snake bit?

For the second night in a row the Rangers bullpen tried to give away another game after great efforts from the starting rotation. Last night it was a grand slam in the 11th by Garret Anderson. Tonight Coco Cordero gives up a pinch hit, 2 stirke, 2-out, 2-run, game tying homer to Dallas McPherson. Fortunately for the Cordero and the Rangers, Alfonso Soriano bailed them out in the 11th with a 2-out single scoring Mark Teixeira. They're only 7.5 games back now... erg.

3 Days til the start of the Tour de France...

morgan pressel was robbed

It wasn't a pretty chip, it wasn't even a good chip, it actually appeared to be somewhat of a miss-hit... and yet somehow a shot that barely made it out of the bunker by Birdie Kim miraculously found the bottom of the cup. It had no business going in, no business even being close. No one had birdie the 18th at Cherry Hills in two days and every player that had found the bunker on 18 hadn't even made it up and in to save par. So when Morgan Pressel was walking up to her ball in the middle of the fairway on the 18th hole watching Kim setting to hit out of the bunker she had to think just as everyone else did that par wins it. She was the youngest player to ever qualify for the open 4 years previously at the age of 12 (though she was 13 by the time she actually played) and she was about to become the youngest to ever win the Open and only the 2nd amateur to ever do so. That's when things went wrong. The thin sounding chip managed to make its way out of the bunker and started down toward the hole, somehow falling in for birdie, breaking the tie between her and Pressel, giving her a one shot lead. The cameras flashed to Pressel back in the fairway and all she could do is cover her face and look up wondering why. The US Open should have been hers. Knowing she needed to birdie to force a playoff, Pressel got an unlucky bounce up near the green leaving her ball just off and in the rough. That basically ending any chance she might have had as she bogeyed the hole after trying to chip in, though still finishing second. While walking up to the green after her second shot, her caddie was overheard saying, "Lets get up and in from there now.", to which Morgan replied, "Up and in doesn't get me anything!". Morgan knew very well that as an amateur, second isn't any better than 22nd, she's not allowed to receive money. She was there to win. She should have been the youngest to ever win the Open, but this weekend proved Morgan Pressel is the real deal and we can expect to see her in position to win a major again soon.

So, where does that leave Michelle Wie, the amateur receiving most of the attention leading up to the Open. For the last month, she put all the talk to rest about needing to beat girls her own age before playing in the bigger tournaments. Saturday, she looked as if it were her tournament to lose, playing with the poise of a seasoned professional. But on Sunday, that wasn't the case. It's one thing to play well and be the novelty of an event, but it's another thing to produce the goods in "crunch time". While the moment was too much for Wie, who hadn't been in a situation like this since winning the Girls Junior Amateur two years ago, it wasn't too much for Pressel and Brittany Lang, both experienced and seasoned amateurs who HAVE won frequently. Granted, everyone, including the pros, had trouble on this golf course. But, this is also the only major tournament where the best US amateurs can play, making this the toughest event in women's golf because as was seen this week, as many of the best women's golfers are the young 'uns. I wouldn't be surprised if the likes of Pressel and Lang played in all of the majors, they would finish near the top because they know how to win. As much as Michelle Wie has gotten better and as talented as she is, she needs to learn how to win.

rogers hurt and the picks of the day

You know things are really going bad when: your All-Star pitcher breaks his hand (non-pitching) hitting a water cooler causing him to miss his next start in a cruicial series against the division leader, your starting catcher is out with back spasms and tonights starting pitcher opens the game with a four pitch walk followed by three straight hits giving up 3 runs in the top of the first...

More proof the NHL players and owners got what they deserved...

