​Power is subjective. But when you see it -- when you sense it's immense influence -- you just know it.

Each summer, as I construct my list of the 50 Most Powerful People in Metroplex Sports, the criteria gets a triple-digit tweaking. This year I deemed the allure of power thusly:

If they called a press conference this afternoon, who'd most get our attention.

For the first time since I began the list in 2005 the answer isn't an owner. While Jerry Jones and Mark Cuban and Tom Hicks have played Hackey Sack with the oh-so-modest honor before, this summer belongs to, fittingly, a guy who spent his entire season breaking molds and melting stereotypes:

Dirk Nowitzki.

He's the only local pro athlete this millennium to lead his team to a title. Besides, who else possesses the power to prompt fans to tattoo a likeness of his face on their ass?

Included on the list are former Cowboys coach Tom Landry (50), chiropractor to the stars Dr. Mary Collings (41), Ticket host Norm Hitzges (38), Mavs' GM Donnie Nelson (31), Rangers' closer Neftali Feliz (25), Big 12 commish Dan Beebe (19) and Cowboys' tight end Jason Witten (13).

For the Top 10, a drum roll please ...

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​10.Two of the sweetest words to any man's ears: Free. Upgrade. Thank you, US Airways.

9. For the life of me I can't figure out why casinos offer the game of War. It's the the most balanced, fair game in Vegas. It's high-card wins, with ties merely forcing the player to double the bet for another hand. Higher stakes, but no change to the odds. There's no green spaces like Roulette. No juice on winning hands like Baccarat. No hidden hole cards like Blackjack. It's basically a coin flip. Zero strategy, 100-percent luck and the fastest, easiest way to win money in Sin City. If you can find a War table, play it. You'll like it.

8. The day before heading out I went to a pool party and somehow dropped a $50 bottle of Patron tequila on my buddy's garage floor. How strong is it? Literally ate away the protective coating seal off his garage floor. Imagine what it does to our stomach.

7. As for futures sports bets at MGM, the Rangers to win the World Series stood at 14-1, the Cowboys to win Super Bowl XLVI at 18-1 and the Mavs to win the 2012 NBA Finals at 8-1.

6. Nothing like walking out of a strip club with a girlfriend, two new friends and being greeted by ... sunrise.

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​Beats me.

Monday I watched both Williams sisters lose at Wimbledon, a week after Andy Roddick bowed out. It leaves as the only American quarterfinalist gentlemen's 10th seed Mardy Fish, a 29-year-old doubles specialist who will hardly threatening Rafael Nadal's throne.

We heard a buzz for years about Donald Young as American tennis' Tiger Woods, but he has all but fizzled after only climbing as high as No. 73 in the world.

Got me to thinking about another recent event: the NBA Draft. A record 23 percent (14 of 60 players) of those drafted were born outside the United States. Four of the top seven were foreigners, leaving Big East Conference Player of the Year Ben Hansbrough undrafted.

As we approach America's birthday next week, the future of American sports stars may be at its cellar. Sorry, but the trend of sports is anti-American.

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​Whether her name is Irina Shayk or Iwanna Shake, we've fallen for it again.

Every year I hear the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue is about to hit stands and my initial reaction is to yawn. We don't have harsh winters in Dallas plus, don't know if you've heard, but you can find women in any pose you desire on a thing called the Internet.

But then a blizzard(s) sweeps through North Texas, a Super Bowl slides on ice to disaster, there's a taste of 70-degree days and -- presto -- I'm craning my neck to see who's wearing what on the cover.

I canceled my subscription to SI when Rick Reilly jumped ship, but I'll admit it -- I'm a sucker for the swimsuit issue. Today's offering got me to thinking about two things:

*I'm pretty sure the SI cover jinx doesn't apply to scantily clad models. Christie Brinkley, Cheryl Tiegs, Kathy Ireland and Elle Macpherson all got career boosts from their cover shoots. Last year Brooklyn Decker parlayed her appearance into an engagement to tennis star Andy Roddick and a bikini role in Just Go With It. And Shayk, for what it's worth, dates European futbol star Cristiano Ronaldo, he of the immense talent and irritating dramatics.

*I wonder what a list of my all-time Top 10 covers would look like.

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​While a lot of you are off work today, take time to remember and refresh the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.

The rest of us? Let's commemorate MLK Day with an impossible task: Selecting the world's all-time greatest black athletes.

First step, choosing the criteria. Sheer athleticism? Popularity? Accomplishment? Social activism? Transcendence? All of the above? Nothing of the sort?

The task, in and of itself, is absurdly difficult.

I wound up taking into account everything, nothing and random bits in between. I also wound up including one local athlete and -- can't believe I'm typing this -- excluding the likes of LeBron James, Willie Mays, Usain Bolt, Oscar Robertson, Walter Payton, Daley Thompson, Carl Lewis, Michael Johnson, Jim Brown, Roberto Clemente, Deion Sanders, Jackie Joyner-Kersey, O.J. Simpson, Kobe Bryant, Kip Keino, Emmitt Smith, Rickey Henderson, Bill Russell, Edwin Moses and Lawrence Taylor.

Wow ...

