Modano relieved of captain's role

Stars' Left Wing Morrow earns Captain's 'C'- By MIKE HEIKA / The Dallas Morning News

FRISCO – Stars officials said naming Brenden Morrow captain Friday was all about "passing the torch," not about lighting a torch under the team

Morrow, 27, receives the honor after bypassing free agency next year to sign a six-year contract extension that will keep him in Dallas through the 2012-13 season. Former captain Mike Modano, 36, loses the designation with three years remaining on his contract.

Modano, who will serve as an alternate captain with Sergei Zubov, said he was asked to step down. He said he did so because he felt it was best for the team and the organization. He admitted he's disappointed but is ready to move forward.

"They approached me over the course of the summer and said it had been in the back of their mind, and we finally settled on something the other day," Modano said. "It's a changing-of-the-guard kind of thing. It's the future for [Morrow] and the future for a lot of the guys who are going to be around here."

General manager Doug Armstrong and coach Dave Tippett said the move was not a reflection on Modano, who Armstrong said is still the face of the franchise. It simply was the perfect time to elevate Morrow.

"If we only had him for the one year, we wouldn't have done this," Armstrong said of Morrow. "With Brenden's age and the commitment he's made to this organization, he's going to be able to pull this team together for a number of years moving forward."

Tippett acknowledged concern for how Modano will react to this. He said that they've talked for months and will continue to do so.

"I know that he is passionate about this team and adamant in demanding the best out of it and himself," Tippett said. "Mike is still a very important leader for us."

Hockey people have projected Morrow as an NHL captain for years. He was captain of his junior team and quickly elevated himself to alternate captain on the Stars.

"He exemplifies some of the things we want to be known for," Armstrong said. "He's a hard-nosed player. He competes every night. He just has leadership qualities. People gravitate to him, and we think his teammates are going to follow him."

Armstrong added this isn't just a move to energize the team after another first-round playoff loss.

"This isn't based on one season. It's based on the long-term direction of where we want to go," he said. "One of the positives is he's going to have Mike and Sergei around him for the foreseeable future."

Armstrong said the move is also aimed at putting more responsibility on players such as Steve Ott, Jussi Jokinen and Trevor Daley.

"The younger generation has to step up and take their share of the responsibility," Armstrong said. "They can't just continually wait on Mike and Sergei and Jere [Lehtinen] to do it all."

Tippett said the captaincy is a bigger deal in hockey than in other sports, but he added that one person can't lead the team.

"Ultimately at the end of the day, it's about the group together," Tippett said. "One guy might have a 'C' on, but it's how well does the group co-exist together."

Morrow said he will lean heavily on Modano and other team leaders but admitted the promotion is a big deal to him.

"For a farm boy from Saskatchewan ... it's a real honor and privilege," he said.

college football's longest winning streak...

...no longer resides in Texas. BYU ended No. 17 TCU's 13-game win streak in dominate fashion, 31-17. Ohio State and West Virginia both have won 11 games in a row, now the best in I-A. The NCAA's longest streak is 17 by Division II Grand Valley State.

fox reporter earning some tips

if you go tailgating in arkansas...

make sure to remove your tail...

less it become a nice fuse

mark cuban... just living the dream

Another reason to like Mavs owner Mark Cuban: He's the only billionaire you might stumble across in an Indiana bar and just end up getting blasted with all evening. The folks at We Are The Postmen ended up at a Bloomington bar with Cuban last week, and he bought everybody booze and pretty much eradicated his brain through the demon liquid.

At one point, no one was saying much, and just about everyone there was blasted beyond smalltalk. Then, out of the silence, Mark jolts up, turns his head around, and blurts, to absolutely no one in particular: "It feels....FANTASTIC!"

Read the whole encounter here.

t.o. rushed to the e.r.

Local Dallas news is reporting the T.O. has been taken by ambulence to the Baylor Medical Center emergency room . Initial speculation is that he has had a reaction to some medication he was taking.

spotlight on new orleans

Way too much hoopla before the start of this game... Green Day, U2, pre-game celebrations... just a bit of over-kill.

The game, btw, is a snooze-fest.

scarlet knights crack top 25

Rutgers is ranked in Top 25 for first time since '76.

