Mavs up, Cowboys down

The Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Mavericks may share the city of Dallas as their home, but for this year, that may be where the similarities end.

The Dallas Cowboys came into Fall 2015 with championship aspirations, which have gone down the drain as the season went along.

The Dallas Mavericks came into Fall 2015 with talk about how bad the team would be and if they should tank but a quarter of the way into the season, they have overachieved.

The reason for the Cowboys’ demise has been injuries, to Orlando Scandrick, Tony Romo, Dez Bryant among others.

The Mavs optimism is also due to injuries, but in the other way. Chandler Parsons, Wes Matthews, and JaVale McGee are all recovering from injuries are slowly getting back to being the players they usually are.

The Cowboys were unable to withstand their injury period, going 0-7 without Romo.

The Mavs are doing just fine, as they boast the 4^th best record in the Western Conference at 10-7 with Parsons, Matthews, and McGee all on minute restrictions.

The inability has plenty of people questioning how good of a coach Jason Garrett really is (nobody expects success without your franchise QB but one win in seven games is not too much to ask).

The Dallas Mavericks success has a lot of people pointing to the coaching excellence on display by Rick Carlisle.

And lastly,

The Dallas Cowboys brought in drama in the form of Greg Hardy to add to Dez Bryant, who has had a few locker room outbursts.

The Dallas Mavericks got rid of pretty much all of the drama in their locker room (Monta Ellis, Rajon Rondo) and have been completely drama-free.

    Obviously, the sports of football and basketball are drastically different, specifically the physicality that leads to injuries. But if you are just a DFW sports fan, at least you have the Mavs to root for right now. Oh, and the Dallas Stars are 19-5 and atop their conference. Maybe it’s the magic of the American Airlines Center, who knows.

Dez Bryant Timeline November 1st - November 12th

I’ve seen a lot of stuff being tossed around regarding Dez Bryant’s outburst against the media today so I just want to provide a timeline of events that led to this. I’ll give this disclaimer right now, if you’re just an irrational, die-hard Cowboys and Dez Bryant fan, that’s completely fine and I get it but this might be a waste of time for you because this is about to just be the straight facts.

1. Dez Bryant returns to game action against the Seattle Seahawks on November 1^st and caught two balls for 12 yards.
2. Bryant goes to the locker room after the game to find that some non-Dallas reporter (I believe from Houston), tweeted out a video of Bryant saying “that’s what you get” is regards to Seahawks receiver Ricardo Lockette getting hit and seriously injured.
3. Bryant calls reporters to his locker and vehemently denies that he ever said that. He told the media present, the local Dallas media, that it was all the doing of “bullshit media” and took the anger out on them. He left the locker room yelling plenty of expletives towards the media.
4. Bryant didn’t talk the entire week following the Seahawks game. On Friday, ESPN Dallas’ Jean-Jacques Taylor wrote a column that basically said if the Cowboys are going to win, they need more than two catches for 12 yards from their superstar receiver. In the piece Taylor did acknowledge that it was Bryant’s first game back so there may be rust, he was going against All-Pro Richard Sherman, and of course, there was no Tony Romo.
5. Bryant read the piece and did not like it so when the media entered the locker room Friday afternoon, Bryant looked for Taylor. But Taylor had been sick for a couple of weeks and just so happened to be at the doctors at that time. Bryant told other reporters, among other things, that he did not agree or like the piece. Later on twitter, Bryant interacted with a fan that was defending him and called Taylor a “coward”.
6. Bryant then went out and had a great game against the Philadelphia Eagles, but the Cowboys lost their sixth straight game. Bryant left the locker room immediately following the game, not meeting with reporters. Though the reason is not known, Bryant did have a birthday party scheduled for after the game so that may have contributed, but he did not speak. He remained out of sight until today, Thursday November 12^th.
7. By reports, NBC’s Pat Doney first asked Bryant if he was going to meet with the media today. That led to Bryant blasting him, which was then followed by a verbal confrontation between Bryant and Taylor. In the midst of this wide receiver Devin Street interfered and accused Taylor of calling the derogatory  “n” word. Bryant, whether he heard it or not, agreed with Street. Doney and others around the situation deny that Taylor ever used that kind of language.
8. This exchange was then described by Robert Klemko of The MMQB. Bryant left he locker room and saw his tweet. He did not believe the tweet painted an accurate picture so he came back and went off on Klemko. This entire locker room situation went on for 15-20 minutes before tight end Jason Witten tried to calm down Bryant, head coach Jason Garrett came in the locker room and the PR staff of the Cowboys calmed things down.

