When Do We Wake Up?

It’s a simple question really, when DO we wake up?

This is a case of actually falling for the same routine over and over again, and never getting it right, because at times we are blinded by our own ambition, and in doing so, we fail to see that the light at the end of this tunnel, is actually the TRAIN, and not a metaphor!

I have taken positions with operations, that tell me that they want me to be a part of their operation, and that they like what I bring to the table, and that they would pay me a certain amount to do so!

HOWEVER! (Here comes the shocker boys and girls) there seems to be NO money to pay me, 

EVEN THOUGH! I have lowered my standards to be a part of something I thought was much bigger and better!

What has happened is that they operation, comes across as a multi million dollar business, and it turns out that they can’t even keep their own lights on much less anyone else. They proclaim that they have investors that are being talked to about this situation, and that money is on the way, when in fact that after the first two times they say it, maybe its true, but after the third, fourth, and so on, NOT SO MUCH!

I am in a situation, where I bought into this time and time again, because they come to me and ask me to be a part of their business, their operation, it happened in Radio, and now in Baseball!

When am I going to learn that people want you to work for free and not get a paycheck for your work that you render them!

I am not an intern, nor do I wish to be one at this age, what I would like however, is someone to own up to their shortcomings and tell me straight up front that they can’t afford me, that way I don’t waste their time or mine trying to come up with solutions for their fall out!

I love my job, don’t get me wrong, and yes in ways, it does beat working for a living, but the fact is, I do work for a living, and I work hard at my craft, just at my age, no Radio Station wishes to hire me, and no Cigar Shop wants to pay me what I am worth after 30 plus years in the business, and over 35 years in the Media, be it with a camera or with a microphone! Either way, it should bring something to the table, I am just frustrated!

I have been through this more than once, and each time there is only one person to blame—and that’s ME, since I am the one that falls for this time and time again!

So here’s the bottom line to anyone reading this, if you can use my services, and you wish to actually pay a rate more than minimum wage, (alright a little bit more—a lot more—you figure it out) please contact me through email, davemichaels@davradioproductions.com or if you are looking to advertise I will be more than glad to talk to you about that as well!

Thank you for your understanding, and your friendship! Its more important than any job out there!

Just a thought! 

A CITY OF CHAMPIONS!

Allen, Texas—The City of Allen is now known as the City of Champions, mainly because for the last three years, not only has the High School won State Championships, but now the Minor League Hockey Team that resides there, has done the same!

The Allen Eagles, High School Power House in football for the state of Texas has claimed three championships in a row, and the last year, moved up in classification as 6-A.

This past October, the CHL (Central Hockey League) folded and seven teams moved over to the well established, older league, known as the ECHL (East Coast Hockey League) including, the Allen Americans.

With this move, the schedule was such, that the Americans, and the six other teams, would play the majority of their games against each other, with a smattering of ECHL opponents thrown in now and then, but when it came to the playoffs, that would be a whole different can of worms.

And so it goes, the Americans proceed as a TWO TIME defending CHL champion in this new league, and has to fend off not only their old foes, such as the Tulsa Oilers, or the Missouri Mavericks, but new battles with Ontario Reign.

It was against the REIGN that the Americans had to go through them to get to the finals, and in doing so, showed this NEW LEAGUE, that this CHL “BEER LEAGUE” Team can hold their own against the OLDER ESTABLISHMENT!

AND SO IT BEGAN, the best of seven series that is known in sports as the FINALS, for a Hockey crown, in this particular case, the Kelly Cup!

It was an odd format, mainly because of travel and cost, so it was a 3-3-1 series, and neither team really had the home ice advantage, with visiting teams taking 2 a piece on the other’s ice, and winning one to protect, but it call came down to ONE game on Allen’s home ice, and the stats don’t lie!

Steve Martisen, the head coach and general manager of this Allen Americans team, has never lost a game seven on home ice since he has been coaching, 18 years behind the bench, in different leagues, and now NINE championship rings and banners to his claim!

