Dallas Sports Blog

​Hate to bring the room down in the wake of Cowboys 20, Eagles 16, but I'm sitting here crying. Tears streaming down my face. Off my cheeks. Onto my keyboard.

I shit you not.

A year ago I was introduced to one of the bravest, most courageous men I've ever met. Steve Damm was, like a lot of us, an average 40-something dude. Married. Father of two. A runner. Just a happy guy living his modest life.

In November 2007 he woke up with a headache.

On Sept. 7, 2009, he died of brain cancer.

​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.

​If your name is Newy Scruggs, Laura Dean-Mooney or Jesus H. Christ, you have permission to stop reading. The rest of you, I'd like you to think back to the last time you were driving while drunk, schnockered, intoxicated, tipsy, under the influence or, if you prefer, merely buzzed.

Last week? Last month? Last year? Last night? Whatever. I've done it. We've all done it.

Shame on us.

The latest reminder about the consequences of one of the dumbest decisions we make in life comes courtesy of Dallas Mavericks' assistant coach Popeye Jones. I've known Popeye for 15 years, since he was the hard-working, over-achieving, dirty-working forward on a mid-'90s Mavs team that featured Jason Kidd, Jim Jackson and Jamal Mashburn. I was there the night he produced a 20-point, 20-rebound game against the Boston Celtics in 1995.

He's a smart, great guy.

Who last Sunday made a horrible decision. Ring a bell?

Deadspin

​Former Highland Park star and Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford had himself quite the summer bash recently. Girls in bikinis. Dirty dancing. Some sort of beverages in those same red cups that I serve alcohol in at my pool parties.

Who knows, maybe whipped cream made a cameo at some point.

But you know why these pics - on the same site that first posted the photos of Josh Hamilton's infamous night - aren't a big deal?

*Because Stafford doesn't go around making his "personal savior" a very public story (would you believe a 1,900-word feature and not a single "God"?).

*Because Stafford doesn't profit from his amazing Jesus-fueled tale of recovery and redemption.

*And, mostly, because Stafford's forthcoming about his partying. (Oh yeah, also because he ain't married.)

Got a call over the weekend from Charmane Jackson, who lost her legal fight against golf manufacturing giant U.S. Kids Friday in Sherman.

After a week of testimony the jury deliberated only 90 minutes before failing to find U.S. Kids responsible for the death of 12-year-old Chandler Jackson.

Asked if the jury found U.S. Kids responsible for the breakage of the club, the foreman read "No."

Asked if the jury found U.S. Kids responsible for Chandler's death, the foreman read "No."

Asked if the jury found Chander Jackson's actions responsible, the foreman read "Yes."

I told the sad saga of former Dallas Cowboy Dwayne Goodrich in an Observer cover story back in December. Something tells me Jeremy Schaap is going to tell it even better tonight.

To say I "consulted" ESPN E:60 is probably a little strong, but I did sit down with Schaap and his producer at the Bob's Steak & Chop and House on Lemmon in February to eat some meat and chew the fat over the compelling story. Tonight on ESPN's investigative show at 6 Schaap will provide his prison interview with Goodrich, serving a 12 1/2-year sentence in a West Texas prison for the hit-and-run killing of two Good Samaritans on I-35 in 2003.

Goodrich's story has even more national relevance, what with the recent DUI manslaughter charges against NFL receiver Donte Stallworth.

And on the local level, it'll probably always be fascinating.

Maybe Hopefully you remember Chandler Jackson.

Quick refresher: Gifted 12-year-old Frisco boy tragically killed in a 2005 freak accident by a broken golf club in tiny-town Kentucky.

After almost four years of misery and mystery, Chandler's parents - Rick and Charmane - may this week get some closure. At the very least, they're having their day in court.

In the wake of their son's death - the jagged shaft of his 9-iron punctured his neck and nicked his artery - Charmane remained vigilant in extending her son's legacy by starting his namesake charity. She also, more impressively, doggedly pursued questions that law enforcement, investigators, family members and, yes, even reporters ultimately found impossible to answer.

First and foremost, how did her son die?

Today in Federal Court in Sherman, Charmane points a legal finger at global golf giant U.S. Kids Golf.

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?

Ron Springs: One of the saddest columns I've ever written.

I like to remember Ron Springs as Tony Dorsett's capable backup. A guy with soft hands and nifty feet. Dangerous on the middle screen. A sneaky player who would sometimes rare back and fling a lefty halfback pass toward Drew Pearson.

Those memories, however, have been tasered by reality.

I come to you this morning with a couple poignant leftovers from this week’s dead-tree version of The Sportatorium and my column about the tragic tale of the former Cowboy.

Quick refresher: After football Springs lost a leg to diabetes, got a kidney transplant from former teammate Everson Walls, was doing great and then, boom, went into the hospital to have an unrelated cyst removed from his arm and went into a catastrophic coma. Springs’ lawyers say it was because of negligent anesthesiologist Dr. Joyce Abraham; The doctors’ attorneys claim it was just one of those medical mysteries that no one can prevent, nor explain.

While Springs lies in a vegetative state in a Medical City Hospital room with little or no chance of awaking, teams of attorneys are haggling over what exactly went wrong during the pre-op.