Now, that is the series of events the past two weeks regarding Dez Bryant. I’ll start by saying I know Jean-Jacques Taylor and, not that he needs me or anybody to defend him, but there is no way he uttered the “n” word to Devin Street. Are Street and Bryant lying? I won’t accuse them of that, tempers were flaring they may have mistakenly heard that. But as many reporters around the situation said, they did not hear it. As far as Bryant’s frustration, remember, he was wrongfully accused by non-Dallas media member of a pretty disgusting thing (celebrating another players injury) just 11 days ago. On top of that, the Cowboys have lost six games in a row for the first time since Dez Bryant was just a year old in 1989. 
Bryant’s rookie season the Cowboys went 6-10 but that was the year Wade Phillips was fired midseason and they got things going with Jason Garrett. Bryant was just a rookie and the blame was on the head coach so he didn’t face much scrutiny. Since then, he has endured three consecutive 8-8 seasons and one 12-4 season. So, Bryant isn’t used to losing so maybe that has something to do with his frustration as well.

Now, knowing the facts, you are free to make your judgment.

Mavs fall to 0-5, but there is still hope

    The Dallas Mavericks fell to 0-5 tonight and now have the distinction as the only winless team remaining in the NBA this preseason. Anytime there is a 0 in the win column with five games played, it causes fans to panic. Since most fans will be able to do that by just looking at the record, I decided to carve out a few reasons for optimism for the 2015-2016 Mavs.

1) It starts up top: That’s right, it starts at the top of the team, which is where Rick Carlisle sits. Carlisle is widely regarded as an elite coach in todays NBA. Trust in Carlisle.

2) Who’s played? Nobody. Well, nobody except Dirk that is. The projected starting 5 of Deron Williams, Wesley Matthews, Chandler Parsons, Dirk Nowitzki, and JaVale McGee all reside in the trainer’s room recovering from injuries, with the exception of Dirk of course. They should all make their return to the court at some point in 2015, which will give the Mavs more than half of the season with their top guys. But until then…

3) New faces look pretty good: That’s right, plenty of new players gaining experience. Though he doesn’t look quite like a superstar, rookie Justin Anderson has flashed his athleticism and showed why the Mavs drafted him in the first round. Also, John Jenkins is having one helluva preseason.

4) Dallas sports history: Last season, the Cowboys lost Sean Lee in training camp. The previous year, the defense was horrible and with the loss of Lee, everybody predicted the streak of 8-8 years would end and the Cowboys would be worse than .500. Turns out, they flourished and made a playoff run.

Earlier this year, the Texas Rangers lost their ace in Yu Darvish and everybody wrote them off, even through midseason. But they shocked everybody and took the Toronto Blue Jays to the brink in the first round of the playoffs.

Is it the Mavericks’ turn, after missing out on DeAndre Jordan and having injured players to turn in a good season for DFW as everybody writes them off? The Rangers and Cowboys say, yes, anything is possible.

It's Just a Game

You can read this and/or listen to the audio which is attached at the end of the piece. 

    There have been many instances recently where I've wanted to write this post, but last night just pushed my limit. It pissed me off.

Michigan's punter Blake O'Neill botched a punt with 10 seconds remaining in a game against Michigan State. The Wolverines were up 23-21 on the Spartans, with a punt all but sealing a win. But it wasn't gonna go down like that.

After the botched punt, Michigan State picks up the loose ball and scores the touchdown with no time remaining for a walk off touchdown.

This post however, is not about the crazy game on the field. It's about the craziness that ensued off of it, which was far more egregious than the play itself.