For those inclined to wager... Gig'ems baseball picks of the day

Boston -170 over Cleveland (Bosox have won 7 in a row and have Arroyo on the mound at home)
Minnesota -180 over Kansas City (Twins at home playing Royals team dreadful on the road while dropping 6 in a row)

stick a fork in them, rangers are done

The Rangers are dropping games faster than the temperature in Arlington when a northern pushes through. Not that it's unusual for the Rangers to slide backward in the standings mid-season, but they normally make it to the All-Star break before the dip begins. Today the Rangers wasted a rare pitching gem from Chan Ho Park, as the bullpen walked the first two batters in the bottom of the 10th before giving up the winning single. Not that it should have even gotten that far. The Rangers left 8 runners on base and were 0-4 with runners in scoring position. The Rangers rarely win when they dont hit the long ball, partially due to their hideous team batting average with runners in scoring position. I dont have the exact stat, but if its above the Mendoza line I'll gladly give out $100 per point that its above it to anyone reading this. I'm not too concerned with parting of my money as I'm fairly certain I'm right and my readership numbers dont exactly rival those of the Times.

The Rangers need help, in many areas, and GM John Hart doesn't sound like he's ready to open up Tom Hicks purse strings to go and get any of it. Starting with the pitching, the Rangers need 1, maybe 2 starters and the long relief and setup men in the pen just aren't getting it done. After that how about a leadoff hitting center fielder or an OF/DH with some power or just anyone that can actually hit with a runner in scoring position. Hart said recently he wanted to wait a couple of weeks to see how things were going then... "We prefer to work from within. We're not taking our eye off the mark for the next four to six weeks. We're giving every young player we have a chance. If there's an opening, we're going to give it to a young guy. In four to six weeks, that's when a lot of trades go down. We'll look up, see where we are and make a decision then." Mmmk, well in four weeks the Rangers could be out of it. What then John? The time is now, the Rangers play the next 4 games at home against the Angels and anything less than 3 out of 4 will not do. The AL West is very winnable this year, as is the AL pennant. Now is not the time to sit on your hands, Mr. Hart, go out and earn your money for once!

spurs win ugly series but duncan no mvp

I'm not sure which would have been more painful to watch, game 7 of the NBA finals or that cheesy new reality show "Hit Me Baby One More Time". Was TIffany really a star at one time? So yeah, of course I watched the game anyway but with the tempo reverting back to "first to 80 wins", the numerous turnovers and clanks off the iron, it was anything but entertaining. Missing from this series was the superstar player who could take over a game, make spectacular plays and carry his team to victory. Sure the Spurs have Tim Duncan, but 5-foot jumpers off the glass are not spectacular. And Rasheed Wallace gets hit with more technicals than he's ever hit big shots. I didn't particularly care for either team so the outcome meant little to me other than I was hoping to watch an entertaining series... what I saw was exactly the opposite, right down to game 7, one that should have been filled with drama, but had none. There was more drama in the storyline of whether it was Larry Brown's last game as the Piston's coach (or the Cavs new president or the Knicks new coach) than for the game itself. This leads to the selection of the finals MVP... it didn't really matter which team had won game 7, neither team had one. The logic of giving the award to Duncan is understandable but severely flawed. He didn't stand out in any game, didn't make any clutch baskets and basically averaged a very unspectacular 20pts/11reb. In the 3 losses, he was nowhere to be found, in the 4 wins, he was often outplayed by teammates Ginobili and Horry. If not for big shot Rob and his 3 to win game 5, the Spurs are done after 6. One could argue with the way Horry carried the Spurs down the stretch in game 5 and early in game 7, he easily could have been the MVP. But he doesn't have the clout of media darling Duncan and so a dreadful NBA finals series ends with an ordinary non-dramatic game 7 and the selection of an ordinary MVP.

nba finals finally entertaining

After 4 boring blowouts in the NBA Finals, finally games 5 and 6 were worth watching. Arguably, the Pistons should have won the Championship tonight. They gave game 5 away in Detroit. Up with 11 seconds left in OT, the one thing you HAVE to guard against is the 3, and to let Big Shot Rob take it virtually uncontested constitutes giving the game away in my book. You dont give up a three and you dont forget to guard the guy throwing the ball in, two very fundamental rules. Its like making the first out at 3rd in baseball or walking the leadoff hitter with a one run lead, do it and you're just asking for trouble. Give props to the Pistons though. After throwing away a potential 3-2 lead in the series and facing having to sweep the Spurs in San Antonio, the Pistons took it to Duncan and company and pushed this to a winner take all game 7. The Spurs just havent look the part of Champion after they won the first two games at home. My money's on the Pistons to take game 7 and win it back to back as significant underdogs both times.

