Returning to the Broadcast Booth!

Yes—a return to the booth, to broadcast baseball, Texas Collegiate Baseball… sorta where it all began!

Back in 2004, while broadcasting a high school baseball game at the Ball Park in Arlington, I was asked by someone if I would be interested in interviewing the General Manager of the Highland Park Blue Sox, where I naturally said “sure, why not.”… during the fourth inning of the game, this very young red headed guy comes into the booth, and we put a microphone in front of him, and start talking about this team and this league that no one had ever heard of, but they were going to start playing in June of 2004.

During the interview, I asked him “ where can people hear the game at?” To which he replied… “No where”… that’s when I decided right then and there that we would take on the task of broadcasting their games.

We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into… BUT!!!! WE were able to put it together and make it happen.  And by doing that, other teams fell into place with their own broadcast on the internet, and so we blazed a path for others to follow.

That first season, Texas had the wettest June on record.  I figured if you ever wanted to end a draught, just plan a new league or build a swimming pool in your back yard, and you are going to guarantee the Rain Gods will open up the heavens and make it pour. 21 days of rain! A lot of doubleheaders to make up, but we had fun. The first All Star game in Graham, Texas, with Jim Morrison (the Disney movie “The Rookie” starring Dennis Quaid) threw out the first pitch and we had a chance to interview him. Just a great time.

The Highland Park Blue Sox moved after the 2005 season to Plano, changed their name to the Plano Blue Sox, and that was the last year we did any broadcast for the TCL, but in some ways, it saved my life (that’s a long story, and I will have to tell that in another article when I have a grasp of it)

During the ’05 season we took on not just the Blue Sox, but we also took on the Coppell Copperheads and the Weatherford Wranglers, and we were blowing and going for the TCL. WE made them look and sound like a league that people were paying a attention to.

We then took on the Continental Baseball League in 2007 and in 2008… that was the last time we broadcast baseball.

Then comes an opportunity to work with the Coppell Copperheads again, for the 2011 season, and with some creative scheduling, we are back in the booth to finish out their season and give the listeners, not just the fans of the Copperheads but the other teams that travel into the area, to be heard.

This is more about having parents, family, friends, colleges, scouts and professional teams to hear about these young players, and see the future of the great game of baseball improve.

For those of you not familiar with the TCL, it’s a wooden bat league that is similar with the Cape Cod or Alaskan League, for college athletes to hone their skills with not just the bat but also pitching and fielding, and baseball fundamentals to take back with them to either their school or maybe increase their stock to be drafted in the future.

Our part is small in comparison to what the coaches do with these players, and we are proud to have that small part, but in the grand scheme of things, we also give a link for the players and their families to have the opportunity to showcase their skills and have some fun doing it.

So one more time we are basking in the summer sunshine, and we hope that you will log on to listen to the games, and hear the future of this game we love so much, and call America’s Past Time, and interact with us when you have a chance, because we do enjoy the feedback!

You can find the games listed on our website, http://www.davradioproductions,com/ , and when this season comes to an end, we will start up high school football for our 10^th season with the Richardson ISD, and we hope you will enjoy that as well!

We will thank you in advance, and appreciate you listening.

Just a thought

The Silver Boot Series

I-45—the stretch of road that connects North Texas to South Eastern Texas—or as we like to call it—Houston!

On your way south, you head pass towns like Madisonville, or Huntsville (real big stature of Sam Houston sits on the side of the roadway) there’s also a big prison there too—never understood who would build a car dealership right next door to the fence line of a state prison, but oh well.

Houston Texas, the first Texas city to have a MAJOR League baseball team in it, back in the 1962, the Colt .45’s were the original team, and name, they played outdoors at Colt Stadium at a  diamond that you could have saddled the mosquitoes and ride them for 8 seconds, and win something, but a future seeking man by the name of Judge Roy Hofheinz, teamed up with a man named David Carrier to create an indoor facility that would keep the Houstonians cool and comfortable, and of course so he could watch his team without swatting the flying dive bombers, they changed the name of the team and the name of the stadium and created an entire domain! THE ASTROS—short as you know for Astronaut- There was the Astrodome, Astrodomain which included Astroworld, AstroWorld Hotel, Astro hotdogs, and of course—ASTROTURF! Or as it is more commonly known as—carpet!

