The Dallas Mavericks are in the midst of a three-game winning streak, and have won eight of their last 10 games.
In the past two wins, the Mavs have been without the services of MVP and team leader Dirk Nowitzki, who's expected to miss at least two more games before he returns to action.
Why is the Mavs leader sitting on the bench in a suit? Because he's a little out of shape, and has a sore right knee.
Except, as that story above states, it's not really about the knee. It's about the Mavs best player and team leader not really being in shape for the season.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
It's Crosstown Rivalry night
It's that time again, time for bragging rights in the Palestine city limits to be decided, at least for the next three weeks or so.
The Palestine and Westwood boys and girls basketball teams face off tonight, with varsity girls action set to begin at 6:30 p.m. As we get ready for this matchup, I thought I'd go back and see how these two schools fared against one another last season in the yearly standings.
So, let's make it simple. Team's get a point for a win in any major team sports (football, volleyball, basketball, baseball, softball) in the head-to-head matchup.
It's easier to just limit it to those sports because in events like golf, track and cross country, the teams are competing against more schools than just one another.
The Palestine and Westwood boys and girls basketball teams face off tonight, with varsity girls action set to begin at 6:30 p.m. As we get ready for this matchup, I thought I'd go back and see how these two schools fared against one another last season in the yearly standings.
So, let's make it simple. Team's get a point for a win in any major team sports (football, volleyball, basketball, baseball, softball) in the head-to-head matchup.
It's easier to just limit it to those sports because in events like golf, track and cross country, the teams are competing against more schools than just one another.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
If I ran the Rangers...
As I came down from my Yu Darvish-elation yesterday, I got to thinking: Could the Texas Rangers still be players in the free agent market?
The cream of the crop remaining is slugger Prince Fielder, who will be a big (see what I did there) acquisition for whichever team pulls the trigger for his services. One of the interested teams is reportedly the Rangers, who met with him and his agent Scott Boras on Friday.
Most baseball people thought that Prince would wait to make his decision until after the Rangers either did or did not lock up Darvish during the negotiation period. Now that that's done, what happens?
Conventional wisdom would say that the Rangers are now out on Fielder, because let's be honest, they just gave Darvish what amounts to $111 million (with posting fee).
But if we've learned anything about the Jon Daniels/Nolan Ryan-led Rangers, they're anything but conventional.
With that in mind, let's let our minds wander and bring Prince to Texas, shall we?
The cream of the crop remaining is slugger Prince Fielder, who will be a big (see what I did there) acquisition for whichever team pulls the trigger for his services. One of the interested teams is reportedly the Rangers, who met with him and his agent Scott Boras on Friday.
Most baseball people thought that Prince would wait to make his decision until after the Rangers either did or did not lock up Darvish during the negotiation period. Now that that's done, what happens?
Conventional wisdom would say that the Rangers are now out on Fielder, because let's be honest, they just gave Darvish what amounts to $111 million (with posting fee).
But if we've learned anything about the Jon Daniels/Nolan Ryan-led Rangers, they're anything but conventional.
With that in mind, let's let our minds wander and bring Prince to Texas, shall we?
Taking a more local approach
In yesterday's post (here), I hinted at putting some state and national stuff here at The Baseline because we've had talks about taking a more local approach to the actual, hard-copy sports page in the Herald-Press.
The question is, what's that mean? Well, it means I'm going to try and write some more, for one. Whether it be additional features to game previews to simple briefs, the idea is to get more about the local sports scene on the paper itself.
So, with more local copy in print, what happens to stories about, say, the Cowboys or the Rangers? Well, that's where it'll get tricky. If space allows, those types of stories will still get into the paper. If it doesn't, then they won't.
I won't be putting the stories from the Associated Press here at the blog, per say. But, if something in the state or national sports landscape requires my opinion, I'll voice it.