This game seven started out with intensity, with the Americans scoring twice in the opening 20 minutes, then in the second period, three more times, including with time running out in the period on a power play to go up 5-0. The final period, one more goal to seal the deal, and the South Carolina Stingrays, the NUMBER ONE DEFENSIVE TEAM in the league with a LEAGUE MVP on their team in the nets, get ran off after it was 4-0!

The Stingrays, a former Kelly Cup Champion themselves, thought that they could come into Allen and take care of business, but for the first period, all hey saw were white sweaters beating down their defensive line, and finally getting to the net minder, not once, but twice within 3 minutes of each other.

Once the sixth goal was scored, the celebration in the stands started for real, with chants of “THREE PETE” going up and the countdown at 10 seconds, and then the balloons dropped from the ceiling, it was the party that six thousand fans had been waiting for!

The Americans have proven that this team, is a team of the Decade in Hockey, the only team in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex to have won championships for the last three years, that is considered a professional team.

The Rangers came close, but didn’t pull it off, the Mavericks won in 2011, the Stars last won in 1999, the Cowboys in 1996, FC Dallas hasn’t won a championship but came close, the Frisco Rough Riders won in 2004 the Texas League Championship, but it’s the ALLEN AMERICANS that hoisted the championship cup THREE TIMES in THREE YEARS- and in a City north of Dallas, they lay claim to the CITY OF CHAMPIONS!

Congratulations ALLEN!

Just a thought!                                     

Weighing In On Josh Hamilton

The return of Josh Hamilton to the Texas Rangers the last week or so, has had its good and its bad!

First the GOOD!

He has hit home runs… hit a pinch hit 2 RBI Double to win a game, he has endear himself to the home crowd of which at one time, he alienated them when he left the Rangers and headed to the west coast, to play for the Angels!

Here’s the scoop, Josh Hamilton is a lightening rod, he just makes fans love him to death or hate his guts, and there is usually no gray matter in between!  He is just that polarizing!

I have watched his heroics in the stadium when he was helping the Rangers win back to back American League Pennants, he could have been the BIG hero in Game Six of the 2011 World Series in St. Louis. Then in 2012 the sluggish way he approached a pop fly in center field against the A’s in Oakland to allow them to win the American League West, and then the boo birds showed up when the Rangers had to play the Orioles for a one game wildcard playoff game.

Alright, now fast forward to the present, where he left the Angels and did so, with leaving them with a sour taste in their mouth, comes back to Arlington, puts on a Ranger uniform, plays on the road, does ok, comes back to the Stadium against the Red Sox for a four game set, and wins two of the three for the team, and the LOVE FEST is back on!

I never disagreed with what he said about the fans in Texas. As his quote, about this not being a “baseball town”.

After hearing that, and knowing this part of North Texas as I do, living here my entire life, (alright except for the 2 ½ years that I lived in Lufkin, Texas) this part of the state is very much a Football Town. They live and die with the Dallas Cowboys, and when they are not rooting for them, there’s the Texas Longhorns, the Texas Aggies, the TCU Horn Frogs, the Texas Tech Red Raiders, and then you still have SMU Mustangs, and UNT Mean Green Eagles. Whew—wait there’s the high school football.. you are seeing a pattern here.

The Cowboys lead ALL news items in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, whether they are in season or not, they also lead most of the talk stations in the metroplex as well!

Ok.. So that leads us to what DOES make a baseball town. Well I would consider the following baseball towns.. NEW YORK—oh DUH! Then there is St, Louis, I would put Detroit up there, and Cincinnati!

For the most part—even the Houston Astros have to deal with the Texans and to an even stronger point the Houston Rockets of the NBA. Though when the Astrodome was the basically the ONLY game in town, they still had to compete with the University of Houston Cougars and the Rice Owls, so as you can see, there seems to be a pattern here.

The Rangers have always been the step child, even when the Mavericks came to Dallas in 1980, the little baseball team to the west in Arlington, seemed to have to take a back seat.

When the Rangers had the announcement of their 1995 All Star Game, the Cowboys still stole the show with the signing of Charles Haley’s contract, BIG- HUGE—announcement on the sports and news talk stations, stealing thunder.. that’s what Jerry Jones does best.

