If so, talk about it here. 

Nebraska-Missouri should be interesting.

Is Texas so down this year that Baylor has a chance?

Michigans St @ Iowa is the only other Top 25 matchup

Aggies renew their rivalry with Aggies West

Continue reading this post »

A four-alarm fire gutted a string of Lower Greenville restaurants this morning.

The fire broke out about 5:45 a.m. at Terilli's Restaurant and Bar in the 2500 block of Greenville Avenue. Within an hour, it had spread to three other restaurants, including the Hurricane Grill.

Also burned in the fire were Mick's Bar and Greenville Avenue Bar and Grill.

Evans said the fire spread up Terilli's walls and into the attic space shared by the restaurants, causing the building's roof to collapse.

The structure that house the restaurants was built in the 1920s, said Patricia Car, president of the Lower Greenville Neighborhood Association.

A sad day for Dallas.

The American League West-leading Rangers are posting the best year-to-year uptick in local TV ratings in all the major leagues.

Through 21 games, the season-to-date Nielsen ratings for Fox Sports Southwest have almost doubled, up from 1.09 in 2008 to 2.16 this season. The 98 percent improvement is way ahead of the San Francisco Giants (28 percent) and the Kansas City Royals (27 percent).

The 2.16 rating translates into approximately 53,784 homes.

As for the first 10 Rangers games on KDFI (Channel 27), they are averaging a 2.4 rating, which is a 32 percent increase over last year's 1.82 average after 10 games. The highest rating on KDFI was a 3.7 on May 6 against Oakland.

World Series Champ

100-1: Padres, Rangers, Astros, Nationals & Pirates

80-1: Orioles, Mariners, Royals

75-1: Rockies, Blue Jays

50-1: Reds, Brewers

40-1: White Sox, A's

30-1: Braves, Giants, Marlins, Twins

25-1: Cardinals

20-1: Tigers

18-1: Dodgers

15-1: Phillies, Diamondbacks, Indians,

12-1: Angels, Rays

7-1: Cubs

6-1: Mets

5-1: Red Sox

7-2: Yankees

AL Champ

50-1: Orioles, Rangers, Mariners, Royals

30-1: Blue Jays

20-1: White Sox

15-1: Twins

12-1: A's

10-1: Tigers

7-1: Indians

6-1: Rays, Angels

5-2: Red Sox

9-5: Yankees

AL West Champ

10-1: Rangers

6-1: Mariners

2-1: A's

1-2: Angels

HR King

Kinsler 100-1

Hamilton 20-1

Howard 3-1

Field 8-1

Braun & Cabrera 10-1

IRVING, Texas -- Dallas Cowboys coach Wade Phillips doesn't gamble and doesn't make predictions. He does, however, make observations based on his 31 years of working in the NFL.

So as gloomy as his team's playoff chances looked after Saturday night's loss to the Baltimore Ravens, Phillips remained relatively cheery before Sunday's games began. He didn't know whether the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or Atlanta Falcons would lose, but he was confident that at least one of them would, opening a direct path for Dallas to make the playoffs.

Sure enough, the Buccaneers lost -- their first defeat at home all season, and to a San Diego Chargers team that was seemingly playing out its schedule. That brought into play another truism Phillips has preached the last two months.

"Ten wins," he said. "It's usually 10 wins that gets you in."

Today's Top Games

Texas Tech @ Kansas 11 a.m.

Minnesota @ Purdue 11 a.m.

Oklahoma @ Kansas St. 11:30 p.m.

Kentucky @ Florida 11:30 p.m.

Baylor @ Nebraska 11:30 a.m.

Oklahoma St. @ Texas 2:30 p.m.

Georgia @ LSU 2:30 p.m.

Wyoming @ TCU 5 p.m.

Colorado @ Missouri 5:40 p.m.

Troy @ North Texas 6 p.m.

Alabama @ Tennessee 6:45 p.m.

Penn St. @ Ohio St. 7 p.m.

USC @ Arizona 9:15 p.m.

