Dallas Sports Blog

​Whether you're at the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt's End:

*Haven't received a return call all week from Greg Williams, which is weird if not troubling. Something's up. Maybe he's merely at his vacation condo in Colorado and temporarily out of pocket. Or maybe there's something to the whispers about Hammer I'm hearing from mutual friends that include a possible recent arrest and/or two broken ankles. Developing ...

*Since Arbitron has turned stingy with the publishing of its detailed radio ratings, we'll have to generalize October's stats. 1. The Ticket. 2. ESPN Radio. 3. The Fan. There, I've already said too much.

*Not saying we've let our guard down, but there are no longer metal detectors at the entrances to American Airlines Center. Check that, we have let our guard down.

*In the spirit of the Cowboys' season-opening alternating of cornerbacks Mike Jenkins and Orlando Scandrick, Mavs owner Mark Cuban will give behind-the-mic starts to P.A. candidates Michael Taylor and Sean Heath the next 10 games before making a final decision.

*There are 8th-graders in our midst who have never witnessed a Cowboys' playoff victory. Wow. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has overseen the most successful (three Super Bowls in four years) and most unsuccessful (13 years without a playoff win) stretches in franchise history. Question: Would you accept a Super Bowl win this season, if attached afterward was another 13 years without a post-season victory? I think you would. And I know there are 15 NFL teams out there that have never won a championship that would make that deal in a nano-second. Right, Philadelphia?

*The Texas Rangers hired Clint Hurdle to be their hitting coach. Yeah, that Clint Hurdle.

*I believe in JesusGodSanta, but sometimes just to trick it up I say "Praise Allah" when I make a long birdie putt or bank in a 3-pointer or beat my buddy at paper-rock-scissors. But after yesterday's events at Fort Hood I'm gonna stop. I'm not saying all Muslims are terrorists or all terrorists are Muslims, just saying the fact that Major Nidal Malik Hasan wrote "Allah" on his door sometime before killing 12 and injuring 31 prompts me to recalibrate some angles. Make sense?

*Hot.

*Hotter.

*Nottest.

​Every once in a while - unfortunately - we're reminded that sports is just a toy-box diversion. And that life, it ain't fair at all.

Our own soldiers killed on our own soil, by one of our own.

​For those of you - both of you - not consumed by Cowboys-Eagles this weekend, NASCAR comes to town in the form of the Dickie's 500 Sunday at.Texas Motor Speedway.

Driving. Racing. Wreckin'. Watching. Drinking. Eating.

Bowling?

It's the events surrounding the race that actually make NASCAR more circus than sport. The fun kicks off tonight at 7, in fact, with the Sam Hornish Jr. Celebrity Bowling Tournament at Main Event in Grapevine.

The tournament, benefiting Speedway Charities, has drawn one of the most eclectic mixes of celebrity soup I've seen in a long time.

Uh-oh. Get me re-write!

​It was just one week ago that - despite his mediocre production - I was publicly defending Dallas Cowboys' receiver Roy Williams. My reasoning? He was a better teammate than the dearly departed Terrell Owens.

"A stand-up guy," I wrote. "Good character."

Eff me.

You guys watch the games. You see what's going on, and what isn't. For whatever reason - I blame Roy - Williams is about as connected as Jessica Simpson to quarterback Tony Romo.

But, yesterday at Valley Ranch, after weeks of planting his cleats firmly on moral high ground, Williams decided to go all T.O.

Prepare to cringe ...

Bon appetit!

​So I'm out and about last night/this morning/feels like 20 minutes ago (y-a-w-n), and I realize "Damn, I'm hongree." Also hit me that I hadn't eaten dinner. But it was closing in on time for breakfast.

A little compromise and - voila - Dinner + Breakfast = Brinner. And what does a dorky sportswriter who's trying in vain to keep up with the young, hip kids have for brinner?

Guess what's in my bowl in the above photo and win a free year's day's subscription to both the Dallas Observer and this here Sportatorium ...

​We're all supposed to be offended by a Dallas Cowboys' cheerleader with black paint on her white face at Halloween.

But what about ...

He's baaaaack.

