Tom Schieffer Will Man the Dodgers

Former Texas Ranger President, Tom Schieffer will take over the Los Angeles Dodgers per Commissioner Bud Selig's request.

Schieffer was a mere investor in 1989 when he and a few others, including George W. Bush purchased the Texas Rangers Baseball Club from Eddie Chiles, we know what happened to Bush, he later became Governor of the State of Texas then after a few years of that, he wanted to be President of the United States and succeeded at that!

Shortly after the Rangers won their Western Division pennant in 1998 another person wanted to buy the Rangers, his name was Thomas O. Hicks... we all know the story after 10 years of ownership... Major League Baseball pretty much starting running things while the Bankruptcy court took control and then later sold the team to the highest bidder, Nolan Ryan and Chuck Greenberg, and we know the story there as well, as Greenberg just before the end of Spring Training was released as CEO of the club.

Whew-- what does all of this have to do with Schieffer running the Dodgers?  Well plenty-- ya see--- Mr. Schieffer comes into this job with plenty of background... first, we go back to the Ranger days, when he ran the team and gave them their first playoff birth in 1996.. THEN when President George W. Bush was in office, for those 8 years, he appointed Schieffer as Ambassador to Australia then later Japan.

The Ambassador has more experience in running things than most baseball people do, and lets not forget that his brother Bob Scheiffer is a CBS Newsman, who's integrity is unmatched! Tom is the same way!  It runs in the family!

The Dodgers are in good hands, with Schieffer at the helm, and the ship will run correctly, and without problems.  The Dodgers found themselves in this situation when the owner and his wife decided to divorce, and like some states, its community property are business holdings that the couple have, in this case the baseball team, and when the financials were revealed, it seemed that the owners lived well above their means, and took the money from the ball club to do it with.  The by-laws of Major League Baseball are pretty clear, about re-investing into the club with the profits made from the team.

While  the McCourts sort out their legal problems-- Major League Baseball will run the LA Dodgers, and hopefully, this once proud organization will rise above all of this and work their way to the post season, their image already tarnished by the opening day brutality of a San Francisco Giant fan who was severely beaten while walking from the game. The victim is a first responder himself, for the San Francisco area, he was ganged up on at a bus stop, by thugs, plain and simple. THUGS! They have no place in our society, they do nothing than bring terror to neighborhoods, and its been going on since the beginning  of time. Bullies. That's all they are! And the Dodgers have to fight that image along with the internal image of trying to right their ship.

The sheriff in town is Schieffer, and the Dodgers will  once again be right!

Just a thought!

Allen Americans Playoff Round 2

Two games into the second round of the Playoffs for the President Cup in the CHL, and what started out as a team possessed to win the whole thing, now looks more like a team that has fallen apart at the seams.

The opponent—Odessa Jackalopes, who last year were the best team in the Central Hockey League, went up against these Americans in the division finals, and lost in seven games, this year the Americans, held the best record, and took the Governors Cup for that record, but they look more like a team that just barely skated in the playoffs.

Some of the sloppiness can be accounted for the fact that Allen took 11 days off before this series, they dispatched their first round opponents quickly in three games, and then had to wait to see who they would face in the second round.

However, this team currently doesn’t seem to know where they are and how to play these Jackalopes.

The best player defensively has been nullified by being sent off the ice for games misconducts, and that doesn’t help matters, their goalie has been lit up for 3 goals in game one, and five goals in the second game.

Dwight Mullins, the head coach of the Americans talked about getting ready for the playoffs, and how this team needed to keep with in themselves, to play above what they have done during the regular season. That’s where the this team lost some of their zest in this round of the playoffs, they stop playing within themselves. They can out-skate their opponent but they can’t seem to put the puck in the net when it counts.

Observing from the press area, and listening to those who have covered hockey for more years than I have ever imagined, even though this is minor league hockey, there are those who come out here and write about the game and the season. The Americans are part of the Stars farm system.

Watching the third period of game two, one has to consider the fact that the Americans are the ones with the big target on their back. It seems that the boys have lost a bit of their step, and more so it loks like they have no drive to beat a team in which they owned for the most of the regular season.

How many times have we seen this in every sport, when you have the best record, and you’ve handled your division opponent handedly, then face them in the playoffs, and poof you’re gone!

Saw that with the Cowboys in 07 when they went 13-3 for the season, beat the New York Giants twice in the same year, and then faced them in the division round of the playoffs, only to lose to them at home, and then the Giants went on to beat the then Un-defeated New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.