Thought I'd put it out there just in case anybody still cares.  I think this one might be a little more interesting that the last two -- based almost wholely on the fact that the pundits are saying that McCain has to do something dramatic in this debate to turn things around.  Here's CNN's preview:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- GOP Sen. John McCain must clearly differentiate his plan to fix the ailing economy from that of his rival Sen. Barack Obama at Wednesday night's presidential debate if he is to shake up the race, political analysts said.

"I think what he has to do is talk about the issues. ... He's got to talk about his economic plan," CNN senior political analyst Gloria Borger said. "Yes, he's got to convince voters that he's got the judgment to be president, but he's also got to convince voters to like him."

The third and final debate, taking place at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, at 9 p.m. ET, may be the last time the Republican presidential candidate may be able turn the race to his favor before Election Day, now less than three weeks away.

The 90-minute face-off, which will air on CNN and CNN.com, will undoubtedly focus on the economic crisis plaguing the country.

CNN political editor Mark Preston said the debate will likely be McCain's "last chance to reach tens of millions of people with his vision for America."

"He needs a game-changer," Preston said.

As the nation has been going through a financial crisis over the last few weeks, McCain has slipped in the polls behind Obama, the Democratic nominee.

A CNN Poll of Polls calculated Wednesday has Obama leading McCain 50 percent to 42 percent. Obama is also leading McCain in battleground states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Florida.

As Obama has opened up his lead, the McCain campaign has responded by trying to raise doubts about Obama, particularly by tying Obama to William Ayers, a former 1960s radical who belonged to the Weather Underground, a group that bombed federal buildings to protest the Vietnam War.

A New York Times/CBS News poll released Tuesday night suggests that the McCain campaign's negative attack strategy may be backfiring on the Republican presidential candidate.

In the poll, 60 percent of the voters surveyed believed that McCain had spent more time attacking his rival than explaining what he would do as president. In contrast, nearly two-thirds of the voters surveyed, 63 percent, felt that Obama has spent more time explaining his policies than attacking McCain.

http://www.maxim.com/The10WorstBroadcastersinSports/articles/24558.aspx

Before cable TV ushered in an era of 24-hour sports coverage and snarky, personality-driven commentary, professional play callers were endowed with a unique talent for actually enhancing the experience of watching a game. They offered valuable insight, knew how to play up a big moment, and knew when to shut the hell up. 

Over the past two decades, however, too many play-by-play guys–even some of the biggest names–have become motormouthed hacks whose egos are perpetually on display. They pepper their commentary with a constant flow of inane banter and irrelevant pop culture references—anything to get more air time. It’s enough to make any fan watch a whole game on mute. In the name of taking back televised sports, we hereby call out these 10 broadcasters as the worst of the worst—and beg TV execs to muzzle them before viewers revolt.

10. John Madden

9. Walt Frazier

8. Mike Patrick

7. Billy Packer

6. Bill Walton

5. Bryant Gumbel

4. Dick Vitale

3. Joe Morgan

2. Chip Caray

1. Chris Berman

RDW's Bottom 5

5. Charlie Waters

4. Dick Hicks

3. Stuart Scott

2. Chris Berman

1. Bryant Gumbel

A man has been accused of attempting to pass a $360 billion check, which he claims was given to him by his girlfriend’s mother to start a record business, Fort Worth police said.

Charles Ray Fuller, 21, of Crowley, was arrested on April 22 on an accusation of forgery, police said.

Police responded to a report of a man attempting to pass the check about 4 p.m. that day at the Chase bank in the 8600 block of South Hulen Street, Fort Worth police Lt. Paul Henderson said.

The personal check was not made out to Mr. Fuller and when the bank contacted the check owner, the woman said she did not write a check for $360 billion.

Mr. Fuller was also accused of unlawful carrying of a weapon and possession of marijuana, Lt. Henderson said. He may also face a theft charge in Crowley.

Lt. Henderson said he did not know if Mr. Fuller and his girlfriend were still together.