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YOU’VE GOT TO GO TO 3RDYOU’VE GOT TO GO TO 3RDBASE BEFORE HOME!BASE BEFORE HOME!

Girl of

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Week

Cassie

Lewisville native, Joe Sikes has signed anational letter of intent to attend TexasA&M University in Kingsville, Texas.Sikes, who started playing football in thethird grade, at the age of 9, knew he want-ed to be serious about playing football hisseventh grade year.

Thanks to his hard work and the help ofNCSA Athletic Recruiting, the nation’sleading recruiting source for collegecoaches and student athletes, Sikes willplay college football. When it comes tofinding collegiate athletic opportunities,many athletes and their families take thepassive approach. However, this lack ofinformation about the recruiting process iswhat stops many top performers fromreaching their goals. Sikes says, “Myrecruiting process was excellent. WithoutNCSA, it would have been very hard,stressful and time consuming.”

NCSA Athletic Recruiting thrives off of itsrelationships with College Coaches,Athletes, Parents and High SchoolCoaches. These relationships are essen-tially what a successful recruit needs. Thesenior’s success story is a prime exampleof what can be achieved by many studentathletes with the same hard work and ded-ication. Sikes’s one piece of advice tofuture recruits is, “Start as soon as possi-ble.” There were 21 schools involved inSikes recruiting process. He ultimatelychose Texas A&M University—Kingsvillebecause the football program and theschool fit well with his style and goals.

DALLAS BASKETBALL STANDOUTCOMMITS TO ST. CATHERINEUNIVERSITY

Dallas native, Gabriela Altuna has signed anational letter of intent to attend St.Catherine University, in Saint Paul,Minnesota. Altuna, who has been playing


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AROUND THE AREACOLLEGE RECRUITING

BASEBALLREVISITING MONEYBALL

FISHERLIN WAS A MAV ONCE

GOLF NEW DRILL HELPSPOWER

BASEBALL WHAT TO DO WITH HAMILTON

COVER STORYA RANGERS PREVIEW

HOCKEYBETTMAN SPEAKS

SPORT SHORTSTHOUGHTS ON RANGERS & TCU

BASKETBALLDOHERTY ON THE HOT SEAT?

TICKET WINDOWNIEUWY WITH BADD RADIO

DININGHERE’S THE BEEF!

February 17-23, 2012Volume 10, Issue 26

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COLLEGE RECRUITINGAROUND THE AREA

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basketball since her fifth grade year, decid-ed she wanted to be serious about playingbasketball as soon as she picked up the balland realized that she had a lot of potential.She states, “I wanted to be the best I couldbe and that could only happen by becomingserious, setting goals and having a passionfor the game. Gabriela had a private coachhelp her throughout middle and the begin-ning of high school.

Thanks to her hard work and the help ofNCSA Athletic Recruiting, the nation’sleading recruiting source for college coach-es and student athletes, Gabriela will playcollege basketball. When it comes to find-ing collegiate athletic opportunities, manyathletes and their families take the passiveapproach. However, this lack of informa-tion about the recruiting process is whatstops many top performers from reachingtheir goals. “If NCSA had not beeninvolved in my recruiting process, I don’tthink I would have had as many options orany options for that matter. I am the onlychild and my family had no idea where orhow to begin getting my name out. NCSAreally helped to guide us and kick start theprocess,” said Gabriela.

NCSA Athletic Recruiting thrives off of itsrelationships with College Coaches,Athletes, Parents and High SchoolCoaches. These relationships are essential-ly what a successful recruit needs. Gabriela

states that, “NCSA made the process easyand painless and gave me tips on how tointeract with coaches and set up visits”

The senior’s success story is a prime exam-ple of what can be achieved by many stu-dent athletes with the same hard work anddedication. Gabriela’s one piece of adviceto future recruits, “Work hard, play welland everything will work out in the end.You must be involved in the entire process.It is a lot of work, but well worth it in theend.” There were three schools involved inGabriela’s my final decision. “I went andvisited each of them and met the coaches,the team, and took a campus tour. Iwatched them practice and asked a lot ofquestions. I was looking for a school Iknew I could feel comfortable at that wasnot very big, but had great academics. Iultimately selected St. Catherine’s for mul-tiple reasons: They have a great physicaltherapy program, I am able to fit basketball,school and ROTC into my schedule and Ifelt comfortable and at home around theteam and campus. Not only the basketballteam, but the athletic director and othercaches talked to me and made sure all myquestions were answered. St. Catherine’smade me feel welcomed and when thenational anthem played in their gym beforetheir game, I got butterflies in my stomach.I knew that I wanted to be playing in thatgym.”

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BASEBALL

Revisiting Moneyball after Oscar nomsby DIC HUMPHREYSENIOR [email protected]

The movie “Moneyball” has been nominat-ed for six Academy Awards, including BestPicture. Only two 2011 releases garneredmore. It originally appeared in theaters lastSeptember, and has recently been releasedon Blu-Ray and DVD. It is the third high-est grossing movie of 2011, having beensurpassed for the number two spot only lastweekend by “War Horse” (“The Help” isthe leader.).

The movie is the adaptation of MichaelLewis's 2003 book of the same name thatdepicts the Oakland A's approach to puttingtogether a competitive team at a muchcheaper salary cost than big spenders likethe Yankees and Red Sox. Brad Pitt is thelead playing the role of Oakland generalmanager Billy Beane. Pitt has been nomi-nated for Best Leading Actor and undoubt-edly accounts for much of the appeal of themovie to non-baseball fans.

The time frame of the movie is 2002. The2001 team had won the American LeagueWest, but lost key players such as JasonGiambi, Johnny Damon and JasonIsringhausen. Beane utilized statisticalanalysis to put together the 2002 team find-ing over looked and undervalued players tocompensate for the players the A's couldnot financially afford to keep.