Game two of the second round of the CHL playoffs, and the Americans look frustrated, throwing themselves at the Jackalopes and then getting into fights, though the frustration can also be pointed at the officials on the ice, calling penalties that they shouldn’t have and not calling the ones they should, only to have the Americans play with a man disadvantage as the game wears on, the frustration continues and in the end the result is that the Americans find themselves in a whole down two games to none in the best of five series.

Game three will be on Tuesday night in Odessa from what they call the Jack Shack—and from the looks of things—better bring your popcorn and look for Hulk Hogan and Macho Man Randy Savage, because the only thing missing from this game tonight is a steel cage and the best of two out of three falls with a sixty minute time limit—with your referee, Bulldog Danny Pletches..

Jackalopes and the Americans, Tuesday night 7PM and can be heard with my good friend Tommy Daniels calling the game on KLAK on their web www.975klak.com

Good Bye My Friend:

Its never easy to say good bye to a friend, someone you work with, and learned from, but that's the case today, when word came that we lost Ben Laurie, a Texas Radio Hall of Famer, and long time radio personality in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.

Ben was from Jacksonville, Texas, and grew up with a silky smooth voice, that when he spoke about news, or traffic, it was like listening to an old friend. Soft and southern, but always with integrity.

I listened to Ben when he was with Ron Chapman on KVIL he and Andy McCullough would do the news, and listening to him deliver his newscast was a great compliment to Andy's wordsmith ways.

In 1989, I returned to doing traffic reporting for Traffic Patrol Broadcasting, there Ben was the Operations Director, and that's where our friendship began.  Even though I pretty much felt like I already knew Ben from listening to him on the air, when you met him face to face, he was even more kinder than what you had heard on the air.

I remember talking to him for hours about his duties during the Kennedy assassination, and what it was like to gather news, when the devices that were at your disposal was a pay phone and your reporters pad-- and if you were lucky-- the tape recorder you were assigned to have. The long hours of following the story, and how they were always going after any shred of lead they could use to go on their air with in those days.

Pretty much what he taught me, and what he gave me, was a work ethic about reporting, and gathering news, and information, whether it was for a newscast or for traffic reporting-- the efforts that were put into it were to be the same.

Ben and I worked again together at Shadow Broadcasting in the mid 90's and there he and I were equals, producers and once again--taking what he had taught me before and applying it again, and becoming very proficient at it.  

When we met up again recently , about 3 weeks ago, it was like old home week, we tried  and catch up with what has been happening over the last dozen or so years, and talked about the good ol days of radio. 

Ben also liked to remind me that no matter where he went to work at, if I was to follow, eventually he was fired from the job... funny thing is-- so was I-- usually him first, me right behind him... don't know what that says about our ability to work well together, but none the less- -I will miss my friend, and I will miss his stories, I will miss learning from him!

Professional, warm, witty, and most important, he was REAL and GENUINE! I true gentleman!

You will be missed my friend, you will no doubt leave behind those of us who learned from you to carry on your good name and speak of you often and with reverence.

Be in peace!

Just a thought

Everything is Going to be Alright

The news today (4-12-11) was not all that great…. If you are a Ranger Fan, you know exactly what I am talking about.  The news about Josh Hamilton being injured during the 1^st inning of the afternoon game against the Detroit Tigers, and being out of action for six to eight weeks!

Now before we all start finding very tall buildings and jumping off, lets take a step back and remember that the League’s MVP miss most if not all of September last season when this team was in the heat of winning the Western Division.

With the bats that this team in its lineup, they are not going to skip a beat, and besides Hamilton through 12 games had not hit a home run yet this season, not that-that’s important, because we all know that he would come through—now we will just have to wait until June!

If we were to break down the play that has put this all in motion--- Hamilton is on third after hitting a RBI triple, then the next batter, hits a high pop up in foul territory, and the third base coach notices that no one is covering home plate…. He sends Hamilton home, not a bad aggressive play, but its only the 1^st inning and there’s one out. Sending the runner would mean, he would have to tag the base then run, that’s 90 feet to the plate, and even without the pitcher covering home, its not a smart move at that moment.  A variation to this play would have me send the runner half way down the line—then turn and have him come back—the only thing that it could do is maybe put him in a run down with the possibility of an over throw, or an error—or he’s safe back at third—2 outs and you still have another at bat to maybe capitalize on the runner in scoring position, but that’s hind sight!

The fact is, that Hamilton will be out for two months, and this team will still have the bats to compete and win games, and keep them right where they wish to be.

