Including Deuce McAllister and Will Smith of the Saints, no word yet on whether any Cowboys tested positive.  This should quiet the die-hard football fans who've been screaming that steroids was only a problem in baseball.

To fill in the 75 word limit, anyone want to place odds on how long before Goodell is called to testify in front of Congress? 

I still need two more words...Screw Flanders!

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3661845

First off, apologies for being late, also my father-in-law changed his mind about bringing his camera since we were vulnerable to line drives and he didn't want to risk a $1200 camera.  Can't blame him but all I had was an old camera that only has 3x so most shots were from far away (Even though I was sitting at the second row next to the Roughriders dugout).

To the game, Diamond was once again inconsistent, when he missed he missed badly.  For a while I thought Ebby Laloosh was on the mound, balls were clearly high, he had one pitch that hopped to the plate, several players had to move to avoid inside pitches and Diamond hit one batter on a 3-2 count.  He gave up 3 runs although one wasn't his fault as the third baseman was not in position to field a throw from the outfield.  The good part was when Diamond wasn't wild he was very effective, most of his fastballs sat at 90-91 but I did see one at 94, his changeup did garner a lot of whiffs and surprisingly he didn't hesitate to use it as a strikeout pitch.  He rarely threw his curve.

He settled down in the second but if he gave up a hit he became unraveled.  I lost count of how many pitches he had thrown but save for the second he threw far too many and it could have been worse had the infield not made some nice plays.

Other thoughts:

Props to Andrus for stopping to sign autographs before the game, at least 10-15 kids lined up and he took care of them all.  Diamond just walked by and ignored everyone.

Andrus was brought in as a pitch-runner in the ninth and immediately he got inside the pitcher's head (#50), he caused a wild pitch-out (Pitcher threw it in the dirt and the first baseman couldn't field it) then stole third.  They had one out and the pitcher was definitely struggling, unfortunately we popped-up and the sacrifice fly we needed came when we had 2 outs...actually Frisco had runners in scoring position in the 9th, 10th and 11th and couldn't score (Reminded me too much of the Rangers early season)

Max Ramirez looks and acts like a beast.  Hope he develops.  But too many Roughrider players were free-swingers, they definitely need to work on handling pitches.

Frostad likes screwing with kids, at the end of the inning kids would line up and hope a player tosses the ball their way, Frostad waits until the end then tossed it half-way up the section making the kids sprint for it.  Dude did it twice, you would think the kids would have learned the first time.

Gonzalez pitched well and shouldn't have had a run counted against him, it was a weak line drive that the second baseman misplayed and ran past (Which allowed the runner on second to run home).  Not sure why that wasn't counted as an error

For Midland:

#20, CF better hope A's officials weren't watching the first inning because he let a fly ball drop in front of him.  My first thought was that a major leaguer would have made a run for it.

The pitchers must subscribe to the "Everyone plays" rules because no pitcher lasted more than 2 innings (Box score had 7 pitchers in the game).  I can't see how their bullpen can handle a season being taxed as much as they were.  Everytime I looked they had guys warming up.

If #19 is really 5-10 as listed then I'm 7 feet tall.  He looked like your little brother that drags along behind you screaming "Wait up!" up but man he could hit.  He only landed one hit but every at-bat resulted in a shot to deep outfield and he was a vacuum at SS.  #18 was the one with the stats but #19 looked better.

#30 had one pitch that hit 85, every other pitch was 79 or slower yet he had batters missing badly, especially on key pitches.

And finally, we stayed until the top of the 12th then left, Frisco won the game in the 12th...figures!

Will post what few pictures I had in just a bit.

Sorry if this is in the wrong section but I'll be going to the game Sunday with my father-in-law, anyone know who will be on the mound for us?  Also I'm not familiar with the A's system so is there anyone on their team I should be keeping an eye on?

Thanks, and FIL will be taking along a camera w/zoom lens  so I'll post any pics taken.