time to buy a replacement

Ricardo Rodriguez has done spectacularly well in filling the void left by the Ryan Drese fiasco going 2-0. CJ Wilson however, did not fare as well in taking Astacio's spot on Sunday. Wilson gave up a quick 2 runs in the first and had to be yanked in the 4th as another run scored and they were threatening for more. Consistently behind in the count, the Nationals ate Wilson up and had scoring opportunities in each of his four innings. He'll probably get another start (who else do they have?), but if there's not significant improvement, it'll be back to Ok City. The loss though can't be blamed totally on CJ. Part of the blame goes to the offense for leaving 13 runners on base, several in scoring position. The lone Ranger runs came off two solo home runs and through 7 innings, the Rangers were still in it, down only 3-1. The problem the Rangers have in close games is they can't manufacture runs. They just aren't capable. Can't steal, don't hit and run and sacrifice is a dirty word. Its the big bang theory with the Rangers, feast or famine. Sunday they starved.

The Rangers start a 3 game series with the AL west leading Angels tonight at The Ballpark. A sweep would be nice but 2 of 3 would suffice. They've already spotted the Angels 2 in the top of the first on a Vlad homer. Note to Orel Hershiser, pitch around Vlad when you can and DONT, under any circumstances, let anyone on the staff throw him a first pitch strike. I'm sure its not an official stat, but Guerrero swings at the first pitch about 95% of the time. Chris Young better have the good stuff tonight.

campbell gets tigger by the tail

Something I failed to mention in my previous post on the Open is that even though I tend to always root for the Americans over any foreign golfer, there is one exception. I'm not a fan of Tiger Woods. Never have been. I admit, he has incredible natural ability and desire to win, but the brashness and cockiness of his early years on tour completely turned me off. He's learned and is much more humble now, but when you tell everyone you beat them and you didnt even have close to your "A" game, you're going to piss some people off. So watching just about everyone implode on Pinehurst No.2, bringing Tigger back into contention on Sunday, made me cringe. As much as I didnt want Goosen to win another Open, I sure didn't want Tigger to win it. So while Goosen laid his egg and Jason Gore showed why he's #818 in the world, there was Michael Campbell coming to the fore front and going mono e mono with Tigger... and Campbell never blinked. He matched Tigger birdie for birdie on the back nine and when Tigger 3-putted 17, Campbell was dropping a birdie in at 16 to put it out of reach. Nice job Michael and congrats!

Some interesting stats: the last 6 Open champs had come from Sunday's final pairing, who this year were a combined 25 over par over the last 18... no joke. Jack Nicklaus finished in the top 5 at the major championships 54 times, the most by any player... Tigger would have to finish in the top 5 in every major through 2018 to match him. Jack also leads in 2nd place finishes at 26, and of course wins with 18. No reason to debate any time soon who the best golfer ever is.

americans falter at pinehurst

Lefty choked on the easy par 5, Toms choked on the last 2 holes Friday, Els is making nothing look "easy", Vijay couldnt putt out at miniture golf and Tigger (yeah I know there's only one 'g') found more edges than a student driver finds curbs. That leaves Reteif Goosen and a handful of unknowns left to contend going into Sunday. I'm not a big Goosen fan, mostly because I dont want a foreigner winning the US Open, let him win overseas, but also because he shows no personality, no flair. He plays as if its a job. C'mon Goose, you're playing golf for a living and oh by the way, they pay you handsomely to do so, get excited now and then when you make a great putt. Geez did Olin Browne look as nervous today as the school nerd on a date with the head cheerleader, he never seemed comfortable paired with Goosen. He still has a chance though at even par along with Jason Gore. Who? The unheard of Gore is ranked 818th in the world and will play Sunday of the US Open in the last pairing... with the defending champ. But hey, no pressure. Unfortunately, Goosen will need a Greg Norman like choke to lose this one.

