Michael Young Wants Trade From Texas Rangers

While America looks on the Yankees spending money left and right on the top two free agent pitchers and one of the top hitting free agents in Mark Texiera, Texas Ranger fans have nothing new to look forward too.

Now the Texas Rangers say their shortstop of the future is Elvis Andrus, moving five time All-Star and former All-Star MVP Michael Young to third base. Young says the Texas Rangers won’t hear his concerns, and made this announcement without consulting him, and now wants to be moved to a team that wants him at short stop.

Jon Daniels believes this will all be worked out and Michael Young will be with the Rangers in 2009… at third base.

While Michael Young is the face of the franchise and unofficial team captain, if Jon Daniels won’t let him state his case and keeps him with the team, will the Texas Ranger’s clubhouse face another Mark Texiera episode?

Also, while other teams are out at least trying to talk to free agents, what have the Rangers been doing? Trading Gerald Laird for two minor league prospects that reportedly won’t even get an invite to spring training.

With less than five weeks until pitchers and catchers report, do the Rangers have time to make an impact before the start of the 2009 season?

A New Kick on an Old DFW Tradition

Question. What was one of the most successful Dallas sports franchises to play in Reunion Arena?

This team was around long before the Stars dropped the “North” and migrated south. And the Maverick’s past drops them out of the conversation. One of the most victorious teams in Dallas history was the Dallas Sidekicks.

While professional soccer has always struggled in the United States, every young soccer player in DFW grew up wanting to be legendary Sidekick forward Tatu, and ceremoniously throw their jersey into the crowd after scoring a goal.

After 20 years of winning soccer, the Sidekicks “suspended operations” in 2004 but have yet, and probably will never, return to the turf, or the hearts, of Dallas.

There is hope however for the long lost Sidekicks fan found now in North Richland Hills known as the Texas Outlaws. While this isn’t big time Reunion Arena ( in it’s prime) soccer, the new NYTEX Sports Center is a good fit for the up and coming sports franchise in North Texas. And for a real late 90′s flashback, the Outlaws showcase indoor soccer veteran Patrick Shamu, made famous with the sidekicks for his unbelievable ball handling skills,and classic back flip after every goal he scored.

The Outlaws are also coached by long time Sidekicks assistant Cesar Cervin.

If this story is too good to be true, it gets a little better. Tonight at 7:15, the Outlaws play long time rival of the Sidekicks the Monterey La Raza, in a rematch of sorts of the 2000 WISL Finals. There are also rumors that the San Diego Shockers, another former rival of the Sidekicks, might join the new effort to keep professional indoor soccer alive, the PASL.

While the Outlaws have traded the Sidekicks famous purple for a more Texas red and blue, fans can now relive old memories in North Richland Hills.

Mike Modano Lone Dallas Star in 2009 All-Star Game

38-year-old Mike Modano will be the only representative of the Dallas Stars on the Western Conference All-Star team this year.

Mike Modano has 26 points in 38 games, divided evenly at 13 between goals and assists. He is tied for second in goals with James Neal and is fourth on the team in points behind Brad Richards, Mike Ribiero, and goals leader Loui Eriksson.

Modano has played a critical role for the Dallas Stars as a veteran with the absence of captain and leader Brenden Morrow to a near season ending knee surgery. Mike Modano took the helm as the teams leader during the Sean Avery saga, and has played with a passion that has not been seen since his younger days. His play in the first half of this season, along with Eriksson, has brought the Dallas Stars out of the Western Conference cellar and put them back in the playoff hunt.

The Western starters for the 2009 All-Star game are Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks, Blackhawks Captain Jonathan Toews, Ryan Getzlaf of the Anaheim Ducks, Brian Campbell of the Blackhawks, and Scott Niedermayer of the Ducks. The starting goalie for the West is the Ducks J. S. Giguere, despite missing around a month of the season for family reasons.

The starters for the Eastern Conference are Sydney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Alexei Kovalev, Andrei Markov, and Mike Komisarek of the Montreal Canadians. The starting goalie for the East is the Habs Carey Price.

Syndey Crosby lead the league in All-Star votes with 1,713,02.

The 2009 NHL All-Star game will be on Jan. 26 at 7 p.m.

TCU Offensive Coordinator Mike Schultz to go to Illinois

As reported by The Champaign News-Gazette, TCU’s Offensive Coordinator Mike Schultz will become the offensive coordinator at the University of Illinois.