The analytical nerd in the movie is PeterBrand, played by Jonah Hill. In reality,Peter Brand is fictitious, as the real mathe-matical nerd refused to sign a release to beportrayed in the movie. The focus is par-ticularly on two players acquired throughhis analysis and the contributions those twomade to the 2002 team. They are ChadBradford, a middle reliever with an uncon-

ventional submarine throwing motion, andScott Hatteberg, a patient hitter thatworked counts and had a good on base per-centage.

WASH PLAYS A ROLEArt Howe managed the 2002 A's, and histhird base coach was current Ranger man-ager Ron Washington. Howe was later oneof Washington's coaches, and in a 2007interview for The Sportspage Weekly, heexplained their offensive philosophy. Goodteams have good starting pitchers and agood closer. The way to beat them is tomake those starting pitchers throw a lot ofpitches, such that they tire earlier and pitchfewer innings. That provides the opportu-nity to beat the relievers that pitch betweenthe starters and closer, often the weak link. There certainly is lot of baseball truth inthe movie. The A's did win 103 games in

2002, including a 20-game winning streak;and Bradford and Hatteberg made materialcontributions to their success. However,the heart and soul of the 2002 A's were fiveplayers - three starting pitchers and twoposition players. They were not over-looked players discovered by statisticalanalysis. The pitchers were very high pro-file starters that would have been a toppitcher on any staff in baseball. The hitterswere free swingers, not patient pitch burn-ers sought by the sabermetric theories theA's were utilizing to construct their roster.Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zitowere the pitchers. All three finished in thetop 10 in the league in ERA, and the A'sled the league in team ERA. Zito led theleague with 23 wins, and the trio combinedfor a 57-21 record. They pitched 675innings, about 45% of all the innings in theseason.

Shortstop Miguel Tejada, who was por-trayed in the movie by former Rangershortstop Royce Clayton, and Eric Chavezwere the hitters. They each hit 34 homeruns and combined to drive in 240 runs.Tejada won the A. L. MVP Award.Chavez was the only one of these five thatthe A's were able to sign to a long termcontract, which proved a bust as his careerwas curtailed by injuries. The other foursigned elsewhere when they became freeagents. Zito was the last to leave in 2006,and in the five years since, the A's haveaveraged 76 wins, with 81 in 2010 beingthe most they have won in any of thoseseasons. Beane's statistical approach hasproven to have value in filling out a roster,but without high end core players foundthe old fashioned way, teams aren't goingto be very good.

NOT AS GROUNDBREAKING AS MOSTTHINKThe movie presents Beane's sabermetricapproach to constructing his team as revo-lutionary and made traditional baseballscouts look like dinosaurs verging onextinction. First of all, the use of statisticalanalysis to assess players has been utilizedby most teams since at least the 1980's.Beane may have taken it to an extreme, buthis approach wasn't revolutionary. It's beena decade since that magical 2002 A's sea-son. It is safe to say that every team uti-lizes sabermetrics far more now than at anytime in the past. However, scouts havenow taken on new prominence, are morevalued, and are paid considerably betterthan they were in the days of ”Moneyball”. It's an enjoyable movie, with a good pace,a little humor and well done action scenes.It's well worth seeing, but don't get tootaken with the baseball philosophyespoused.


by MIKE FISHERF I S [email protected]

DallasBasketball.com's week at Summer League 2010in Las Vegas ended on Monday, July 19, at 1:20 a.m.,when DB.com's Mark Fenn filed his final report afterscouted a bunch of Dallas Mavericks prospects.

A guy named 'Omar' and a guy named 'Shan.' Kidsnamed 'Roddy B' and 'Ian' and 'DoJo.' Oh, and one otherguy that we ended up writing more about than anybody.Before there was "Linsanity'' with the New York Knicks,there was DallasBasketball.com in Las Vegas with JeremyLin.

He's the stuff of New York legend now, even though itonly took three games. There have been Knicks wins withLin averaging 25 points and eight rebounds and prematurelegend-making is New York's top export, so let's go with it.

MAVS G.M. WAS ON TO LIN EARLYWay back when, Mavs GM Donnie Nelson saw that

though Lin hadn't been drafted and hadn't really even beenrecruited out of high school, he was worthy of a one-yearguaranteed contract. The plan was to let him settle into theD-League in Frisco for a bit ...

But the Golden State Warriors had other plans. Theyoffered Lin a two-year deal, in part because of the home-town-hero marketing value. But Golden State then stashedthem on their D-League team, too, before waiving him onDec. 11. He had a cup o' coffee with the Rockets, didn'tstick, and landed with the point-guard-starved Knicks.

And now comes the "Linsanity.''

Here's DallasBasketball.com correspondent MarkFenn's raw notes as he summarized the 2010 MavsSummer League team:

o Roddy still has a ways to go if he truly can be a15/20+ minute PG at the NBA level. Time will tell (he willbe playing the point for French National Team in upcom-ing FIBA World Championships in Turkey at the end ofAugust). As of right now I think the Mavs feel Roddyplaying next to Kidd at the 2 position is the most effectivetandem until Roddy develops further. This plays to bothplayers' strengths and allows Roddy to focus on being ascoring/attacking guard which is more natural to him atthis point in his development. Thus, Mavs still need a

backup PG.

o You got to give credit to MBT for what appears ascoming away with NBA rotation talent with the selectionof Roddy at #25 in 2009 and now Dominique Jones at #25in 2010. Roddy was named by most account in 2009 asfirst team NBA Summer League (including myself) andnow Dominique Jones is getting the same credit fromNBA.com. Just check the history and getting NBA rota-tion talent late in the first round is something that shouldbe applauded. More to come on Dominique as he was theworkhorse and overall best player for Mavs 2010 SLTeam. Again, though … late first-rounder. Still hard to tell.

o Omar Samhan landed a two-year contract playing inLithuania and hopefully the time overseas will assist in hisdevelopment in the paint to where some day he can be aserviceable backup in the NBA. But he's not there.

o Neither Shan Foster nor JR Giddens did anything tostand out from the other 100's of players out here in Vegastrying to distinguish themselves from others. I don't seeeither being around come Fall.

o Mahinmi was off in his debut with the Mavs againstthe Wizards on Thursday but it was his first game suitedup with Mavs after just one practice. What a differenceone game makes as he played toe to toe with #5 pickDeMarcus Cousins (6 pts/6 rbds) and was clearly inCousins' head all night as it got heated on a few occasions.We need to see more of Mahinmi....

o And saving the best for last- Jeremy Lin: The 6-3,200-pound four-year undrafted PG from Harvard hascome from out of nowhere to all of the sudden going man-to-man with No. 1 pick John Wall in what turned out to be

one of the better summer league games of the tournament.