a hole in the rotation

The Rangers released another pitcher on Friday. Pedro Astacio became the 2nd starter in the last 10 weeks to be cut loose by Buck Showalter. The Ryan Drese departure earlier in the month seemed to be more of a personality issue than a talent move and Drese made his statement on that Wednesday, shutting out the Angels on 2 hits in his first start after being picked up off waivers by the Washington Nationals. Astacio had been eratic of late with more ups and downs than a rollercoaster. With his ERA a tad over 6 after his last outing, Buck decided it was time for Pedro to go. Lefty C.J. Wilson will take Astacio's place in the rotation, one that now consists of the stellar Kenny Rogers, Chan "mister run support" Ho Park, upstart Chris Young, Ricardo Rodriguez and Wilson.

Speaking of the Nationals, they streak their way into The Ballpark for this weekend's series taking 2 of 3 from the Angels and having won 12 of their last 13. The Rangers took Friday's game 8-1 on the strength of another pitching gem by Kenny Rogers and the usual home run ball from their potent offensive lineup. On the mound tonight was Drese's replacement, Ricardo Rodriguez, who went a strong 5 innings last Sunday in his first start after being called up from Oklahoma City. He looked pretty sharp tonight, giving up just 3 runs in 7+ innings. Rodriguez made his Ranger debut last summer and was throwing heat passed hitters for 5 games including a complete game shutout until a come-backer hit him on the elbow, shattering it. Kameron Loe, another promising youngster in his first major league stint, relieved Rodriguez, shutting things down for the final 6 outs of a 7-4 Rangers win. An interesting footnote for tonight's game is that all the runs were scored via home runs... not a complete surprise when the Rangers play.

remembering payne

Is it just me or do 4 blow out games in a row make the NBA Finals even less appealing than the Spurs/Pistons match up already has made it? Maybe at least those in Motown and near the Alamo are enjoying the games. Listening to ESPN radio this morning, Paul Azinger, now commentating instead of playing, believes par or even 1 over might win the Open this year. Based on the results from the first round, he may very well be right as the course always gets harder over the weekend.

I remember watching the last Open at Pinehurst 6 years ago as Payne Stewart and Phil Mickelson battled down the stretch for the title. I remember thinking that I liked them both and wasnt sure who I wanted to win. Part of me wanted Phil to break out of his "best player to never win a major" shackles and part of me was rooting for Stewart being a hometown guy who played at SMU. Then there was the drama of Phil's wife being pregnant and due any day, whether he was going to have to leave if she went into labor while they played the final Sunday on Father's Day. Stewart then made the longest putt to ever win the Open on the 72nd and last hole as he posed in his now immortalized stance watching it drop in the cup. As Phil and Payne hugged/congratulated each other, Payne told him his day was coming and to go be with his wife and share in the miracle of having their child. The Mickelson's had their baby on Monday, when the 18-hole playoff would have been had Payne's putt not dropped. Payne Stewart died only four months later when the pressurization system in his private plane malfunctioned, taking him from us way too soon and in the prime of his career. As those that knew Payne Stewart, he had recently become a Christian within the last year before his death and had discovered a new peace on the golf course and in life, developing a stronger family life. This year's Open at Pinehurst wont match that one six years ago, but its good to just remember what Payne Stewart brought to the game of golf.

da na na, na na na

Dollar decker dog night at The Ballpark tonight... and they're on ESPN!

Trivia for the day... What major league pitcher has the most wins since the start of the 2002 season? Hint: He has 61 wins in that span.

