Another Champion in Town

So here we are in 2017, and one team is looking for their Fifth Championship in a Row, and there is another that is seeking their first!

The one that is seeking their 5th, is the Allen Americans, and in late May, they had to pack up the equipment and call it a year, in Colorado, when they lost to the Eagles. The Drive for Five and One for the Thumb, came to an end!

But what a ride it was for five years. Just thinking about the possibilities, tying the Dallas Cowboys for most championships by one team. And the Americans are a double A hockey team.

They won TWO in the old CHL (Central Hockey League) and two in the league that they had to join once the old CHL folded, the ECHL (East Coast Hockey League). They changed NHL affilations, when the San Jose Sharks took to them, and they were able to get players after players to come play for this little team in Allen, Texas.

Well enough about the Americans, and the other tenant at the Allen Event Center, the Texas Revolution!

YES the Revolution, who has knocked on the door before for a championship, came from no where and became the Southern Division Champions when they defeated the Amarillo Venom on a Monday Night.

Once they solidified that championship, the date for the Champions Bowl III was set for that very next Friday Night, just four short days, and really only three days to prepare since they had to drive back from Amarillo that night.

Their oppoinent, the Omaha Beef! Their story, very much like the Revolution, beat the Number ONE seed to advance to the Champions Bowl III that was played in Allen, on the home field of the Revolution.

The game was pretty much in the hand of the Revolution since they got the opening kick off, and scored on every possession but one throughout the night.

Four KEY Turnovers, including interceptions, fumbles, and forced a fourth down, and was able to take over. They converted those mistakes into scores.

Even though they missed extra points, and two point conversions, the Revolution were able to put the final nail in the coffin with a little over 2 minutes left in the game, and even though the Beef would score one last time with 2 seconds left on the clock, the Revolution became the FIRST EVER indoor football team in the Metroplex to secure a championship and raise that trophy above their heads.

When you consider teams like the Dallas Texans (92) and the Dallas Desparados (2002-2008) The Dallas Vilgilantes (2010-2011) along comes the Allen Wranglers who later transformed into the Texas Revolution.. in their fifth year in Allen- they go into the playoffs and again, planting their flag on top of the Champions Indoor Football Championship Mountain!

Congratulations to the Owners and Staff of the Revolution, Tommy Benezio, Tim Brown, John Nerevez, Charlie Hielbolt, & Cameron Irvine. The coaching staff, headed by 2nd year coach Victor Mann, along with the team, and all the fans! YOU SO DESERVE THIS CHAMPIONSHIP!

Just a thought

Who DO YOU Think is the Greatest Ranger Of ALL TIME

So WHO do YOU think deserves the Title of "Greatest Ranger of All Times"?

I read somewhere that they have placed Adrian Beltre as the Greatest Ranger, then before him was Michael Young, then we had Nolan Ryan, and then Buddy Bell, and the list can go on and on!

So lets start with current Rangers.

When Adrian hits his 3000th hit, and becomes part of that club, and puts his reservation in Cooperstown, would that make him the Greatest Ranger?

Rafael Palmiro hit over 500 home runs in a career, and yet, because of a cloud over his head, he might not ever get into the hallowed halls of Cooperstown. Yet, the watermark for a great players is, 3000 hits, 500 homeruns, 300 wins, and multiple awards like Cy Young and MVP.

Lets keep going, there was Michael Young, a constant teammate, and player, by showing up and being placed wherever the Manager needed him most, be it at short stop, or moved to second base, or over to third. Play first some, and hit as a Designated Hitter.... Young did it all, and was considered to be a leader in the club house! Stat wise, he wasn't over the top-- he had 2,375 hits, hit .300 lifetime, 185 home runs and batted in 1,030 runs in his years as a Ranger and a Phillie and Dodger. 

So does that qualify him as the greatest Ranger of all times? Maybe not.

Then there's Nolan Ryan! Ok his career started with the New York Mets, and he was on that Miracle Met team of 1969, then traded to the Angels, where he threw a few no-hitters, then moved to the Houston Astros, where he was close to home, of Alvin, Texas. With the Astros he threw three no-hitters, but when he came to the Texas Rangers as a free agent, that was amazing, he throws two more no-hitters and strikes out his 5000th hitter, wins his 300th game, and basically keeps old man time away from him when he finishes at 44 years of age. 27 years in the Majors, and of course is in Cooperstown wearing a Texas Rangers hat. So does that make HIM the greatest Ranger of All Times?