YOU MIGHT WANNA KEEP AN EYE ON THIS GUY...Through all five games Jeremy established himself as

not only someone who belonged on the court, but it wasclear he was in complete control with the flow of the gameon the court and his leadership skills and ability to simplymake plays was very noticeable. He's the kind of guy thatmakes others around him better and as we know thosekinds of guys are not easy to find. The best Mavs combi-nation was when Roddy, Dojo and Lin were all on thecourt at the same time with Lin and Dojo doing more ofthe playmaking.

Keep an eye on Lin as he showed natural basketballinstincts combined with a good frame and ability to stay infront of his player defensively (had back-to-back blocks in1st game on same play).

Sounds crazy but I believe he has the whole package tobe an effective point guard at the NBA level, starting nextseason.

Photo: Rob Carr/Getty Images

Don't know where Mavs have room, but for someone,he's a perfect third guard and depending on his develop-ment (he needs to work on outside shooting) he canbecome a serviceable if not better-than-that NBA pointguard. He emulates his game after Steve Nash...

Check out Mike Fisher on Twitter atFishSports, on the Mavs telecasts on Fox SportsSouthwest, and at DallasBasketball.com

SPORTS TALK WITH MIKE FISHERTHE FISH

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by TOM WARDS PE C IAL CO NTR I BUTO Rtompward@sbcglobal .net

This week’s tip is going to focus upon animportant area of your swing that startsfrom the ground up. Your hands may bethe only contact you have with the club,but your feet are the only contact youhave with the ground.

When a golfers legs start to get tired latein the round, this is a tell tale sign thatthere is going to be a major power leak-age in their game. Also, under pressurewhen a golfer incorporates too muchupper body(shoulders)or excessive hand/wrist action its likely game over as well.

The drill I have for you will help tohighlight the importance and often under-stated value of your feet( legs) and therole they play in your golf swing. Thisparticular tip will help you maximizeyour energy for a clean and efficientmove back into the ball as you make yourdownswing move. This incredibly simpledrill requires only a golf ball that is to beplaced under your right foot ( for righthanded players) as seen in the photo-graph. To help demonstrate the tip I haveone of my young junior girl golfers help-ing me out. This youngster may notweigh much, but by doing this drill shehas managed to substantially increase herdistance with every club in her bag.

First, go ahead and take your normalsetup over the ball. Next, take a golf balland wedge it under the sole of your golfshoe as shown in the picture. I must warnyou that this will feel quite awkward inthe beginning, but remember the old say-ing ”If you always did what you’ve

always done, you’ll always get whatyou’ve always got.” Needless to say, inthe long run you’re going to like how theball under your foot will help your shotmaking and can add more power togame. The premise for having the ballunder your foot is to build and maintainleverage as you take the club back up tothe top of your backswing. The key topulling off this shot to derive the maxi-mum amount of energy possible in yourswing is to make sure you maintain thecorrect posture you’ve established onyour initial setup. The young girl golferis a relative newcomer to the game, how-ever you can see she has a simple setupover the ball staying bent from waist asshe prepares to make her swing. Take aclose look at the great knee flex she haseven with a golf ball tucked under herright foot. Then she’s allowing her armsto hang down naturally and comfortablenot trying to over extend herself in anymanner. When a golfers torso straightensup too much at the top of their backswinga multitude of problems will arise. Thepurpose of the backswing is to store upyour energy. As the golfer reaches the topof their backswing they are really wind-ing up, like a human rubber band creatinga great surge of energy that will be veryexplosive as they begin their trek backinto the hitting area. By having a golfball wedged under your right foot( forright handed golfers) it will act as aminiature backboard to help you createstability as you pivot your upper bodyagainst your lower body which is sup-ported by your braced right leg. It’s verysimilar to the motion used by a pitcher inbaseball. As The pitcher makes hiswindup he’s keeping one foot plantedfirmly against the rubber on the mound.This ball under your foot is your safetynet to assist you in pushing off from theground up as your start your journeyback to the ball.

Also, the ball under your foot will helpyou from over-swinging. If you try totake the club too far back and have toomuch lateral motion in your takeaway,you’ll lose your balance I promise.

You’ll be fortunate if your even able tomake any contact with the ball at all.Having the ability to push off with yourright foot in this case creates a dynamicchain reaction whereby your legs willautomatically pull your club down firston the correct swing path relative to yourphysical build. This excellent motionstarting from the ground up is where youcan really can develop some extra clubhead speed. That’s because you have cre-ated a pulling action in your swing.

Listen, next time you’re out hitting someballs I highly recommend you give thisdrill a try. With a little practice you’llsurprise yourself with how well this drillcan make an immediate and positiveimpact in your game giving you a boostof confidence.

The added bonus by doing this drill isthat you’re going to feel more powerfuldriving your legs into your shots than youhave done in the past. This motion withyour lower body leading your downswingwill help you feel and look much moresynchronized and fluid in your swing.Finally, this drill is designed to counter-act the tendency we all battle as golfers.

Our inconsistency is the bi-product ofinitiating our downswing with our handsor shoulders first which forces the club tocome into the ball at a poor angle ofattack or what is commonly called “com-ing over the top”. The better players( lowhandicap & professionals) can frequentlyget away with it, but eventually even theywill fall prey to some awful shots.

If there is a ‘cancer” in our swings itoriginates in our hands because that’s theonly contact we have with the club.When we get nervous or anxious aboutour swing we feel it in our hands. Tohave a great swing that can hold up underpressure and scrutiny under the gun youneed to let your hands just hold onto theclub and go for the ride, as that’s the pur-pose they serve. So it’s time to “Get onthe ball” and step up to the tee with arevised game plan to elevate your gameto a higher level. Getting on the ball willhelp you have a ball on the course.