Pitching so far this early in the season has been surprising, and even with the puzzle pieces being inserted here and there, its been working.

Will the Rangers continue winning at the clip they started at? NO! And why not? You might ask.. well because its still April, and there are five more months of baseball to be played, including the playoffs, you can believe that this team will contend once again for the Western Division title, and from there, as we saw last year, its anyone’s bet.

No panic for now, and this season really doesn’t get started until July anyway, so we will sit through the rest of this month and make our way to June, and after that, its best to wait and see!

Its just a thought!

Nothing Wrong With a LOCKOUT

Alright before I get bombarded with all sorts of hate emails and comments, let me try and see if a “fan” of the game can make some serious sense out of all of this.

We are talking about owners, who for the most part are Billionaires, or at the least Mulit- Millionaires! And they are fighting with their employees, who themselves are Multi-Millionaires—and the ones that are going to suffer are????? YES! You have it correct! THE FANS!

SO—LOCK THE DAMN THING UP and throw away the key!

I am not going to sit inside a stadium that was paid for, by taxpayers who can’t afford to walk through the door of the stadium with a family, they only way someone can do that is if they are corporate sponsored or at the very least—who hasn’t lost their job.  I know what you might be thinking, “BUT WHAT ABOUT ALL THOSE EMPLOYEES???”… what about them?

Most of them work at the stadium as a part time job to begin with, they have regular jobs that they have to work around to make sure that they have certain days off to cover an event. Lets see, if a person who works  for the stadium, on a Sunday, or Sunday Night, knows that schedule well in advanced, lets not forget the annual Thanksgiving Day Game, or what about the occasional Monday Night game, they have to make some sort of arrangement with their regular job in the event that they might not be at work at their normal time, just by logistics. I’m not saying every employee does that, but I am sure there are a few who do.

So now lets talk about, without a football game in a NFL Stadium for 8 home games plus pre-season and maybe post season (possibly 13 games total), those dates have to be filled in some way, so more concerts, tractor pulls, conventions, (domed stadiums obviously) maybe during the winter months they put more outdoor hockey games in the northern stadiums, in the domed stadiums you might have more reason for using the property for bigger events, the circus might be interesting to see at Cowboys Stadium.  I mean we already have had prize fights, NBA basketball, College Football, Motorcross races, concerts, there’s plenty of activity to keep people busy.

So a LOCKOUT is not all that devastating, it might in fact help a bit.

When baseball went on strike in 1994- and part 95, fans vowed never to return to the game, and that attendance would suffer—in the beginning it did, but last year alone, 3million people went through the turnstile at Rangers Ball Park in Arlington. So over the last 17 years, I think baseball is safe. Ok what about Hockey. They went on strike, in the mid 90’s as well, that did some damage—however, the lockout when there was no HOCKEY AT ALL!!!!! Well, they lowered prices of tickets, they did everything they could to get the fan back in the seats! And for the most part, it has worked.  If you wish to talk about the Dallas Stars in particular, there are other franchises that have their own set of issues, most likely there are too many teams that are in markets that are not supporting their teams.

Now the NFL…. If this league continues to the point of not having a season and blows off a Super Bowl, or even have a partial season, it will force the owners to re-evaluate their spending money on rookies who have never played a down of professional football, and yet they demand, tens of millions of dollars to sit on a bench and maybe see action late in the season, there has to be a salary cap, there has to be a margin of money allowed to pay a player who is just coming into the league and has to prove to the ownership and to the NFL that they are an impact player.

Do they stop rewarding players who have been with the team for over three years, and have proven that they are not only an impact player, but has exceeded the expectations of the owners and coaches impressions, and give them a nice dollar amount, but when you start talking 100 million dollars over a 10 year period of time, PLEASE! That deserves a “CHILD PLEASE!”

When you talk about the trail blazers of the NFL, the men that played when there was no medical technology that they have today, who lost part of their playing careers because of busted up knees, hips, shoulders, and so on, and today—they can’t walk, they can’t lift their arms above their heads, its just kills me that the NFL for a time turned its back on them, and yet these “youngsters” just sit back and say, that was then, this is now, and I’ll get mine, let them get theirs—if they can!  THEY CAN”T!