Growing up, and watching the Rangers since they threw the first pitch and Frank "Hondo" Howard went deep into center field his first at bat on that April night in 1972, I was hooked. I watched players like Toby Harrah, Al Oliver, Gene Washington, Pete Broberg, Dick Bosman, Lenny Randle, and a young catcher in '74 by the name of Jim Sundberg. 

These were the guys in red, white, and blue that I watched. We got Buddy Bell from Cleveland and he was another one that was great, what about Pete O' Brian, or Dave Hostetller. I can name a few others, but when it comes to the Greatest of All Times, there are so many great Rangers that come to mind. 

I know that Alex Rodriguez is not one, though he played here, and most likely will make it to Cooperstown, but how many of you remember that before he was a Ranger and waaaaay before he was a Yankee, he was a Seattle Mariner.

Before he put on a Ranger uniform, A-Rod was written up in the Sporting News, in 1999, and in that article, it was stated that he might be the first MLB player to command 20 million a year. 

Tom Hicks opened up his pocket book and indeed made A-Rod a 20 million a year player, but paid him three quarters of a billion (YES THAT IS WITH A "B") dollars at 250 million over 10 years! 

He didn't quite last 10 in Texas, he was traded to New York and made a Yankee, but didn't play short stop because the Captain was there, number 2, Derek Jeter. 

Something similar happened when he did play here in Arlington, Michael Young was the short stop, and once Alex Rodriguez came to settle in town, they moved Young to Second Base and Rodriguez to Short. The rest, they say is History with that move.

What about Ivan Rodriguez? Pudge is going into the Hall of Fame in July, and the Rangers are retiring his number 7, to be hung on the left field facade.

Only Nolan Ryan, and Johnny Oates have had their Rangers Numbers retired prior to Pudge. 

So does that make HIM the greatest player of all time? 

One of the best catchers in the business, with 10, count em, TEN, glove gloves. THAT is amazing in of itself.

A World Series Ring while he played with the Florida Marlins, and then bounced around, including stops in Detroit and then the Houston Astros, then returned to Texas where he could retire a Ranger.

So the question is open to you.. WHO would YOU say is the Greatest Ranger of All Times?

I doubt you can pick just one! But the Debate is Great!

Just a thought!  

Tony Romo Haters

It seems that when a star athlete leaves the team in which they were a part of, for so many years, it is apparent that fans, all of sudden, jump on a bandwagon and praise this athlete, and sing his glory, as if he could be carried off the field of battle on his shield!

In the case of Tony Romo, during his playing days for the Dallas Cowboys, there were those who would call into talk shows or jump on social media, to just blast his inability to win playoff games or even worse, can’t even get to the Super Bowl, even though your owner, year after year, would tout that “This was the YEAR!” that they (the Cowboys) would go and win the whole smack!

NOW! The Cowboys announced on March 8^th, 2017, that Tony Romo is going to be released from the club, and that Romo is now a FREE AGENT! With that being said, Romo will have his way on the market to see what he is worth, and which team is in dire need of a good quarterback! Notice I didn’t say, “GREAT” quarterback.

I have said it all along that, Tony Romo was this generations Danny White!

Meaning, that all the stats that Romo was able to compile during his playing days with the Cowboys were impressive. Completions, Yards, Touchdowns, Interceptions, they were all good numbers, breaking some of the records of Troy Aikman, Danny White, Roger Staubach, and probably even Don Meredith.

However! Aside from great stats, Tony couldn’t get over the hump of winning playoff games or even get to the NFC Championship Game! Sadly, for Tony it started in 2006 when he fumbled a snap for a field goal in Seattle, and from that moment forward, the Cowboys were always TOMORROWS champions—just like they were in the 60’s.

Sadly, the Cowboys Fans, those same fans that clamored, bemoaned, criticized, and basically threw Romo under the bus after every loss, are now saying “THIS IS THE END OF AN ERA”… “TONY WAS THE GREATEST THAT THIS TEAM HAD”… REALLY???? You think its an END of an ERA????

No its not, what it is, is the fact that a player, a quarterback, is going to test the waters of Free Agency and see if there is a team out there that will hire him for a year or two, and see what the different scenery will do for him.

There are rumors that the Denver Broncos are in the market for him, as well as the Houston Texans.

Denver hired an aging quarterback once before and he led them to a Super Bowl victory in the 50^th Super Bowl game! THOUGH even with that, Peyton Manning retired, and left the game on his terms.

I don’t see Tony Romo rising to that height and bringing the Lombardi Trophy to the Mile High City, though the other teams that could be in the running for his services aside from Texans and the Broncos, would be the Chicago Bears, or even the LA Rams, though that is a pretty good stretch.