Update:
Well it was an ugly win for the Rangers, as most of them usually are. Chan Ho needed 114 pitches to make it thru 5 innings and qualify for the win, leaving with a 7-1 lead. A rare error with two outs by Texiera (his first in 81 games) led to 3 runs scoring in the top of the 6th but Fonzie got his 3rd hit and 2nd double of the night to help put it out of reach in the 8th.

less than stellar

The Pistons made the Spurs look rather ordinary tonight. Duncan and company were thoroughly outplayed much of the game as Detroit played its typical first to 80 wins style of basketball, gather some easy buckets along the way to a whopping 96 points. The Spurs looked flat and uninspired. Were they happy to be up 2-0? Maybe they're just playing for 1 win in Detroit and if not tonight they have 2 more chances? Of course none of this matters if the boys from Motown dont sweep at home as going back to San Antone needing 2 wins would be a tall task.

In another ordinary performance, the Rangers were beat at their own game of long ball by the Braves who chased Pedro Astacio after just 4 1/3 innings. Braves pitcher, Jorge Sosa, starting his first major league game, put up 5 good innings as the struggling Rangers managed just 6 hits in the first 7 innings and 9 for the game. Ugh. With the feast or famine approach, I'd be shocked if the Rangers have won a game scoring less than 4 runs... I'll check into that stat. Meanwhile, its time to go root for the Nationals to knock of the Angels!

feeling zen

Phil and Kobe together again

return of the zenmaster

As previously predicted here, Phil Jackson has been rehired by the Lakers, to be announced later today at a 5pm EDT press conference at the Staples Center. During his year out of coaching, Jackson wrote a book about his last season in LA in which he called Kobe Bryant "uncoachable". Apparently that was more fluff than substance as Kobe signed a long-term deal a year ago and he and Jackson will again be reunited in Jackson's pursuit to finally pass Red Aurbach as having coached the most championship teams. They both are currently tied at 9.

Elsewhere...
Fan favorite Andre Agassi withdraws from Wimbledon with an unspecified injury.

And former ESPN anchor Keith Olbermann, currently with MSNBC, is returning to the sports network to do a 1-hour radio show.

back on track...

The Rangers are back home at The Ballpark from a rough road trip going 4-8. The Braves are in town and we're up 7-0 in the middle of the 5th. Chris Young is looking like Cy Young tonight! Things are looking much better, Soriano's gone deep twice and to the wall on another and with any luck, the bullpen wont need to do much this game. Soriano has a 15 game hitting streak going and Young a 2-hitter...

update...
Young goes 7 giving up just 2 hits and no runs, Cordero gave up a 2-run jack to Andruw Jones in the 9th while getting some work in but its a 7-3 win none the less. How old now is Julio Franco? He's got to be close to 50. Time to start a new winning streak.

and from the utterly ridiculous...
'Miracle Window Moved'
Mmmk, first it was the 'Jesus toast', now supposedly his image is in an old dirty apartment window? Ya gotta be freakin kidding me! Holding mass to worship a window, I dont even have words to describe how obscene I find it all. I'm a Christian, but I'll be the first to say a dirty frickin window is no miracle! Wait, I think the Lord is appearing on my monitor... oh never mind, that was from when I sneezed earlier. Whew, I was starting to worry that my new flat top would have to be donated to a museum.

a day to think pink

I have a good friend that teaches 6th graders at a nearby middle school. Two years ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer, at the age of 24. They caught it early and after chemo and all it involves, she's cancer free now. I cant really imagine what that must have been like to go through, but this weekend she participated in the Susan G. Komen 3-day walk, and I made sure I was there at the end to see her and her team cross the finish line. When she first mentioned to me that she was going to walk 60 miles (20 miles per day), I thought she must be crazy, and that was before I found out she had to raise at least $2100 just to be able to do it (thats the minimum requirement to participate). Fortunately, no one in my family has ever had breast cancer, but after making my donation to help her reach her fundraising goal, I sent an email to all my friends letting them know how they could help if they were interested and I was shocked at not only the over-whelming response, but more so by the number of them who shared with me stories of friends or family that had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Most had survived, some hadn't. I'm not an extremely emotional person, but it was definitely a touching moment to see the 2000 participants as they completed the walk, many having survived the cancer themselves, some walking in memory of those that didnt make it. They raised a little over $5 million to help find a cure. Eleven more cities are hosting 3-Days this year and I'm sure each will be just as moving for those participating and I hope each will bring them closer to a cure.