LOCK THEM OUT! Bring the owners to their knees—I am one that believes that if they owners were able to get the 9billion dollars that the Networks owned them, regardless if they played a single down of football or not, well I believe that the federal government should then be able to intercede and hold the money up in escrow until a season commences.  Or lets just take the whole smack of 9Billion dollars and divide it among 50 states—hmm that is—180 million dollars—PER STATE! Hmm that takes care of education, and other short falls, and puts the states back to work, and makes the advertising revenue that the NFL would have made to share among 32 franchise, now give to the community of every state in the union and maybe we can put our priorities back where they should be.

Why do we pay entertainers millions of dollars, yet we pay our teachers almost nothing, yet it’s the teacher that helps the future entertainer, or athlete to excel in their chosen profession, along with the business owner, or future franchise owner, or the sports writer, or the script writer… we have our priorities totally back ass-wards! And have since the first million dollar baby entered the world of sport and entertainment.

Do we really need to spend money to see Charlie Sheen make a complete jackass out of himself? NO! do we really need to spend money to see a singer lip sync his or her music on stage, and we buy into it because we don’t know any better!

I recall not too long ago, I attended a concert out at Fair Park that a radio station had sponsored—the acts were some people I had no idea who the hell they were, but one of the acts was an up and coming young girl that lived in Richardson, down the block from where I lived at one time, and her voice coach was the wife of a former Dallas Cowboy, so it was a way to support her and her studio, in any case, the acts came on—and it was a very expensive Karoke show! The headliner by the way was Ricky Martin, and he was done after three songs—so once again, I will ask—WHY DO WE PAY FOR IT?

We are confused as a society, we believe that video games will babysit our children, and yet what is it teaching them… we believe that teachers should not have discipline in the classroom, yet we have a new generation of children that have very little respect for authority, we believe that police are the enemy, and with that thought, we have a generation that has no fear of pulling a gun and shooting and killing a person who wears a badge over their heart who is hired to protect and serve our community. WE believe that our Constitutional Rights are to protest everything, yet when the protest the funeral of a fallen solder, who died in defense of that Constitution, we are confused, at least I am, instead of being grateful for their service, this society is spitting on the grave of that solder and saying he died for nothing!

LOCK THEM OUT! Maybe it will be a wake up call, maybe it might bring some reality back to a sport and to a society that nothing is going to last forever! And maybe—just maybe I’m crazy and that none of this really makes any sense and I am a fool for thinking it!

However, I do have the right to say it, believe it, and think its about damn time we do something about it!

Just a thought!

Spring Time in Texas

Aside from the allergies that arise this time of year, and of course spring fever with young love, and lets not forget the longer days since we moved to daylight savings... its also BASEBALL TIME IN NORTH TEXAS!

I was out earlier today at Rangers Ball Park in Arlington, picking up credentials for the upcoming season and getting a chance to chat with some of the players before their debut for the 2011 season.

They all seem in good spirits, they all seem to want to get this thing started, and they all know that that they have a big 'ol target on their back, since they are the defending American League Champions!

Michael Young, who has been with this team longer than anyone else, and has had more "jobs" than anyone else on the team, let's see, Michael started out at short stop, then moved to second then back to short, then to third and recently was asked to be a DH, a utility infielder, and platoon at first base when needed and fill in once in a while back at third. WHEW!

During the first few days of spring training there was talk about Michael being traded, and having all sorts of rumors floating around about how the team needed to move Young once they were able to acquire Adrian Beltre, the All Star third baseman-- they also were able to get Mike Napoli from the Angels, so he will most likely be the back-up catcher and platoon at first a little as well, its putting his bat into the lineup that has most people concerned, but speaking to him earlier today, he is thrilled to be in Texas, and is ready to contribute anyway the Manager sees fit!

Mitch Moreland was another youngster that contributed last year, but during the off season he had to do some work on his own to get a bit better coming into spring training, he spoke about working on his hitting, being a bit more patient at the plate, especially on breaking balls and sliders, then he went to say about how he worked extra hard on playing his position at first base, and working on agility, along with his footwork!

The atmosphere in the club house is like a finely trained horse ready to break for the gate, restless, eager, and ready to take on the competition. Alright maybe that's a bit romantic when it comes to this team, comparing them to a race horse, but truthfully, this team has some unfinished business to attend to. They all agree beating the Yankees was a great step in the right direction for the post season, but they all had a taste of what its like getting to the big stage, the big Show as players like to call it, the World Series, and they are sure ready to get 162 games out of the way so they can get busy on the second season!

