Dallas Blog

Dared to mingle with the younger, hipper, more talented crowd at The Granada last night and bumped into:

*Martellus Bennett, who hopped up on staged and rapped like three songs. (Famous brother in tow.)

*Mike Modano. (Famous wife in tow.)

*Joey Greco. (Famous Cheaters crew in tow.)

For what it's worth, my fave band of the night:

I generally agree with Jerry Seinfeld. On everything. Including the Oscars.

During a show at, of all places, UTA's Texas Hall in '02 the comedian quipped, "Worst thing about The Oscars is that they never tell you the final scores. We're Americans. We not only want to know who won, but by how much. Was it a blowout? Overtime? Tell us! All we really get is a bunch of people all dressed alike patting each other on the back going, 'Good job of pretending to be someone else'."

That said, I went to my first Oscars Party last night. And loved it.

Everything except the show, that is.

Our gracious party hosts were decked out in tuxedos. Even had gold stars on the sidewalk and a red-carpet entrance to their house in Richardson. Lots of alcohol. Lots of food (from fancy shrimp on a skewer to Hooter's to a plate of Slim Jims). Lots of attractive women. And gambling! The scene was crazier than Martin Scorsese's eyebrows.

What more could I ask for? Sports, that's what.

See, to me Academy Awards LXXXI was about as exciting as Best-of-7 Charades between Wade Phillips and Helen Keller. Aside from Hugh Jackman's surprisingly entertaining open and all the cleavage deliciously breaching its levees, the whole production 'twas b-o-r-i-n-g.

Something tells me the inventor of basketball planned neither on 100-0 winners nor 100-point-loser celebrities.

I just threw up in my Raisin Bran.

Now, where'd I ... put ... my ... ah, there it is ... soap box.

America has gone softer than Bob Dole without his Viagra and it makes me sick. In short, on ABC's Good Morning America Robin Roberts and Diane Sawyer are taking a team of local high school girls basketball players and putting them on a national pedastal as heroes that deserve "praise for their poise and grace against an overwhelming opponent."

So what did the girls from Dallas Academy do to earn this prestigious recognition? They lost a game.

100-0.

Short version: Dallas Academy, a private school near White Rock Lake whose students have "learning differences" and which hasn't won a game in four years, lost to Covenant School, a North Dallas Christian school, on Jan. 13 by the God-awful score of A-Century-to-Zippo.

The result is inexcusable. Despicable. As he should have been, Covenant head coach Micah Grimes has been fired. He not only ran up the score, then had the audacity to stand by his lack of sportsmanship even as the school issued an apology.

Clearly, Grimes' team was superior. That point got hammered home at what, 30-0? 50-0? 88-0? As a coach there are ways - not shooting until after 20 passes, for example - to work on your team's game without necessarily scoring.

But, at the risk of being politically incorrect and insensitive, the coach/leadership at Dallas Academy deserves just as much of the blame. Why?

The DASA awards make for the most, um, interesting pairings. Right, Scott?

If you have $200 – or perhaps $5,000 – burning a hole in your jorts, make plans to be at the Fairmont Hotel tonight for the 43rd annual Dallas All-Sports Association Awards Banquet. It’s the one chance a year for Joe Fan to mingle with the likes of Deion Sanders, Dave Tippett, Kyle Petty, Pat Summerall, Emmitt Smith, Mike Modano, Herschel Walker and mayor Tom Leppert, who all will be impersonating penguins.

The classy, black-tie event will honor, among others, Nancy Lieberman with its Legends Award, Tippett with its Tom Landry Award and Baylor’s Scott Drew with the Don Nelson Award.

"Dave Tippet to receive the Tom Landry Award"

Here’s hoping the good folks at DASA find the extra “t” dropped from the Stars’ coach’s last name before they engrave the trophy. -- Richie Whitt