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The fans gave him a break, and even President Obama applauded Vick's return to the NFL. Tucker Carlson of Fox News? Not so much.

​10. Mark Teixeira says teammate Andy Pettitte's "probably leaning toward retirement," which is good news for the Texas Rangers and everyone else aiming to win the AL pennant next year. With the Yankees missing out on Cliff Lee, their rotation is shaky with CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Phillip Hughes and two open spots.

If the 16-year veteran calls it quits, he'll retire at 38 with 240 career regular season wins and another 19 in 42 postseason starts, along with five World Series rings. However, Pettitte posted his lowest ERA since 2005 and best career winning percentage this year, so he could return for a shot at a sixth ring. As Teixeira said, "In a month and a half, a lot can happen."

New York's backup plan could be an aggressive push to trade for Tampa Bay right-hander Matt Garza, who would be a good fit to replace Lee in the Rangers rotation.

9. Somehow the San Antonio Spurs dominated the Los Angeles Lakers last night, winning by 15 points despite just two points from Tim Duncan and 3-for-12 shooting from Manu Ginobili. Are the Spurs that good or the Lakers that bad? It's probably a mixture of both, but the Dallas Mavericks find out tomorrow night when San Antonio visits the American Airlines Center.

8. The Philadelphia Eagles botched an opportunity for a first-round playoff bye with a 24-14 loss at home to third-string quarterback Joe Webb and the Minnesota Vikings. With Sunday's Eagles-Cowboys match-up meaningless to Philly's playoff standing, I'd be surprised if their starters play much -- if at all. So Dallas appears poised to end the season on a high note, although if it can't beat an awful Arizona Cardinals team, a win against a bunch of second and third stringers is hardly a given.

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How high did I rank this guy? You'll be surprised.

​OK, so yesterday I asked you to give me your thoughts on Brett Favre's legacy now that he appears to have played his last game. Unfortunately, only a few of you weighed in. In an attempt to spark some serious debate, here are my top 10 quarterbacks of all time. The criterion is simple: If I had my choice of one guy to win a game for me, who would I choose?

10. Dan Marino
147-93 record, 420 TD, 252 INT, 254 YPG, 86.4 rating

He may have lost his only Super Bowl appearance, but Marino took the Dolphins to the playoffs 10 times without a strong supporting cast. He averaged 4,057 yards with 28 touchdowns and 17 interceptions over a 16-game season with virtually no running game during his career and Mark Clayton and Mark Duper as his top targets.

Marino had perhaps the quickest release in the history of the NFL, and his sophomore season of 5,084 yards and 48 touchdowns ranks among the top individual feats of all time. And although John Elway is known as having the most fourth-quarter comebacks, it's actually Marino who's tied for the most with Johnny Unitas at 36.

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What's Favre's legacy? You tell me.

​10. Christmas came early for Mavs fans, as Dallas ended the Heat's 12-game winning streak with an entertaining 98-96 victory last night in Miami. My wrap-up is forthcoming, but until then, Wilonsky over at Unfair Park showed us the team's official Christmas gift -- Dirk Nowitzki and others wearing reindeer antlers and lights while struggling to sing along with "Grandma got run over by a reindeer," or as Nowitzki says, "Grandma got run over by a truck."

9. The School Sisters of Notre Dame inherited an old Honus Wagner baseball card from the brother of a deceased nun after he died earlier this year, and it sold for $220,000 in an auction hosted by Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries. But when the winning bidder never ponied up the dough, someone at Heritage reached out to Philadelphia cardiologist Dr. Nicholas DePace early this month to see if he'd be interested, and he agreed to add it to his impressive sports memorabilia collection that includes game-worn uniforms of Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson and Wilt Chamberlain and a game ball from the Giants-Colts 1958 NFL championship game. Even though I used to be a big card collector, it's crazy enough that one guy would agree to pay a couple hundred grand for a damaged piece of cardboard, but two people? These guys have way too much money, although apparently the first bidder didn't have the spare change lying around to close the deal.

8. The Biz of Baseball evaluated the high-dollar contracts inked by Cliff Lee and Jayson Werth this offseason and made the case that former Rangers outfielder Rusty Greer would have signed a larger contract than Werth's $126 million deal if he had been a free agent this year at 27 years old. Just another way of saying Werth's deal was one of the biggest shockers in recent memory.

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​10. Going to Vegas, London, Mexico, etc. is nice and all, but sometimes staying put feels right.

9. 36 holes of golf in one day is plenty.

8. SMU worked hard to attract a special coach like June Jones. I hope they work just as hard to keep him.

7. We're finally about to find out what happens in September when a Cowboys' season oozing with Super Bowl hopes collides into a Rangers' pennant race.

6. You want to see some of the hottest, drunkest women around? Cape Buffalo on a Friday night. Tons of 'em.

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Nick Rallo

​Most American men watched the lads in the World Cup and had the same three-pronged reaction to the lads participating in "The Bachelorette'': For everyone involved, it goes on too damn long.

- These fellows are about to plummet from planet-wide stardom to back-to-Podunk obscurity.

- At least everybody gets to score ... once. But it was an education, right? To wit (To Whitt?) ... The Top 10 Things We Learned From The World Cup:

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