The Bears, lets face it, they have no idea what to do with Jay Cutler, and for that matter, since Romo is from that part of the Country (born on the west coast in San Diego) and then attended Eastern Illinois University, it would be sort of a home coming for him to play in the city of the big shoulders.

Wouldn’t it be something, just fantasizing here, that Romo goes to the Bears and they run the table in the NFC North division, then they win the NFC Championship in 2017, AND THEN!!! They win Super Bowl 52! Bringing home once again the Championship on the heels of the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series for the first time in 108 years.

Just sayin! I mean, the Bears haven’t won the Super Bowl in 32 years, and the last time they were in the Super Bowl they lost to the Indianapolis Colts, led by—say it with me—Peyton Manning!

It was rainy yucky day in Miami for that Super Bowl. That much I can remember!

So Tony Romo, will get a few million dollars for this move that the Cowboys made, and in return, the Cowboys get absolutely ZILCH!

Nothing, NADA! They get no draft pick, they get no player in return, they get no cash consideration, nothing!

So unlike the Hershel Walker trade with the Vikings, the Cowboys  are just on the sidelines to watch what will happen when they play against whatever team he plays for and comes up on the schedule against the Cowboys.

Personally speaking, wish him luck, and hope wherever he winds up the team will win for him, and for what its worth the future of the Cowboys will be that of Dak Prescott and Zeke Elliott, and a defense that will have to find their own identity.

Just a thought! 

The Texas Revolution Announce Their New Broadcast Crew.

For Immediate Release:

Novemeber 14th, 2016

The CIF Texas Revolution Arena Football team has agreed to have the North Texas Sports Network and Davradio Productions to produce their play by play football games beginning in Februrary 2017 from the Allen Event Center.

Play by play host, Dave Michaels and Frank "Doc" Moorefield will provide the action from the AEC for the Revolution.

Michaels, who has been associated with the Revolution when Time Warner Cable Sportsnetwork (now Spectrum Sports) worked the sidelines for their Televised broadcast, will move to the play by play booth along with his long time broadcast partner Doc Moorefield, to provide the high impact action of indoor football.

The Revolution will enter their 4th year as the Revolution, prior to this encarnation, the team was known as the Allen Wranglers, with former Dallas Cowboy wide receiver Drew Pearson was a part of the owner group, which had brought in former NFL wideout Terrell Owens.

Pro Football Hall of Famer, and Heisman Trophy winner Tim Brown has been a part of the Revolution, which was the first men's professional team to bring a woman onto the team other than a kicker-- with Dr. Jen Welter being brought in as a running back. Welter went on to be the first woman to be an assistant coach for the Arizona Cardinals as a Linebackers Coach.

Michaels stated that he and Doc are looking forward to be a part of the Revolution, bringing their brand and style to the game, and with that, they will also produce a weekly show to showcase players and coaches that will be located at different locations in the Allen, Fairview area of the metroplex, as well as Plano and McKinney!

For more information or advertising information, please contact Dave Michaels at davemichaels@davradioproductions.com or 972-805-7503

And the Earth Stood Still

So the morning of the 9th of November 2016, and when the dust settled, and all the votes were tallied, we, as a Nation, elected a person who, for the most part, is not an actor, or a Polititian. He is famous for being famous.

We woke up in a land that must, somehow, come together and work together, because the leader of this “free world” has used the phrase, over and over again throughout his life, “YOU’RE FIRED!”

Well now we will see how this will work out. He has no political agenda that fits into the norm of the rest of the world.

Our Nation, will now have a target on its back!

Our Nation, will no longer be able to looked upon as the Nation to protect others, when we, ourselves will be under fire at every turn.

Security will be hightened, when you go out to do simple things, be it for entertainment reasons or to go travel, or just going to certain events!

We will be a changed country.

Will This President be a ONE and DONE term?

I have with held my opinion throughout this election process, mainly because no one would listen to my views.

So now that it is over, I will repeat what I said in 2008 when Barach Obama ran for office then!

It didn’t matter who the Democrats through out there for their choice for President, the country was ready for a change. After 8 years of Republican rule in the White House, there was going to be a change. The Democrats could have nominated “GOOFY” for we cared, and he would have won!

So fast forward 8 years, and the Republicans did the exact same thing, only this time they nominated a person who is known for his TV Reality shows, of putting business people into the spot light.

The Country was into another swing, they had 8 years of Democratic rule in the White House and it was time for a change!

All the pundits, and all the experts should have seen this coming, but they concentrated on the fact that the two running for office were sniping at each other in their Political Ads, and that they didn’t like each other.

The Debates were a joke, the entire process was a debacle, with back stabbing and accusations, and slurs and such.

