Last week's cover. Irony is funny.

​​10. As of this morning, the Dallas Observer is out of the sports business, at least on a full-time basis. Though I'm not technically being fired ("laid off" is supposedly less damning), the paper and its owner, Village Voice Media, have decided to eliminate its full-time sportswriting position. It's called downsizing. And yes, it sucks. Sources close to me indicate my farewell column -- a staple of the paper since September 2005 -- will appear in this week's edition. I'll pause a second while some of you pick your jaws off the floor, and others organize a celebratory parade.

9. I didn't exactly see this coming. Hard Impossible to envision going from emcee of Brew at the Zoo one week, to writing the paper's cover story the next week, to ... poof. But it's another sign of the terrible, terminal disease rotting newspapers to death. One minute your blog is a prototype; the next, the fat that must be trimmed.

8. I would like to sincerely thank VVM for a generous goodbye, and also offer a tip of the cap to my loyal readers and sharp-tongued commenters who both kept me on my toes and kicked me in the crotch. Now it can be told: Being a sportswriter, I always wear a cup. No hard feelings.

7. My first Observer column was about the Rangers. So was my last, a cover story fittingly adorned with the screaming headline "The End is Near!," a reference to the regular season's end and last week's apocalypse-themed Best of Dallas issue. Overall I wrote 310 ditties in the paper and won 13 national, state and local writing awards for stories like this, this, this, this, this, this, this and this.

6. Couple weeks ago we learned to live without Entourage on Sunday night, and last Friday Mike Modano began life without hockey. This morning I woke up -- for the first time since accepting a job on the staff of UT-Arlington's The Shorthorn in 1983 -- without a newspaper job. Unsettling, to say the least.More >>

​I dunno, last Sunday night's finale to HBO's Entourage was a little too tidy for me. Vince finally got the girl. Eric was back with Sloan. Ari was reconciling with Mrs. Ari. Drama's show was a go and even Turtle was a trim, fit millionaire.

What the what?! 

I guess I prefer my break-ups/conclusions with a little more intrigue and, yes, reality. Life rarely arrives with a neat bow tied around it, and it shouldn't happen on my favorite TV shows. Like, maybe as they're toasting champagne en route to Italy how about the fancy jet suffers engine failure and as the plane plummets ...

Credits.

Enjoyed that show for eight years. Maybe I would have liked it better had creator/writer Doug Ellin gotten his original man for the lead role -- Vince Vaughan. But still, it had enough sex and sports to keep me entertained on Sunday nights.

The show's ending just left a taste in my mouth that was too sweet and sappy, like a heaping spoonful of sugar ladled with honey. I prefer the post-end to Seinfeld, where all four characters get off the subway and -- in lieu of some closure or hug -- just part ways with "Okay, see ya later."

Reflecting on Entourage, I was reminded of all the athletes who got cameos, including ...

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​I run a buffet here. Not every customer will like everything I put out, but hopefully most will find a little something to keep them coming back.

I get this complaint frequently: "Why don't you write more about the Rangers? They're winning!" (Beat the Indians last night. AL West lead still at 3. Magic number down to 12. You happy now?)

My menu philosophy goes like this: The Cowboys -- win or lose -- are a daily staple. The Rangers and Mavericks are seasonal delicacies. When I'm in Arizona for spring training my offerings are decidedly baseball and when the Rangers begin the playoffs I'll have Top 10 Observer-ations immediately after each game, road or home.

But when in doubt, Cowboys.

Why? Because that's what the bulk of my customers demand.

Proof ...

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​Quite the stink back in April when I opined that I didn't think Rangers' pitcher Colby Lewis should miss a start to attend the birth of his second child.

I stand by that. I still root for Lewis to be a good pitcher and don't really give a rat's ass if he's a good dad. Plenty of good fathers -- including my own -- to hang around in my life, but only one professional baseball team I care about.

As part of baseball's Paternity List, the Rangers' Ian Kinsler and Alexi Ogando also have  missed games this season, and earlier this month the Indians' Jack Hannahan left his job to be with his wife.

Now comes word that 1310 AM The Ticket's Bob Sturm is taking it up a notch. Sturm -- half of The Ticket's popular mid-day BaD Radio with Dan McDowell -- announced Monday that he will be, starting next week, off the air for four to six weeks while adopting a 5-year-old boy in Guatemala.

If I'm going to give props to Richard Hunter for adopting one of Michael Vick's dogs, gotta throw love to Sturm as well for greatly improving -- and perhaps saving -- the life of an orphan human. As someone who misses work only for vanity (NeoGraft) or to spend more time at his second career, they're both bigger-hearted dudes than I'll ever be. End of discussion.

Unlike baseball players, Sturm deserves zero criticism. Neither does 105.3 The Fan's Gavin Dawson, who recently missed a week while his girlfriend gave birth to a daughter. Why? Because those guys -- unlike baseball players -- don't get three to four months of vacation each year to take care of personal business. Pitchers make about 30 starts a year; Radio hosts are on the air about 250 days a year.

And, because, let's face it, the absence of a single radio host can't sink a station like the void of a star player can derail a team.

You know who agrees with me? A Dallas Cowboy named ...

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​

And so it begins continues.

Actually, it's been going on for years now. The slow, excruciatingly painful death of the newspaper, that is.