That may irk some readers, while others my find it refreshing. All I know is that the goal of the Herald-Press is to be the paper of record for Anderson County and the rest of the Dogwood Circle. I feel my best bet to help with that is to produce some more local copy.
What do you think? Let me know below in the comments or send me an email.
The question is, what's that mean? Well, it means I'm going to try and write some more, for one. Whether it be additional features to game previews to simple briefs, the idea is to get more about the local sports scene on the paper itself.
So, with more local copy in print, what happens to stories about, say, the Cowboys or the Rangers? Well, that's where it'll get tricky. If space allows, those types of stories will still get into the paper. If it doesn't, then they won't.
I won't be putting the stories from the Associated Press here at the blog, per say. But, if something in the state or national sports landscape requires my opinion, I'll voice it.
That may irk some readers, while others my find it refreshing. All I know is that the goal of the Herald-Press is to be the paper of record for Anderson County and the rest of the Dogwood Circle. I feel my best bet to help with that is to produce some more local copy.
What do you think? Let me know below in the comments or send me an email.
Cayuga duo on 'View From the Cheap Seats'
Yesterday I made a trip northwest to Cayuga to talk to Wildcat seniors Jake Nash and Jimmy Johnson, both of whom signed college letters of intent to go play junior college baseball. Nash is headed to Vernon College, while Johnson is heading to Hill College.
After the signing, the pair sat down with me for the latest episode of the 'View From the Cheap Seats' podcast. We covered it all from their excitement to play college baseball to their expectations for 2012 after a disapointing — by Cayuga standards — 2011.
Take a listen: Click Here
After the signing, the pair sat down with me for the latest episode of the 'View From the Cheap Seats' podcast. We covered it all from their excitement to play college baseball to their expectations for 2012 after a disapointing — by Cayuga standards — 2011.
Take a listen: Click Here
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Let's try this again
About this time last year, I made these bold proclamations about how the blog was back and it was my New Year's resolution to keep it going, etc. Obviously, that lasted about four months.
Well, here we go again. The blog is back, and it's my goal to keep it as active as possible moving forward.
Here's the thing: I struggled last year with what this blog should be. Should it be strictly local? Should I use it for both local tidbits as well as my thoughts on state and national sports stories? I could never quite get past that issue, so the impasse began.
But, I think I've solved it, and the answer is yes. Yes to both. I'll try and keep it as local as possible here, but with the emphasis on local growing even stronger on the sports page(s) in the paper (more on that later), there may not be quite as much content to go here, locally speaking.
So, we'll dive into area, state and national sports stories as well. I'll tell you my feelings on things like the Rangers, the Cowboys, etc., while also tackling some arguments made by others (a la what we did with some Yahoo! stories, etc., in the past).
Mostly though, I want this blog to reflect both myself and the readers I serve. So, if there's something in particular you want me to tackle, let me know in the comments. It's a two-way street after all.
Well, here we go again. The blog is back, and it's my goal to keep it as active as possible moving forward.
Here's the thing: I struggled last year with what this blog should be. Should it be strictly local? Should I use it for both local tidbits as well as my thoughts on state and national sports stories? I could never quite get past that issue, so the impasse began.
But, I think I've solved it, and the answer is yes. Yes to both. I'll try and keep it as local as possible here, but with the emphasis on local growing even stronger on the sports page(s) in the paper (more on that later), there may not be quite as much content to go here, locally speaking.
So, we'll dive into area, state and national sports stories as well. I'll tell you my feelings on things like the Rangers, the Cowboys, etc., while also tackling some arguments made by others (a la what we did with some Yahoo! stories, etc., in the past).
Mostly though, I want this blog to reflect both myself and the readers I serve. So, if there's something in particular you want me to tackle, let me know in the comments. It's a two-way street after all.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
Friday Night Previews: Week 9
It's a big, if not huge, night locally for high school football. That being said, before we head into our previews, allow me a chance to vent about my beloved Texas Rangers.