Tom Ward can be reached at www.teetimewithtom.com

ITH TOM WARDGOLF

A whole new ‘ball game” to get more power


by MIKE KRAVIKCO R R E S PO N D E [email protected]

Late February is one of the truly greattimes on the calendar for Texas Rangersfans because it's when pitchers and catch-ers report for Spring Training. The antici-pation of baseball ramping up means somany good things are on the doorstep.Days are about to be warmer, brighter andlonger. Hell, food tastes better, beer iscolder and women are prettier when base-ball starts.

Jon Daniels stated after the 2011 WorldSeries that one of his goals in the off-sea-son was to sign (what he considered) coremembers of the team to extensions. CJWilson became a free agent and signedwith the Angels and his spot in the rotationwas filled by Yu Darvish. Joe Nathan wassigned to be the closer and Neftali Felizwill be a starter. Elvis Andrus and NelsonCruz both signed healthy contracts thattake them through their arbitration yearsbut don't touch their free agent eligibility.

Mike Napoli, Mike Adams, Colby Lewisand Josh Hamilton are now eligible tobecome free agents after the 2012 season.Gulp.

The rock star of that group is Hamilton.

Will the Rangers extend Josh Hamilton oris this his final year with the team?

I say this in a purely heterosexual mannerbut (along with pre-steroid Barry Bondsand Ken Griffey Jr.) Josh Hamilton is oneof the most beautiful (in terms of physicaltalent) baseball players I've ever seen.

Former major league pitcher CurtSchilling was recently on ESPN's Ben &Skin Show and said “This kid is a once ina generation talent…a game-changer…afranchise-changer.”

HAMILTON A CATALYST FOR RANGERSRISEThere were a lot of ingredients that wentinto the Rangers turnaround but Josh com-ing aboard in 2008 may have been themost important. His physical gifts notonly bolstered the team but his style ofplay electrified the fans.

As physically talented as Hamilton is, it'sthe intangibles (presence, clutch, leader-ship) he provides and his mental approachto the game (handling pressure, process-ing failure and all the other crotch kicks

that baseball hands out) that help makehim a superstar.

If you want to start the War of the Dorks,mention intangibles to a baseball stathead. Intangibles are not something thatcan be easily defined but to say they don'texist because they can't be captured with

numerical value is not only arrogant, it'swrong.

Instead of calling it fact, I'll inject person-al opinion and say Josh Hamilton addsseveral incredibly valuable intangibles tothe Texas Rangers. His presence in theline-up makes everybody better becauseof the offensive tension he creates.Michael Young and Adrian Beltre both seebetter pitches to hit because opposingteams don't want Hamilton to beat them.

Clutch play? He's the player I want com-ing up in extra innings (career 1094 OPS)or if my favorite baseball team has justcoughed up a 9th inning lead in Game 6(one out, one strike away from a champi-onship!!) of the World Series.

Hamilton has small town North Carolinaroots and a Gumpian, keep it simple andhonest relationship with the media that healso takes between the lines. When askedabout his home run in extra innings ofGame 6, Hamilton unashamedly creditedGod.

“I was walking to the plate and (it hap-pened) as I was brushing dirt in the batter'sbox. Very cool. Y'all out to try it some-time. And you know what, I probably hadthe most relaxed, peaceful at-bat I've hadthe whole series at that moment.”

HOW WILL RANGERS RESPOND TOGAME SIXThe post-season loss (two-run lead, onestrike away from a championship takenaway not once but twice) the Rangersexperienced last October trumps everypost-season loss that ever involvedBartman, Boone, Buckner or BuckyBleeping Dent. That loss openly mockswhat happened to the 2006 Mavericks andcan stand toe to toe in terms of devastationwith any loss in the history of sports. Theloss the Rangers suffered and how they

handle it is probably my biggest worryabout the team heading to 2012.

If you're a professional athlete, how doyou move forward from that kind of loss?Al McGuire, the former coach and televi-sion broadcaster, once said “The only timewinning is really important is in surgeryand war.”

At the Rangers Winter Banquet in JanuaryHamilton spoke to Richard Durret onESPN Radio and said “It was a greatWorld Series. We gave it our best shot andfell short. Life goes on.”

Given his history and present (he can'tcarry more than $ 20 in his wallet), it's noteasy for Josh to be a leader off the field buthe still shows it in his own keep it simpleway.

This past Halloween, two days after theRangers lost the World Series to theCardinals, Josh wasn't in a dark roomcurled up in a ball. No, he was dressed uplike Buzz Lightyear and enjoying life,trick-or-treating with his family.

Josh has the proper perspective. The 2012Rangers can't dwell on what happened lastOctober and hope to succeed.

I don't know what went on in JoshHamilton's life this off-season but it's easyto connect some dots. His long timeaccountability partner-cum-babysitterJohnny Narron left to take as a job as thehitting coach in Milwaukee. Maybe that'sa promotion or maybe Narron was tired ofbabysitting a grown man. A few weekslater his father-in-law publicly agreed toassume that role but then backed out. Joshthen has a relapse and a who-know-what-really-happened incident occurs whichtables the contract extension.

What do you do now if you're the TexasRangers?

I'd sign him.

Michael Young and Adrian Beltre bothsigned contracts for 5 years / $ 80 millionthat began when they were 32 years old(Josh's age in 2013). I use those figures asa baseline and then give him healthy ($3 -$5 million) bonuses based on plateappearances that protect the team.

Committing long-term to Josh Hamilton isnot an easy decision but we need him andhe needs us.

TEXAS RANGERSBASEBALL

Hamilton a key figure in Rangers success

Hamilton is not only valuable at the plate, but with fans as well. (Photo: DallasNews.com)


TEXAS RANGERSCOVER STORY

by DIC HUMPHREYSENIOR [email protected]

Next week, the Rangers' open spring train-ing camp in Surprise, Arizona for the mostanticipated season in Rangers' history. Theteam is coming off the franchise's most suc-cessful campaign as they twice came withina strike of winning the World Series. Withthe core back, it is reasonable to expectanother serious run at the championship.

