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

*Doomsday scenario for Monday Night Football: Quarterback Jon Kitna. Running back DeMarco Murray. Receivers Kevin Ogletree, Jesse Holley and Dwayne Harris. Center Kevin Kowalski. Left guard Bill Nagy. Ouch indeed.

*With the Angels' loss to the Blue Jays in 12 innings last night, the Rangers can clinch the AL West tonight with a win over the Mariners and an Anaheim loss to Oakland. As has been the case since mid-August, it's just a matter of when, not if. Tigers also lost to the Orioles, so we're dead even in race for 2nd-best record in AL. Detroit has tie-breaker edge over Texas, so Rangers need to finish ahead of the Tigers to avoid the Yankees in the ALDS.

*Speaking of baseball, it's the most over-celebrating sport on the planet. Saw the Yankees clinch the East the other night and they did the mound dogpile complete with Champagne and goggles and plastic over the lockers in the clubhouse. I'm telling ya, they celebrated more wildly than the Mavericks when they won the NBA championship. Here's hoping the Rangers this weekend act as if clinching the West is a stepping stone, not a destination.

*So Russ Martin is moving to afternoons on 97.1 The Eagle? Sounds like a couple things. Martin's ratings have been very mediocre -- 3.8 over the last three months compared to Kidd Kraddick's 6.1 -- in the mornings, so a move to kick-start things makes sense. I also hear it may be part of The Eagle's grand plan to dump music and go all-talk in the mold of the old Live 105.3 or Free FM. Dan O'Malley is a talented, hard-working, great dude on that show. Otherwise, yawn.

*Jason Garrett is all "football" and "process". But when he goes to the movies the dude gets crazy. He told me and Greggo on his weekly show Wednesday that he gets a large popcorn, dumps into it a box of Milk Duds, a bag of Sour Patch Kids and digs in <>. Mixed all together? Yep. Yuck.

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

*Every once in a while I take Michael Young for granted. I think of him as a step-slow, reaction-reduced fielder. Then I go to Rangers Ballpark, watch him rip a bases-loaded double down the left-field line and remember how damn good he is. From almost traded in spring training to the team's 2011 MVP. Right?

*In his career Tony Romo has thrown 2,106 passes. Of those, 63 have been caught by the wrong team, making his Interception percentage 3.0. When he drops back to pass, 3 percent of the time it winds up horribly bad for the Cowboys. How does 3 percent compare? Tom Brady (2.2), Peyton Manning (2.7), (John Elway 3.1), Brett Favre (4.2), Roger Staubach (3.7), Troy Aikman (3.0) and Danny White (4.5). Now if we could only equate a clutch/choke quotient.

*What's your most vivid -- I didn't say best, but rather most vivid -- memory of the Cowboys in Candlestick: "The Catch" in 1982 or "How 'Bout Them Cowboys" in 1993? I remember crying through Sunday-night church in '82, but since I was there in the mud and glory in '93 it's no contest.

*Big merger in the radio world. Cumulus being gobbled up by Citadel. Possible ramifications for Dallas stations? KSCS 96.3 may be shoved down the dial to i93, or the new conglomerate might decide to simulcast The Ticket on 93.3 FM to give it a better after-sundown signal south of downtown.

*I personally find it hard to believe that Mack Brown had zero knowledge of his long-time right-hand man -- Cleve Bryant -- allegedly sexually harassing Texas women. Brown is a "we'll cover it up" email away from real trouble.

*Can we now -- finally -- put the "heat" to bed? Forever. The Rangers are going to win their division playing in one of the hottest summers on record. Good baseball > High temperatures.

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

*Raymond Radway was thiiiiis close -- three seconds, in fact -- to making the Cowboys' final roster. Then in Thursday night's 17-3 meaningless loss to the Dolphins the rookie free-agent receiver broke his left leg on the final play. Gruesome. His lower left leg bent outward in a right angle. He'll have surgery today to have a rod inserted. Same injury that ruined the career of Cowboys' 1986 No. 1 draft Mike Sherrard. The kid, from McKinney North High School, will be put on injured reserve and is done for the season, maybe forever. Total bummer. Remind me again how life is fair.