Never in my life have I felt more emotionally drained following a sporting event. Silly? Probably, but real none the less. As I sat on my couch helpless and watched David Freese rounding the bases, I figured that I'd just lived through the worst sporting event experience in my life, and perhaps in the life I haven't even lived yet.
Now, this all sounds rather extreme, I know, but that's what fandom is about, right? It's about investing yourself emotionally in a group of people you've never met and probably never will meet. That's at least part, if not all, of the fun.
Now the team gets a chance on the biggest of stages, Game 7. They don't come any bigger. As a fan who can look at things as subjectively as I want, I want to say I think they can pull it out, think they can rebound. As a sportswriter whose job it is to be object, I'm not that sure.
I don't know if teams get many more opportunities than the Rangers got last night, but as a fan, I hope they have one more in them. If they can't pull it out...well I just don't know.
On to the football.
Never in my life have I felt more emotionally drained following a sporting event. Silly? Probably, but real none the less. As I sat on my couch helpless and watched David Freese rounding the bases, I figured that I'd just lived through the worst sporting event experience in my life, and perhaps in the life I haven't even lived yet.
Now, this all sounds rather extreme, I know, but that's what fandom is about, right? It's about investing yourself emotionally in a group of people you've never met and probably never will meet. That's at least part, if not all, of the fun.
Now the team gets a chance on the biggest of stages, Game 7. They don't come any bigger. As a fan who can look at things as subjectively as I want, I want to say I think they can pull it out, think they can rebound. As a sportswriter whose job it is to be object, I'm not that sure.
I don't know if teams get many more opportunities than the Rangers got last night, but as a fan, I hope they have one more in them. If they can't pull it out...well I just don't know.
On to the football.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Friday Night Previews: Week 8
After a week away — car trouble — from the previews, here we are again. Week 8 is setting up to be arguably the biggest week of the season for a variety of reasons, namely that a lot of teams have everything on the line this week.
But, the marquee game isn't one with everything on the line. Fairfield comes into Palestine tonight in a battle of two teams who have yet to lose a district game. Fairfield comes in at 7-0 on the season, Palestine is 5-2, having won four-straight games.
Outside of the Dogwood Circle and the Fairfield area, this game isn't really getting much attention. It's understandable. In East Texas Class 3A alone, Van will take on Lindale and Carthage and Henderson will face off. Those are, arguably, four of the state's top-15 3A football teams, including a battle between last year's D-I and D-II state champions.
But, just because the attention won't be here doesn't mean this game isn't huge.
But, the marquee game isn't one with everything on the line. Fairfield comes into Palestine tonight in a battle of two teams who have yet to lose a district game. Fairfield comes in at 7-0 on the season, Palestine is 5-2, having won four-straight games.
Outside of the Dogwood Circle and the Fairfield area, this game isn't really getting much attention. It's understandable. In East Texas Class 3A alone, Van will take on Lindale and Carthage and Henderson will face off. Those are, arguably, four of the state's top-15 3A football teams, including a battle between last year's D-I and D-II state champions.
But, just because the attention won't be here doesn't mean this game isn't huge.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Friday Night Previews: Week 6
After the majority of the local squads got the weekend off last weekend, everyone returns to the field tonight. Everyone also begins their quest for a district title.
All seven local squads begin district play tonight, headlined by the resurgent Palestine Wildcats taking on visiting Groesbeck.
But, there are plenty of intriguing matchups already in the first week of district, plenty of which could alter the playoff landscape.
That's right, games played tonight could easily be looked upon in four weeks as deciding factors in the playoff races.
Excited yet?
All seven local squads begin district play tonight, headlined by the resurgent Palestine Wildcats taking on visiting Groesbeck.
But, there are plenty of intriguing matchups already in the first week of district, plenty of which could alter the playoff landscape.
That's right, games played tonight could easily be looked upon in four weeks as deciding factors in the playoff races.
Excited yet?
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