There have been articles upon articles written since then, not about the crazy ending to a great rivalry game, but about the social media abuse sent O'Neill's way because of that play. In that kind of a game, with that ending, I can understand how emotions must be going wild for fans from not just fans of those two fan bases, but every sports fan. I understand expressing frustrations on social media or even being disgusted by the inability of the punter to make a fairly routine play. What I don't understand is sending death threats the way of a 22-year-old athlete who is already most likely at an all-time low.

I'm definitely not one to sit on a high horse and talk about how everything should be clean-cut in sports. I love controversy, trash-talk, criticism, etc. It's what makes sports great and a talking point in gatherings. However, there are boundaries.

In O'Neill's case, one twitter user told him to "head to the equipment room and start chugging that bleach my friend." I literally cringed when I read that. For fans to think they care more about winning a football game than a senior on that team, playing in this rivalry game for his last time is ridiculous. This guy went through an entire week of practice, preparing for this game and he made a blunder in a crucial moment. Not only does he have to deal with self-disappointment, but also facing his teammates and students on campus and more. The last thing he needs is for some stranger, who probably wasn't good enough to sniff the playing field of a D-1 school, to advise him to kill himself. Yes, of course people will say it's just an expression and he didn't mean it literally. Well my rebuttal to that: It's not a joking matter.

When a guy is as low as that punter probably is, depending on his emotional capacity, those words have the potential to hit home. And that is a scary thought.

I like to believe that I'm a competitor to the craziest of levels. But at the end of the day, any kind of competitor or the most die-hard fan has to realize, IT IS JUST A GAME. IT'S NEVER EVER THAT SERIOUS!!

And this happens way too much, and I'll just refer to the last couple of weeks to show some other examples.

Just one week ago, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Brandon Weeden struggled against the New England Patriots which prompted a series of twitter users advising him to kill himself. Don't believe me? Just search his name and look through his mentions. It's disgusting. I'm one of the people that think Weeden should be benched and I can criticize his play all day long and it may not even come out in the nicest ways. But I know I'll keep it on the field and not make it personal.

The guy that's replacing Weeden for the Cowboys is Matt Cassel and he held court in the locker room this past week. A reporter asked him what his first thought was when he heard he had been traded from the Buffalo Bills to the Dallas Cowboys a few weeks earlier. His response was not that he gets a chance to start for his childhood team, America's team. His response was the concern for his wife who was 36 weeks pregnant. My point by this is that these athlete's are human. There are things that matter more than just the game.

And don't think this just happens to players who aren't superstars.

On September 29th, Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls suffered an injury to his face. While most people did express their concern for him and hope for a quick recovery, there were a few people that recommended that he just end his life. Same thing happened for Texas Ranger Elvis Andrus after he choked this past week against the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 5 of the ALDS.

The sad part is that people that say these things are smart enough to make a twitter account, type up these messages, and press send. They fail to realize that  at the end of the day, it really is just a game. When people make these comments, in my opinion, it's valuing a game over a human being's life.

Think about that.

Sad thing is that I've seen this happen at the high school and college level while these athletes are literally just kids, and it goes all the way to the pro level. And it's never justified.

If you're one of these people, I hope this convinced you to watch what you tweet and think twice before pressing send. If you're not, I really hope you share this message to help raise awareness for an issue that I take very, very seriously.

Links to articles about O'Neill's social media abuse:
http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2015/10/michigan_punter_blake_oneill_r.html
http://www.freep.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/wolverines/2015/10/17/michigan-blake-oneill-social-media/74154188/

Attached four minutes of me speaking about this issue, please feel free to give it a listen and share.

2015 NFL Predictions

Opening Night- Patriots over Steelers 31-24

AFC Playoff picture:

AFC South Champion- Indianapolis Colts (1^st seed)

AFC East Champion- New England Patriots (2^nd seed)

AFC West Champion- Denver Broncos  (3^rd seed)

AFC North Champion- Pittsburgh Steelers  (4^th seed)

Wild Card #1: Baltimore Ravens

Wild Card #2: Buffalo Bills

NFC Playoff picture:

NFC West Champion- Seattle Seahawks  (1^st seed)

NFC East Champion- Dallas Cowboys (2^nd seed)

NFC North Champion- Green Bay Packers  (3^rd seed)

NFC South Champion- Atlanta Falcons (4^th seed)