The article posted on illinihq.com said Illinois will announce Schultz’s hire at the beginning of next week. Shultz take the place of former Illini OC, Mike Locksley who will become the new head coach at New Mexico.

Schultz is the longest tenured assistant coach on the TCU staff, coaching the quarterbacks and running backs for 11 years.

In 2008 TCU set school records for points in a season with 420 and touchdowns with 54. The Frog’s were the best in the land in time of possession with 35:05 and 13th in team rushing.

TCU has thrived on a rush heavy offense, using as many as 4 running backs to carry the load of a game. However, in 2008, with developments in WR’s Jeremy Kerley and Jimmy Young and QB Andy Dalton, TCU opened up their offense more.

Message Board posters on killerfrogs.com are calling for Rice OC Tom Herman to spread the offence more and use Dalton, Kerley and Young as much as possible. This might contradict the defense first and time of possession offense TCU has grown accustomed to in the past years under head coach Gary Patterson.

Who should be TCU’s next Offensive Coordinator? Make a comment.

Jan 1 and 2 turn out great for the Horned Frogs

Some key losses in the first two days of 2009 have the potential to launch TCU deeper into the top ten.

Friday, Jan 2, number 7 Texas Tech was beat convincingly by number 25 Ole Miss in the 73rd  Cotton Bowl Classic in Dallas. Also, more importantly, Mountain West Conference rival Utah beat number 4 Alabama in the Sugar bowl, completing their 13-0 season.  On the first day of 2009, number 8 Penn State lost to USC in the Rose Bowl.

TCU beat number 9 Boise State in the 2008 San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, ending the Bronco’s undefeated season. TCU went into the game ranked number 11 in the BCS.

What is to follow is a long shot, but it’s the Horned Frog’s best possible scenario. Solely based on their Bowl win, TCU should move to number nine, because of the head to head win against Boise State and the Horned Frogs strength of schedule.  Then came the Horned Frog’s late Christmas presents.

With Tech’s loss to number 25 Ole Miss they should fall out of the top ten from number 7.  Also, nub er 8 Penn State should at best stay at 8 with their loss to USC.  This opens two spots for the Horned Frogs to slide comfortably into 7.  Now TCU could move a few more if their cards can fall just right.

To guarantee their claim to the number 7 position, Texas would need to beat Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl Monday night.  This will knock Ohio State out of the top ten as well giving them their third loss.

Next, number 1 Oklahoma needs to beat number 2 Florida, by a large difference preferably.  This win will make things interesting.

Utah will take number 4 by beating Alabama and giving them their second loss of the season.  With OU and UT wins, Texas will move into second.  Depending on the score of the BCS Championship, Florida will finish  third that is unless the Utes have taken the hearts of the pollsters and take third bumping the Gators to fourth. USC will stay at five, despite their great finish against Penn, because of a terrible PAC-10 in 2008.

Now what to do with Alabama?  TCU has a case to take the six spot from the Crimson Tide.

Both the Horned Frogs and the Tide will finish with 11-2 records.  ‘Bama’s losses came from now number two Florida and the Utes.  TCU’s losses came from now number one OU and a last minute heart breaker against the Utes, that should have been won, if it weren’t for two missed field goal attempts.  Bama’s was never really in it’s loss to Utah, and lost by 14.

If OU beats Florida, especially if it’s convincingly, TCU should take the 6 spot over the Crimson Tide because of the way each teams losses match up.  TCU should have finished on top of Utah and held OU to it’s lowest score of the season.  ‘Bama should finish at a respectable 7.  In case this is hard to follow i will list my top ten at the bottom.

One interesting note, on the FOX Sugar Bowl post game show, Barry Switzer said Utah should finish second behind OU for going 13-0 with a good strength of schedule.

My Final Top Ten ( with projected OU and UT wins):

1. Oklahoma

2. Texas

3. Florida ( or Utah)

4. Utah ( or Florida)

5. USC

6. TCU

7. Alabama

8. Penn State

9. Boise State

10. Georgia

No. 25 Ole Miss Beats No. 7 Texas Tech in 73rd Cotton Bowl Classic

In what was considered a shock by some, No. 25 Ole Miss beat No. 7 Texas Tech in today’s Cotton Bowl Classic in Dallas, 47-34. Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree, both Heisman Trophy candidates this season, had games they would probably rather forget.

