyhow.
Squash is pretty good, but not as a main course. I can't say I blame ya.
For purely selfish reasons I want the Cowboy's to win this weekend so I don't have to listen to 3 days of post-mortem and angst.
Don't forget 3 minutes worth of commercials every 3 snaps. Or before a kickoff and then after a kickoff. So speedy!
DeleteA study was done a few years ago that showed that in an average football game, there's 12-13 minutes of actual action in every regulation game.
DeleteYou now, compared to at least 60 minutes in every hockey game.
BTW, I love squash.
ReplyDeleteThinly sliced and cooked slowly on the stove. Add plenty of salt!
DeleteYeah but not at 11:30 PM with a few adult beverages in you and the siren call of the Whataburger taquito bellowing at you.
DeleteQuick question on the Buzz offer: Do your guys have electrically heated pizza bags? You're 47.7 miles as the car travels to Frisco and I'd hate to buy $200 worth of cold, soggy pizza. Throw out some comfort words that you'll have the same quality 5 minutes away vs. 1 hour 30 minutes away and we might give you a shot.
ReplyDeleteRW-I admittedly know nothing about how Pizza Buzz is currently doing after the first several weeks of business. But the decision to deliver anywhere in the Metro has a desperate feel to it. And it's got bad idea written all over it. So you have to keep a certain amount of drivers on staff to meet the demands of whatever customer calls up wanting to order a pizza and six-pack. But then Joe Blow in Mesquite calls up and decides he wants $200 worth of pizza for him and his buddies. You're going to take a driver out of the rotation for 2+ hours for $200 worth of pizza sales? Dude that idea is short-sighted. In that time that driver is out he could have delivered many other orders to patrons in your immediate area who likely will order again if you do it right.
ReplyDeleteThis!
DeleteWhat weather do you watch? The two I watched called for exactly what we're seeing today. Temps in the mid 30s all day with rain and a chance of sleet further west. In my book, they got it exactly right.
ReplyDeleteAnd you totally whiffed on the Katrina/O-care comparison, which was more in the context of a political albatross to be hung around the neck of Obama as Katrina was for Bush, rightly or wrongly in either case. As others have mentioned, this started at the NY Times which is about as far left as you can get, present company excepted, of course, and have never once been referred to as "right-wingers," although I am well aware that that is you're simple-minded narrative.
And I don't guess you've been following along much lately if you think the only thing wrong with O-care is a bad website, which incidentally they had three years and $300 million plus to get right. However the website it is ironically emblematic of the entire law.
As far as Garrett, I'm sure he will get fired, but don't believe that he should. I'm still one who thinks he is a good coach with a bright future and the potential to win championships. Problem is it won't happen here, and not just for him, but for anybody as long as the current GM is still calling the shots. When do we all begin to see that it's not coaching, but the players (as a whole) who just aren't very good? Dallas is doomed to mediocrity at best as long as Jones is here regardless of who he hires as head coach.
3 college students built a working Obamacare website in 3 days.
DeleteIncredibly naive to believe that Obamacare is driven by good intentions. It's driven by the desire of the left to have a single payee (the government) health care system. The stuff will really hit the fan in January 2015 when the mandates hit employer paid plans. Premiums and deductables will skyrocket for just about everyone.
ReplyDeleteRW, you know nothing about Obamacare, but everybody else does.
ReplyDeleteYes, do a little research and you might see why he's out numbered here.
DeleteYes, you do some research too.
DeleteNothing like having to ask for permission to stop at Whataburger.....AND being denied......before the wedding date even arrives.
ReplyDeleteSo, you turn 50 next year and you still dress like a doucher? Dude, just stop. It's embarrassing.
ReplyDeleteIt's really cute that you obsess over what RW wears. Any other fetishes?
DeleteYeah, I enjoy a little horse porn too. You?
DeleteWho cares? You must have no life if you worry how someone dresses. Get over yourself and spend your energy on something else.
Delete6:11, you must have even less of a life to worry about someone who you perceive worries about how RW dresses.....or even worse, to wander the web defending some aging adolescent with hair plugs, earrings, holy jeans and a wide array of Affliction T-shirts. Sounds like a long-held man crush.
Delete611, he's engaged. However if you were to give him the okay to go to Whataburger, you could have an outside shot. You never know.
DeleteWho cares if Garrett is coming back, who else are you going to hire? Only Cowboy fans still think this is a good job. The Dallas Cowboys job is one of the worst in sports. Cowboys still live in this delusion that they are "America's Team" when in fact they are "Americas Train Wreck" that people tune in simply to watch what a train wreck looks like. Gruden or Cower aren't taking this job, well maybe if you payed them 10 million+ a season. We all know Jerry is way to cheap to go that high. Hell Kevin Sumlin or any good college coach isn't taking this job. While Garrett has no idea how to coordinate an offense or make in game decisions, Garrett is however pretty good at getting the team ready during the week. Garrett is staying and who cares as this is a dead end job.
ReplyDeleteRichie you're going to need to add some great micro brews to get me to order.
ReplyDeleteI am spending more money on health care insurance. I don't have the extra money for take out pizza or delivered beer.
DeleteJoin the club, 8:19. Mine has almost doubled since the government now requires me to carry a bunch of crap I absolutely do not need, don't want and will never use.....oh, and with higher deductibles too. I thought the average family was supposed to save $2,500 a year on premiums according to promises from the president? Just another lie......
Delete
ReplyDeleteAnybody know why the price of george bush juice has jumped 25 cents overnite? Remember back before Bush became President how gas would fluctuate maybe 5 to 10 cents, but stayed fairly consistent level for extended periods of time, never constantly threatening the American economy? Like I said, before George Bush and the greedy Republican managed oil companies.
Richie, with the high cost of george bush juice, it will cost $200 in gas alone to drive to some of these locations! I have to agree, not a wise business decision!
ReplyDeleteGreat call on that Baylor pick. You can get Art Briles cock out of your mouth now.
ReplyDelete