As the Astros were going, then comes along that was transferred from the Nation’s Capitol to North Texas and called themselves the Texas Rangers… the Astros, thinking that they were the only team in the Lone Star State, now have company, and it wasn’t until 2001 that the I-45 series began, actually it was Major League Baseball that installed inter-league play, and the Rangers and the Astros have battled it out for 10 years now, with the Astros holding a slight lead in wins, but the fact is, that Silver Boot has made a home for itself in North Texas for some time now.

Give credit to Executive Vice President of Communications of the Texas Rangers, John Blake for coming up with the award for the two teams… I mean he could have called it the Governor’s Boot or Hat or Shovel, or whatever, but the Silver Boot has some class to it…. Be it a little bias when you consider that the Lone Ranger used Silver Bullets in his gun as a calling card. The Silver Boot is close enough!

The series is really as close as this area gets to having an All Texas World Series, since we have seen both teams go to the Fall Classic, in 2005 the Astros beat the dreaded St. Louis Cardinals to win the National League Pennant, only to take on the Chicago White Sox and get swept in 4 games including the 14 inning marathon loss… but none the less the Astros were the first to make it to the World Series in Texas…. It took another 5 years for the Rangers to make it to the Series and be the ONLY Texas Team to win a game in the series—even though they lost to the San Francisco Giants in 5 games—just last October!

So the Silver Boot series for the 2011 season begins tonight—and there will be five more games to go—with two more in Arlington then at the end of the month they take their turn down in the bayou city—at Minute Maid Park….

Rangers lead the series over all 33-27—and for the last six years that boot has seen a lot of North Texas—most of the time fans can to the Texas Rangers office in Uptown off of

McKinney Ave

and

Pearl Street

—(shameless plug for the Rangers)

There are a lot of good things about inter-league play, but there are a lot of draw backs, mainly because it takes away what could be games against your division rivals that could put some distance between teams… the up side though is that fans get a chance to see players from the other league other than All Star Games, and those are far and between—the last time that Arlington held the Mid-Summer Classic was July of 1995… the next time that the Classic will be in North Texas will most likely be when Hell Freezes Over—oh wait it did… the Rangers already went to the World Series! And the Mavericks Won the NBA Championship! So I guess it will be here sooner than I think!

The Rangers and the Astros! Just Fun Baseball!

Just a thought!

NBA CHAMPIONSHIP TO DALLAS/FT WORTH!

It took 31 years-- its took 9 coaches-- a few owners-- countless players, and one magical night in South Florida for the Dallas Mavericks to "CLIMB TO THE NBA MOUNTAIN AND PLANT THEIR FLAG"! (Thank you Chuck Cooperstein for the quote).

The best part of the celebration however was not the realization that Dirk Nowitski was now vindicated as being one of the best players in the league! It was not the fact that the Dallas showed the rest of the league and the world that they were better than the experts thought of being ONE and DONE! as so many had predicted, it was more than seeing how the Mavericks were able to contain the BIG THREE of Miami (So hows that decision working out for you now Miami?), it WAS however, the moment when David Stern, the Commissioner of the NBA stood on the stage at center court-- at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, and proclaimed the NBA Champions Dallas Mavericks and handed the trophy to Mark Cuban who then immediately told the Commissioner to hand it to Donald Carter and his wife-- who were the original owners of this franchise in 1980!

NOW THAT WAS CLASS!

I worked with the Carters when they owned another sports franchise at the time, they were the Dallas Sidekicks, and to tell you, from the start, they were the best people to be around. I knew Mr. Carter back in the day because of his Mother, Mary Collins, who owned an interior design operation in North Dallas, Mrs. Collins was in the same Dale Carnegie class, (for those of you who do not know who Dale Carnegie is, read his book-- it will save your life in the business world)... as my father, so it was easy to be around Mr. and Mrs. Carter when they were at Reunion Arena. All those playoffs games in basketball against the Seattle Super Sonics, the Moody Madness, the Western Conference Finals against the Lakers only to come up short, then the move to American Airlines Center, and another trip to NBA History in 2006, only to come up short in that outing with the Heat, and then five years later the rematch that pretty much everyone wanted, even with the big 3 in the lineup, of James, Bosh, Wade.  We now see how that turned out... the O'Brien Trophy is coming to Dallas and that pretty much sums that up!