Wild Card #1: Arizona Cardinals

Wild Card #2: New Orleans Saints

AFC Championship Game: Colts over Patriots

NFC Championship Game: Cowboys over Seahawks

Super Bowl: Colts over Cowboys

Season MVP: Tom Brady, Patriots

Offensive Player of the Year: Adrian Peterson, Vikings

Defensive Player of the Year: J.J. Watt, Texans

Offensive Rookie of the Year: Nelson Agholor, Eagles

Defensive Rookie of the Year: Vic Beasley, Falcons

Comeback Player of the Year: Eric Berry, Chiefs

Coach of the Year: Mike McCarthy, Packers

2011 Dallas Mavericks vs. 2015 Golden State Warriors

     As the Golden State Warriors finished off LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in six games to win the NBA Finals, it was the first NBA title for the team since 1975. But for some reason, to me, it felt all too familiar, like it had happened more recently. 

That’s because their story has many similarities to another team that won the championship. A team that won in 2011. The Dallas Mavericks.

Of course, no two teams are ever the same, even year to year within the same franchise. The 2011 Mavericks and 2015 Warriors have a lot of unique qualities, but there are a ton of mind-blowing similarities as well. And it starts from the top.

The 2011 Mavericks were led by head coach Rick Carlisle, a guy who was in a broadcasting chair with ESPN right before he joined the team.

Similarly, the 2015 Warriors are led by Steve Kerr, a guy who was a broadcaster with TNT prior to joining the team.

Rick Carlisle won the NBA championship (once) as a player and 2011 was his first Finals win as a head coach.
Steve Kerr won the NBA championship (five times) as a player and 2015 was his first Finals win as a head coach.

Even the situations the two men inherited were shockingly similar. Neither head coach was required to build the team from scratch.

The season prior to Carlisle joining the team, the 2007-2008 Mavericks had gone 51-31 under the leadership of Avery Johnson and made the playoffs. However, they had an early exit in the first round, which led to Johnson being fired.

Just last season, under the leadership of Mark Jackson, the Warriors went… yes, exactly the same record as the Johnson-led Mavs, 51-31, and also had a first round playoff exit.

Now let’s get to the playoffs. In 2011, the Mavs went 16-5 in the playoffs. In the four playoff series, they had one sweep (2^nd round), one 4-1 series win (Conference Finals), and two 4-2 series wins (1^st round and NBA Finals).

Fast forward to 2015. The Warriors had an identical 16-5 record through the playoffs. They also had one sweep (1^st round), one 4-1 series win (Conference Finals), and two 4-2 series wins (2^nd round and NBA Finals).

In the NBA Finals, both teams faced the self-proclaimed and widely regarded “best player on the planet” in LeBron James.

In 2011, the Mavs were down 2-1 to LeBron and the Miami Heat.

In 2015, the Warriors were down 2-1 to LeBron and the Cavs.

After the Mavs fell behind 2-1, Carlisle made a change in the starting lineup by inserting JJ Barea. The Mavs then went on to rattle off three straight wins and win the championship in six games.

After the Warriors fell behind 2-1, Kerr made a change in the starting lineup by inserting Andre Iguodala. The Warriors won three straight, capturing the championship in six games.

In 2011, the Mavs won the closeout game on the road in Miami and scored 105 points.

In 2015, the Warriors won the closeout game on the road in Cleveland and scored 105 points.

Lastly, for what it’s worth, both the 2011 Mavs and 2015 Warriors were led by a superstar that was extremely likeable by the average sports fan in Dirk Nowitzki and Steph Curry.

Despite the many similarities, there were plenty of big differences as well. The Miami Heat team in 2011 was stacked with superstars in LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh. The Cavs in 2015 were depleted, playing without the services of Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, and Anderson Varejao. LeBron in 2011 had arguably his worst NBA Finals in 2011 of his six attempts. In 2015, he had arguably his best, evident by the fact he garnered more series MVP votes than Steph Curry and, well, you could just peek at his ridiculous stats.

Anyways, comparisons like this won between the 2011 Dallas Mavericks and the 2015 Golden State Warriors always make for a good sports conversation. And looking back, there really were a lot of similarities.

The most important similarity for both of those teams: They finished on top of the NBA world.