Over the past week, Texas settled arbitrationcases with outfielder Nelson Cruz and MikeNapoli. Cruz signed a two year deal at $16million including the possibility of earninganother $500,000 in incentives. The con-tract is back loaded with $5 million paid thisyear, and $10.5 million paid in 2013.Napoli signed for one year at $9.4 million.Those contracts bought out the remainingarbitration eligible years for both players,but in both situations, there is talk of nego-tiations to extend their contracts further.Elvis Andrus had earlier signed a three yearcontract at $14.5 million to buy out his threearbitration eligible years. His agent is ScottBoras, so there is little likelihood of a con-tract extension beyond those three yearswhen he becomes a free agent.

RECORD SPENDING FOR RANGERSIn summary, the Rangers settled all sevencontracts with arbitration eligible playerswithout going to a hearing. In total, thoseseven players realized salary increases ofmore than $14 million. The team currentlyhas 19 players under contract for a shadeunder $120 million. That does not includethe $51.7 million posting fee Texas sent tothe Nippon Ham Fighters to secure thenegotiating rights to Yu Darvish. Filling outthe roster will balloon that figure to around$125 million, far exceeding the previoushigh in 2001 of $108 million.

Jon Daniels said the salary brings themslightly over budget, such that the roster isessentially set. He did leave the door openby saying that sometimes creative salarystructures could change their position, butthe rumored addition of starting pitcher RoyOswalt, who is seeking a one year deal inthe $8 - $10 million range, seems unlikely.The key dates are February 22 for pitchersand catchers to report, February 25 for thefull squad to report and March 4 for the firstspring game against the Royals in anticipa-tion of Opening Day in Arlington on April 6against the White Sox.

STARTING ROTATION: A year ago, the starting five coming out ofspring training started 157 of 162 games.That's not likely to happen again. Teamsusually in the course of the season utilize atleast nine or ten starters. On paper, the

RangerS head to spring training with thisstarting five (in order): Colby Lewis, DerekHolland, Yu Darvish, Matt Harrison andNeftali Feliz. (That puts Darvish on courseto make his Major League debut on Sunday,April 8 at home against the White Sox in anight game televised by ESPN.) If Oswaltwere to somehow be added, the generalthinking is that Harrison would move to thebullpen to make available a spot in the start-ing rotation.

This is certainly a bold move for theRangers. The team has essentially chosenDarvish over C. J. Wilson, and to moveFeliz into the rotation replacing AlexiOgando, who made the All-Star team as astarter last season. Last year's rotation wasgood enough to take the team to the WorldSeries, so replacing 40% of the starters withunproven quantities is daring. On the other

hand, both additions are extremely talented,and if they work out to the top end of theirpossibilities, this could end up being one ofthe very best starting rotations in baseball,and not just for this year.

Backing up this five are Ogando and ScottFeldman, who will be stretched out asstarters in spring training. MichaelKirkman may make the team as a left-hand-ed reliever, but may stay stretched out as astarter in AAA, where he would be joinedby top prospects Marin Perez and NeilRamirez. That's DEPTH!

The starting five is not set in stone.Surprises often happen. A year ago, theRangers had 10 starting rotation candidates.Most projections of the starting five includ-ed Brandon Webb and Tommy Hunter.Neither started a single game. Harrison and

As Spring Training opens, Rangers have high hopes

Rangers fans hope to see this sight in late October. (Photo: blog.rivalspot.com)

Ogando were basically nine and ten in thepecking order, but won not only a spot inthe rotation but 27 games during the season.Ogando especially has the talent to be theBEST starter on the staff if given thechance.

BULLPEN:Joe Nathan was signed to be the closer inorder to allow Feliz the opportunity to start.Mike Adams returns as the chief eighthinning set up man. Ogando could figure inthe mix for the late innings too. Feldman isslated to be the long man. Mark Lowe, KojiUehara, and Yoshinori Tateyama likely arebattling for two spots. Another contestedroster spot is the left-handed relief special-ist. Michael Kirkman saw some action inthat role the past couple of seasons. Texashas also brought in two non-roster candi-dates to compete for the job - Joe Beimeland Mitch Stetter.

A year ago, the bullpen performed poorlyearly and didn't really fall into place untilAugust after two July trades. With the poorperformances from the pen, the Rangerslost games early in the season, which madethe race with the Angels in September arace. Had the bullpen performed well early,Texas would have easily won 100 gameslast year and run off with the West. Thisyear's pen looks more set from the get-go.

OFFENSE: The offense is much the same as a year ago.

Mike Napoli is the number one catcher, butYorvit Torrealba will see material timebehind the plate, much more than a normalbackup. Napoli's bat is so potent that hewill see time at first base and designatedhitter when Torrealba catches. Napoliinjured his ankle on a slide in the WorldSeries. He reports that the ankle is still not100%. Ranger management didn't find it ofenough concern to preclude signing him toa $9.4 million contract, but it is an injurythat bears watching.

The infield looks the same, with MitchMoreland, Ian Kinsler, Elvis Andrus andAdrian Beltre around from first to third.Michael Young returns as super-sub capableof playing all four positions. Moreland isthe weakest link offensively, as his numberscratered in the second half last season. Theteam later reported that he suffered with awrist injury that required off season sur-gery. He may not be 100% when springtraining begins. Veterans Conor Jacksonand Brad Hawpe have been signed to com-pete for first base and back up spots on theroster. Both have had significant success inthe past, so have upside potential. AlbertoGonzalez will battle Luis Hernandez for thebackup middle infielder roster spot.

In the outfield, Nelson Cruz, JoshHamilton, David Murphy and Craig Gentryreturn. The Rangers seem convinced thatleft field protects Hamilton from injuries.Cruz reports he plans to play at 230 thisyear, about 10 pounds less than last. He


GM Daniels set Rangers spending record with 2012 roster

hopes this will reduce the wear and tear onhis legs, as his three trips to the disabled listlast season all related to leg injuries.