As for the grand lady herself, the stadium has new amenities... a new video board that sits high atop the Right Field Porch, brighter and better, and players need to be careful of their language if you can lip read.. it won't take much to see it on that screen, then they did an overhaul on the centerfield board, which was mono-chromed, they now have a full color moving board in that Coca-Cola scoreboard, the concessions are better, and more of them, the fan's experience will be better than in recent years. Prices have come down on hot dogs and beer, thats always a good thing, and of course the merchandise-- well lets just say , if you don't have enough WORLD SERIES things, you can still buy it at the Majestic Gift Shop in Centerfield!

Opening day-- less than 24 hours away-- the Boston Red Sox are in town, three days of exciting baseball, and its just April! 

Its just a thought

Same Old Song- Just Another Verse

Seems that we sit down once again, open up the newspaper or turn on the Television, and the lead story seems to be once again DEZ BRYANT!

My goodness—for this young man—the hits just keep on coming!

One day it’s about Dez and his friends being asked to leave NorthPark Mall in North Dallas, because of their apparel, the sagging pants and looking “gangsta”… the next minute there is a lawsuit brought by a jeweler, then another, then one more on top of that from a landlord in Stillwater, Oklahoma for pass due rent!

AND THIS IS JUST MARCH!

I have seen Dez out in public, working with kids and being surrounded by the fans, he seems to be kind and takes time to talk and sign autographs, however, this other behavior, the kind that makes headlines and such is not good for his image or for that of the team in which he plays for.

The question is, HOW DO YOU FIX THIS?

The answer, is not so easy! It’s about changing the direction of your decisions, and the paths in which you choose to go down.

I use the example of a player on the team, that signed a six year contract for multiple millions of dollars back in 2007, and you never hear about him in the news, or for that matter on the field of play, yet he has earned Pro-Bowl status 5 years in a row, and is an All Pro as well.

Why do we not hear about him? Mainly because he was well grounded, had a great up bringing, and knows what it is to be in the public and for that matter he doesn’t draw attention to himself when he is in public. I’ve actually heard him tell someone who approached him, if he was a football player, his response was “no… I dance ballet”… now really? Seriously, that is great!

He doesn’t say it to get rid of them—he says it so they grin or laugh and then he proceeds to let them off the hook—sign the autograph or take the photo—shake their hands and goes on his way. The only thing that he request is, don’t interrupt his dinner or his evening out with friends or family! That’s his time to spend with them, and not the stadium or personal appearance. Fair enough don’t you think?

Dez Bryant should, and Jerry should also make this mandatory, to sit with Calvin Hill, that’s why he is employed by the Cowboys in the first place, to show these young kids who have come from an income that is nowhere near what they have become a part of in a short amount of time.  Unless their parents were athletes, which if they were, they weren’t making this kind of cash when they played, they have no idea how to handle that kind of wealth. NOT everyone has this problem, not everyone goes into a mode of throwing themselves into an arena where they are constantly being hit by people that have come out of the wood work to claim to be a family member or long lost friend from way back when.

What some people don’t know about Calvin Hill, is that he is an IVY Leaguer, a graduate of Yale University, was a first round draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys in 1969, and was the first Cowboy to rush for over 1000 yards. Though his degree is in business and finance, he understands what it takes to be successful on and off the field. Mr. Bryant—I highly suggest you talk to Mr. Hill and learn from one of the very best! Just look at his son, Grant Hill, he hasn’t done too bad for himself either.

Not to shift gears, but while we are on the subject of changing—there was a story that is out about the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona, that they might lose their BCS seating, and that because of the investigation that is underway about misguided funds by the CEO, and that there are some real discrepancies, a real possibility is that the BCS might bring the AT&T Cotton Bowl into the fold as a BCS Championship Bowl.

This would be huge for the Classic, and bring more attention to the Bowl that was one of the big four before the BCS took over.

Remember, back in the day, on New Years Day, there were four games played that had the prestige, such as the Rose, the Orange, the Sugar and the Cotton. The other fell into place shortly thereafter.

If you read between the lines, from comments from Rick Baker, and others with the Cotton Bowl, and the BCS committee, originally they thought that the Cotton could be the FIFTH Bowl on the rotation, now it might be the FOURTH! And that would be great for North Texas… oh and NO temporary seats to worry about! (sorry for the reference to a botched Super Bowl)

All in all, the common word in both of these thoughts are that a change has to be made, and in both cases, its for the better!

Dez Bryant—change your direction, and take care of the law suits, its not like you don’t have the money to secure this, and for the Cotton Bowl, the change would be great for the North Texas area, and be a nice feather in the hat to take away the stigma that the Super Bowl left behind, despite the fact that most of the problems were weather related.

Its just a thought!