See the rest of the Top 25 here.

The Detroit Tigers clinched their first playoff berth since 1987.

No. 1 Carroll routs Rockwell 47-7. More on the Dragons victory here.

SLC QB Riley Dodge

Justin Pardon

Tre Newton

Riley Dodge

Blake Cantu

suuuuuuuunshiiiiiiine

Arkansas punter Jacob Skinner

johnny damon's dna

Kim Jones knowingly refers to Johnny Damon's DNA being left in center field because of using his hand so much... say what?

nice catch for iowa state wr

Janna Skrabanek, Houston Texans cheerleader and girlfriend of Iowa State receiver Austin Flynn.

a lil clemson funk

A Clemson fan... the big man has some moves.

random baseball

And the Rangers didn't want this guy who's now 11-5 with a 3.50 ERA... lower than any Rangers starter... by almost a full run.

'Zero' chance Girardi manages '07 Marlins. Pretty sad when Girardi has taken a team most thought would be the worst in the NL and has them in playoff contention.

college football fans...

buckeyes

irish

volunteers

more poor irish

chad's not quite all there...

Chad Johnson interview after the big hit against Cleveland.

nfl cheer from week 3

cowboys

eagles

chargers

i think she liked it...

Mets reporter Julie Donaldson gets doused by Mets after they had clinched the NL East title... something no Rangers reported has to worry about any time soon.

why does everyone hate arod?

Despite his extraordinary numbers, New York fans are quick to discount his contributions. And when things go wrong for A-Rod, even his teammates find him hard to motivate and harder to understand. Read Tom Verducci's SI story here.

college cheerleaders from last weekend

...I'm suddenly a Bruins fan.

time for ou to just shut up already

Video highlights from the end of the OU/Oregon game.



Yet another take on the controversial calls...

are you freakin kidding me...

University of Oklahoma president David Boren sent a letter to Big 12 Commissioner Kevin Weiberg on Monday, asking him to push for the Sooners' game against Oregon to be eliminated from the record books and have the Pac-10 officials involved in the game suspended for the remainder of the season. Read the rest of this ridiculous story here.

Terrell Owens will have a plate inserted into his broken finger... glad he's not on my fantasy team.

Bet of the day... take Jacksonville +2.5 over Pittsburgh

Randomness from the A&M/Army game:
• A&M attempted 11 passes Saturday, the fewest since the Aggies threw eight times in a 28-21 win over Nebraska in 1998.

• A&M leads the nation in pass defense for the second straight week (allowing 93.7 yards per game).

• RB Jorvorskie Lane ranks second in the country in scoring with 48 points (eight touchdowns). Purdue RB Kory Sheets is No. 1 with 60 points (10 TDs). The school record for rushing touchdowns in a season is 19 set by Joel Hunt in 1927.

• WR Chad Schroeder has five career touchdown catches of 40-plus yards.

random sports musings

Lucky cover of the night... Toledo -4 over Kansas, thanks to a late INT by Kansas in double OT.

Some video from the Southlake Carroll vs Evangel Christian game.

Michelle Wie needs to stop wasting sponsor exemptions on the PGA Tour.

carroll plays name that score on national tv

Carroll continues to show it's a team worth watching - by Matt Wixon of The DMN

Southlake Carroll was the national champion the last two years. "Mythical" national champion, of course, because high school playoffs don't cross state boundaries, and the State Farm MasterCard High School Bowl presented by Pizza Hut isn't yet on the schedule.

Thankfully.

But even if Carroll is just a mythical national champ, it's a factual national power. Thursday night was the latest proof of that.

Carroll (2-0) sent Evangel Christian, known for playing the top teams across the nation, back to Louisiana with a humbling 43-16 loss at Dragon Stadium. Carroll's third nationally televised game in three years was like the first two: entertaining for the fans in green and a blue experience for the visitors.

Thursday's game was so lopsided, that by halftime, maybe before halftime, much of the TV audience was flipping the channel. And Evangel Christian (0-2), which two weeks ago hung tough in a 24-14 loss to state-ranked Lufkin, was looking up for heavenly intervention.