Mr. Jones over there in Valley Ranch will boast that they have FIVE Trophies, in their case,  Mr. Hicks will claim to have gotten to the top of the mountain first with their Stanley Cup win in 1999 over the Sabers in Hockey, the Rangers took the American League Pennant just 8 months ago! NOW the Mavericks can add to that number of championships to this community, this Metroplex!  The City of Champions! Now that has a nice RING to it!

Mr. Cuban-- you are a class act, a good owner, and a fair person when it comes to all the aspects of this team. I will congratulate you, and your team from Rich Carlisle, to Donnie Nelson, and the rest of the staff, it was an incredible year, and more so an incredible NBA Finals-- as someone said, it was indeed a Classic! One for the ages!

Just a thought!

ACROSS THE FIELD!

Man does that have a whole NEW meaning now….

That is the title of THE Ohio State Buckeyes Fight Song! And talking about taking the HITS across the field!

With the announcement of the head coach of Ohio State Jim Tressel resignation from that position, because of the situation at the school, that involved some players that sold their uniforms, rings from their bowl game wins, receiving favors from a Tattoo Parlor in Columbus, as well as other violations.

The players involved took a five game suspension, the coach took two games but the school decided to put an additional three games on top of that to equal that of the players penalties.

Now the arguments are being made on both sides if Student Athletes should be paid in some capacity—yes they are given scholarships and that takes care of their education, but I almost have to agree with some of the masses—only because I think that if the College and Universities are going to go out of their way to promote certain players with their jerseys being sold at the concession stands and sports shops not just in the town of the College or University is in, but across the states or country for that matter.

Lets take into consideration that players such as Vince Young, Colt McCoy, and Chase Daniels, Cam Newton, and in the past Ricky Williams and the such, these products being sold because they are the reason why people come to the games. REALLY? YA THINK?

My theory is simple, if you are going to sell it, and the public is buying it, why then is the athlete not getting anything from it. AND WHY PROMOTE ONLY ONE PLAYER!?

This is not the NFL.. this is not the NBA, this is not the NHL, or MLB, this is COLLEGE FOOTBALL- and there has to be a reason why athletes then go out and sell their uniforms and rings so they can get something in return! They know that their presence will bring something to table, and they could get something from it.

So now.. here is how you stop it.. STOP SELLING THE PRODUCT! And stop promoting one player—promote the school the team, but stop selling their Jersey Number!

It has to stop somewhere—I know that this is a business and I know that there are fans and alumni that want to own their favorites numbered jersey and show their support of that player and for their team, but the player gets nothing from it.

At least with the pros they get something out of it, usually its with in their contracts, and with their bonus, that’s how they are compensated.

Long and short of it all is simple, what happened at THE Ohio State University, is most likely going on at other colleges and universities across the country.

What happened in Dallas/Ft Worth with a school on the Hill Top known as SMU, will NEVER happen to another school program again, there will never be a death penalty given to another school, but would this had warranted that sort of penalty? I am not sure, I can’t answer that, only because we will never know… but the facts are, that student athletes are always being courted by someone to go to that school, and play for that coach because of what they can get down the road, whether its “money” or exposure, or perks!

College sports as a whole, has to clean up its act, and I for one would love to see them stop with the promotion of individual players, and promote the school or the team as a whole! I would much rather see a jersey that is blank without a number on it but just the school name, and leave it at that! NUFF SAID!

Just a thought!

2011 Hp Byron Nelson Championship

With a playoff to finish off this years Byron Nelson Championship-- it was fitting that the winner had to sit and wait for a hour and half before he figured out who or what was to come of his three under par for the day-- what happened was Keegan Bradley was going to face Ryan Palmer in a playoff to see who would take home the 1.7 million dollar payday!

Keegan had never won on the Nation Wide Tour, and his one lofty goal was to play Augusta National, and after the long wait and hitting his drive down the right fairway into the trees-- he was able to get out of the woods and landing just a few feet to the left of the green lag a putt just past the flag-- and then sink a 7 footer  for the par to outlast Colleyville's Ryan Palmer on the first playoff hole.  Palmer's drive wound up in the trees as well on the right.. he had a better lie than Keegan, but the fact is.. he pushed his second shot over the green-- hits the knoll and it rolls into the water for a penalty.

The rest they say, is Nelson Lore! As Keegan wins his first PGA tour championship, and with that is picks up his exemption and will play the Masters next spring. Not bad eh? and the paycheck ain't too shabby either.

