What is Going On?!

Tonight my beloved Dallas Stars brought their losing streak to a nerve racking 6 games.

My question to them... What the h*ll is going on?! You guys have incredible talent! You're young! Bah!

Alright, now that I've gotten that out of my system. Seriously, what's going on with you guys? You really are young, you have speed, and to top it off you have a veteran presence from some of the greatest veterans around. One of the edges of that double edged sword that we call youth, is confidence. Confidence for a young team is like giving a two year old a ton of chocolate. They get that rush, start running around and kicking tail. On the other side of that blade, is when you start to get shaky with your confidence you start to lose focus, get out of position, and then start losing games. After all that, you play games like the one against the New York Rangers. The play was outstanding, but one bounce goes against you and you lose the game. Then your confidence doesn't just drop, it plummets.

On yet another side, with a great team such as these Dallas Stars, you have such strong leaders, they try to pick the entire team up, and carry it on your shoulders. Only, there are 18 other players on the bench that want to pick up the team. Guys. You're playing on what is called a TEAM. Yep, that's right. A team that can't be carried by one player. That's why there are 4 other guys out there on the ice with you. Use them. That is what they are there for. Don't make Dan Ellis, or Kari Lehtonen carry you.

With all this being said, you have a relatively favorable schedule coming up. Take advantage of it. you have 7 of the next 9 games at home. Home is where the heart is. Home is a shelter, home is home! Are you too good for your home?!

Please bring us some wins. I would really like some wins. Let's put this together and get the train back on the right track.

The Broken Foundation

Tonight I write to you about one of my favorite sports teams of all time: The Dallas Cowboys. 

However, I won't write about the problems with Jerry, Garrett, or even Monte Kiffin. Instead, I want to tell you about how a football team works. 

A football team, like most teams, is made up of a group of people. With all groups, there is a hierarchy. It's not because I'm partial to any position, player, or anything to that effect. In my Diversionary Hierarchy, you have, what I call, the Foundation, and the Showmen.  

The Foundation is made up of the hefty guys. The men that are in the trenches, take hits every single down, and get paid the least, by comparison. These guys are the offensive and defensive linemen. These are the men that have the worst job, in my opinion. They are considered to be the dumbest, the slowest, and the fattest. The truth of the matter is, these guys are not dumb, not slow, and most certainly not fat. Every down these guys are punching, hitting and doing their absolute best to protect their teammates, and yet they get the least amount of attention. That is, unless things go wrong or they mess up. For example, look at Tony Romo. He took some pretty big hits, and was all kinds of pressured, forcing him to make awkward throws from weird angles. Now he's got a herniated disc. These guys are some of the most important guys on your team, and yet they are paid significantly less than my next group: The Showmen.

The Showmen. These are your "skill" players. These are the guys that everyone talks about. So and so, needs to perform tonight. So and so needs to come up big. Blah, blah, blah. I was one of these guys when I played, I heard it every week. But, it really comes down to the work by the Foundation. If the Foundation is strong, the skill guys excel. These are the linebackers, the receivers, the backs, pretty much everyone else. These are the guys that go out and take the over the middle hits from the linebackers. These are the linebackers delivering said hits. These are the guys that are paid the crazy amounts of money to get their names put on jerseys and sold throughout the world. 

Now with all that out of the way, here is where the Dallas Cowboys and this line of thinking cross. They don't. That's the problem. In no way, shape, or form do the Cowboys have a Foundation, on either line. The defensive line has been riddled with injury. The offensive line is just bad. Again I go back to Romo... No pun intended. Until the Cowboys start making the uninteresting draft choices, (Foundation players), the team will not be successful. It doesn't matter how many Dez Bryants you have on your team. It doesn't matter if you had Emmitt Smith from 1992 on your team. It simply doesn't matter.

If you don't have the proper foundation, the pyramid falls. 

The Young'uns Are Taking Over

The Dallas Stars are coming off an absolutely powerful win against one of, if not the top, teams in the NHL. By impressive, I’m talking 5 to 2.

A 3, yes 3 goal win against a team of the Los Angeles Kings caliber is not just impressive. It’s downright filthy. It is a win of such epic proportions, it needs to be written about. However, the win alone is not enough to warrant such press. It’s HOW the win was perpetrated.

All through this season, our young rookies have been putting up numbers that make some veterans blush. Valeri Nichuskin, a brand new rookie in the NHL, nets his 7^th, count em 7^th, goal this season. 7 goals for a rookie in 36 games. That’s a little over a 3^rd of a season. For a rookie, it’s getting pretty ridiculous. Another young rookie that has been giving the lamp a lot of extra work lately is Alex Chiasson. This 6 foot 3 inch, 205 pound right handed rookie can’t STOP putting the puck past unworthy goaltenders. Seriously, 8 goals and 11 assists, he’s looking at 19 points as of December 23^rd. He’s averaging just over a point a game. Not only that, Tyler Seguin, a recent trade acquisition has been lit on absolute fire, to the point I’d probably carry a bucket with me if I were him. I haven’t even mentioned Kari Lehtonen! He JUST turned 30. Literally, about a month ago, arguably one of the most dynamic and talented goalies the Dallas Stars have ever had the pleasure of minding the net, just turned 30.

The point of all this chatter about all these young men is, the future. We’re talking about a team that’s average age is  around the mid 20’s. The only reason the average is this high, is a few of the older players are still on the roster. The future for this franchise is as simple as their new slogan: A New Star is Rising.

When you put all the pieces of this stick and puck puzzle together: young talent, strong net minding, and of course the front office. It all adds up to success. Plain and simple. S-U-C-C-E-S-S. This team will only get better. These young men haven’t even hit their strongest stride yet.