There are those who have stated that they are embarrassed to be an American after the election was done, and that they are considering moving to another country. These are the same people that said the same thing 8 years ago when Obama was elected into office.

When Bill Clinton won the election in 1992 over George H.W. Bush, the same sentiment was being spouted by people, that thought that the end of the world was coming. I was working at a radio station in DFW when we worked election coverage, and the next morning the telephone lines were opened up for callers to call in and vent. They were foul, they were digusted, and they had hatred in their hearts for Bill Clinton.

Funny thing is, I would bet that no one packed up their households and moved to another country. They just dealt with it.

I am not saying the right person has won the office of President, and I am not even saying that Mrs. Clinton was the better of the two choices. I AM saying, that American spoke, they were ready for a change from what was already in the White House, and it was time for another shake up!

I am wondering, IS THERE really a candiate that can sit in the highest office in this country, and make this country GREAT again.

Say what you will about President Kennedy, or even President Truman. Johnson, Carter, Clinton and Obama, all have one thing in common. They are Democrats that went into office after two terms of Republicans, well all except Clinton. He went into office after 3 terms of Republicans, just like Eisenhower did after both Roosevelt and Truman spent 20 years in the White House.

Change is not always good, and its not always bad, but the fact is this election taught us that, even what we think is a bad choice, millions of Americans felt like it was the ONLY choice!

We can only ask for prayer and for this won’t lead us into the possiblity of distruction among ourselves or by our enemies.

Make America Great Again... that was his slogan, and his mantre, losing is not an option! We must maintain our checks and balance.

Just a thought

The Season that NEVER WAS!

With the 2015 season coming into the final quarter, the Season that NEVER WAS- is such a disappointment that is seen, not only on the faces of the players, but also the fans and in some cases, the owners of the Dallas Cowboys!

Let us take into consideration the situation that has brought us to this point!

A year ago, this Dallas Cowboy Football Team was a play away from going to the NFC Championship game with the Seattle Seahawks, in which they won on the road in their stadium! The Cowboys also has a chance to not only go to the Championship Game but keeping their winning streak of road victories in tact! HOWEVER! that was not the case, we all remember the catch that never was with Dez Bryant, and the end of that season, even though the Cowboys did a fantastic job of taking the NFC East!

NOW Fast forward to the 2015 season and the start of the year, the Cowboys seem to be on target to get into the NFC East Championship, until they go up against the Eagles, and the season seemed to crumbled at that moment, and the sound of that was the same as the broken bones that were in Tony Romo's shoulder.  That crackling sound of a collar bone and shoulder, and little bitty breaks along the way. SEVEN WEEKS later and the warrior comes back on to the field and take on the Miami Dolphins and win going away!

But wait!!!!! The team has a short week and has to return to action in under 7 days and take on the undefeated Carolina Panthers and Cam Newton as their quarterback!

On a Thanksgiving Thursday in Arlington, Texas, at AT&T Stadium, the warrior was not crisp, he was not accurate, he was not even CLOSE to what the team or the fans were expecting. Throwing an interception that was returned for a Touchdown on the third play of the game, and then threw another pick-six later in the game, and yet another one, just for good measure. The NUMBER ONE THING to concentrate on in football is BALL CONTROL, and lets face it-- that didn't happen!

Now, late in the game, the young warrior is sacked, falls on his left shoulder, and some that were on the field, said they could hear it snap, almost like a gun going off!

And with that injury, the SEASON THAT NEVER WAS, is now complete, the warrior is on the sidelines once again, gone for the season, the possibility to win out, or even another game are slim and nill, and SLIM just left town!

I am a realist, just like so many of you are, and the facts are, at the beginning of the season this team was a good 12-4 maybe 11-5 team, after the third week when Romo was out, the whole season took on a nasty turn and it spiraled out of control!

I cannot understand the mentality of what is going on in the locker room or who's fault it is to point a finger to, but the facts are.... do you blame Jerry Jones? Jason Garrett? Matt Cassell? Dez Bryant? Greg Hardy? I mean there are enough suspects to fill an entire game of CLUE! It was Col. Mustard in the Library, with the Candle Stick!

Too many factions in this one, too many conspiracies to make sense!

The Cowboys season is done, no SUPER BOWL trip for this bunch even though every year we hear the same thing over and over again, that this team is ready to make a run, well HELL, every team is set to make a run, even the Cleveland Browns are set to make a run!

And before you start, the idea of "JOHNNY FOOTBALL" coming to Big D, and wearing a star, is not a good idea, though Mr. Jones might make a play for him, now that the love affair with the Browns and Manziel seems to be over, but to bring him here, with the baggage that he has, and there is not a person in charge that can control him, case in point is Greg Hardy, and the observe way that Mr. Jones believes that he can give this player a second chance and all.

