Cowboys and more Dallas Sports

Well football season is upon us and the Cowboy mania is going full tilt. Everyone here is championship this, championship that….

And we still do not know if we are going to have Zeke for half the season or so… and even before all his drama started we had suspended defensive lineman left and right so I had figured that we were going to have to have 15-20 onside kick off plays in the playbook.

The defense is still under construction so I was thinking to win games the Cowboys need to win the toss, receive the kickoff, score, then do an onside kick, score, repeat a few times and then play out the game. Basically, try to get ahead 14-21 points before giving the other team the ball.  I know they can score. The Boys have a great offensive line. We got weapons without Zeke. He seals the deal, but we can compete while he is suspended. What no one knows is how the defense is going to perform. The defensive coordinator can work miracles, but he needs at least the one bucket of fish to get started.

This will be an interesting season. Dak will have some up and down games. It is his second year, most QBs struggle a bit. I think he will do well, just have to sit through a few moments every now and then as he settles into a real career. It wouldn’t be a concern if we knew the defense can handle it.

The Patriots are playing the Chiefs tonight and I could care less. Sunday can’t come fast enough and it will be a good read for the whole season. We will see.

And I am trying to avoid the Rangers. Every time I pay attention to them, they lose a few games. I quit paying attention and they win a few games. How can you be a fan in these circumstances? Anyway, I am still hoping they put together a good win streak these last couple of weeks and sneak in. Anything can happen once you make the playoffs. I am not putting any money on it, but some emotion….yeah!

I am a casual fan of the Stars so I have no idea what to expect. The people I know who are super fans seem to have a guarded optimism in their eyes when talking about them. I am fortunate enough to get to see some home games so hopefully I can get a better feel by the middle of November. Last year just didn’t work at all. Some blame injuries, some blame the goalies, all I know was about mid-November the Stars were in OT and the other team scored in less than a minute to end the game. And you knew it was bad when the whole crowd groaned before the opposing team crossed the blue line. The Stars were struggling and everyone knew it. Stars fans are very supportive and it took them a long time to give up on the season, but you could tell they were only hoping by this point in the season.

And then someone asked me, what is the Mavs plan. I can get excited he said if I knew the plan. So, I gave him this one. Dirk doesn’t start every game. In fact, there may be a few different starting line ups based on who the Mavs are playing. And in my plan, this is not a bad thing. The general starting lineup will probably be Nerlens, Dirk, Harrison, Wesley, and Dennis. Yet this is not set in stone and in my plan, don’t expect it to be. Other potential starting line ups can be Nerlens, Harrison, Finney-Smith, Wesley, and Dennis; or Nerlens, Harrison, Wesley, Curry, Dennis; or Dirk, Harrison Finney-Smith, Curry, Dennis.

And then bench options are still great, imagine Dirk and JJ coming off the bench. You could have a ten-point run in three minutes realistically against many opposing benches. Quite frankly not starting Dirk some, keeping him limited to about 20 minutes many games allows him to play more games, rest a few and he can manage his health through the season.  You could start Nerlens, Harrison, Wesley, Curry, and Dennis and play them a full 8 minutes to start the game. Completely switch out the team and have Dirk, Finney-Smith, Devin Harris, JJ and Yogi come on for 4-5 minutes. Your starters stay even with most other teams’ starters and your bench outscores teams 40-20 throughout the game very easily.  You cannot do this every game, but there will be many opportunities throughout the season. And for the last five minutes of the game you basically pick and choose the hot hands for the game. So, Dirk could be well rested for end of game or you have any of Curry, Barnes, Yogi, Smith, Jr, Wesley with Nerlens and Finney-Smith playing full speed to close out games.  I do not think they will win the West, yet they can win their fair share.

And speaking of the West, I am of the opinion there are going to be some disappointed fans after all the moves made over the summer. There is going to be some major changes in playoff order this year. Obviously, Utah is going to be hurt by the loss of Gordon. The Clippers will probably slip significantly and I do not think it will be Beverly’s fault. In fact, he may be who holds them together. Blake is just too much of a sore loser and hot head to be a team leader. DeAndre will still be a beast, but he cannot lead a team by himself. He will play well, everything will be different though.

The Spurs are going to struggle. They will win 50+ because of KL, yet after him there is a drop off now. Pop is still a great coach, but age on that team is going to show and with half the West younger and developing some teams will just outplay the Spurs.

Houston and OKC are the real wild cards and here is where the fans might be disappointed. Either team can have monster year or have a monstrous let down.  This will be interesting.

Minnesota is the real wild card. They have an interesting make up and it wouldn’t take much for them to take two or three steps forward from last year. Denver, New Orleans, and Sacramento will be interesting to see if something pans out. Mavericks probably fall into this category.

Outside of GS, the rest of the West is wide open. Spots 2-4 will probably be Spurs, Rockets, and Thunder, with no guarantees. The race for places 5-10 will be very fun to watch with the 9 and 10 teams just missing the playoffs and may go to place 12 being close.

As for the East, both Boston and/or Washington can beat the Cavs this year. And this isn’t because of IT’s hip injury. Boston and Washington are getting better with experience and Cleveland has had a run because of weaker competition. LeBron is older and he needed Kyrie. Yes, he made Kyrie better, but he needed him.  LeBron’s age is going to show this year and there is no one who can run the team for extended minutes without him. One nagging injury and Cleveland could drop fast until he gets better or gets help.

And back to the Cowboys. They have a good chance of making the playoffs, however, the NFC East is going to be tough. Not too many teams are going to want to head East so to speak this year. The Cowboys may win it or be the wild card, but they should make the playoffs. The real question is can they become as good as Atlanta last year. There is some if to that question.

Fall is fast approaching here in North Texas as we enjoyed cooler air (mid 80’s is cooler for us) so get excited, pigskins are flying everywhere over the skies of the USA.

Finally, prayers and anything else we can send to large portions of the country is needed. Houston is an ongoing disaster, yet The Caribbean and Florida, Georgia or South Carolina may not have it any better. This country needs to rethink much of who we are as a people and how we govern ourselves so we can better plan to manage natural disasters. There are also major fires out west. This is a very rough year and let us hope we can learn something. We must start treating these events like the military prepares for battle. Long term strategies must be developed. For now, let’s do our best to send what we can to help the people affected in these terrible calamities.  For certain areas of our country it will be years before the cities are rebuilt. For example, see New Orleans and Katrina. Hopefully we will learn better this time.

There is a story running around in my head and more will come. We have been away for a bit so just now getting back into the swing of things.  And is it just my work mates and myself or are many of you ready to quit ATT? Or the whole cable territorial monopolies in general? Too much control over us, the customers, who keep them in business. We need better options.