This only solidifies my belief that the future of this team will be the young, up, and coming movers and shakers that are the Dallas Stars. 

Hey! Look up!

We've all done this. If you say that you don't, you're a liar. A terrible person, and a liar.

You walk around taking a gander at your smartphone. It has all your favorite shiny and sparkly things on it! You can even update your Facebook status! WHAT!? You mean that there is a technology that is completely portable that connects to the interwebs, let's you communicate in a non verbal AND a verbal fashion?! Yes, yes there is.

But this amazingly awesome technology has a down fall. That's right, it's dangerous. It will hypnotize you! You will be completely under it's control! When you stare at this device, you can't look up. You can't pay attention to anything else in your life! I've seen it myself. In fact it happened today.

As I'm driving home through a strip mall near my house a young man in Texas Longhorns zip up hoodie, (The fact that he was wearing a Longhorns hoodie has no bearing, or does it?!) was walking along in the middle of the drive. In the exact middle. I started driving really slow, and then came to a complete stop, because he didn't look up. So I waited. He kept coming. Looking like a penguin who has just been yelled at by his lady penguin for ogling another lady penguin. Like it's his fault! I mean, they all look the same! Anyways, back to the young man. He just kept walking towards me, still not looking up. As I'm still stopped, in the middle of the street mind you, he never turns his eyes upward, until he actually walks into my car. This guy, actually ran into a parked car in the middle of the street.

Seriously? I've heard stories, hell I just heard one about a lady in Australia walking off a pier into the ocean, because she was staring at her phone. Go and Google walking and texting. No, seriously, minimize this blog and go look it up. I'll wait.

It pulls up 27,000,000 results. You realize that number is pronounced twenty seven MILLION? That's with an 'M', and one of the very first stories is titled, "Texting Nearly As Dangerous While Walking As Driving". AND it's published by FORBES! FORBES! One more time so you really understand, FORBES.

This has become such a pandemic, that Forbes Magazine has had to bring this up and publish an online article about it. People, I know that whatever T.O. is saying is a train wreck and you want to watch Kim Kardashian  do something stupid on tv. Maybe even watch Kanye jump on stage and ridicule someone other than Taylor Swift, but please, please don't be stupid enough to walk into a parked car in the middle of a street, or walk off a pier, or even into a glass door. Just look up.

This has been a public service announcement brought to you by Clif Foster.

'via Blog this'

Wait, I'm writing on a blog?!

Hey folks,

So I have neglected my blogger post for quite some time... And I'm kind of sorry. I mean not really, but a little.

I'm going to try and set this up yet again. I feel the bug of inspiration nibbling on my ear in that most seductively creepy way that people that are drunk in a bar do. You know. The ones that get really weird and then stare at you as they kiss each other. Yeah, creepy.

The reason I've been so neglectful is... Well, I've been busy. My life has been interesting. I've been all over the place. I feel like I've cemented myself in the great sport of hockey in such a way that I HOPE I won't be leaving it soon. I am luck enough that I'm able to be the Lone Star Brahmas' play by play talent, and Brahmaland host. The Nytex Sports Center is one of my homes now, and I couldn't be happier. Since I've post last I've had another child, a beautiful little girl. I've been able to meet some of my radio heroes, met up with some of the best writing talent, *cough* shutdowninning *cough*. Heck I've even been on the radio.

With all this going on, I haven't really written anything about anything, except the post game reports for the Brahmas.

The meaning of this post is to tell you that later on in the future I'll be looking to fire it up and get something entertaining out there about whatever the hell I feel like writing about... OR if you ask nicely I just might toss something out that YOU want to read.

Rangers taking games off

The Texas Rangers, our little North Texas, Texas Rangers, are sitting in first place over the seem to be rising Oakland Athletics. Who are 4 games back of the Rangers. Ron Washington seems to be giving players, core players days off against foes within our own division.

So is this really what's going on here? Do you really think Wash is doing this? Do the Rangers seem to be in a "Halo Hangover"?

I don't think so, with as many games as there are, I do believe that you should be able to give guys days off. I don't however, agree with this series as the time to give these core players the day off. The A's aren't a team that typically does well. BUT, this is a team that has talent, and no matter what you say, is on the rise. When you give a team with talent confidence, you open the door to take one in the nether regions. And now that's exactly what you've done. The A's, with their 10th inning win over the Rangers, now have a winning record. Which isn't saying a whole lot, but they are second in the American League West.

Our little Rangers head south down 45 to open up the Lone Star Series against the Houston Astros. Feliz hits the mound to start it off. Let's see how he comes back, and go Rangers.

Hamilton and the Battle

Ladies and gentlemen, I would first and foremost like to start this off with a word to the subject.

Josh, I respect you for coming out and taking this by the horns. You are a heck of a guy. Addiction, in one form or another, is the longest and hardest battle to fight. We, if I could speak for the fans, are behind you in this fight.

With that being said, I'll start this up. Josh Hamilton had a relapse in north Dallas at the very end of January. He's in a situation that is incredibly tough and there isn't a quick fix.

This latest incident comes with bad timing. Especially considering that Josh is looking for a contract that will essentially set his family up for the rest of their lives. On the other hand, the timing is good for the Rangers organization. The reason being, this could and should get Hamilton to lower his asking price. I don't condone an organization taking advantage of a players situation, but this is the time to try and make a jump. Especially a good faith jump.

This sounds amazingly callous, but this is the business and I guarantee that the Rangers' financials are looking at the situation the exact same way.

Josh, again, you are one hell of a person. Please don't stop being this accountable, respectful, and inspirational person. We still need more people like you.