3-day

3-day pic taken with my phone as
workers were setting up for the finish.

rangers woes

The Ragners are in a slump, 2-8 in their last 10 after having a 9 game winning streak. The starting pitching has been lit up as of late, even Kenny Rogers, who has the lowest ERA in the majors, gave up all of his 5 run lead in the 6th inning tonight; his first non-quality start all year. Buck needed to pull his ace Rogers after he let 2 runners on with 2 outs in the 6th with Carlos Delgado coming up. Not 2 innings earlier Delgado took Rogers yard to break up a premature no-hit bid. Instead Buck let him pitch to Delgado who almost took him out of the park again, followed by a double by Mike Lowell (of all people) and so with it, the rest of his lead. The bullpen then gave up a homer in the 7th to Alex Gonzalez who wont hit more than 10 all year if he's lucky, thus chalking up another one in the loss column. In the last 10 games, the Rangers arent doing anything right, no pitching, no hitting (worst in the AL with 2 outs) and poor fielding. Its feast of famine. Like in previous years, the Rangers rely on the long-ball. They arent built for the hit and run, stolen bases and sacrafices of small ball so when they're just needing a run, they dont know how to produce. The Rangers have shown they have several holes they need to fix but finding which to fix first will determine if Buck Showalter gets this team to the playoffs come October... or to the golf links.

scattershooting...

So I'm watching the NBA Finals and this has to be the least entertaining matchup that we could have...San Antonio/Detroit, ugh! How bout Miami/Phoenix, people might have actually watched that series. Good grief, its 55-51, AT THE END OF THE 3Q!!! You've got to be kiddin me. ABC is surely hating this matchup, no big market team, no team that knows what offense is. Watching a whole football game of quaterback sneaks would be more entertaining. First to 80 wins? Do they really play great defense or is it that the offense is just offensive? Personally I think Tim Duncan and his whole Spurs team is over-rated. In any case, I'm channel surfing now, I only need to watch the last 2 minutes anyway. Who's on Letterman?.. Katie Holmes, that should be interesting, maybe she can teach us all the Scientology she's learning so she can be Tom's trophey.

Phil Jackson will be back in LA next year, look for he and Kobe to put asside their differences and win a title without the aging injury prone Shaq.

Here's an interesting parady on the Star Wars III script. If you havent seen the movie already, this will spoil some things, but if you havent seen it by now do you really care?

Danika Patrick races at TMS this weekend, no doubt she'll have the biggest following all weekend.

The Rangers have fallen a game out of 1st due to less than stellar starting pitching the last several games... Has Jim Hart given Clemens a call yet??

a non-sports post

I saw Star Wars III - Revenge of the Sith this weekend. Forgive the pun, but its light sabers ahead of the last one mostly due to the improved acting by Hayden Christensen who was almost painful to watch in Attack of the Clones. Jar-Jar Binks reappears again in a cameo role in this one but doesnt really say anything. Though he annoyed most, I thought he was kinda funny in the first one but whatever. I think its one of the best by Lucas as he ties up the loose ends that lead to the original movie.

Aight back to important things... the Rangers are back in first place in the AL west, carrying a modest 2-game win streak into Phily on Tuesday.

And Annika Sorenstam won again this weekend. Taking a two shot leading into the final hole, she eagled the last to win by 4. I dare anyone to name a better golfer right now, male or female. If only she looked like Natalie Gulbis or Christi Kerr. :)

is there a rocket in rangers future?