KTVT Channel 11 did a bit on the Boys and a snipet of their room revealed the following images:

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/2693/draftboard1he9.jpg

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/6846/draftboardky0.jpg

So here's pretty much where they rank the DBs

#1 DRC
#2 Mckelvin
#3 Phillips
#4 M.Jenkins
#5 talib
#6 barret or johson its either ARZ St. or Ark ST. tough to see
#7 tracey porter

No big surprises there but you would think with the draft coming up they would be more protective of their hand.

According to CNN OJ was arrested for conspiracy to commit armed robbery, armed robbery and armed robbery with a deadly weapon.  Per TMZ cops not only found the weapons used but that the other suspect may be ready to turn and testify on Simpson.

Time to lawyer up Simpson, round two is about to begin

Assuming Sammy grabs a seat, Salty plays at first and Gabbard is inserted into the rotation.  If we're lucky he'll have the same kind of production that Cruz is giving us.

So far this is turning out to be a great week!

300 character filler...CJ can make money on the side buying smokes for Beltre, Hilary Duff sucks

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2007/06/our_new_fave_rangers_blog.php

Just want to warn you in case we get an avalanche of non-Ranger fans who wonder why we're so willing to get sucked into having our summers ruined on a yearly basis.  

Welcome aboard Robert, be sure to stick around for the fireworks should John Hart get a brilliant idea on who we should pick in the early rounds, history has taught us 1) He'll screw it up and 2) We'll call him everything but a human being

http://football.guardian.co.uk/championsleague200607/story/0,,2085147,00.html

Interesting quote from our lovable owner, which I'm sure our friends across the pond will embrace:

"Hopefully the club will have extra cash flow so they can pay us a dividend to do that," Hicks said when asked how the cost of the loan would be met. "If they don't, then it will come from our pockets. But the club will have to have profits sufficient to pay those dividends."

"When I was in the leverage buy-out business we bought Weetabix and we leveraged it up to make our return. You could say that anyone who was eating Weetabix was paying for our purchase of Weetabix. It was just business. It is the same for Liverpool; revenues come in from whatever source and go out to whatever source and, if there is money left over, it is profit"

Translation - Financial Flexibility is on the way!

http://www.garrettlakers.com/kitna_breakdown.mp3

This is a clip played from Galloway's show this afternoon, in a nutshell Kitna trashes our pass rush, says Newman is no Trufant, Ware is our only pass rusher (That part I agree with) and Bradie James is clueless.

Kitna noted that we play them next year, if we're lucky he'll be the starting QB next year.

Wow, man...wow!  Rangers hired a PI to dig up dirt and embarrass the Buenos.

Dallas Observer:
http://www.dallasobserver.com/blogs/?p=1698#more-1698

East Bay Express (Oakland) has the original article:
http://eastbayexpress.com/Issues/2006-11-08/news/bottomfeeder.html                            

Apparently following the wife,

http://www.dallasblog.com/dallas-blogs/2006/9/15/dmns-maples-named-st-louis-managing-editor.html#com ments

Pam Maples, 48, has been named managing editor for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. She was assistant managing editor for projects and investigations at the Dallas Morning News since 2000. Before that, she served as national editor and deputy national editor. Her husband, DMN sports columnist Gerry Fraley, will do freelance work from St. Louis. Both took buyouts from the DMN.

Just a heads up, Science Channel (Direct TV Channel 284) will be having a show on the stats of baseall and how it's changing the game (Moneyball?).  I tried finding a link for it but couldn't find one (It'll be on July 10th at 9pm).

They also have another show upcoming about Seattle's Safeco Field (July 24th 10am), link: http://science.discovery.com/tvlistings/episode.jsp?episode=0&cpi=84554&gid=0&channel=SC I

Under the free section, really interesting on what he had to say about the minor leagues and how he handled negotiations when first drafted by the Red Sox.

Other comments though, make you wonder if Boras was the one saying them...ugh

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/draft/features/261292.html

From the Dallas Observer Blog

http://www.dallasobserver.com/blogs/

If pedigree is any indication, the Frisco RoughRiders baseball franchise is headed in the right direction. The Texas Rangers Double-A affiliate has promoted Scott Sonju to the prestigious role of president/general manager. If that name rings a wind chime in your vast noggin, it should. Scott's dad is Norm Sonju, one of the founding fathers of the Dallas Mavericks.

