Dallas Mavericks Trade For Caron Butler

According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, the Dallas Mavericks have just completed their rumored trade with the Washington Wizards, and the deal will be announced later tonight.

The biggest pieces in the trade are Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood going from the Washington Wizards to the Dallas Mavericks, and Josh Howard and Drew Gooden moving from the Dallas Mavericks to the Washington Wizards.

Full description after the jump. Read more

What’s with all the Kevin Millwood love?

As I rolled through ESPN.com the other day, I saw a link to a video about AL West offseason activity. Of course, being the dutiful Rangers fan I am, I checked it out. It was a 3 Up, 3 Down segment with Buster Olney. Okay, I thought, this should have some positive Rangers vibes in it, right? Wrong.

The three up: Cliff Lee to Seattle, Ben Sheets to Oakland, Chone Figgins to Seattle.

The three down: John Lackey leaving the Angels, Kevin Millwood leaving the Rangers and Russell Branyan leaving Seattle.

My jaw almost hit the desk.

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Keep the Faith

Bill Simmons’ weekly column on Friday delved into the most tortured fan bases. Number one? Some team from the North Side of Chicago.

The Rangers were unable to make an appearance because of a clause he had disqualifying teams who lived in warm-weather cities. Which is probably fair.

But on this humble website, we have no such clause. (I think, although I’d have to check with Matt on that one.)

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Ending With a Thud

Woof.

That sucked.

I was thinking about ending my analysis of the ass-kicking the Dallas Cowboys received right there. And frankly, that probably would have sufficed.

Not a whole lot to say about this game, really. In-depth analysis is far from necessary. But keep reading for a few more thoughts on yet another Cowboys season that ends without a championship.

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An Open Letter to Bud Selig Regarding Tom Hicks

Dear Bud,

You are probably not extremely familiar with the inner workings of the Texas Rangers and the ownership situation that has yet to be sorted out. Then again, maybe you are. Anyway, that’s neither here nor there.

What is here and there and everywhere for me and the other rabid Texas Rangers fans (however many of us there are), at least, is the ongoing sale of the team. Tonight (January 15, 2010) was the deadline for the ownership group led by Chuck Greenberg and Nolan Ryan to have an agreement done to take control of the team. However, that deadline has come and gone. All sources around the team are reporting that the team is still under the control of Tom Hicks.

I am begging you Mr. Selig. Please do not let Tom Hicks maintain control of this team. I have no wish to stand in the way of Tom Hicks’ personal ambitions in any other matters. But on this issue I will not budge. If you truly care about the competitiveness of Major League Baseball and its fans, you will not allow Tom Hicks to remain as owner of the Texas Rangers.

Ten years ago, I don’t believe the fans of the Texas Rangers would have ever considered this a possibility. Our beloved Rangers had just finished capturing their third division title in four years. You remember that, don’t you? How Juan Gonzalez and Will Clark and Roger Pavlik and Ken Hill helped lead a team to the playoffs that had no distinguishable history for 35 years as a franchise? How Pudge Rodriguez became a legendary figure in Texas and will always be cheered?

Tom Hicks injected money into our franchise. Unfortunately he spent that on all the wrong people. Now he is so deep in debt that our team, in the #6 media market in the country, has a payroll hovering around 23rd. To me, that is simply unacceptable. I don’t believe the Rangers will ever have a payroll approaching that of the highest 5, but I think that a $90 million payroll is a reasonable request in this market.

Dallas is a winners town. Always has been. Always will be. Yes the Cowboys are the biggest draw, but a consistently fine product on the field that competes for playoff spots more often than not will be successful in Arlington, Texas. Tom Hicks understands this. He understands that the Texas Rangers are on the precipice of having the best team in franchise history.

Keep in mind, Mr. Selig, that this franchise is about to embark upon its 50th season in the American League. And never has this franchise won a playoff series. Only once has it even won a playoff game.

Tom Hicks knows he is sitting on a cash cow. This is a young, exciting team that will become a contender if it is nurtured properly with an appropriate amount of financial flexibility in order to make transactions that will lead them to the franchise’s first ever playoff series victory and hopefully World Series championship.

But none of that can happen with Hicks in control. If this ownership situation drags through the season, he has a chance to do irreparable damage to the franchise. Irreparable.

I’m sorry to bring up painful memories for you, but does that description sound vaguely familiar to you? The Montreal Expos were the same way back in 2003. You said it was a “conflict of interest” to call up players for the team at the September 1 roster expansion date, despite the team being tied for the Wild Card lead on August 29. No owner could be found, and the team would leave after 2004.

What if Tom Hicks doesn’t sell this team? Will you and MLB take it over? Believe me, I’m not questioning the system. I’m questioning the man that makes the system necessary. It makes me nervous that Hicks wants to keep this team. Honestly. I’m nervous that the longer Hicks holds on to the team, the possibility rises that the Texas Rangers will not be in Texas much longer.

Please help me calm my nerves. I can’t speak for the other Rangers fans out there as to whether they have the same nerves, but I’m sure they join in my refrain:

Don’t Let Tom Hicks Own The Rangers Anymore.

Please.

Sincerely,

Cody Dunlap

How to Survive the Homerdome OR We’ve Got Questions

Guess we can’t really call it that anymore now can we?

For the Dallas Cowboys, a victory on Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings can come in a variety of forms.