Crabtree caught 4 passes for a season low 30 yards with one short yardage touchdown grab. While Harrell had a statistical record breaking day, going 36 of 58 for 364 yards and 4 TD’s (his 364 yards broke the Cotton Bowl record for yards in the 73 years of the Dallas Classic), he was unable to match the number he had been putting up all season, and made some costly errors that put Ole Miss in position to win the Cotton Bowl.

Harrell threw two costly picks, one in the third quarter which was returned 65 yards for a touchdown by the Rebel’s Marshay Green. The second came from miscommunication between Harrell and Crabtree, and an untimely slip from the Red Raider star receiver.

Despite beautiful weather, and what seemed to be excellent field conditions, players slipped and fell all over the field the entire game, creating big play opportunities for both teams.

Texas Tech gained a quick first quarter lead with two scores off a touchdown and pick-six. Ole Miss countered every Texas Tech score and capitalized on one more Texas Tech turnover to change the momentum and eventually take the game.

With slightly over one minute left in the game Texas Tech scored to bring the game within 12 and elected to go for two to bring the game to ten. Before the snap, the Texas Tech O-Line was called for a false start, igniting Tech lineman Brandon Carter, who ran to the referee, helmet off, and began screaming in his face. Despite this outburst, only the false start was called. On the next play, Harrell was sacked, and both Carter and Stephen Hamby were charged with personal fouls, to which they ripped off their helmets and walked to the sideline in disgust. In spite of the classless and unsportsmanlike behavior, neither player was ejected.

The two personal foul penalties forced Texas Tech to try an onside attempt from their own seven yard line, which was recovered by Ole Miss to end the game.

Most of the Texas Tech players retreated directly to the locker room with out shaking hands with the Rebels or staying for their own schools Alma Mater.

On the other side, the Ole Miss band and fans played and chanted “We just beat the hell out of you” throughout the playing of the Texas Tech “Song of the Matador.”

This was the last Cotton Bowl to be played in the Cotton Bowl Stadium in Fair Park. Next year the Cotton Bowl will be played in the new Dallas Cowboy’s Stadium in Arlington, leaving behind an iconic stadium that has housed a tradition for 73 years.

It seems that the theme for the last Cotton Bowl was saying goodbye, as Dallas says goodbye to the Cotton Bowl, Texas Tech says goodbye to the top ten, and both sides said goodbye to sportsmanship.

No. 11 TCU beats No. 9 Boise St. in 2008 Poinsettia Bowl

The TCU Horned Frogs should finish the year inside the top 10 after beating the Boise State Broncos 17-16 Tuesday.

TCU came back from being down 13-0 in the second quarter to win it by one in the last 4 minutes of the game.

Boise St. started the scoring on a 20-yard touchdown run by star running back Ian Johnson of Fiesta Bowl fame. This play gave Johnson the career record for touchdowns in the WAC, passing Marshall Faulk and bumping former Horned Frog LaDanian Tomlinson to third.

After an Andy Dalton Interception, the TCU defense held the Broncos to a fieldgoal making it 13-0 in the first quarter.

TCU drove down the field at the end of the second and scored on a 16 yard touchdown on an Aaron Brown run, cutting and weaving through the Bronco defense. TCU went into the locker room cutting the score to 13-7 and gaining momentum into halftime.

TCU more than doubled BSU’s offensive production, yet trailed in the score until Joseph Turner powered through the Boise St. secondary and scored on a 17-yard touchdown run.

Boise St. had two opportunities to try and win it within the last two minutes, both being cast aside by TCU interceptions, one coming from the bowl defensive MVP Stephen Hodge. The Broncos also had one opportunity to take the lead on a field goal, but missed wide left.

TCU finished with a total of 475 yards of offence, 278 coming by way of ground and 197 through the air. The Horned Frogs held the high powered Bronco offense to only 255 yards of offence, only 29 on the groud. The nations sack leader Jerry Hughes had one key sack in the second half. Andy Dalton, the games offensive MVP, went 22-35 with one INT.

The game was ended when defensive end Matt Panfil intercepted a pitch attempt after a completed pass with no time left on the clock. Sportscenter closed the highlight piece saying, “Boise State tries and pull another last minute upset and TCU’s Matt Panfil says ‘No, I am NOT Oklahoma.’”

The Horned Frogs only ran the “Wild Frog” offense twice, once trying to throw a deep fade towards the endzone which ended in an interception charged to Jeremy Kerly.