I meet twentysomethings, even thirtysomethings every week who listen to the radio, who read blogs, who Tweet and Facebook and Skype and ... who shrug and giggle at the thought of carrying around a newspaper as though it were a chore akin to mowing the yard in the middle of the afternoon.

We read, it seems, every other month about another round of layoffs at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. And now the attrition seems to be escalating over at Dallas' Only Daily.

Next to jump the newsprint ship: sports columnist Jean-Jacques Taylor.

Beginning August 1 he'll be JJT of ESPNDallas.com. The move gives the web site -- powered by former DMN editor Barry Vigoda -- a throng of writers with newspaper backgrounds, and leaves the Morning News with an even more bare, embarrassing cupboard.

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​While I was sad to see my old partner Newy Scruggs leave 105.3 The Fan last week, I'm thrilled to have another familiar voice on board.

Back in April 2010 -- in the wake of Chris Arnold's departure from K104 -- I wrote that radio was volatile and that you never know who might show up where.

Case in point: Arnold is back, hosting a Saturday 10 a.m.-2 p.m. show on 105.3 The Fan.

"I really wanted to get back on the radio and back into sports talk," says Arnold, who for years has also served as the Mavericks' on-court emcee at American Airlines Center. "And it's kind of cool that my comeback is happening with the Mavs' comeback. This is going to be exciting."

While I welcome Chris with giddy, open arms and bid a sentimental farewell to my first full-time radio partner, I am a little bit troubled by this:

With Newy gone, our town's three sports talk stations are now void of a black anchor voice.

I know Donovan Lewis is the third banana on 1310 AM KTCK The Ticket's BaD Radio and Nate Newton gets an hour a day with Chuck Cooperstein on 103.3 FM ESPN, but ... doesn't this feel out of whack?

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​Yes, 105.3 The Fan is tweaking again. But this time it's not merely another shuffling of the deck, but more so a commitment to talk sports in the morning.

Out at The Fan as of April 8 are long-time radio veterans Jagger and Gregg Henson, to be replaced Monday, April 11, by "New School with Shan and RJ," a more sports-centric show hosted by former Kansas City sports talk host Shan (pronounced Shawn) Shariff and long-time 103.3 FM ESPN voice RJ Choppy. Sticking with The Fan's goal of spicing its flavor with female voices, Jasmine Sadry will remain a part of the new morning team.

"New School" will air weekdays 5-9 a.m., with the remainder of The Fan's lineup remaining intact.

UPDATE: Guess The Fan could've named its new show "The Crazy Azz Morning Show" but K104 beat them to it.

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​As The Buggles famously sang in 1979, video, in fact, killed the radio star. As The Fort Worth Star-Telegram continues to share content with Dallas' Only Daily and slice positions and send talented writers out into the cold in 2011, it's apparent that the Internet is choking out newspapers.

My first job out of UT-Arlington in 1986 was at the FWST and I worked there 18 years before jumping to the Dallas Observer. Still have a lot of friends over there. Always a sad day when your colleagues are put out of a job, especially when they are as talented as Jan Hubbard and Gary West.

Those two, according to industry sources, are on the chopping block as part of an imminent 22 layoffs looming in Fort Worth.

Says publisher Gary Wortel, "Although we've seen improvements in revenue, we're still facing recessionary challenges. With an economic recovery that is slower than expected, we need to take additional steps to reduce costs."

Yikes.

The Star-Telegram laid off 15 employees last July and, if you get a vibe from parent company McClatchy, this isn't the end. Citing ad revenue that fell 10 percent from January 2010, McClatchy-owned papers in Sacramento, Kansas City and Charlotte also made cuts -- a combined 70 throughout the chain -- last week.

It's going to get worse before it gets better. Or, for newspapers, will it ever get better?

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​Let me get this outta the way once and for all:

I'm short(ish). Bald(ing). And, since I don't adopt  you guys' system of surrendering to middle age but rather I try to combat it, I'm also douche(y). Yes, I work for a free newspaper and my radio station is No. 3 in the sports-talk ratings. And this just in: I make mistakes.

There. Feel better?

I stopped commenting on this here blog a while back because, frankly, the remarks had deteriorated into personal attacks and grade-school goofball "First, bitches" and fake identities having conversations with themselves. Not that it wasn't entertaining, just nothing really given-n-take about it.

But in the last two weeks I've received three heartfelt e-mails -- you know who you are -- both apologizing for the unfair personal attacks and inviting me to rejoin the conversation. The attacks don't bother me even a smidge, as you can't work in newspaper/and or radio without a thick skin. And the e-mails touched me.

So let's do this.

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​10. The House of Blues put on a pretty nifty show, but $30 for valet parking? I was as gouged as I was cold.

9. After gorging on sausage, blackened catfish, brisket, fajitas, beans-n-rice and then repeating the process, I will not be eating today.

8. I've never even met Baltimore radio guy Nasty Nestor Aparicio, but just from being in his presence this week I can totally see how the boys over 1310 AM The Ticket could have run-ins with him. He's just ... laughably ridiculous.

7. Sorry, but I don't get the Old 97s. Nice guys. Their music just doesn't move me. Certain I'm wrong here because most Dallasites love them.

6. Very cool to see Daryl Johnston and Michael Johnson on stage together. We have ice this week, but we also have star power.

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