Whitt's End: 6.29.12
Whether you've reached the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt's End.
*I'm bummed about the Mavericks' draft. And so, privately, are they. Guy they really wanted – UConn shooting guard Jeremy Lamb – didn't fall to them at 17 like they hoped. They then traded down and shopped No. 24 pick, found no takers, and settled on Oregon State shooting guard Jared Cunningham. If Deron Williams comes to Dallas we'll forget this night ever happened. If not … yikes.
*Cunningham is a great athlete, but – stop me if you've heard this one – he's a shooting guard that can't really shoot. At horrible Oregon State he made only 34% of his 3-pointers and made only 17 of 74 pull-up jumpers last season. That's atrocious.
*Michael Finley, all is forgiven. Since he left Dallas in 2005 the Mavs have tried the following at shooting guard: Marquis Daniels. Jason Terry. Adrian Griffin. Doug Christie. Rawle Marshall. Greg Buckner. Maurice Ager. Trenton Hassell. Devean George. Eddie Jones. Jerry Stackhouse. Antoine Wright. Gerald Green. Shan Foster. Dominique Jones. Roddy Beaubois. DeShawn Stevenson. Delonte West.
*As for Dallas' second-round picks, Bernard James will remind you of DeSegana Diop and Jae Crowder will remind you of Eduardo Najera. Enjoy.
*Gigantic day for Mavs today. News you want to hear: Lamar Odom has agreed to extend his roster deadline. If not, Mavs will have to get rid of him without maximum return on their crappy investment. Ideal scenario is Mavs trading Odom as part of a sign-and-trade with the Nets on July 11, not to the Clippers on June 29.
*NFL smart: Moving 3:15 kickoffs to 3:25 this year. (Keep the betting public from having overlap panic syndrome). NFL dumb: A franchise in England. (Since it's the brainfart of Patriots' owner Robert Kraft, go ahead and put London in the AFC Far East).
*One thing I was reminded of yesterday in the wake of Obamacare being upheld. Our country is a lot of things, but classy losers isn't one of them. And, is it just me or is it that the madder some folks get, the whiter they get?
*This scene went down last night at the Winstar Casino in Oklahoma at 2:49 a.m. Sybil Summers (wobbly prancing): "Do you want Jack in the Box or sex?" Mark Elfenbein (rolling on parking lot asphalt): "BaaaaaHaaaaaaHaaaaaWaaaaaHaaaaa!" Me: "Um, both?" Twelve minutes later we were at a McDonald's drive-thru. Sixteen minutes later Sybil was sitting in the driveway of our hotel, tearing her cheeseburger into tiny pieces for a stray cat. Can't make this crap up.
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*On the list of Tony Romo vocal supporters this off-season: Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman, Drew Pearson, Terry Bradshaw, Jimmy Johnson, Rich Eisen and Brett Favre, who this week called the Cowboys' quarterback "underrated." On the list of Romo's critics: Every fan who lazily compartmentalizes individual performance within a team game as "He ain't won no Super Bowls has he?"
*ESPN just won't let it go. They've dispatched a reporter to the AT&T National to cover Tiger Woods' every breath. The breaking news this morning from Bethesda, Maryland: Tiger Woods making move up the leaderboard! Yawn. He used to make news by winning majors. These days those that love Tiger are reduced to cheering simply when he makes an eagle in the 2nd round of a spare tournament.
*Mavs' GM Donnie Nelson on free-agent shooting guard Brandon Roy: "We're interested. Very interested."
*Best part of Mavs' draft maneuvers: By including Kelenna Azubuike in the Cleveland trade and by moving down from 17 to 24 they saved about $1.5 million in salary cap room to be used in free agency.
*Another Obamacare thought: As a result of the Supreme Court's ruling, more Americans (adults and children) will get medical care in the future. If it costs me a couple bucks, so be it. If you think life is a selfish race to acquire the biggest piles of stuff, we probably won't get along very well.
*Former Wimbledon champ Rafael Nadal losing in the 2nd round to a guy ranked No. 100 in the world is one of the biggest upsets in tennis history. The guy – we'll never remember his name – lost five consecutive years in Qualifying. That means, until now, he was never even close to good enough to even sneak into the tournament, much less beat one of the best players ever. Stunning.
*In case you missed it and want to see how truly dorky RAGE is, our TV commercial is right here.
*Most important non-playoff game of the season for the Rangers takes place July 10 in Kansas City: The All-Star Game.
*Speaking of baseball, that sport is grounded in a lack of integrity. Stealing signs. Steroids. Pine tar in gloves. Corks in bats. Vaseline in caps. And now, punctuated by the Yankees' Dewayne Wise, taking credit for catches that you damn well know you didn't catch. I just wonder. If you cheat to win, does it still feel good? I wouldn't know.
*One last take on Obamacare: CNN sucks. Its initial breaking news Tweet and TV report was "Obamacare struck down!" Minutes later they retracted and corrected to "Obamacare upheld!" Shame shame. That's like ESPN getting the score of the Super Bowl wrong.
*Another Supreme Court ruling that fell through the cracks: It is not a crime to impersonate a Navy SEAL or a military hero. So lame-ass posers, you're safe. Legally, anyway.
*This weekend? We're in Gainesville today for our 105.3 The Fan Hometown Takeover. Heads up Gun Barrel City, you're next. Tomorrow Sybil and I hop a plane for a week of vacation on a beach that starts with a B and rhymes with your Mamas. See you here again on July 9. Don't be a stranger.