TCU finishes the season 11-2 with losses to no. 1 Oklahoma and no 7 Utah. While TCU sat no 11 before the game, with a few key losses by a large number TCU has the potential to finish as high as no 7 in the nation. Worst case scenario, the Horned Frogs finish 9, the spot occupied by the Bronco’s before the game.

Is Marty Turco to Blame for Star’s Slump?

Message boards all across the web are calling for Star’s goalie Marty Turco’s head in retribution for the Star’s Western Conference cellar performance.  When watching a Star’s debacle, it is easy to blame the net minder for one or two goals that might seem like routine saves to the hockey fan’s eye.  But if that is the case, shouldn’t the Stars be racking up more points seeing as they’ve been losing games scoring more than three goals?

Here is a statistical argument stating the defense is to blame for the Star’s woes

“The Great One” Wayne Gretzky said 100 percent of the shots you don’t take don’t go in.  The meaning behind this for offensive players is put the puck on net and good things will happen.  Gretzky seems to be an authority on lighting the lamp, so take this moral to be true.

So looking at this statement as a goalie, the more shots that make it to your kitchen, the better chance one has of getting past you.

So far this season Turco has faced 784 shots in 29 games played.  This averages down to a few hundredths over 27 shots per game.

If this trend stays constant throughout the rest of the season, and just making the assumption Turco will sit three more games the rest of the season, as he has up to this point, Turco would face 2,052 shots in 76 games.

In his career, Turco has never seen more than 1,648 shots in one season.  He faced that many in the 2003-04 season playing in 73 games.  So this season stays consistent Turco will face a little over 400 more shots than he has ever faced in a single season.  400 more shots directly equals more chances for bounces to go against the Stars.

One problem with these numbers however lies in Turco’s games played.  The most games Turco has ever played in a single season is the 73 he competed in 03-04.  The 2,052 shots compared to this is based on 76 games, which would set a new career record for Turks.

So far Turco has been scratched from the starting lineup only three times, whichis new ground for Turco.  At this rate he would play more games than he ever has in a single season.  But the next highest shot total in a season came in 05-06 with 1,624 in 68 games.

Turco averages in the 60 game range throughout his career.  So if Turco gets a few more off nights throughout the rest of the season and plays 68 games as he did in 05-06 he would finish with 1,836 shots fired on him.  This is still around two hundred more shots than he has ever faced.

Using good diductive reasoning, what is the cause of an increase of shots on goal?  The answer is bad defense.

Weather it be odd man rushes or not filling shooting lanes, the Stars D-men are letting their goalie down.  But truly why stop with the d-men when defense is played with five players.  This problem could also be from forwards not backchecking and relieving some pressure put on the defense.  However a more careful viewing of game tape would prove the lack of experience among the Stars blue line is allowing for more shots, allowing for more goals.

A slump is usually never one person’s fault, whether that be Sean Avery or Marty Turco.  Everyone has a part in a loss and everyone has a part in pulling the season back together.  While Turco can practice more to be sharper and take away that one to two goals that really are his fault, he can’t practice for himself and someone else.  The defence needs to step up, learn how to talk to each other, communicate effectively, and take away shot chances, especially in high scoring areas.  To be completely cliche, Defence wins championships…or makes playoffs.

TCU and NFL Legend Sammy Baugh dies at age 94

In an era when football teams rushed the ball nearly every down, “Slingin” Sammy Baugh revolutionised the position of quarterback and the way offenses were run. This Renaissance man of football died Wednesday in Rotan, Tx at the age of 94.

Baugh is known as one of the greatest collegiate quarterbacks, throwing 587 passes for 39 touchdowns in his career at TCU. He was a two time All-American and lead the Horned Frogs the first of their two National Championships in 1935. Baugh played with the Horned Frogs in the inaugural Cotton Bowl and was the first Cotton Bowl MVP. In 1936, Baugh finished fourth in Heisman voting.

Baugh also played third base for the TCU Baseball Team, where he was given his nickname “Slingin’” Sammy.

Baugh played in the NFL for 15 years with the Washington Redskins and now has his number 33 retired and is included in the teams Ring of Fame.

On the TCU campus, the school’s flag was flown at half mast Thursday to honor the late Baugh. Baugh’s death sparked a new wave of school spirit across the campus in this down time between the college football regular season and number 11 TCU’s upcoming post-season match, the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, against the number 9 Boise State Broncos.