Whether you’re at the end of your coffee, your day, your week or even your rope, welcome to Whitt’s End …
• I’m tired of Dirk Nowitzki. In a suit.
Sounds like our wait to see him suited up is almost over.
When Dirk missed the final three games in April to have surgery on his left ankle, we all nodded in approval and figured the proactive maneuver was geared toward the 40-year-old future Hall of Famer beginning his 21st season healthy and on time.
But here we are after Thanksgiving and still a no-show. Unless, of course, you count cheerleading from the Mavs’ bench in a suit.
The Mavs are playing fast and well. After a 2-7 start they’ve regrouped to get to 10-9. The team belongs to 19-year-old Luka Doncic. Might be an awkward fit to crowbar in an old standstill shooter likely slowed even more by the surgery. But so be it.
This might be Dirk’s last season. In fact, you never know, any game could be his last. If the Mavs lose a game or two finding his limited role, fine.
I’d rather the Mavs miss the playoffs with Dirk, than finish eighth without him.
Look for Dirk’s 2018 debut Sunday night against the Clippers at AT&T Center. Fingers crossed.
• Fox’s Cowboys-Saints pregame show last night included a silly, cliched feature of Vince Wilfork going to Fort Worth’s Stockyards to learn to rope and ride and then wash down his post-lesson barbecue meal with a vat of sweet tea, all to the backdrop of some country music. Because, of course, that’s what all of us Cowboys fans do, right? Drive pickups. Say ‘howdy.’ Ride horses to work. Just once, I’d like to see a network have the vision – and balls – to shoot some “B roll” and interview tattooed folks leaving an alternative rock concert in Dallas’ Deep Ellum. America doesn’t know this, but you don’t have to be a cowboy to like the Cowboys.
• With his incessant pants-hitching and demonstrative gyrations, TCU head coach Gary Patterson can be annoying. But no doubt the man is a defensive genius. This year the Horned Frogs faced offenses nationally ranked No. 1, 2, 8, 9, 12 and 39. Somehow, TCU finished with the country’s No. 28 defense. And a 6-6 record. Bravo.
• I get the outpouring of emotion over Adrian Beltre retiring. I do. The guy is one of the best third basemen ever. He played hard and great for the Rangers and was always a stand-up, standout teammate. But, again, he played with three teams before arriving in Arlington and produced only 40 percent of his stats with the Rangers. Didn’t win an MVP here, or a World Series. Unlike Dirk, he isn’t a “homegrown” hero. I don’t get the calls for his number to be retired, or his news conference being televised live today. Honestly, it’s a sad commentary on a franchise when included in the all-time highlights are fistfights (Nolan Ryan and Rougned Odor) and a great player/good guy who didn’t win at the highest level individually or team-wise.
• If I’m hearing them right (again), whiny-ass Ohio State fans want the Buckeyes to be judged as if they are Olympic figure skaters. Throw out the high (beating Michigan) and the low (losing to Purdue). Except, of course, without actually throwing out the high. None of us want to be judged by our worst days. But there’s something to be said for consistency and damage control. Oklahoma trailed 9-3 Texas by 21 points in the 4th quarter in October before rallying to lose by only three. The Buckeyes lost at 6-6 Purdue, 49-20. Sorry, but that worst day was a hideous, unforgettable day. Also, I watched Ohio State escape 5-7 Maryland, 52-51, only because the Terps’ unpressured quarterback inexplicably overthrew a wide-open receiver on a 2-point conversion that would’ve changed the outcome. That’s called – pure and simple – luck. Bottom line: Oklahoma could lose to Texas and Ohio State could beat Northwestern, 49-0, and I still don’t believe the Buckeyes are one of the planet’s four best college teams.
• Sometimes I suffer FOMO (fear of missing out), but other times I bathe in the hindsight of RAMO (relief at missing out). Bitcoin is the latter. I was intrigued. Wanted to invest. But, honestly, could never understand it well enough to pull the trigger. In 2018, Bitcoin has lost 75 percent of its value. This month, it traded below $4,000 per Bitcoin, down from a high of almost $20,000 last December. Whew. Ignorance is indeed bliss.
• Hot.
• Not.
• You don’t have to love DeAndre Jordan. But you do have to appreciate one aspect of his game. Unlike a lot of NBA big men – Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O’Neal, etc. – he has worked to improve his free-throw shooting. In 2015, the Clippers regularly had to take Jordan out of the game because teams intentionally fouled him and he clanked. Historically. Back then, he shot a woeful 39 percent. Since, he’s improved year-by-year to 43, 48, 58 and – this year with the Mavs – 76 percent. That’s right, Jordan has refined his routine and reconfigured his form/follow-through and in 2018 has made 62 of 81. He gets credit for caring. Even more for drastically improving.
• I don’t care if it’s trendy or cool, it’s down right lazy. What is it? Fans at games who break into “oooooooh” when their player sporting a couple O’s in his name does anything positive. Daryl “Moose” Johnston? Yeah, new and novel 25 years ago. But Amari “Coooooooooper?” Seen it. Heard it. Gotta be better, more creative than this, Cowboys fans.
• J.J. Barea can be maddening. When he enters the game, he dominates the ball and the Mavs’ offensive movement immediately stagnates. On one possession against the Rockets on Wednesday night, I counted 18 dribbles in the front court by Barea before he passed. But then, the little guy is as amazing as he is productive. He constantly blew by James Harden and got into Houston’s lane, either finishing a crafty layup or drawing an extra defender to set up an open teammate for a wide-open 3-pointer.
• The Rangers signed a pitcher named Edinson Volquez this week. Ring a bell? Once upon a time in 2006 he was part of the Rangers’ much-hyped pitching-of-the-future trio marketed as “DVD.” John Danks. Volquez. Thomas Diamond. Danks never pitched in Arlington, going 79-104 with White Sox. Diamond won one major-league game, with the Cubs. And Volquez? He was traded in 2008 for a guy named Josh Hamilton. Since he left Texas he’s thrown for the Reds (he was an All-Star in ’08), Padres, Dodgers, Pirates, Royals and Marlins. After all that he’s only 34 years old.
• We launched a spaceship that traveled 12,300 mph for six months and this week landed on Mars – precisely to the second that scientists predicted. Yet, we haven’t come up with a better way to measure football first downs than archaic, rudimentary chains put in place by eyeballing referees and operated by blue-collar humans. Exasperating.
This weekend? Texas-OU early Saturday and then … either two days of reveling or recovering. As always, don’t be a stranger.