Under Norm's guidance, the Mavs rapidly grew from an expansion outfit to a team that advanced to the NBA's Western Conference Finals and became what commish David Stern labeled the "model franchise." Norm and his Christian virtues would be appalled by the blaring rap music and stripper cheerleaders at American Airlines Center these days, but nonetheless he remains a Mavs fan. As for Scott, he'll take over for outgoing Riders prez Mike McCall after this season. He graduated from the renowned Kellogg School of Management, worked in the Mavs front office and helped run the New York Christian camp established in part by dad. In other words, yeah, you could do far worse than hitchin' your wagon to him. -Richie Whitt

Now she wants him back

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2396659

Stupid 300 character limit, Rangers will go 161-1 if only Tom Hicks will open his wallet, ESPN loves them some Boston, Hart loves to golf, Beane loves him an owner who doesn't use green stamps to fund a team payroll, Sharky loves him some left-wing MTV, the Hillary Duff thing is just a smoke screen :)

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/features/26854.html

16. Texas Rangers
Trio of Double-A pitchers, improved depth give new GM Jon Daniels pieces to deal.

2005 rank: 16
2004 rank: 16
2003 rank: 19
2002 rank: 8
2001 rank: 13

stupid 300 character limit!  Hmmm, Dickey sucks, Hart sucks, Nevin sucks, Gold Club sucks!

Not much info but some great catch lines:

http://www.dallasobserver.com/Issues/2006-03-30/news/whitt_full.html

"Pimps be damned, it's harder out here for a Rangers fan."

"Still, it is spring. Flowers are blooming, insects are buzzing and Rangers fans are as gullible as ever." (Sadly this is true)

I'll have to check to see if the numbers are correct but from what I've seen, 3 years $25 million with a signing bonus of $5 million.  His salary breakdown is $5 million this year, $8 million next year ($3 million bonus as of March 2007, $5 million salary) and $7 million in 08 ($3 million bonus as of March 2008 and $4 million salary).  Not a bad deal for both sides...assuming T.O. doesn't go nuts again.

BTW - Props to the Lubbock station for breaking this a few days early.  

Considering the source (Lubbock CBS station), take it with a grain of salt as it might/might not be true (And if so, how cruel that a station in W. Texas beats the local media to the punch)...

http://www.klbk13.tv/sports/default.asp?mode=shownews&id=1461

Sources within the Dallas Cowboys have told the KLBK-13 Sports Department that the Cowboys have signed wide receiver Terrell Owens.

Terms of his contract have not been disclosed.

The Cowboys plan to announce the signing of Owens officially in a press conference on Monday.

Owens was ran out of Philadelphia after bad-mouthing the Eagles organization and quarterback Donovan McNabb last season. Owens is also remembered for taunting the Dallas Cowboys and its fans on the "Texas Stadium Star" while he was a member of the San Francisco 49ers a few years ago.

Owens enters his 11th season in the NFL, and will play on his third
team in four years.

http://www.thebrushback.com/alpreview.htm

Rangers:

Strength:
Kevin Millwood. After the Red Sox offered Millwood a one-year contract for around $83, the savvy Rangers swooped and offered him four years at $48 million, with an option for a 5th year. That option will be picked up only if Kevin Millwood is the GM.

Weakness:
They have a shortstop named Michael Young who supposedly had 221 hits last year, but that's sounds a bit suspect to me. Wouldn't he be really famous if he had that many hits? Something tells me this is a little PR-gimmick cooked up by the Rangers marketing people. Talk about desperate. Look for Young (if he even exists) to put up mediocre numbers until a minor league prospect is ready to take his place.

Question Mark:
The corners of the infield will be patrolled by the ** awesome Mark Teixeira and the sort-of-awesome Hank Blalock, who must rebound this year or he'll see a sharp decline in the quality of ** he's getting.

Outlook:
Chan Ho Park and his 6ish ERA have been shipped to San Diego, but that's only 19 hours away. If I were a Rangers fan I still wouldn't feel completely safe.

