Dallas Sports Blog

​Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is fond of saying - when asked about his team's 13-year playoff-less drought - um, "did you like those three Super Bowls?!"

Our answer, of course, is yes. But, according to Jones during his weekly visit on 105.3 The Fan with myself and Newy Scruggs this morning, that's going to be very difficult to do in Cowboys Stadium.

Why?

Because Jones and the Cowboys have no plans to hang the banners commemorating the team's five Super Bowl championships. The banners hung from the rafters at Texas Stadium, but will apparently only be displayed digitally at Cowboys Stadium.

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

*Screw me. I've been inside Cowboys Stadium a dozen times now and never noticed there wasn't an American flag hanging somewhere. JumboJerry will do that for you. When during the National Anthem there's a flag "waving" on the world's largest video screen you tend to fixate on it. But I was surprised that the place doesn't have a permanent flag inside, almost as much as I was surprised that owner Jerry Jones tried to shrug it off by claimining he has one outside that flies 24/7. Is this "America's Team should have an American flag!" outrage or "Damn we've become a sensitive, cranky people" overkill?

*Speaking of stadium accessories, now that I think about no flag I have another question: Where are the five Super Bowl banners? Tune in to 105.3 The Fan this morning at 10. I'm going to ask Jerry what the what?!

*Let me get this straight, irrationally stubborn fake basketball fans: Dirk Nowitzki scores 29 points in a quarter, hits a game-winning buzzer-beater and pours in 41 points against the Spurs, all in a three-week span. He was the NBA's Player of the Week and he'll likely be the Player of the Month. Early on he's the NBA's MVP. Yet what you grudgingly stick to is the tired, old, non-sensical criticism that he's boring, one-dimensional, slow, white and a choker? Okay. But I promise. You're going to miss him when he's gone, so why not appreciate him while he's here? Starting ... now!

*Somebody -  one guy - actually voted for the Rangers' Ron Washington for AL Manager of the Year. T.R. Sullivan, I'm looking at you.

*Saw the artists' rendering for the new Bush Library over at SMU. I'm not going to make some corny joke about coloring books. But I did find it fitting that the place will be protected by a 3-foot retaining wall. (Vandal #1 to Vandal #2: "Geez, I'd really like to spray paint some graffiti up in there, but how oh how will we ever navigate this waist-high security wall? Damn you Dubya, out-smarted us again!") Just kidding. But surely before the first shovel hits the ground the former Prez is gonna unfurl his "Mission Accomplished!" banner. Right?

*The skinny on new Cowboys' right tackle Doug Free, courtesy of an NFL scout I talked to this week: "Technically he's almost flawless ... the quickest, best feet of any Dallas lineman ... Will be fine in the passing game, but lacks the brute strength to dominate in the running game."

*Sorry, but we overrate Megan Fox.

*The Stars beat the Red Wings this week. I have now exhausted both my interest and knowledge of hockey in 2009. But 2010 looms. Be patient. This just in: Hockey fights are cool.

*Sometimes it's the simple things in life. I never rarely turn down a good game of Tic-Tac-Toe.

*I don't get Twilight. Pretty sure I'm not supposed to.

*Hot.

*Not.

SMU wasn't ready to let fans storm the field. Are the Mustangs ready to bypass Memphis for Honolulu?

​As I write in this week's Dallas Observer column, SMU picked a bad year to have a good year.

And now - on the verge of his school's first bowl bid in 25 years - Mustangs' head coach June Jones is picking a strange time to get homesick.

Behind freshman quarterback Kyle Padron, SMU has won three straight, is 6-4 and poised not only for a bowl game but also a Conference USA Championship and the automatic berth to the Liberty Bowl. But the Hawaii Bowl is also interested in the Ponies.

Alas, we have a problem. And Jones might just have a conflict of interest.

Despite the Liberty Bowl promising more money and better TV ratings, seems Jones desires a return to the islands.

"The conference is going to dictate what bowl we go to, but obviously, I've told the guys we're going to Hawaii so that's where I want to go," Jones told Conference USA reporters this week. "These guys have never been to Hawaii. Plus, I think it would be way better PR for the school."

Que?

​The good news: Your Texas Rangers may be led next season and beyond by an ownership group that includes Nolan Ryan as a front man and Roger Staubach as an investor.

The bad news ...  

​Wade Phillips wants more balance. Jason Witten wants to get back to the "brand." Felix Jones and Tahsard Choice want more touches.

You, the Dallas Cowboys fan, just want to win.

I think Tony Romo is an elite quarterback and in the NFL you control the clock on the ground and you put points on the board through the air. I get that. But it's becoming apparent that offensive coordinator Jason Garrett makes me pass-happy sad.

In last Sunday's loss in Green Bay, the Cowboys handed the ball to a running back 11 times. Eleven.

Considering Phillips' training camp desire to be a Top 10 rushing team and the quality trio of running backs and Dallas' mammoth, Earth-moving offensive line, the early abandonment of the running game is inexcusable.

Call it premature evacuation.

​I like the football played by Dallas Cowboys' offensive linemen Leonard Davis and Marc Colombo. Even like their music, in the form of Free Reign.

But will I like their food?

Today - right about now as a matter of fact - a new Smashburger (owned by Davis and Colombo) opens in Addison on Belt Line Road. Looks like a place for hearty, but not necessarily heart-healthy appetites.

I officially grew old yesterday afternoon. Once you've seen the rise and fall of a sports stadium, you've officially, um, been around the block.

I remember a kinder, gentler era in Dallas when as a little punk I'd peer out the family Fury along I-35 and gaze in wonderment at The Sportatorium, P.C. Cobb Stadium and a futuristic construction site dedicated to a dazzling new structure to be called Reunion Arena.

The Sportatorium is a vacant, dreary lot. Cobb is the InfoMart. And, after yesterday's final-straw demolition, Reunion is destined to be a grassy, soul-less field come March.

Please, bow your heads.

Let us not weep at the death of Reunion Arena, but rather rejoice in its life ...

​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 (-).

31. JaMarcus Russell, Raiders (-1).

30. Matthew Stafford , Lions (+1).

29. Mark Sanchez, Jets (-).

28. Ryan Fitzpatrick, Bills (-3).

27. Marc Bulger, Rams (-).

26. Jason Campbell, Redskins (-).

25. Josh Freeman, Buccaneers (+3).

24. Jake Delhomme, Panthers (-).

23. Matt Cassel, Chiefs (-3).

22. Alex Smith, 49ers (-1).

21. Matt Hasselbeck, Seahawks (+2).

Don't know if I'll be able to watch when Texas Stadium's memories are reduced to mush.

​Spent yesterday afternoon out at Cowboys Stadium, where about 30 mayors - from Southlake to Sunnyvale - convened for an update as to the goings-on about Super Bowl XLV. By the way, 445 days and counting ...

I was there hounding Roger Staubach about an upcoming Dallas Observer cover story and, to be honest, I'm never comfortable in a room with that many politicians. But I did have an interesting chat with Irving grand poobah Herbert Gears, who isn't exactly shedding a tear over the impending doom of Texas Stadium.

"At this point we're trying to maximize our exposure and our revenue from the event," Gears told me.

The "event" of course, is the imploding of the house built by Tex Schramm, Tom Landry and, obviously, God.

Prepare to cringe. 

​Talked with a guy I really respect this morning. Peter King has been watching and writing about NFL football for years and years. First met him out at Valley Ranch in the early 1990s and have read his stuff at Sports Illustrated ever since and now watch him on NBC's Sunday Night Football.

In the wake of Packers 17, Cowboys 7, King has a message for Dallas fans:

Step away from the ledge.