SO... this Nelson was exciting, it had drama, it had suspense, and it had a target enriched field of the female persuasion. OH YES! PAVILLION Was BOUNCIN!!!!!

There were lots of changes to this years "fun" side of the tournament... meaning that there were different style of the commercial end of things, with the tents and such, but all in all, I think that the experience was grand!

Talking to some of the people that have been covering or coming out to the Nelson for over 30 years, this was the 44th annual event, and of those 44 events, going back to the days when it was played on the Preston Trail Country Club course, it is easy to remember how this tournament took off and how the reputation got there, but the for all the years, and all the memories, and stories, none beats the time when Lord Byron Nelson addressed the media before one particular tournament, and he was telling the story of how he and Ben Hogan played two-- up and comers at the Bing Crosby Clambake, actually the match took place before the tournament because of a off the cuff bet between two millionaires at the time (this took place in 1956.. 10 years after Nelson retired from the game and Hogan was winding down his career after coming back from a horrific car accident)... the two up starts-- Ken Venturi, and Harvie Ward.

The story goes that the two teams were all even until they hit number 13, when Hogan birdied the hole-- and was able to hold on to that one stroke lead through the rest of the course-- coming oh so close to losing it, and seeing these two "rookies" almost making it even-- when it was all said and done with -- the Two Old Timers were able to outlast the youngsters and if it were not for the accounts of Author Mark Frost, no one would ever know the story, nor the history-- or even the significance of this little match play!

The Nelson-- mystique, intrigue, and most of all FUN!

Can't wait to see what happens next year...

Just a thought!

Business as Usual

The Dallas Mavericks are the Western Conference Champions-- did so just a little pass 10:20 on a Wednesday night in Downtown Dallas, beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 100 to 96.

That's pretty much all anyone needs to know about the game... no need to go into detail how the Mavericks came from 8 points down in the 4th quarter, and really never had control of the game until the final 3 minutes. No need to talk about Jason Terry, Dirk Nowitzki, or Tyson Chandler, no need to explain how the Dallas Defense was able to shut down Kevin Durant and Westood in the final moments.

What you DO need to know is what happened during the celebration....

Oh wait! THERE was NO Celebration! Let me explain.

Something was missing from the usual flair, especially if you were at the American Airlines Center in 06 when the last time the Mavericks held the title of Western Conference Champions, the streamers, the confetti, the pumped up music, all of that was then... what was last night?... SUBDUED!

OH there was no Streamers from the rafters, there was no confetti being floated down to the floor, the music was majestic, and the ceremony was very matter of fact, even the on court presentation of the Conference trophy, was just business like.

So what does all this mean... it means that the Mavericks have set their sights on one goal and one goal only-- to WIN THE NBA CHAMPIONSHIP and nothing else matters.

Listen to the players, from JJ Barerra and Jason Terry, to Dirk, they all pretty much said the same things in their after game quotes... it was good to beat the Thunder, but there are FOUR more games to win before they will consider what they have accomplished to mean anything.

EVEN BEATING LA in four strait games, which this franchise has NEVER done before in the post season, but that was just business as usual for them.

So the outcome of the Eastern Conference finals will determine who the Mavericks will meet in the finals, the Bulls who have six trophies in their show case, but lets face it, that was the Jordan era of basketball, the Miami Heat which has ONE, and that was when they beat the Mavericks in 06, but this is not the same team, in fact neither team is the same, the only constant is that both Duwayne Wade and Dirk Nowitzki were both on their respective teams then, but that was 5 years ago, and there are lot of changes for both.

So when they start, the finals that is, it will remind me of something that happened 40 years ago with another Dallas sports franchise that took the exact same approach as this Maverick team.

in 1971, the Dallas Cowboys, had come off a lost to the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl V, and in doing so, Tom Landry and the team decided that the next season they would just go about their business and win the games and establish themselves with the workman's like attitude... wining their playoff games, including a rematch against the San Francisco 49ers at Texas Stadium for the NFC Championship... they didn't light up cigars, or pour champagne on themselves , they just went about the game as if it was another game... until they beat the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VI, then you see photos of Bob Lilly lighting up a cigar, along with John Niland, and the champagne showers on Bob Hayes and Chuck Howley, this was the penultimate of their season....