The ONE person that had control of this team after Mr. Jones purchased it in 1989 from Bum Bright, was Jimmy Johnson, and he is quite content setting on the Sunday Morning FOX Pregame set!

Jimmy Johnson was a master of getting everything out of every player doing the same thing! However, his time went when Mr. Jones fired off his now, infamous line, "I could get 500 guys to coach this team"... and with that Mr. Johnson picked up his toys and got his check and left and moved to Miami, to be the coach of the Dolphins, only to last a couple of years there, and left!

Lets face it, the last coach to have a long term contract with the team was Tom Landry, his first contract was a 10 year deal starting in 1960, and we all know how that turned out, for 29 years he was the head coach of the Cowboys, the ONLY coach the Cowboys ever had, until that faithful day in February when Mr. Jones and Mr. Bright agreed on a number and the Cowboys were now in the hands of Arkansas Oilman! The rest, they say is history!

The Epilogue to all of this, is the fact that the Cowboys season for 2015 for the most part is in the History Book, could be a 3-13 team, could be 4-12 maybe, but the fact is they will have to set their sights on the NFL Draft of 2016, and see if there is a quality Quarterback in the mix, coming out of College, and give them the reigns of this team, and make it theirs , just like they did with a young Troy Aikman, or even before that, a young Don Meredith out of SMU!

All in all, this WAS the SEASON that NEVER WAS!

Just a thought! 

Backing the Blue!

The THIN BLUE LINE!

Sounds like the title of a movie, or just a slogan that has been used for many different reasons!

However, the phrase is so true today-- it is a very THIN Blue Line that people probably never see, they never noticed it, and some might even think that it exist because of a wrong doing by some police officer in their life!

That being said, I have had the privilege of working shoulder to shoulder with police officers, and have had the sad duty of being on the scene when an officer had gone down in the line of duty, and having to record the scene for evidence.

I know what it is like for the departments chaplain has to walk up to the house of the now, new widow, and inform her that her husband is not coming home, he was lost in the line of duty. The horrific look on their face, the sound of wailing that begins, and the sound of ultimate pain!

Over the last several months, this country, has laid to rest TOO MANY men and women in that wear uniforms of police departments, and law enforcement agencies. Killed in the line of duty, and at times, at home off duty!

Killed because of a senseless call to arms against the police because someone believes that their tactics are wrong, even comparing them to Gestopo tactics of World War II.

Don't even get me started on that! Not EVEN close boys and girls!

The phrase #BLACKLIVESMATTERS has been strewn across social media, and that the "Battle Cry" has risen, that now we see #BLUELIVESMATTERS or #WOMENLIVESMATTER-- I'm here to tell you all-- #LIFEMATTERS period, doesn't matter what color skin you are, doesn't matter what you wear, doesn't matter what cultural you come from, it DOESN'T MATTER-- YOUR LIFE MATTERS!

Armed confrontation with a police officer might result in death, that's a warning that bumper stickers used to say in the 80's in the Dallas area. It wasn't right, it wasn't meant as a joke, I assure you, it was however there, and it was causing some uneasy feelings in the community.

At the time... Police Chief Billy Prince didn't see any harm in that little slogan on the cars or in the community, however when officers were being shot down in the middle of the street on Commerce by a homeless man who took a gun away from the officer who had been on the force for three years, it was too much-- the homeless person took that gun, and shot point blank into the head of three year veteran officer John Glenn Chase, I knew him-- I did his rookie photo for his ID card! THAT MADE IT PERSONAL!

Since then, there have been others who have lost their lives in the heat of the battle, and were killed, the last one was in 2011... four years so far without a lost of a life in the Dallas Police Department in the line of duty!

Facts are simple, these men and women put on a uniform every day, they put on a badge over their heart, and they are sworn as peace officers to protect and to serve the community.

WE call them when we are in trouble, and yes there are times, when we feel that they stop us for what we consider a minor infraction of the law (Speeding mainly) and have to go through the ritual of being embarrassed on the side of the street, or in our neighborhood where they stopped us, and be told to take care of this with in 21 days yaddy yaddy yeadda! Truth is.. its THEIR JOB! Don't hold it against them for doing it... and it doesn't hurt to say thank you to them or even thank them for their service! Amazing what a little kindness would do for their attitude and YOURS!

We are all in this together, we all live in our communities, and we must, no matter where you live, protect those who protect us! Like one person said to an officer getting gas one  day "Got your back officer"-- we all have to watch their backs-- because lord knows they are watching ours!

Just a thought!