Some other funny ones:

Oakland A's
Strength:
The A's made some key offseason acquisitions this year. They picked up Estaban Loaiza, who is a Cy Young caliber pitcher as long as the year is 2003, and Milton Bradley, who should bring a level of intensity to the team and help weed out any racists they may have in the clubhouse.

Cleveland Indians
Question Mark:
The starting rotation is somewhat of a question mark this year after the departure of Mr. Loyalty, Kevin Millwood, and somebody named Scott Elarton who cashed in by signing a free agent deal with the Kansas City Royals. When a player signs a free agent deal with the Royals, he might as well drop all the pretense and publicly declare that he's only in it for the money.

Boston Red Sox
Outlook:
Manager Terry Francona has a lot of new faces on his team this year and he also has to deal with some old faces, like Manny Ramirez, who openly disdains the Red Sox, their management, and the media, which is probably why he has the respect of everyone in New England.

New York Yankees
Weakness:
With a fastball topping off at 93 mph, Randy Johnson look less like an intimidating gunslinger and more like that dorky kid in high school who grew 8 inches between freshman and sophomore year and was too awkward to walk down the hall.

Rather odd the Observer is the only one reporting this.

http://www.dallasobserver.com/Issues/2006-03-02/news/whitt.html

Finally, it was over.

After seven months of pain and six hours of mediation, they reached an agreement. Documents signed. Sighs exhaled. Farewells exchanged.

But wait, Kenny Rogers had one more surprise for Larry Rodriguez.

As the former Texas Rangers pitcher, the KDFW-Channel 4 cameraman he assaulted last June and a mediator exited a Dallas office last month, the 6-foot-1 Rogers reached over the 5-foot-7 Rodriguez and closed the door in front of him.

"I had no idea where things were headed at that point," Rodriguez recalls over lunch at Primo's. "But I was ready for anything. He wasn't going to sucker-punch me again."

Face-to-face for the first time since the infamous attack that slapped Rogers with a 13-game suspension and stuck Rodriguez with a 9-inch needle down his spine, it was the pitcher who again started the shit. But instead of an unprovoked shove, this time Rogers stuck out his hand and gripped Rodriguez's in a firm shake. And held it.

For 10 minutes.

All the while delivering an eye-to-eye, heartfelt on-the-verge-of-going-Dick-Vermeil apology that Rodriguez and baseball's plummeting image desperately needed in public last summer instead of behind closed doors this spring training.

"He told me he was truly sorry," says the 45-year-old Rodriguez, with his wife, Angelita, by his side. "We talked for about 20 minutes, just us. It was weird how he just held onto my hand, but I think for the first time he was really sorry."

Rogers then walked down the hall and subjected himself to Angelita's venom. He listened, he nodded, he apologized again and, in the end, he hugged both husband and wife.

Says Angelita, "It meant something because it wasn't scripted."

And with that, Rogers walked out the door and began focusing on a $16 million contract with the Detroit Tigers. Rodriguez walked out the same door knowing the confidential settlement--a ballpark guess is $100,000--was enough to pay off medical bills but not erase the incident from his past, present or future.

Though Larry and Angelita now have realistic dreams of retiring to New Mexico in five years, let's not confuse L-Rod with A-Rod.

"I'm still a working-class guy who has to have a job," Rodriguez says. "But we didn't do so bad for David going up against Goliath."

Despite the doubts of John Q. Cynical, there are permanent scars--physical and psychological. "People are going to think what they're going to think," Rodriguez says. "But they weren't there when I was strapped upside down on a machine and told, 'There's a chance of paralysis.'"

After Rogers violently wrenched Rodriguez's back while shoving the photographer's 45-pound camera to the ground on that surreal June 29 afternoon, Rodriguez became ill. In Fox's studio suite at Ameriquest Field, his neck stiffened, his head ached and his stomach...

"I blew chunks," Rodriguez says. "I was strapped to this backboard, and the paramedics just tilted me to the side, and I let fly." While Rogers turned mute and the Rangers turned the spin cycle on high, Rodriguez spent two and a half hours at the hospital.

"I'll never forget how he was shaking like crazy," Angelita says. "He didn't stop until they slammed the morphine into his leg."