Center field is another of the few contestedspots this spring. Gentry was the righthanded platoon with Chavez last season.He may get the opportunity to be the fulltime starter this year. He is perhaps thefastest player in the Rangers' system anddefinitely covers the ground in center field.Julio Borbon and Leonys Martin will chal-lenge for the spot. They both bat left-hand-ed, so could fit as a platoon.

DEFENSE: There is a strange paradox with the team'sdefense. There are outstanding defensiveplayers at almost every position. Theinfielders have range and the outfieldersthrow well. This team makes tremendousplays because players are so talented, yetthe Rangers lack consistency. They com-mitted 114 errors last season, finishing 25thin the Majors and 12th in the AmericanLeague in fielding percentage. Definitelythe defense makes a difference. During theteam's season high 12-game winning streaklast season, they committed just threeerrors. The players in place are capable ofmore consistent play. If it happens, theteam will looked markedly improved.

Spring training is a wonderful time for fans.Every team can dream about how well theseason can go. For Ranger fans though, thedream is much more of an expectation thana hope with the 58 players that are expect-ed to report next week.

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RANGERS POUR MORE MONEYIN TO ROSTER.

by KATE DELANEYS PE C IAL CO NTR I BUTO [email protected]

The Rangers have officially put away thecheckbook after signing catcher MikeNapoli to a one year deal worth $9.4 mil-lion dollars. Successfully avoiding thearbitration with the Angels cast off whowas nothing short of spectacular withTexas last season; a .320 batting average,30 homers and 75 RBIs. We can all collec-tively and officially breathe a sigh of reliefas the core Rangers is back in the fold tothe tune of $120 million dollars. This isthe most dough the Rangers have shelledout since 2002 when the payroll hit $105.7million.

ROSTER LIKELY SET NOW.GM Jon Daniels says it's very unlikelythat the Rangers will bring more than 58

players to spring training unless there issome kind of a trade or a minor-leaguemove. So you would think that means thechase for pitcher Roy Oswalt is over.

However, on Daniels weekly radio showhe didn't completely close the door.

Although, it might take some creativeaccounting, I wouldn't count on any adds.I also wouldn't rule out more long termdeals for signed players as often with theexcitement of spring training and arelaxed atmosphere there is more potentialfor those possibilities. We are less than amonth away from our first Spring Traininggame - March 4th vs. Kansas City. Sweet!

PURPLE POWER

Valentine's Day was extra sweet for theTCU men's basketball team. (I knowcheesy but I felt compelled) Why? Down18 points, TCU rallied and upset the 11thranked UNLV Running Rebels 102-97 inovertime. The Frogs moved the ball upand down the court when it counted andoutscored UNLV 35-17 in the final 13minutes of regulation. The star of thegame was guard Hank Thorns - he scoredeight of his career-high 32 points in over-time. This might be my favorite statisticfrom the game, Thorns eight 3-pointersare the second most in a single game inTCU history.

I wish I had been there to see Thorns leaponto the press table at the buzzer wildlyraising his arms shouting at the TCU fanswho rushed the court. What a scene!Thorns, who grew up in Las Vegas, saidafterwards that he knew this team well andwas waiting all season long to take onUNLV. The win now puts the team in thehunt for the Mountain West Conferencetitle with a couple of home games left on

the schedule. So with 15 wins bring onSan Diego State and New Mexico - gopurple!

The win helped pick up a campus stunnedby the news that four football players areamong 17 students that have been pickedup for selling drugs. The TCU police chiefsaid the group was being watched as partof an undercover operation - they werecaught selling marijuana, ecstasy, cocaineand prescription drugs.

Apparently, parents and students com-plained prompting the six month investi-gation that led to the arrests. All of the stu-dents involved have been expelled andnone of the names have been released atthis point. Ugh, just as the Big 12 footballschedule was being released the footballplayers involved were being read theirrights. The first year of TCU's jump to theBig 12 who knows who will be missingfor the first game of the season againstKansas on the road.Kate Delaney hosts "America Tonight,"which airs from 11p.m. - 2a.m. on KKGM1630AM.

Rangers bringing the band back intact SPORTS SHORTS WITH KATE DELANEY

by Richard S. Pollak,The Hockey AttitudeSPECIAL [email protected]

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman gatheredthe media to discuss a variety of league-wide and local issues of interest. The mostinteresting tidbits – at least regarding whatBettman would call “new news” – revolvearound dealings with the NHLPA.

Bettman’s comments:

“The most significant thing I can say aboutthat is the governors were overwhelming insupport of the plan,” Bettman said. “It’ssomething that we, as a league, thought wasthe right thing to do for our fans, for theteam, for the game. But we made the deci-sion based on the position that the unionwas taking to try not to be confrontationalright now. Ultimately, our goal will be to beto implement the will of the board [of gover-nors].”

For the most part, Bettman didn't provide awhole lot of information about the negotia-tion process regarding the next CollectiveBargaining Agreement. He did share aninteresting little nugget about when the dis-cussions could begin, though:

“Well, Don Fehr has repeatedly said that hewouldn't be ready until after the All-Star[weekend],” Bettman said. “My guess isthat at some point in the next few weeks,we'll probably sit down—assuming theunion is comfortable doing that. There’s apretty steep learning curve in terms of thebusiness from the union’s standpoint, whatthe players are focused on, and we've beenrespectful of that process. So wheneverthey're ready, we're ready. We've beenready.”

NOT AGAIN!Speaking of readiness, Bettman spoke aboutwhat is likely the greatest fear of hockeypeople: another protracted work stoppage.When asked if the league “learned a lesson”after the lockout, Bettman’s response waslogical but not necessarily soothing:

“I'm not sure it’s about learning lessons,

because the lesson that everybody knows –and it’s not one you have to learn – is thatyou want to not have work stoppages,”Bettman said. “They're not fun. They'recounter-productive. But if, if you're in a sit-uation as we were where there were funda-mental problems that had to be addressed,you have to address the problems. Becauseyou can't live with a dysfunctional system.”