So for whatever reason, Josh’s assessment that this is not a Baseball Town! Well I can’t argue with it! I agree with him, and the Rangers, for their two years to the big dance, this WAS a baseball town. Delirious with excitement, pretty much wearing Ranger gear, as much during that time as you would see Cowboy’s gear and apparel. The difference though, is that it was only kept to this part of the country, while the Dallas Cowboys are STILL America’s Team.

So with all of this said and done, the Rangers opened up their arms and the clubhouse, and welcomed Josh back into their fold, and into the family, the Crowds (up to 40,000 for two nights in a row) cheered and loudly for his return, so maybe all is forgiven, and maybe Josh can and will keep his sobriety up!

The real bad news is the fact that he has pulled his hamstring and will be out a month or so… so once again! Here  we go again! Another injury to Josh—and another time to wait and see if he returns better than before, was he pushed too soon to return to the Major League club or could he have waited a bit longer to get back into shape?

Its just a thought!  

2015 AT&T Byron Nelson Golf Championship

Well another year, and another spring at Las Colinas, to cover the AT&T Byron Nelson Golf Championship.

The first major change is going to be the title sponsor, instead of the former Hewlitt Packard logo that we have been used to seeing over the last 7 years, its now the familiar blue globe and orange background known as AT&T… Texas born and Texas Raised!

Now they are the title sponsor of this golf tournament, that has some tradition that goes along with the name.

We’re familiar with the type of golf that comes into this area, the names roll off our tongues like a roll call of who’s who of golf royalty!

Lets start with Phil Michelson, or Tiger Woods, Tom Watson, Ben Crenshaw, just to name a few, but the list goes on and on.. former Dallas native, Scott Verplank, who won the tournament in 2007, the first year that was without the Patriarch of this tournament Lord Byron Nelson himself.

Though this year, 2015, the changes are subtle, but the golf is the same, only this time there is a young man from Dallas named Jordan Spieth, who just happened to have won the Masters back in April, and finished second at the Colonial in Fort Worth!

He has a following from family and friends, that are on the course, that are cheering his every move, but on a Saturday that where its commonly known as Moving Day on the PGA, we are seeing names on the leader board that we have not seen before.

For example, Steven Bowditch, or Brendon DeJonge just to name a couple of names that were leading the tournament after three rounds!

The tradition of the “Nelson” is still within the confines of the Pavilion along “Champions Way”… the music the sounds, the people watching, but for a change not the place to pick up or be picked up at the Pavilion as in years passed!

It might have more to do with the fashion or lack there of, in the past, there were more opportunity to see women in stilettos heels, and short skirts, however after a week’s worth of rain, there is more rain boots and keeping the fashion to work the elements that might come to the area, than worrying about how good they look!

In a couple of years from now, this tournament moves to Trinity Forest, which is south of the Downtown Dallas area, and out of Las Colinas, the contract runs through 2018, so that’s three more years, but between now and then anything can happen!

The Four Season, which has been the home to this tournament for 31 years, and before that it was held at Bent Tree for a couple, and Las Colinas Country Club, and truly before ANY of those there was Preston Trail, and then before that—before it was named after Byron Nelson, it was the Dallas Open.. and it played at Tennyson Golf Course in East Dallas…. Can you even imagine, if the “Dallas Open” was like the NELSON today—oh my goodness, the parking nightmares, and the logistics would be a joke! But none the less the tournament was played out near White Rock Lake, and now is in Las Colinas, and will soon move to South Dallas. WHEW figure it out if you can!

And so as this 2015 AT&T Byron Nelson Championship goes forward and soon into the history books, we are reminded the reason why all of this took place to start with! The KIDS!

The Salesmanship Club of Dallas is the charity, now its called Momentous and they make sure that children that have had hard times have a second chance, and that they can make something of themselves, even though they have been dealt the hand that they were given!

Camps and schools, and being able to be productive in the community… they give so much back to the community! So we back them, and salute them, and hope that in the end they will accomplish their goal of not letting one child be left behind! EVERYONE Goes forward!

The Nelson is and will be for many years to come, THE place for CHAMPIONS to GROW!