Lots of banter out there regarding Roger Clemens being traded to the Rangers. I'm sure this will piss many people off, but I've never really liked the Rocket. Part of it I'm sure is due to the fact he went to that cow school in Austin, though that was way before I cared about such things. Much of it also has to do with my hatred of the Yankees, so wearing pin stripes and having been to cow U is a double whammy. When I think of Clemens though, the image of him throwing the bat at Piazza always comes to mind. Not only could he not explain why he did it (umm, I thought it was the ball???? - yeah right) he didnt even get penalized for it. Seems like the league has always had a pro-Clemens bias. But depending on how much the Rangers would have to give up in exchange, acquiring Clemens is definitely an intriguing idea, one that I'd be for in spite of his history. But as we know, this wouldn't be the first time Tom Hicks has tried to land the Rocket.

Some interesting points of view:
Rangers in Clemens hunt

'Rocket' to Rangers: A boost or way to get lost in space?

Rocket isn't landing here; Astros owner won't do it, but what if...

Clemens isnt worth selling the farm for

Its not Rocket science

mark cuban part 2

...I truly never expected MC to respond to my email criticizing the handling of his blog comments so when I got a response, pretty quickly I might add, I was quite surprised. I mean surely billionaire Mark has better things to do than respond to my email. He's sure not going to make any money trading verbal jibes with me. In any case, here is the email exchange with MC verbatim with Cuban's responses in italics.

My original email to MC:

Mr. Cuban, I'll start by saying that I've been an avid reader of your blog for some time now and enjoy your openness in expressing your thoughts and ideas and allowing others to provide their comments. However, I'm troubled by what I saw happen the other night. Shortly after your post "Some Thoughts..." about the end of the Mavericks season, myself along with several others left comments in response to some of the items in your post. Not 30 minutes after leaving a comment, mine along with anyone else's comment that might have had an opinion differing from your thoughts regarding the Mavs were removed. What was left was only a few comments that praised everything about the Mavs and you. How hypocritical and misleading is that? Why bother to allow comments if you're going to pick and choose the ones you want to show based on your own views and opinions? All the comments were relevant to the topic and none were there just to bash the Mavs in any way, but as anyone with a brain can see, the Mavs have several issues that need to be addressed if they are to win it all. Expressing those thoughts and ideas in response to your post shouldn't cause the comment to be deleted. If the intent of your blog is to ensure that only your opinion is represented then I no longer desire to read your commentary, I can get the same from the media.

MC responded with:

I cut off all comments . I have no problems with discussions and people who
disagree with me, but name calling and childish comments aren't the goal

So rather than editing comments every day, I just shut them off

There are lots of sites where you can discuss the mavs all day long and
express your opinion. Mavtalk.com and lone mavs forum are 2 of them

m

I replied:

Mark, you intentionally deleted already posted comments, you didnt just "cut off" the comments. You left 6 that completely backed you and the Mavs while several comments that brought up some valid points/concerns, but not necessarily backed your views, were deleted. Other posts on your blog have up to 100 comments, why cut off this one? and why delete already posted comments if they were relevant to the topic and not malicious? Leaving just your cherry-picked comments is misleading (which you harp on the media for doing all the time), you should have deleted them all.

He replied with:

I cut off all basketball related posts

All of them

My response:

Does "cut off" mean "stopped accepting new comments" or "completely removed all comments"? I assume it to be the former, as 6 comments still exist to the original post we're discussing. It seems you're missing the point I've been trying to make which is that you intentionally deleted certain comments that you didn't like while keeping a few you agreed with. The comments that are still shown were not the first 6 posted. As I stated before, its misleading and flat out incorrect for people to read that post and believe those were the only comments submitted as they have been the only comments allowed to be shown after several were removed that night. Why did you delete some and not all?