*At the top of my list of concerns after Dallas' preseason is kicker. Dave Rayner is out of the equation after missing two field goals last night, and David Buehler didn't help his cause by pushing a 48-yarder, though it was in the rain with his plant foot in the mud and the ball on the grass and with a snap that looked a little low. At this point I think the Cowboys keep two kickers, because they don't have one.

*C.J. Wilson is a legit ace. Won his 14th game last night and flirted with a no-hitter. But he's got to stop stabbing at balls hit up the middle with his bare, pitching hand. For a really intelligent guy, it's just a stupid move.

*Now comes word that Texas tried to invite A&M into a joint Longhorn-Aggie Network two years ago but A&M AD Bill Byrne wasn't interested. When he realized Texas was gonna get rich in the deal after all, Byrne wanted back in. Says UT AD DeLoss Dodds, "I said we were too far down the road. We had figured out how to do it by ourselves." The Aggies are such, well, Aggies.

*If you hate 105.3 The Fan and stubbornly harbor the irrational opinion that CBS will pull the plug on the station by sundown, please skip this item ... By the time the Stars and Mavs (fingers crossed) start playing at American Airlines Center this season, you'll have a new sports-bar option in Victory Park. Welcome to The Fan Sports Lounge. It's the old Boardroom space, right in the thick of things. Lotsa TVs. Gourmet menu. And, yep, a full studio in case we wanna get a wild hair and broadcast before or after a game or just for the hell of it. First round is on me. No, seriously, when The Fan Sports Lounge opens this Fall I'll host a Sportatorium appreciation party where hopefully y'all can stop kicking me in the nuts long enough to let me buy you a drink or two.

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

*On the verge of totally imploding within a week, the Rangers can restore order by simply winning this weekend's series against the Angels. Remember, the Mavericks lost four in a row in early April and most of us wrote the season off. But, seriously, who the hell is Omar Quintanilla and where did the comfortable AL West lead run off to?

*And now, as if it wasn't already thin enough, the Cowboys' offensive line takes a hit with a knee injury to Phil Costa that will sideline him 2-4 weeks. Not sure who the team's backup center is at this point, and I'm real certain that the No. 3 tackle -- behind Tyron Smith and Doug Free -- isn't on this roster. Danger, indeed.

*As expected, Texas A&M filed official paperwork to leave the Big 12. Could happen as soon as tomorrow when the Big 12 Board of Directors meet to discuss the conference's flimsy future. The Aggies are still a joke. Now they'll just be the SEC's punch line. As for replacing A&M, the Big 12 will get interest from SMU. Yep, I said S-M-U.

*Shame, shame, Rangers fans. Against the Red Sox and in the middle of a pennant race an announced 29,000 that looked and sounded more like 9,000 showed up at Rangers Ballpark. Whether the scapegoat is the heat or school starting, it's lame. Team deserves better than that.

*It's no surprise to this lil' corner of the blogosphere, but Cam Newton sucks. Watch him attempt to take a 7-step drop and throw an accurate 10-yard pass on an in route and you'll see too. The first, most important quality in a quarterback is acute passing accuracy and Newton doesn't have it. Never has. On the other hand, the Redskins' John Beck looks like a player.

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

• Talked to the family of Shannon Stone for next week's Observer column. Wait until you hear their other sad story involving a souvenir ball from a Rangers game. Sorry, you have to wait.


• Not real bothered by Thursday night's walk-off loss in Anaheim by the Rangers. They took three of four and all but buried the Angels, leading by six with 37 remaining. The two new relievers -- Koji Uehara and Mike Adams -- are good, but those suckers also know how to give up the homer don't they?


• I feel sorta guilty filling up my swimming pool in the middle of a "conserve water!" drought, but I had a crack that for months sent my water bill above $200. The solution? Drain the pool, fix the crack/leak and then refill. I'll be honest, refilling takes two hoses running full blast for about 20 hours. If you died of thirst during the heat wave the last two days, my bad.


• Love the fact that Jason Garrett extends an open invite to any former player. Have seen Leon Lett, Charles Haley and Larry Allen at practices this camp. Hard to stomach that there was a time when the invited former players were named Harry Carson and Jim Burt. One more time -- with feeling -- eff you, Bill Parcells.


• Mavs-Heat be damned, I'd pay to watch a seven-game series between Georgetown and China's Bayi Rockets. Wow.


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