a dallas sports roundup

So here's a recap of the Dallas sports scene over the past few days:

The Rangers needed help in a big way approaching the trade deadline. Starting pitching, releif pitching, DH, outfield, you name it and they needed it. So instead of trading to upgrade and make a run for the playoffs, all the Rangers managed to do was trade Chan Ho Park for Phil Nevin. Not much help, time to get ready for next year. They've gone 7-13 since the All-Star break.

The Mavs are preparing to release Michael Finley to help save money from the NBA's luxury tax. Several teams are interested in Fin, including Steve Nash's Phoenix Suns who recently lost Joe Johnson to Atlanta. What a disaster that could turn out to be... see Steve Nash last year.

The Cowboys started training camp on Friday and there's much talk of the increased level of talent this year. Here's hoping that corresponds to higher numbers in the win column. Larry Allen got off on the wrong foot by deciding he didn't want to participate in the start of camp timed mile run conditioning. He had TWELVE minutes to run the mile, but chose not to. Parcels then decided to keep Allen off the field the first two days of camp so he could "work" on his conditioning. He's back practicing with the team now but way to go Larry.

The Stars are returning to the ice this fall after a year layoff! It will be a different NHL now with salary caps and an opening up of the ice for the offense. The Stars had until last Friday to re-sign Mike Madano, the face of the franchise, to keep him from becoming a free agent. The Stars decided to wait which turned out to cost them in dollars and in the PR realm. Mike's always been the fan favorite since being drafted in 1988 and hold all the Stars scoring records. By Monday, Mike had received several offers of 5 yrs and around $20M. The Stars were originally hoping to only offer 3yrs... can you say ooops. It still took owner Tom Hicks stepping in to hammer out a deal to keep Madano in Dallas even though Mike's let it be known for a while that he wanted badly to stay here. Mike will now get to end his career in Dallas as he finally agreed to a 5 year deal with the Stars.