​*Dale Hansen on The Ticket: Coulda swore I heard him Monday morning filling in for Craig Miller on 1310 AM. But don't get used to it. Apparently it was a one-off, with Dale returning to his old chair just long enough to fill in for Miller, who spent last weekend running the New York City Marathon. Hansen, who flirted with burnout and then scorched his ESPN bridges with some of these comments back in July, said there is no plans for another fill-in. "I don't think it was an audition of any sort," Hansen told me yesterday afternoon. "I'm not looking to get back into a five-days-a-week situation, but I find myself wanting an outlet to vent. If The Ticket wants to talk about something, I'm eager and willing to listen."

*Mike Doocy back on the air: Love me some Dooce. He's solid and his Sports Sunday on Fox4 is as comprehensive as any weekend wrap-up show. He's been in a bad way recently, suffering from a horrible cold/un-Swine flu that produced a cough that actually damaged a vocal chord. The good news: He was back on the air last night for the first time in about a month. "Still a little hoarse," Doocy emails me, "but the voice is on the way back."

​I remember watching Mark Aguirre go off on the Denver Nuggets in March of 1984. In scoring 24 points in a quarter, the ball just seem to magically, directly commute from hand to hoop. He launched a wing jumper and you knew it was going in. Measured. Smooth. Beautiful.

Nothing, in other words, like Dirk Nowitzki's historic performance last night at American Airlines Center.

In the most dominating, productive 12 minutes of basketball in Dallas Mavericks' history, Dirk willed and skilled his team to an improbable comeback victory over the Utah Jazz. With a colossal combination of determined drives, in-rhythm 3-pointers, step-back jumpers and one-legged H-O-R-S-E shots - and, let's not forget, an assist from Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan, who stubbornly tried to guard Dirk one-on-one with Mehmet Okur - the best player in team history produced the best performance in team history.

29 points. In the fourth quarter.

"Phenomenal," said Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle. "I put it right up there with some of the stuff Larry Bird pulled off. And some of the all-time greats. It was something to behold."

Aguirre was my man. In college, I proudly displayed his McDonald's life-sized poster on the wall of my sports editor's office at UTA's Shorthorn student newspaper. But he needs to skootch a bit. Because he never dominated like Dirk.

​Like the BCS, style points count. So do geeky, black-and-white stats such as touchdowns and quarterback rating. Wins and losses? Definitely. Leadership? Uh-huh.

When it comes to my weekly NFL Quarterback Rankings - if I had one of those little encircled R's to signify a trademarked idea, it'd go here - the criteria is everything, nothing and all that's in between.

Past performance and future potential is considered, but mostly - like college football's weekly Top 25 - it's an attempt to identify the quarterbacks you'd most like to have starting for your team in this game, this week, right now. Injuries, obviously, significantly plummet value. A clever new TV ad might bump a player a notch.

32. Derek Anderson, Browns (-3).

31. JaMarcus Russell, Raiders (-).

30. Matthew Stafford , Lions (-4).

29. Jason Campbell, Redskins (-).

28. Josh Freeman, Buccaneers (-).

27. Marc Bulger, Rams (+3).

26. Mark Sanchez, Jets (-5).

25. Trent Edwards Ryan Fitzpatrick, Bills (-2).

24. Jake Delhomme, Panthers (+1).

23. Matt Hasselbeck, Seahawks (-4).

22. Shaun Hill Alex Smith, 49ers (+2).

21. Kerry Collins Vince Young, Titans (+6).

​Roy Williams is the Dallas Cowboys' third-highest paid player. And their fourth-leading receiver.

So I ask you, what the hell is going on here?

It may sound like nitpicking on a team that's won three in a row heading into Sunday night's showdown against the Eagles, but to win in Philly and into December the Cowboys will need Williams to produce. Maybe not as a touchdown-making game-breaker (Miles Austin) or as quarterback Tony Romo's security blanky (Jason Witten), but at the very least as a big target with soft hands who can consistently catch the chain-moving 7-yard slant.

Right?

Williams has been thrown to 37 times this season. He's caught only 14 passes. That's the worst ratio (37 percent) of any NFL receiver. Included in that is an abysmal 3 of 15 on third down. Witten, on the other hand, has caught 37 of the 45 thrown his way, highlighted by 8 of 8 on third down.

Who's a fault here, Roy or Romo?