Just a thought! 

The Great Debate

Let us begin this discussion with the simple question. Should Josh Hamilton return to the Texas Rangers Baseball team?

That’s a loaded questions to start with.

Why? You might ask… well its simple. Josh left this team, and when he did, upon his first return in an Angels uniform, told anyone with a recorder, or pad of paper in hand, that “This is not a baseball town”. OH! Did that just anger the hell out of people? YES IT DID! BUT!!!!!! (Wait for it). HE was not too far off from the fact!

IF you consider that, this part of the North Texas has been constantly barraged by, sports talk stations (that number three in the market) and by TWO newspapers, and FOUR TV stations (and those are just the English speaking ones), they cover the Dallas Cowboys constantly! Of the THREE sports talk station, ONE is the flagship station of the franchise!

But lets not stop there… lets figure that the Cowboys, the Mavericks, and the Stars all have championship rings and trophy’s in their possession! Do the Rangers? NOPE! They were close—twice, 2010 and 2011, but came up short both times.

So here is Josh Hamilton, who lived here, played here, was a part of those two teams that went to the post season and made to the World Series both times, a league MVP, a American League Championship Series MVP, and he listens to the radio, watches TV, reads the Newspapers, and knows exactly what he observes. That this is INDEED, a FOOTBALL TOWN! And its not just the Cowboys, it’s the Mustangs, the Mean Green Eagles, The Horned Frogs, the Longhorns, the Aggies, the Raiders, and so on. Its FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, with high school football, its everything BUT BASEBALL!

I am a born and raised Dallasite, and I have seen how the Cowboys rule the media, and even before there was a Jerry Jones and that circus, the Cowboys still were the lead story most of the time!

Since 1972, the Rangers have called Arlington, Texas home, and with all that the team has done, getting over 3 million though the doors in 2011 and 2012, they haven’t come close to that number since. They haven’t won the division since 2011, they barely made it to the post season in 2012, and did a one game against the Rays to see who would play in the post season. This team isn’t the same team at all!

So that brings us back to this debate about Josh Hamilton. Should the Rangers bring him back into the fold?

Frankly, its really not our decision, its that of Management, that means Jon Daniels and company that wish to bring #32 back to the clubhouse.

Players such as Adrian Beltre, and Elvis Andrus, Derek Holland, Colby Lewis, all have said “YES” bring him back, there are those who didn’t play with Hamilton when he was here the first time, like Prince Field, and Leonys Martin who wish to have him back, Michael Young, who is a special assistant to the GM, wants him back. There are those who believe, that this team, this town, would be more of an asset to Hamilton, to make sure that he stays “Healthy”.

Hamilton fell off the wagon, so to speak, when he relaspsed into the world of drug abuse and alcohol. He freely admitted it before spring training. However, he never took a drug test, and therefore, the arbitration that was asked for by the Angels, said that Hamilton did not need, nor warranted a suspension from the league.

With that, the team, in their own mind, wanted to do something to punish Hamilton, and yet they couldn’t suspend him without the Players Association getting involved, so they sat him on the bench and have basically said, that “We don’t want you—WE DON’T NEED YOU—you’re on your own buddy!”

125 Million dollar contract, and of that the still owe something like 83 million to Hamilton. The Rangers came in and said that they would pay 7.5 million of that contract, but the Angels had to pay off the rest!

Hamilton in February filed for divorce from his wife, and with four children involved, you know that can’t be easy on him either, or how about going back into history, when in 2011 on a July night, Josh gets a ball that was hit foul down the left field line, and then tosses it into the stands, there a man with his son, he reaches over to get the ball, and he flips over the railing and falls 14 feet behind the out of town scoreboard. Shannon Stone, a father, a husband, a firefighter from Brownwood, Texas, died. And Josh Hamilton has had to live with that! I am not making excuses for his actions, but I know how hard it is to forgive yourself for something like that!

Josh slipped, he relapsed, he fell off the pedestal, and he is mortal!