It’s not crazy to view that quote as a bitcryptic, especially if he views the currentsystem as dysfunctional.

It’s tough to imagine the league taking thatstand, but that doesn't mean that a work

stoppage is out of the question – especiallywith the aforementioned realignment talk inmind.

New Dallas Stars Owner,Tom Gaglardicampaigned for the chosen realignmentthroughout the purchase process andthought that he was rewarded, his first weekon the job!

MAYBE WHEN DALLAS FREEZES OVER...Locally, Bettman stated that he "never"would rule out a Winter Classic Indoors atJerry World, again,some day. Hopefully,when that day happens, it would once againbe snowing like last year's Super Bowl inDFW and we can open up the CowboysStadium's roof. Smart Jerry had alreadyinstalled ice making equipment on the floorof the Stadium for Ice Hockey in addition tohis plush 50 yard line suite!

DALLAS STARSHOCKEY

Bettman addresses the L word, realignment

JAMIE BENN BOBBLEHAD NIGHT:

THE FIRST 10,000 FANS ATTENDINGTHE FEB. 16TH GAME VERSUS THE CALGARY FLAMES WILL RECEIVE ALIMITED EDITION JAMIE BENN BOB-

BLEHEAD FOR TICKETS: 214-GO STARS

spor tspagedfw.com | The Sports Page | February 17-23 2012 13

by Dic HumphreySENIOR [email protected]

SMU lost to Central Florida last Saturday59-52, running this year's record to 10-13.

UCF's Marcus Jordan, Michael's son, ledall scorers in the game with 17 points;while Kimball High's Jalen Jones led theMustangs with 16. SMU actually led at thehalf 29-28, and trailed by just one at 49-48with 4:28 remaining, but simply could notfinish the deal.

NEXT VERSE, SAME AS THE FIRST...It's another verse in a familiar story for thisyear's SMU men's team. They have beenin a position to win games late againstFresno State, Jackson State, SoutheastMissouri State, Oklahoma State,Mississippi, Tulsa twice, UTEP, and nowUCF.

The Ponies are just 2-7 in those games,which doesn't count a double digit loss toMemphis in which they trailed by fourwith eight minutes remaining in the game.This team plays well enough to put them-selves in position to win games, but simplydoesn't finish the deal.

Barring a miracle run over the final sevenconference games and the conference tour-nament, this year's SMU basketball seasonwill go down as a disappointment. A yearago, the Mustangs were 8-8 in Conference-USA play, their best conference showingsince Matt Doherty took over as headcoach. SMU will resume conference playthis Saturday against Rice in Houston witha 2-7 record, so are highly unlikely to evenmatch, much less improve upon last year'sconference record.

One problem for SMU is that the confer-ence is much better this year. ESPN“bracketologist” Joe Lunardi this weekprojected two C-USA teams in this year'sNCAA Tournament. He has Memphis andSouthern Mississippi as nine seeds. Inrecent weeks, Lunardi has projected asmany as four C-USA teams in the tourna-ment. Tulsa, Marshall and Central Floridaare the others on the bubble.

YOUNG SQUAD FINDING THEIR WAYThis Mustang team looks talented onpaper, but much of that talent is new to thecourt. Robert Nyakundi and JeremiahSamarrippas are the only two returningplayers from last year that played materialminutes. Rodney Clinkscales and AliakseiPatsevich also return, but neither is makingmuch of a contribution. London Giles,

Shawn Williams, Jalen Jones, LesleeSmith, Ryan Manuel and CannenCunningham are the talented newcomersthat are playing a majority of the minutes.

It was obvious from the beginning of theseason that this year's team would need tomeld together to improve upon last year'srecord. So far, it has not happened.In this week's Sagarin ratings, SMU isdead last in C-USA, ranked 201st in thenation. That's right behind EasternWashington and South Alabama and justahead of Lipscomb and Hofstra. There isno question that the SMU communityexpected more when Matt Doherty washired. Off the court, Doherty has beeneverything a program could want in acoach. He's ingratiated himself into thefabric of the school and community. He isaccessible to alumni and supporters. On aone-on-one basis, he is well liked.

DOHERTY DONE GOOD WORK SO FAROverall, there is tremendous improvementin the program since Doherty arrived. Hewas the impetus for the new Crum Centerpractice facility, which is state of the art,and the substantial refurbishment ofMoody Coliseum, which will soon begin.SMU has accepted an invitation to join theBig East, and make no mistake about it;teams such as Georgetown, Connecticutand Louisville coming to town will fill thenew seats at Moody. Doherty has recruitedwell, as the talent level is certainly betterthan when he arrived. The three recruitssigned for next year include a seven footerranked in the top 100; most definitely a BigEast quality player.

There are a lot of good signs for the future;but the fact remains, the present is not whatsupporters of the program expected after

six years of the new regime. So farAthletic Director Steve Orsini has beensupportive of Doherty and the progress theprogram has made under his leadership.However, there is substantial pressuremounting among influential alumni to goin a different direction. With the talentbase in the program, and the entrée into the

Big East, this could be the perfect time toattract a new coach to move the programforward on the court.

SMU NOTES:Last Sunday, Brittney Hardy took the courtfor SMU's Women's team, coming off thebench to score nine points in a loss atTulane. Her route to the Hilltop is astrange and remarkable story. Hardy isfrom Frisco (Frisco High School). Sheenrolled last fall at Oklahoma StateUniversity and played 20 minutes in fourgames with the Cowgirls this season. Sheenrolled at SMU last week, transferring tobe closer to her family as she deals withthe tragic deaths of OSU coaches, includ-ing head coach Kurt Budke. She appliedfor and received a waiver from the NCAA,such that she is eligible to play immediate-ly without having to sit out a year, as is thenorm. The 6'-2” forward is a definite plusfor the program. She was ranked 63rd inESPN's Top 100 a year ago, and was aMcDonald's High School All-Americannominee. She had just three practices withthe team before appearing in last Sunday'sgame.

