Whether you're at the end of your coffee, your day, your week or even your rope, welcome to Whitt's End
*Wednesday's firing of Rangers' bench coach Jackie Moore alerts us as to who is really in charge in Arlington these days: Jon Daniels. Moore was a long-time Nolan Ryan guy. A baseball lifer. A 70-something whose seen 5,000+ games from the dugout alongside the likes of Whitey Herzog, Billy Martin and Lou Pinella. But the GM apparently wants sitting beside manager Ron Washington someone more like, well, the GM. A younger guy with a statsier approach. Daniels wants science and scouting over guts and guile. Tell that to Joe Torre, who won four titles in the Yankees' dugout with Don Zimmer in his hip pocket. Like Zimmer, Moore still thinks WAR is something to be avoided, not studied. Besides, who is Wash gonna hug from now on after wins? Probably his pack of cigs.
*Been telling you for a month or so that Randy Galloway's radio days were numbered. Now we know the exact number: 3. Galloway, a DFW media icon for 50 years,
will do his regular shift on 103.3 FM ESPN Thursday, Friday and then hang up his microphone after Monday afternoon's 3-6 p.m. show. I'm told sidekick Matt Mosley will get a new partner for the prime-time slot starting next week. Who it be? Stay tuned.
*I got an idea:
Let's NOT tailgate in a Cowboys' jersey before they play Chargers in San Diego.
*Went to the Office Depot on Highway 377 in Watauga yesterday in search of a computer, etc. for our Pizza Buzz office. Me: "So, um, what's the difference between this one and that one?" Associate in red shirt: "Hmm. Let me see ... Well, I don't think anything." Really? Because the price between the computers was $100. In hamburger money that's like $3. A burger for $7 better be a whole different - hopefully better - than the one for $4. Even more frustrating, after 20 minutes figuring out which one was best for us, yep, you guessed it ... neither one was in stock. Bought the display out-of-box at a big discount and am hoping for the best. By the way, Dead & Gone: Desktop computer "towers." Now they're just somehow "built in" to the monitor. Freaky.
*Tell me again that baseball doesn't over-celebrate. The Rays have already enjoyed three champagne parties - clinching tiebreaker, winning tiebreaker, winning Wild Card - before the first pitch of the ALDS.
*The Cowboys are 2-0 at home. Amazingly, they haven't started 3-0 since the days of Aikman, Emmitt, Deion, Texas Stadium and Prince. Yep, 1999. One of the reasons? AT&T Stadium - where the Cowboys are 20-15 - just isn't an intimidating place. I discuss over at
NBC 5's Blue Star Blog.
*
Hot.
*
Not.
(continued from page 1)
*We're still hiring drivers at Pizza Buzz, where we're set to open next week (finally). Contact Justin@PizzaBuzz.com if you're interested in delivering pizza and beer to the fantastic tippers in Fort Worth. We've fired up the oven and chilled down the freezers. Goofing off yesterday we were wondering how long one of us could survive in the 34-degree metal box. In just shorts and a T-shirt. I was guessing I could last overnight, long as I jogged in place and kept my body temp up. But I dunno, my buddy might be right that hypothermia would set in and you'd be done within a couple hours. Just standing in it for 10 minutes was miserable.
*HaHa Clinton-Dix is suspended from Alabama for violation of team rules. The story isn't that he's suspended. Or that he's the No. 1 DB NFL Draft prospect in college football. It's that his name is HaHa. Silly me, I thought my childhood buddy Happy Slauson had the most joyful name ever. Truth.
*Remember when we looked up as kids and were amazed by all the twinkling lights?
Now NASA brains are certain that there are more stars in the sky than there are grains of sand on every beach on Earth. Yep, my mind just officially blew. And to think, some Earthlings think we're somehow the only "chosen ones" given the gift of life. Yeah, right.
*Watched the movie
Disconnect last night and ... thumbs up. Dysfunctional relationships in an online world. It's different. It's thought-provoking. It's realistic. And it's got clever plot twists. I don't like most movies, but this one is worth your time and money.
*Texas sucks, but they'll take care of Iowa State tonight on the road. Horns, 34-23.
(continued from page 2)
*I've tried not to like Ray's manager Joe Maddon and his goofy glasses, but I just can't. He's a great manager, but also a likable, honest guy with the media and
he's true to his hometown, charitable roots. Good on him.
*
You Betcha Week 6: Damn, that was ugly. First time this year I've just been flat-out wrong about a game. Thought I was in good shape with SMU (plus 20 points) leading TCU, 10-7, at halftime last week. But, um, the Frogs pounced on the Mustangs to the tune of 38-7 in the 2nd half and ... loser. This week? I witnessed the Cowboys' paltry, 27th-ranked pass defense this year against Eli Manning and Phillip Rivers. Dallas has already allowed 10 passing touchdowns, most in the league. I cringe at what Peyton Manning will do without a lick of pressure and with Orlando Scandrick trying to shadow Wes Welker. Yikes. I really think the Broncos will top 40 points.
STARTING BANKROLL: $10,000.
CURRENT BANKROLL: $8,975.
SEASON RECORD: 2-3.
LAST WEEK: 0-1.
THIS WEEK: Broncos minus-8 over Cowboys, for $1,000.
*Good pitching beats good hitting, version 4,000,000.0: In two elimination games spanning 18 innings the Rays have allowed just two runs.
*I've known the dork in the freezer pic since high school. These days he's my business partner. And today he turns, gulp, 50. Seems like just yesterday we were spending leisurely summer afternoons swimming and playing wiffle ball in his backyard and crazy, dangerous nights playing "tag" from our cars. All my buddies from the Duncanville High School Class of '82 are turning half-a-hundred. Please accept my condolences.
*Today? Pizza Buzz today and Sybil got her hair did for Fall. So me and my fiancee and her touch of Autumn red are going out somewhere tonight. Don't be a stranger.