The fans most likely will “boo” his at bats, they might even heckle him in the outfield, but the fact that the organization is willing to accept him with open arms and allow him to be a part of this team, and this clubhouse, is speaking volumes, that they are here to take care of him, to watch him, and to protect him!

The GREAT DEBATE! Is his talents enough to help this team?

His bat, his glove, his ability to play left field, can he play full time, and if his bat is once again sound from the left side of the plate, there is a jet stream in Globe Life Park that has his name written all over it!

Can he still hit 30 home runs in a season, 100 RBI’s, and score 80 to 100 runs? If any of those answers are YES, then, then the debate is over! He can wear a Ranger uniform once again, and maybe give a little glimmer of hope to this team, who right now could use a little bit of a prayer, or at best what is left in the Jeff Hamilton tank!

There is only one real answer to all of this! Are YOU willing to forgive Josh Hamilton for his transgressions? Are you willing to forgive those things that he has said in the past, or you willing to look at the future, and see what might be, or what could have been?

I think that this is the time for Josh Hamilton to look himself in the mirror and look those demons in the eye, and start the fight, and live each day and try and forgive himself for the tragedy that happened in July of 2011, and put the other speed bumps in his life behind him.

Josh Hamilton needs the love of the Rangers Family as much as that family needs him!

Its just a thought! 

Opening Week in Major League Baseball!

Opening week for the Texas Rangers at home, after starting the season off 2-2 with the Oakland A’s in Oakland, the returned to Globe Life Park in Arlington to set up shop and take on the their , I-45 Rivals, the Houston Astros, and with that.. they begin their Silver Boot Series with them.

However, there is more to this than just the trophy for most wins against your down the block rival.  This is now the Season with a new manager, and a new attitude. Their Slogan is “NEVER QUIT!” to the point where it’s a hashtag and a battle cry with in the club house and on the field.

The weekend is filled with the pomp and circumstance that you would expect, the patriotic bunting along the stands, the introduction of the players along the baselines, then the playing of our National Anthem, the fly over of F-16 Fighter Jets, the first pitch by dignitaries, and then hearing the umpire yell “PLAY BALL!”

Nothing like opening day, or opening week at the home park, you get to see the players for the first time in the season, you get to smell the ball park for the first time, and there is a distinctive smell, that is hot dogs, popcorn, beer, and cotton candy! All of this fills your senses of sight, taste, smell, and feel! You get it all when you walk in the gates!

Then of course there is a matter of the game! In this particular instance, the Rangers didn’t fair all that well in the opening day festivities, where they literally were shellacked by the Astros, and if that wasn’t bad enough—they lose three players to injury on opening day! Starting with Ryan Rua in left field has a sprained ankle… then Shin Soo-Choo goes down with a muscle spasm I the lower back, and starting pitcher, Derek Holland doesn’t even make to the second inning with a strain in his left shoulder! Needless to say the clubhouse looks more like a M*A*S*H unit than a baseball club!

Though after the disaster that started the season—the second game of the series, looked more like what the Rangers were capable of doing, and beating back the Astros, then the rubber game on Sunday, not so much better than the first game, Colby Lewis got the start, and was lit up in the first with a home run, that wasn’t bad enough he gave up four runs in the second inning and before we could blink an eye, the Astros were up four to nothing! Oh let’s not forget another home run this time with a runner on base to give them that four/nothing lead!

The Rangers however pounded it back to cut the lead in half in the bottom of the seventh inning with a couple of hits and a walk sandwiched in there, the Rangers were able to get off the schnied, and score two runs on Leonys Martin’s single to left field that also got him going after starting the season 0 for 18!

So the 2015 Rangers are playing .500 ball to start the year, and looking to keep it at least even, when the Las Angeles Angels of Anaheim come for a three game set to the ball yard, including an afternoon game on the 15^th of April, when it is not only Tax Day, but Patriots Day in Boston, and for Major League Baseball, its Jackie Robinson Day!

That’s not only a day to celebrate a great ball player, and the fact that Robinson broke the color barrier with being the first African American to play Major League Baseball, but everyone in baseball gets to wear HIS number… 42 to celebrate it! HOWEVER! There’s a story behind that.