Well the Dallas Mavericks have a chance to place themselves in the same spot, a similar position, beat the team that they face with business like mechanics, take care of what they need to do, no hype, just play your game, stay with in yourself and watch the final seconds tick away with you in the lead and the fourth game in the bag.

THEN let the confetti fly, and the streamers fall and the champagne flow... because then the Mavericks will have deserved their right to be called CHAMPIONS!

Just a thought

The “Statue” of Limitations!

There is something missing, according to one NBA Legend, outside the Los Angeles Staples Center…. A Statue of Kareem Abdul- Jabbar!

If you read an interview, in The Sporting News, with the six time world champion and the 19 NBA All Star, Jabbar feels slighted that his image has not been immortalized in bigger than life size, outside the center!

There are five statues outside the building, two former Laker players, Ervin “Magic” Johnson, and Jerry West (who by the way, his silhouette is used for the NBA Logo)… the others, Chick Hearn, the voice of the Lakers, Wayne Gretzkey, and Boxer Oscar De La Hoya… how he got a statue I will never figure… however how in the world is Jabbar not there already???? Never mind the Lakers success, how about his time at UCLA where he won THREE National Championships with John Wooden as his coach! (I know it was Westwood not Inglewood!)  Still, the man who holds the all time scoring record and will most likely keep that record for some time, has no monument other than his retired jersey hanging from the rafters of the Staples Center should have something more pronounced.

When you think of “SHOW TIME” the first image is that of Magic, but there were James Worthy, Michael Collins, and others, then there was the big man—the one who developed the Sky Hook, hard to defend and probably deadly from anywhere on the floor from 15 feet in on the basket! Jabbar was the kingpin of those championship teams, and probably deserves his place in the spot light once again, Bigger Than Life!

I was thinking, monuments that are in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, we have a statue of Tom Landry outside Cowboys Stadium (former place was outside Texas Stadium) we have statures of both Tom Vandergriff, and Nolan Ryan at Rangers Ball Park in Arlington, Will Rogers, used to stand near Downtown Dallas (don’t know if its still there), Doak Walker stands outside Ford Stadium on the campus of SMU, we have statues saluting the cattle drives that made their ways through the streets of Fort Worth and Dallas, making their way up the Chisolm and Preston Trails to Kansas City—we have monuments at Fair Park for the heroes of Texas Liberty near the Hall of State… but nothing around the AAC for those who laid the ground work for your Dallas Mavericks or Dallas Stars… do you think we might one day see a statue for Brad Davis, Rolando Blackman, maybe Dirk Nowitski once he retires, or maybe to Mike Modano or Brett Hull for bringing a Stanley Cup to North Texas.

I just bring that up, considering that I know about the Ring of Honor inside Cowboys Stadium, and there are some retired numbers for both the Stars and the Mavericks, hell even the Dallas Desperados, (Clint Dozell) there’s not one for TATU of the Dallas Sidekicks if there is, they took that down when they brought down Reunion Arena… statues, expensive yes, but they are great to have your photo taken next to, you can’t climb into the rafters to have your photo taken next to the Jersey of your favorite player.

The Lakers have stated that Jabbar’s statue is in the works… however there is no timetable as to when that will happen, and that it could be in year or two or even much later, but they will acknowledge his accomplishments and contributions to the Lakers team, and when that happens it will be placed in it’s rightful place!

As for other teams that have placed statues near their arenas or stadiums, the likes of Harman Killabrew at Target Stadium in Minnesota, or Ty Cobb at Tigers Stadium outside of Detroit, or what about all those monuments at Yankee Stadium, now they’re not statutes but they are there.

Rangers Ball Park in Arlington has the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame with plaques inside the Hall, and it might be better than placing statues around the stadium, fans can still have their photos taken with the plaque of their heroes, but an actual statue— might be a bit expensive for every person who was special with the team.

Maybe the Mavericks will one day have a Maverick Hall of Fame and do the same thing at the AAC along with the Stars.. and one day—Jerry Jones has said that the property around the stadium will have a Dallas Cowboys Hall of Honor built and that might have bust or plaques of those players that have had their name enshrined in the Ring of Honor.

In the meantime, the LA Lakers will do what they have to do, and like the city of Boston, they gave a statue to Bill Russell, 40 years after he retired—better late than never!

Just a thought!