Things were looking up for the state's top-ranked Class 5A team, which won its 34th straight game. The offense was dazzling, the defense was stifling, and the banner referring to Carroll's tradition – "we protect it, you respect it" – was as appropriate as ever.

By halftime, Carroll's defense was outscoring Evangel, 2-0. The offense scored the other 32 points in the half, when Carroll quarterback Riley Dodge and his deep pool of receivers shredded the Evangel defense for 211 yards and three touchdowns. The Evangel defensive backs are probably suffering from whiplash today after looking back at the Carroll receivers pulling in passes.

It was that kind of half for Carroll and that kind of game. The kind of game that, although it looked like first-string against third-string most of the night, could get Carroll ready for a playoff run in two months.

"With this as a TV game, it adds electricity," Carroll coach Todd Dodge said before the game. "Hopefully, if we can continue on and we make a good run in the playoffs, then we'll be in this atmosphere again, and our kids can reflect back on it."

They'll look back fondly, that's for sure. But it was more than Carroll's knockout Thursday night that proved its heavyweight status. Just having another nationally televised game at home showed that its national presence is second to none right now.

You want to play Carroll, fine. Coach Dodge said this week that his team will play anyone.

But his team isn't hitting the road.

"My whole take is, with due respect to all the other programs, I'm not going to take my kids out of state to play," Dodge said. "I just can't see how going to Louisiana or all the way to California to play is good for my kids."

Dodge has already agreed to another made-for-TV game next year against Concord (Calif.) De La Salle. That team will have to make a long trip to prove its mettle against a national power.

Carroll, on the other hand, won't have to travel much farther than Thursday night. The game is scheduled for SMU's Ford Stadium.

The big games, at least against out-of-state teams, will be on Carroll's terms. That's one of the spoils of being a big-time program.

"It's not like we can't find someone to play," Dodge said. "I've got good competition five miles in every direction."

Better than Thursday night's competition, I would imagine. Or for future Carroll opponents, here's a scary thought:

Maybe Carroll is even better than we imagined.

tonight's double play

Maryland at West Virginia (-17)

Maryland's had much more difficulty with William & Mary and Middle Tennessee than expected winning at home by margins of 13 and 14. Now they travel to a legit Top 10 (Maybe Top 5) team.

In WV, the Terps face a team that loves to gorge itself vs true pigs. WV has covered its last 8 lined games. In 4 of those games they were favored by 2 TDs or more. Their margins of victory in those contests were: 32 pts, 38 pts, 32 pts and 32 pts. That's some awful poundings.

This team wants attention. They know blowouts get attention. WV feels it is good enough to play for the National Championship.

At Maryland they had back-to-back 11 & 10 win seasons in '02-'03. But in the 2-plus years since they've only won 11 TOTAL games. Their victories? No. Illinois, Temple twice, Duke, Wake Forest twice, Virginia, North Carolina and Navy. This program simply doesn't beat good teams any more. And these Terps are an ugly 5-22-2 ATS as double digit dogs against teams that have won 2 in a row.

DOUBLE PLAY: TAKE WV MINUS THE POINTS

gmj hits for the cycle

Gary Matthews Jr hit for the cycle in his first four at-bats Wednesday night against the Detroit Tigers. Matthews led off the game with a single, doubled in the second inning, hit a triple in the fourth and led off the sixth with a 418-foot homer to left center. He also had a walk in the eighth. Some interesting facts...

• Matthews is the 19th switch hitter in major league history to hit for the cycle and just the second switch hitter to hit the cycle naturally (single, double, triple, homer in order).

• The last player to hit for the cycle in natural order was Brad Wilkerson, who did it on June 24, 2003 for Montreal.

• He is the third Rangers player to accomplish the feat, joining Mark Teixeira who did it on Aug. 17, 2004, against the Cleveland Indians and Oddibe McDowell on July 23, 1985, also against Cleveland.

• Matthews is only the 7th player ever to hit for the cycle in order in his first four at-bats.

• The last player to hit for the cycle against the Tigers was Seattle's Alex Rodriguez on June 5, 1997 at Tigers Stadium.

college football fans from week 2

Arizona State

University of Southern Florida

Florida State

FSU one more time

Poor t-sips

Texas A&M - The Wrecking Crew