Check out how they can pull off a win, why I have so many questions and maybe even a prediction for the contest after the jump. Read more

Party at the Death Star: Dallas Cowboys beat Philadelphia Eagles 34-14

So I was a little bit off on the score. Sue me.

Right now, I’ve got a smile on my face that I’m pretty sure is bigger than the one Miles Austin has when he scores.

That game wasn’t even as close as the 20-point final margin. If it hadn’t been for a ton of penalties and one particularly stupid decision by Mike Jenkins, there might have been 50 points scored by the good guys tonight.

A few more observations on a win 13 years in the making after the jump. Read more

Clear Eyes, Full Heart…

Bob Sturm had a very unnerving statistic in his Friday breakdown today:

Under Andy Reid, the Philadelphia Eagles are 7-0 in first round playoff games.

Not exactly great odds for Jerry’s Wade’s bunch.

I’ve tried to put this post off as long as I could. But for the first week of school, it has gone by remarkably fast. Perhaps the big guy upstairs knows how nervous I am about this game.

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Hey what are the Rangers up to?

I am terrified.

Terrified that if I write anything about the Dallas Cowboys, I’ll jinx them. Do I think they can beat the Eagles? Yes. I believe they can. I also believe the Eagles could easily return the favor of last week’s game. So I will not write anything until that game is over.

But the Texas Rangers – now that is a topic I can wrap my head around. If there’s anything that’s been the beacon of breaking news in the Dallas winter, it’s been the Rangers. I mean, just look at all the news!!!

Just kidding.

But let’s just give a brief update since we last saw our favorite denizens of the AL West:

Marlon Byrd and Pudge Rodriguez signed elsewhere.

Kevin Millwood was traded for Chris Ray and enough cash (barely) for Tom Hicks to pay his water bill.

Rich Harden signed here, then signed with Seattle, then signed here.

Chuck Greenberg and Nolan Ryan are leading the charge to wrestle the team away from Tom Hicks.

They almost traded for Mike Lowell. But it turned out his thumb didn’t really work.

We signed Darren Oliver. No, not dug up. Signed.

And…that’s about it.

The Mariners got Cliff Lee. That’s no good. But not to worry, Rangers fans. Casey Kotchman is now their first baseman. I think our pitchers can handle him.

Somehow, we’ve accumulated a horde of candidates for our starting rotation.

Feldman, Harden, McCarthy, Hunter, Holland, Feliz, Nippert, Harrison, Moscoso and even C.J. Wilson will get chances to make the rotation out of spring training.

The bullpen could go either way. There is a lot of talent, but so far not really the results to back that up. Guys like Pedro Strop and Warner Madrigal are going to be important for this team. Conversely, a bullpen fortified with Francisco, Oliver, Wilson and Feliz is going to be tough to hit. Add in long relievers like Mathis and Nippert, and that bullpen looks like one of the best on paper.

Jon Daniels is on record as saying that the team will break camp with the best 25 players on the team. Clearly there will be competition in spring training, considering there are 19 pitchers on the 40 man roster who have seen major league hitters. Battles for spots in the spring can only be good for the team as a whole.

The offense hasn’t seen a lot of upgrades so far, but Ranger-killer Vlad Guerrero is still available, along with Jermaine Dye. Another month will probably pass before those two guys are signed, but one of them will probably end up in Texas in 2010. What the offense really needs is a bounce-back year from Hamilton and Kinsler (Davis and C improvements would be appreciated as well).

This team has a very good chance to challenge for the AL West title next year, assuming good health (a large assumption, I know, but every team is hoping for health at this point.)

42 days until pitchers and catchers.

The Romo Era: Dallas Cowboys Record in December and January

A lot of research went into this post (that was meant to drop last week), so this one’s pretty lengthy.

THE ROMO ERA – RECORD IN DECEMBER/JANUARY

2006 – Romo takes over for Bledsoe in Week 7 against the Giants, knocking off the undefeated Colts at home in Week 11. Last year of the Tuna.

Dallas Cowboys: 7-4 entering December.

Week 13 – Win @NYG 23-20. The Martin Gramatica game. Cowboys move to 8-4, four-game winning streak. (NYG: 6-6 after loss)

Week 14 – Loss v. NO 42-17. My Tony Romo jersey (throwback version of course) leaves the shelves of the gift shop. Drew Brees throws for like a million yards. 8-5. (NO: 9-4 after win)

Week 15 – Win @ATL 38-28. DeMarcus Ware runs in a fumble for a touchdown. T.O. scores 2. 9-5. (ATL: 7-7)

Week 16 – Loss v. PHI 23-7. Offense does nothing. Philly wins division (basically) in Texas Stadium. 9-6. (PHI: 9-6)

Week 17 – Loss v. DET 39-31. Not the 0-16 version, but pretty damn bad. Kitna comes in and kills the defense. Playoff spot is unchanged. 9-7. (DET: 3-13)

2006 December record: 2-3. Playoffs made, L @ Seattle. (Need I say more?)

2007 – A bit of a tough year to look at the December record for a couple of reasons. One – the Cowboys beat the Packers on Thursday night (Favre knocked out, Rodgers plays well, but ‘Boys win) November 29. So the rest of the league played in December that week. Also, the last week of the season was meaningless. (A Wade excuse, I know, but when Romo plays only a quarter, the Dallas Cowboys probably aren’t going win if Tony Romo doesn’t play the whole game.)

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