Three days later Rodriguez was worse. What initially felt like a pebble in his right shoe grew to a knife. During one procedure, Rodriguez suffered an allergic reaction to dye shot into his spine. In a workman's compensation examination, doctors discovered two inguinal hernias. To alleviate chronic pain, fusion surgery was recommended. Rodriguez chose Plan B, which included intense physical therapy, enough drugs to make Ricky Williams cringe and three epidural shots.

"The needle is that long," Angelita says, holding her hands nine inches apart. "They stuck it in the base of his neck, and when they were finished you could barely see any needle. It was horrible."

Forced to return to work prematurely in October when insurance benefits didn't cover the bills, Rodriguez got a shot of reality. In the Texas Stadium tunnel before the Cowboys-Giants game, receiver Keyshawn Johnson walked past and gave Rodriguez's camera lens a playful love tap. The resulting pain knocked him to the ground, as if touched by Benny Hinn.

"I had to tell Keyshawn to knock it off," Rodriguez says. "I know he didn't mean it, but it almost killed me."

These days Rodriguez, who returned to Channel 4 full time on February 1, spends 45 minutes stretching each morning, takes anti-inflammatory pills and daily meds to fend off migraines. An active dad who loved playing basketball with sons Adam, 21, and Gabriel, 15, has deteriorated from hyper to napper.

"No more jumping up and down," Rodriguez says. "Just the thought of it gives me a headache."

Says Angelita, "He just moves slower. Now I find myself telling the boys, 'Be careful with your father.'"

His psyche is equally fragile.

During his ordeal, Rodriguez got a lot of support--from his Mansfield neighborhood's kids' cookies to Troy Aikman joking that he thought Rodriguez "would be in the Caribbean by now." Stars coach Dave Tippett playfully handed him a helmet and stick "to defend yourself." A deaf basketball player from Dallas' W.W. Samuell High School recognized and supported Rodriguez via sign language. Even the Irving Convention and Visitors Bureau sent a cooler of steaks to put on his "black eye."

But for whatever reason, there are assholes that still side with Rogers. Like the one at The Sports Authority who ran up behind Rodriguez pretending to deliver a shove before being stopped by an off-duty police officer. Like the belligerent one who followed Larry and Angelita from a Stars game all the way to their car yelling, "You're the guy Kenny Rogers beat up!" And the group at Mansfield High School who, at a recent basketball game, spotted Rodriguez and began chanting "Ken-ny! Ken-ny!"

"The whole thing," says Rodriguez, "has changed me forever."

More than the jerks or even Rogers, Rodriguez remains most miffed at the Rangers. Six days after the incident, owner Tom Hicks called to apologize. But since July 4, not a peep from the organization whose lax security and lethargic reaction to Rogers' 90-second tirade left Rodriguez with permanent wounds and the franchise with a stained reputation.

"It's very disappointing," says Rodriguez, who will likely be working at Ameriquest Field when Rogers returns to Arlington during the Rangers-Tigers series beginning April 6. "If my son was responsible for hurting another kid, my involvement and concern would consist of more than one phone call."

Through it all, not once did Rodriguez dream of starring in a South Park episode and screaming the recurring obituary, "Holy freaking crap, they killed Kenny!" OK, maybe once, but...

"I forgive him, I really do," Rodriguez says of the anti-Mr. Rogers, who still has misdemeanor assault charges pending in Arlington. "I actually wished he was still a Ranger, because we need a good left-handed pitcher."

Forgiveness 1, Forgetting 0.

One could only hope, it's sad when our park has gotten so bad that pitchers won't even consider coming.

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/columnists/randy_galloway/13291162.htm

"Named his son, Tommy, to head up a research committee on how to make The Ballpark more architecturally friendly for pitchers.

Mr. Hicks must not be thinking clearly these days. Hmmmmm.

Hark back, Tom, to a few years ago when you OK'd that long slab of glass to be placed behind home plate so you could build a private, air-conditioned club for the high-rollers.

That's when the ballpark became a jet stream for routine fly balls.

Forget the research committee.

Just give Tommy a hammer and tell him to knock out that glass wall. In fact, make it two hammers. I'll help.

Call me, Tommy, when you are ready to go to work."