Whether you’re at the end of your coffee, your day, your week or even your rope, welcome to Whitt’s End …
*Cowboys are going to the NFC Championship. They’ll have huge crowd support Saturday night at the LA Coliseum. Bears gave them the defensive blueprint to slow down the Rams’ offense. And LA’s run defense has been the NFL’s worst all season. Prediction: Cowboys 21, Rams 20.
*Our most overrated, over-hyped exercise is the breathless updates on the NFL coaching carousel. With notable, unique exceptions, head coaches are insignificant and interchangeable. No? Jason Garrett isn’t a drastically better coach than he was last year. He’s merely benefited in 2018 from a healthy Zeke Elliott, the addition of defensive whiz Kris Richard, a great draft pick in Leighton Vander Esch and the acquisition of Amari Cooper. Same coach, better players. Matt LaFleur here. Bruce Arians there. Adam Gase recycled up yonder. Doesn’t matter. I’ll take great players with an average coach over average players with a great coach, every time. And before you mention Bill Belichick, remember that he was 41-55 with 0 playoff berths before a certain quarterback fell into his lap in 2001.
*That said, how do NFL teams fawn over Kliff Kingsbury but not even flirt with Mike Leach? Mike Leach invented Kliff Kingsbury. KK, for what it’s worth, went 7-11 in Big 12 play at Tech with a quarterback named Pat Mahomes.
*Dirk Nowitzki is one of my Top 5 all-time favorite athletes. To watch. To root for. To interview. Pains me to say this, but at his current level he’s a liability for the Mavs. In Boston last week he got a standing ovation for likely his final appearance against the Celtics, then promptly missed all 10 of his shots including eight wide-open 3-pointers. Considering his lumbering running and defensive inefficiency, if he’s not making shots he shouldn’t be on the court. For the season he’s 7 of 27 on 3s. And since he returned from his ankle surgery on Dec. 13 the Mavs are 4-11. I love him, but right now he’s a square peg trying to fit into his team’s round hole.
*In their 47-year history, the Rangers have boasted batting champs (Julio Franco, etc.), Rookie of the Year (Mike Hargrove), All-Star Game MVP (Michael Young), MVPs (Pudge Rodriguez, etc.), home-run leaders (Juan Gonzalez, etc.), RBI leaders (Jeff Burroughs, etc.), no-hitters (Jim Bibby, etc.), strikeout leader (Nolan Ryan), 20-game winners (Fergie Jenkins, etc.), a perfect game (Kenny Rogers) and multiple Gold Gloves (Adrian Beltre, etc.). Their number of Cy Young winners, however, matches their World Series titles: 0.
*Dak Prescott will try to become the first Cowboys quarterback to win consecutive playoff games since Troy Aikman in 1995. Good as he was on the field, I still contend that Aikman – who got his “start” in media when I co-wrote his training camp diary, “Aikman’s Angle,” in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 1992 – is overrated in the booth. This was Aikman’s praise of Prescott last week: “I don’t know that there’s a more solid individual in the National Football League.” I don’t know? What is it with his tricky, passive-aggressive, milk-toast proclamations? I wish Troy would just declare, “Dak is the most solid individual in the NFL.” But I don’t know that it’s not his way of hedging his verbal bets.
*Wait, so we’re supposed to be shocked at the “revelations” in Lifetime’s docuseries, Surviving R. Kelly? The guy that was indicted on 21 counts of child pornography. The guy that released the song, “Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number.” We’re surprised that he had sex with underage girls? Seems like he was hiding in plain sight all along.
*I give up. “Baby Shark” – a kids’ animated sing-along – has attracted two billion views on YouTube and entered the Billboard Top 100 songs at No. 32 last week. There was a time when being popular or famous required talent. Not anymore.
*If Las Vegas is right – and it usually is – the Rangers will finish about 30 games behind the Astros in the AL West in 2019. Over/under win total for Houston is 97.5; Texas 70.5. Brutal.
*Hot.
*Not.
*From the Dept. of I’d Rather Be Lucky Than Good: Jerry Jones wanted to draft Paxton Lynch in 2016, but settled for Dak in the fourth round after the Broncos nabbed him. Prescott is playing for a spot in the NFC Championship. Lynch is currently not on an NFL roster.
*At the recent swearing-in of a new Congress in Washington, D.C., diverse Democratic rookies laid their hands on a Quran, Buddhist Sutra, Hindu Vera and a copy of the Constitution. People in the Bible Belt conveniently forget that America was established upon not only freedom of religion, but also freedom from religion. We are not a Christian nation, and by no means are elected politicians required to use the Bible to take their oath.
*Can’t wait until Cowboys training camp next year in California when Jones hosts his annual media party on his new, $250 million yacht. Helipad. Spa. Beach club. Long as a football field. Yeah, that should make a scene when we tootle around in the Pacific and buzz the Santa Monica Pier. Jerry spent more on this boat – $110 million more, in fact – than he did to buy the Cowboys.
*If you would’ve told me back during training camp that the Cowboys were going to win a playoff game in which Sean Lee played only four snaps, I would’ve told you to lay off the Tide pods.
*Keep an eye on the hoops team up in Denton. North Texas got off a 15-1 start, its best in 66 years. Only loss was at ranked OU and now the Mean Green is among “others receiving votes” in the Top 25 poll.
*An obvious trade that would work out for both teams: Fox (blue) and CNN (red) should trade logo colors.
*Speaking of colors, Dez Bryant showed up at Monday’s Mavs-Lakers game on crutches, and in yellow Crocs.
*Take time to cherish Charles Barkley and Bill Walton. They are perfectly imperfect. Barkley when told people were wearing blindfolds to take a “Bird Box Challenge”: “America is full of damn idiots.” Walton when asked whom he would choose for UCLA’s next head basketball coach: “Barack Obama.”
*Cowboys’ win in LA Saturday night will be their biggest California Quake since Butch Johnson. YouTube is your friend. Enjoy.
*Guns are now the second-leading killer of children Under-10 in the U.S., behind only car crashes. We’ve taken steps to make cars safer: Seat belts. Air bags. Navigation warnings. What have we done/are we doing to make guns less deadly?
*Allen Hurns’ ankle injury was even more gruesome than you think. You saw it snap into an L. But doctors say it was an ankle fracture/dislocation and an “open wound” meaning, yep, the splintered bone pierced the skin of his leg. Yikes.
*The most amazing sports feat of 2019 may have already happened. The Warriors’ Klay Thompson scored 43 points this week against the Knicks on only four dribbles. Four! Has there ever been a better catch-and-shoot player in the NBA?
*Zeke > Gurley. Just as fast. Equal receiver. Tougher.
*This weekend? As Family Guy freaks, Sybil and I are going to check out the Dallas pop-up bar, Drunken Clam, Friday night. Saturday morning is still for starting the long process of getting back into tennis shape after an overly festive holiday season. Saturday night is Cowboys-Rams. As always, don’t be a stranger.