It starts with the fact that Jackie was getting all sorts of death threats from every major league city the Brooklyn Dodgers were playing, so while in St. Louis to play the Cardinals, teammate Peewee Reese, told Jackie that on the next game, they all would wear 42… that way they wouldn’t know who they were aiming for!

So, the last few years, the entire teams have worn 42 to honor Robinson, then MLB sells the jerseys on their website for charity!

So if the Rangers can keep pace with the rest of the West, than this team might find themselves in the driver’s seat for the Wildcard at the end of the season. HOWEVER! (there’s that word again) this team must find a way to stay healthy and keep everyone in the lineup, and Skipper Jeff Banister will have his work cut out for him, but for right now, it’s still early in the season, and there is a lot of baseball to be played!

SO! PLAY BALL! 

Its Just a thought! 

The Last Pre-Season Series before it gets for REAL!

First game at home for the Rangers after spending the spring in Surprise, Arizona for the last six weeks.

Now they return home for a two game set with the New York Mets then a day or two off and they start the season on the west coast against the Oakland A’s.

The strange thing, the first four series in April are against Division Rivals. They start with the A’s, then the Astros, the Angels, then the Mariners.

Checking the roster of the Rangers, some names are familiar, but there a slew of names on this team that are not even close to being known, but they can be by the end of the April, if this team takes off the way that Manager John Banister plans on this team competing.

The 2015 Rangers are not the same team that battled for the World Series title just four years ago, the only hold overs from that team are Pitchers Colby Lewis and Derek Holland, then you have Adrian Beltre, Elvis Andrus, Mitch Moreland, and closer Netali Feliz. Guess what folks, the rest of the roster is a who’s who of guys who are trying to make a strong living in Major League Baseball!

Opening day for the Rangers is a week from today, the 10^th of April at 3:05, but today—this game, this moment, is another moment in the sun for the Rangers, and their fans, and for this reporter, a return to the press box that he’s been away from for the last four years.

2011, the last time that I had the opportunity to sit in the press box and cover the Rangers, and to have a chance to see what this team could do, not only during the regular season, but take it into the post season.

Those dreaded Cardinals, those pesky Red Birds, then the dive of this team, post seasons for just one game playoff against the Orioles,  then last year a 163^rd game against the Tampa Rays, and then the departure of Manager Ron Washington, and the demise of this team.

New Manager, new attitude, new look Rangers. Only time will tell if these Rangers will live up to the expectations that the fans and the management put upon them.

Upon seeing the New York Mets roster, I am seeing an old familiar name as one of their coaches… Tom Goodwin, a former Texas Ranger outfielder in the 80’s and 90’s and then a coach / Manager of the Continental League Lewisville Lizards, in which the broadcast crew consisted of, yours truly, and others, and to see Goodwin in a major league uniform once again with the famous number 26 on his back, brings good feelings back into the fold.

Goodwin said that this was his first trip inside Globe Life Park, even when he was not playing for the Rangers anymore, he never played in this stadium.  It was built in 1994, and by then he was with Colorado or with the Dodgers, but never did he play inside this facility. With the Mets he at least gets to walk on the field, and see for the first time what this “Temple” is truly like!

Game time just moments away for an exhibition game! The CHILLS are still there!

Already into this short game—one pitching change and the reliever doesn’t look like he is sharp at all.. so Anthony Bass who the Rangers got from the Astros struggling in the 3^rd inning… but gets the third out… the Starter was Logan Verrett… and he only lasted 2 and third innings… with three hits .. one run it was earned… one base on balls and three strike outs.. but still struggled with his command as he gave up back to back doubles to lead to the Mets early 1-0 lead..

Aside from the fact that the Mets starting pitcher Jacob de Grom went four innings with toying with a no hitter until Prince Fielder broke it up in the bottom of the fourth… with a double into left field… though he was stranded at second—and the Rangers are down 2-0 after four… top of the fifth and a lot of new faces on the field for the Rangers… just trying to get in that last audition before the regular season starts.

This is why they play the game, this is why we watch the game… and all because we can push the sun back into the sky for one more chance to be a child of summer again!

Its just a thought!