To which I received:

Cut of all comments

I gave up after that. It was disapointing that he took the time to respond but didnt really address my concerns. Obviously, MC didnt want to comment on the main point of my email. Being known as a man who has come to demand the media be 100% accurate about anything thats written regarding the Mavs, for Cuban to cherry pick a few comments to keep and remove the rest seems quite hypocritical to me. Maybe I'm just pissed that he deleted my comment? I mean it is his blog and he can delete what he wants, right? But more likely though it seems that MC, like most people, just didnt want to have to admit what he did was wrong. That or he really does have better things to do than to actually put some thought into his response when there's no money involved.

mark cuban the liar... part 1

I have been a fan of Mark Cuban since he sprung onto the sports scene with his purchase of the Dallas Mavericks in Jan. 2000, but not anymore. As an avid reader of Cuban's blog for quite a while I finally decided to comment on his 21 May post, "Some Thoughts...", in which Cuban gave insight to his thoughts on the Mavs season which had just ended. My comment below posted only a few hours after Cuban had originally posted his entry and at the time there were only about 8 comments, most of which backed Cuban and the Mavs success, with just a couple providing a differing opinion (including mine). Interested to see how other readers commented, I went back to Cuban's blog a few hours later only to find my comment had been deleted along with all but about 6 comments that he decided to keep. Each of which praised the Mavs for such a great season (was it really?) along with stroking Cuban's ego; additionally, he decided to cut off any new commenting. In essance, Cuban had manipulated the post to falsely give the impression that everyone was just hunky-dory with his Mavs and that they had exceeded all expectations (which of course is crap!). Needless to say I've lost a good deal of respect for Cuban and I emailed him to let him know. Unexpectedly, he responded. More to come...

As much as I was rooting for the Mavs to win the championship, in the back of my mind was the thought that the Mavs just dont play the defense required to do so... sure they displayed some D at times this year, but not nearly often enough. How does Nash go off for 48pts in game 4 and average 30pts and 12 assists in the series? How do you let Jim Jackson take over in the 4Q of a crucial Game 5 as he just abused Finley who doesn't appear he could guard my grandma (and thats not a reference to Larry Johnson). How is Nash so wide open for the 3 to tie at the end of game 6? Didn't everyone in the arena know who was going to be shooting that ball? Yeah Dirk you can be pissed at Jet for not being there but hey, without his 36pt offensive explosion, Phoenix doesnt need that 3 to win. Maybe AJ will be the answer to whether the Mavs can finally learn to play D because you cant win a championship without it. Phoenix doesnt play the best D in the league but they shut down the Mavs when they needed to. Up by 16 in the 3Q of game 6 and it was gone in about 2 mins. ...And what happened to Dirk in the playoffs??? His offense was anemic at times, forcing shots that werent there and settling for jump shots when he needed to take it to the hoop. He's supposed to be the star of the team, the go to guy, but with the exception of game 5, he was anything but. Yeah this appears to be a rant on the Mavs but if a championship is the expectation, its time to get the team to learn how to play D... as Phoenix showed, we dont have the team that can just outscore everyone.
Interesting article by Randy Gallaway

the best golfer in the world

originally written on May 15, 2005...

Annika Sorenstam is the best golf in the world today, she has been for some time now. Does that mean she could tee it up with tiger (or phil or ernie or vijay) from the tips and take them one on one? Probably not, though I wouldnt put anything past her. That being said, right now she is the most dominant golfer on any tour. No not because she lapped the field at the nancy lopez chick-fil-a this weekend finishing 23 under par (no one was close to her once the second round got under way). And no not because she has the longest cut made streak on the lpga while tiger's streak ended this weekend at the byron. When she tees it up, everyone else is playing for second. She's been player of the year, money leader and lowest scoring average leader more times than any other player including 6 of the last 7 years. She only plays in about half the tournaments the other competitors play and she still wins more. Since 2000 she has won more tournaments than any other golfer on any tour... that includes tiger. Since the start of the 2001 season, she has won 37 times raising her total to 60 wins on the LPGA tour with an additional 20 wins in non-LPGA tourneys in Europe and Asia. She's 3rd all time in wins behind only Kathy Whitworth (88) and Mickey Wright (82) who both played in much smaller and depleited fields. She's already a member of the LPGA hall of fame; flat out, she dominates the field and they know it and she alone will decide when her dominance will end.