SMU MUSTANGSBASKETBALL

Doherty brought progress, but more wanted


Joe Nieuwendyk with BaDD RadioDiscussing the Stars’ playoff

chances, trade deadline.

BaDD RadioWeekdays, Noon - 3:00 PM

Bob: It's been a roller coaster ridequite a bit here since January. You guysare trying to stay in the mix here, andyou guys are in a vital time. Just give us

a state of the union of where you guysthink you are at right now.

Joe: Well yeah it's been dissappoint-ing in the sense that we've had opportu-nities at home, especially lately with theLA game and the Phoenix game andyou'd expect the urgency to be better atthe start of those games. We've fallenshort, and those are dissappointing. It'skind of puzzling to see our starts onhome ice, especially in these circum-stances.

Dan: That's the one thing throughoutyour tenure that you said you wouldn'tstand for. The questioning of effort. Youcan maybe understand when peoplearen't as good as another athlete, andyour matra has been be tough to playagainst and play hard everynight. It'sonly been recently, but even CoachGulatzen called out the effort againstMinnessota a little bit, and rescinded thatafter some of the guys said they weretired after a long road trip. I wouldimagine that's a little bit of a concerningthing for you, is it not?

Joe: It very much is. Everybody istired this time of year. Certaintly we doa lot of traveling in the western confer-ence, but everybody does that. It is con-cerning because you look at the stand-ings alone, and you sense the urgency ofit all, and you expect the fire in the bellyto come out early in those games andthat's been a big concern for sure.

Dan: How important is it to make theplayoffs, or to try to make playoffs as weperhaps lead into talk about the tradedeadline?

Joe: It's always important, especiallyfor our franchise because we haven'tmade the playoffs in some time now. Itobviously would be great for our team,our young players, and our franchise.Having said that, I don't think I can everlose sight of the big picture in what we'retrying to accomplish.

I don't want to make short term sacri-fices for one single playoff birth whenthe big picture is that I'd like for us to be

a perennial contender for Stanley Cups,like Detroit and those type of teamswhere we are doing it on an annual basis.For us to get there, we've got to continuewhat we've been doing and identify thecore players that we are moving on with.

Bob: Are we buyers or are we sellersright now?

Joe: It comes down to not doing any-thing that sacrifices where we're trying toget to ultimately. When we say we're ayoung team, that's classifying that someof our best players are young in JamieBenn, Loui Errikson, and AlexGoligosky.

Overall, our average age is not amongthe young teams in the league so we'llalways look to improve and add pieces tohelp the team and improve that youngergroup setting.

TICKET WINDOW


Where’s the Beef? Hotel Intercontinental!by RICHARD POLLAK,The Traveling GourmetSPECIAL [email protected]

WHERE'S THE BEEF?

We have found all the the beef you can han-dle at Q De Cheval in the HotelIntercontinental in Addison and it is GOOD!

Every Friday night you get all the Prime Ribyou can put in your Belly for only $19.95.During the Day, Q De Cheval is theBreakfast and Lunch Restaurant for theHotel Intercontinental, but at night, itbecomes a Five Star Dining extravaganzawith Gulf Crab Cake in a Poblano BeurreBlanc, Red Chili Caesar Salad with a choiceof Chicken Breast ,Grilled Tiger Shrimp,Tuna or Quail and Entrees of Braised ShortRibs, Steak Bearnaise and Chicken FriedMaine Lobster. But on Friday nights, thisexceptional corporate hotel in Addison real-ly gets humming to THE BEEF!

I am immediately recognized by Executive

Chef Rex Turner, who once gave me theSunday Brunch of a lifetime at his old cook-ing grounds at Coalvines on McKinney.After greeting me, Chef rushes to thekitchen and quickly returns presenting mewith a freshly butchered rack of meatyPrime Rib Bones. The tender beef wasfalling off of the massive ribs. While theSous Chef ,who also knew me immediatelyfrom my visit to his old place of work atNick & Sam's Grill, made sure that our extralarge slabs of Prime were perfectly slicedand then sent for a dip in a perfectly sea-soned Au Jus to get it at the preferred done-ness. Don't forget to crown your proteinwith Chef Rex's outstanding Crawfish

Bearnaise Sauce which takes the meat to awhole new level of flavor.

We smartly took a tour of the entire Buffet,a gracious tribute to the Old InfamousSunday Brunch in their Malachite ShowRoom. Chef Turner tickled our taste budswith a self-served thick cup of creamy Craband Corn Chowder and a hearty salad ofroasted vegetables like FAVS Asparagusand Potbellies mushrooms with a wonder-fully fresh infused her bed Ranch Dressing.

Well stocked with 4 ridiculous Prime Ribbones covered in Pot Roast tender Prime,General Manager Tariq Fassal, attended toour wine selections. Normally looking for aRich Robust Red Cabernet Sauvignon, I wasunfortunately sent to the Penalty Box, notallowed to drink alcohol because of my newmedication. A Restaurant Food and Winewriter, who can't drink? Readers pleaseemail me! Someone's got to handle thedrinking for me. Tariq could not have beenmore gracious, as he displayed a wine buck-et for us with a glass of the finest sparkingwater. Manning our table,TJ ( not his realinitials) could not have been more attentive,all evening long relegated to the major task

of bringing us garlic infused butter andcleaning our empty plates off of the table. Inonly his third shift in fine dining. I rate DJ'sperformance: The Best Buffet Waiter of theyear!

Not only did Chef Turner succeed to fill ourtummies with Best Prime in North Texasbut had both Baked and Sweet Potatoes per-fectly prepared with all the fixings, perfect-ly grilled Asparagus and Green BeanCasserole,like I make and in-house bakedCorn Bread.

The only disappointment to the entireevening was that when it came time toattack the enormous 10 lbs Apple Cobblerwith a Silver Punch Bowl filled with VanillaIce cream that there was none of that deli-cious Cobbler crust left. Before I could evenstart to cry, the back of the house was hus-tling from the Pastry Kitchen with anotherHuge Display of Apple Cobbler which Ithough was just for me!

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