First And Foremost: Rangers Find Winning Piece In Losing Season

WHITT'S END 9.2.22:

Whether you’re at the end of your coffee, your day, your week or even your rope, welcome to Whitt’s End …

*If there’s one good thing to come out of a Texas Rangers season whose casualties include a manager (Chris Woodward), a general manager (Jon Daniels) and another Silver Boot (they’ve lost 12 of 16 to the Houston Astros), it’s that they’ve found a first baseman who can be a part of things when they finally compete again. Nathaniel Lowe is hitting .300 with 20+ homers and is the reigning AL Player of the Week. Keep him around.

*How long has it been since the Dallas Cowboys played in a Super Bowl? I could tell you 26.5 years, since gas was $1.26 or – if you prefer – we can measure by far the longest drought in franchise history quarterbacks. As in, 24 different quarterbacks have started a game since Troy Aikman led the Cowboys over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XXX on Jan. 28, 1996. Deep breath in and … Wade Wilson, Jason Garrett, Randall Cunningham, Anthony Wright, Quincy Carter, Ryan Leaf, Clint Stoerner, Chad Hutchinson, Vinny Testaverde, Drew Henson, Drew Bledsoe, Tony Romo, Brad Johnson, Jon Kitna, Stephen McGee, Kyle Orton, Brandon Weeden, Matt Cassel, Kellen Moore, Dak Prescott, Andy Dalton, Ben DiNucci, Garrett Gilbert and Cooper Rush.

*Though the Dallas Mavericks don’t report to training camp for another month, their 2023 season was almost over before it started. Playing for his home Slovenia team last week, Luka Doncic limped off the court holding his right ankle in pain. He re-entered the game, showed no ill effects and has since led Slovenia to a 10-0 record all-time when he plays in the prestigious EuroBasket tournament. Whew!

*Never good a sign when most Major League Baseball teams are preparing for pennant races, October dogpiles and the Fall Classic and you’re … trumpeting the release of your 2023 spring training schedule. Such is life for the Rangers.

*Sure, the Cowboys dumped $20 million in 2022 salary and got rid of a player that all but quit on them in last season’s playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers. But, still, only getting a fifth-round draft pick for Amari Cooper while the Philadelphia Eagles get a seventh- and a fourth-rounder for Jalen Reagor is a bad look.

*Bad Jamaican news: A thunderstorm (it rains every day) and a flat tire made me late to the airport last Thursday for the trip home from vacation. I missed my Southwest flight and had to pay for another one-way ticket home on Delta. Good Jamaican news: Although it wagged a finger at me for being late, Southwest diluted the damage by offering me a full refund for the flight I missed. Props.

*Hot.

*Not.

*Most Cowboys fans still aren’t completely over last January’s kick-to-the-crotch playoff loss. Good to know the players – including Prescott – aren’t either.

*One way for the Mavs to mitigate the loss of Jalen Brunson next season is with … Tim Hardaway Jr. Remember him? Offseason signs are promising.

*There is “Jamaican time”, and then there is Jamaican time. Both of which are confounding. The island country south of Cuba is home to the world’s fastest human, Usain Bolt. It is also, however, home to the world’s slowest human, known as any bartender in any bar. The Bob Marley “yah man” chill vibe is cool, until you’re really thirsty. And then there is their clocks. They don’t observe Daylight Savings Time, which made me feel like I traveled through a wormhole on the way home. Try to follow: I took off from Jamaica at 5 p.m., lost an hour flying west to Atlanta, but then gained the hour back flying more west to Dallas. Negril, Jamaica sits east of Miami, Florida yet shares the same time with Midland, Texas. My sportswriter brain cannot handle.

*The Rangers still won’t officially recognize the LGBTQ community and fans with Pride Night (they’re the only MLB team to abstain), but they are taking a tiny step in the right direction toward inclusivity. Team Hall of Famer Michael Young was on hand this week and the Rangers were a Platinum Sponsor of the Gay Softball World Series played in North Texas with 5,000 players on 250 teams.

*(Clears throat, invokes old man voice) … Everyone slow down! Dallas police are cracking down on school-zone speeders now that schools are back in session. In the first week alone: 244 tickets.

*Cowboys’ cat-quick kick returner KaVontae Turpin will wear Tony Romo’s old No. 9. Not that Romo deserves his number retired, but the Cowboys have a nebulous “rule” about jerseys. Bob Lilly’s 74, Roger Staubach’s 12 and Aikman’s 8? Untouchable. But Bob Hayes’ 22, Tony Dorsett’s 33, Randy White’s 54 and Drew Pearson’s 88? Sure, have at it.

*Took Big Brothers Big Sisters lil’ bro Ja to Dallas' Perot Museum last weekend and, who’da thunkit, he’s as fast as Patrick Mahomes. Visit the sports exhibit (first floor) and you’ll know what I’m talking about.