The Top Ten: Best “Real Men of Genius” Ads

In my estimation, there has never been a greater series of advertisements on TV or radio than the “Real Men of Genius” ads by Bud Light. The best part? They’re still going! Every so often on the radio I’ll hear that drum introduction and think, YES! A guaranteed laugh! So I thought I would give back to you, the reading public, and share with you my favorite “Real Men of Genius” ads in another installment of our Top Ten series. Read more

The Top Ten: Best Sports Movies

After such a lively discussion of the best sports video games, I think it might be time to move to a different discussion – and a different screen.

Today we examine the big screen and some of its most enjoyable representations of sports.

There are many factors that contribute to what makes the best sports movie – a good underdog story, hilarious characters, accidental comedy – all contributed to where these movies rank on this list. Read more

The Top Ten: Best Sports Video Games

With the release of Madden ‘10 looming on the horizon and NCAA Football ‘10 still fresh on the shelves, it seemed like the perfect time to break out a list. What list? The ten best sports video games ever conceived by mankind.

There are no fancy ranking systems or formulas to determine which of these is the best sports video game; purely my own personal experience and bias. If you don’t like my choices, post your own in the comments. Before we get to the list, though, we’ve got a few games that didn’t quite make the cut for best sports video game. And just as a point: racing games were not included for consideration. Read more

Top Ten Dallas Sports Moments (Part II)

Yesterday we looked at moments #6-10 in the history of Dallas sports – today, we complete the list.

5. Moody Madness – April 26, 1984

It could be argued this game should be even higher on this list. Within their fourth season, the Mavericks had already made the playoffs through shrewd trades and good drafting. This team had a strong foundation built with players such as Rolando Blackman and Mark Aguirre along with Jay Vincent and Brad Davis.

This game in particular was the deciding fifth game of the first round series, held at SMU’s Moody Coliseum because of a tennis tournament being held at Reunion Arena. The Mavs had earned the fourth seed with a 43-39 record, giving them home-court advantage over the Seattle SuperSonics.

9,007 were packed into Moody Coliseum to see if the Mavs could get to the second round against the powerful LA Lakers. Seattle was up seven at the two minute mark and up six with 48 seconds to go, but the Mavs forced turnovers down the stretch and forced overtime.

While the Mavs jumped out to a lead in the extra frame, Seattle made a late push, but the Mavs held on for a thrilling 105-104 victory and moved on to the second round. While the team promptly fell to the Lakers, the Mavs announced their presence in the Dallas sports scene with this, one of their most memorable wins.

4. Cowboys trade Herschel Walker – October 12, 1989

The Trade, as it’s called, has been talked about more than enough in these parts, so I’ll just give a few quick facts:

• Largest trade in NFL history: involved 18 players and draft picks.
• The Cowboys received eight picks and five players while giving up Walker and four draft picks
• Emmitt Smith, Darren Woodson and Russell Maryland all became Cowboys because of this trade.

This trade was made during a 1-15 season in 1989, the worst 16-game record in franchise history. (Dallas went 0-11-1 in 1960, its expansion year.) At the time, the trade was highly frowned upon, but shrewd drafting by the Cowboys’ staff propelled them to three Super Bowl titles in four years and into another stratosphere in terms of franchise value.

3. Dirk over Manu – May 22, 2006

Sometimes it’s hard to see which moments are the most important in a season until long after they happen. Sometimes you know exactly when something big happens. This was one of those times. The Mavs had a 3-1 lead on the defending champion Spurs, but had let it slip away to a Game 7 in San Antonio. The Mavs came out firing in the first half, building up a 14-point lead at halftime, only to see it slip away on a Manu Ginobili 3-pointer with 33 seconds left.

But on the next possession, Dirk put the Mavs on his back and drove to the hole – drawing a foul on Manu Ginobili in the process – which ended up forcing overtime. The Mavs held down Tim Duncan in OT and headed on to the Western Conference Finals. Everyone remembers how close the Mavs were to the Larry O’Brien trophy, but this play by Dirk should never be overlooked.

2. Game Six – June 19, 1999

We’re moving into rarefied air here. Anyone who doesn’t remember the magical run of the 1999 Dallas Stars needs a serious history lesson. Current GM Joe Nieuwendyk helped lead a loaded Dallas squad – winners of the President’s Trophy for best record in the regular season – into the franchise’s first Stanley Cup Finals appearance in the Lone Star State.

Their opponents? A Cinderella Buffalo Sabres team, who came into the NHL Playoffs seeded seventh in the Eastern Conference. Buffalo struck first with a Game 1 win, but the Stars found themselves up three games to two in Game 6 in Buffalo. The game became a 1-1 duel between netminders Eddie “The Eagle” Belfour, and Dominik “The Dominator” Hasek. The contest remained tied at 1 through two overtime periods before Brett Hull finally got one past Hasek. While his skate was in the crease, Hull’s goal was not waived off, and the Stars celebrated their first – and only – Stanley Cup championship.

1. XXVII – January 31, 1993

After two straight Super Bowl losses, it seemed as if the Buffalo Bills were due to finally win one after making it back to the Big Game for the third straight year. The Dallas Cowboys were just three years removed from being the worst team in the league – they couldn’t possibly rise that quickly to the top, could they?

Absolutely. While the Cowboys have won four other Super Bowls, I don’t believe that there was quite a moment like this one where a Dallas team was truly on top of the world. This game sparked a dynasty, and is one of the greatest teams in NFL history, by any standards. Although we’ll stick with the biased Dallas opinion. If only Leon Lett would have made it over the goal line with that ball, that scoring record would belong to the Cowboys…

So there you have it. The top 10 Dallas sports moments. Hopefully there will be a couple more recent ones that will crack the list soon; a championship can’t come soon enough.

Credits -

Mavs logo: vectorlogo.blogspot.com/2008_11_01_archive.html
Joe Nieuwendyk: http://www.thehockeynews.com/imgs/dynamique/photos/original/h053119A.jpg

Top Ten Dallas Sports Moments (Part 1)

The last ten years have been Sahara Desert-barren for us Dallas fans searching for a championship. We haven’t seen anything close to the dry spell of such cities as Cleveland, Seattle or Buffalo, but ever since the Stars hoisted the Cup in 1999, we’ve seen our share of gut-punch level defeats.

So let’s try and focus on some positives on a relatively mild summer day. Namely, what have the 10 best moments been in the sports history of our fair city?

Read more