Thank God for the Rangers!

For those of you that know me know I am a big Dallas Cowboy fan, well, last night was the end of what I hope will be Wade Phillips' coaching job. I hate being the laughing stock of the NFL, and watching my beloved Cowboys quit when they were still winning the game last night! Phillips may be a great guy but a motivator he is not! The Cowboys have had all the talent in the world over his tenure as head coach and he can't seem to pull it out of them. We need a Cowher or a Gruden type of coach. With that said, at least we will draft early in next years draft, maybe we can grab an outstanding offensive lineman! Enough said about that!

My Texas Rangers did prove that they were the best in the American League and now it's time to prove they are the best in MLB. I like our chances against San Francisco. I hope we can at least split the first two games so we can have a chance to win the Championship at home! With Lee and Wilson going in games one and two I really like our chances of a split and possibly a sweep of the first two games. Then it will be on to Texas with Lewis and Hunter! GO RANGERS GO!!! IT'S TIME!!!

Baseball and Football in that order!

Well tonight while I am on the football field my beloved Rangers get to prove that they are the best team in the American League. If the Rangers win tonight it will be on to the World Series, if they don't, thanks to the two wins in Skankee Town, we will live to fight another day. I hate that I'm not going to get to see the game live but rest assured that I'm getting it on my DVR! We are facing a pitcher that we beat up pretty bad in game 4 of the ALCS. I don't see any reason why we couldn't do it again! If by some freak of nature we lose tonight, we will have the New Mr. October on the mound for game 7. A young man from Arkansas, Mr. Cliff Lee, 7-0 on post-season play. I hope we don't have to play a game 7 because I would love to see Cliff Lee start for Texas in game 1 of the World Series. Stay tune!! GO RANGERS!!!!

Last night was a rough football game for a wing official. It was one of those games with no defense and all offense. We were up and down the field all night and most of the scores were from 50 yards and out, which means I spent the night doing 50 plus yard sprints, I'm too old for that! Just to let you know how bad it was the final score was 50-46 in favor of the home team.

Tonight will probably be a one sided repeat of last night. The home team is ranked in state and the visiting team hasn't won a game in years. I have the good fortune to be working the visiting sideline. Please pray for me!

Sometimes I Just Don't Understand.

I refereed a Jr. High game last night and immediately the coach on my sideline began to give me problems. On the second play from scrimmage I had to throw a flag for a sideline warning. This meant the coach wasn't back where he needed to be at the snap of the ball. For the last several years the rules have been adjusted to keep the coaches off the playing field and starting this year the coaches have to be in the team box at the snap. The reason for this rule being a special point of emphasis is because about three years ago a high school coach was run over by an official on the field of play. The coach fell back and hit his head on the ground which cause traumatic brain injury and the coach is no longer in coaching. Well, the twist to this is the school district sued the official crew and the official for NOT enforcing the rule. The school district lost the case and their football coach. Every since that happened, keeping the coaches off the field has been a point of emphasis. Anyway, I digress, I asked the coach to step back and he didn't so I threw the flag on the next play from scrimmage. He and his assistant went ballistic, when he got in my face and began screaming, I threw another flag. I could have gotten him for unsportsmanlike conduct but I gave him his second warning which this time carried a 5 yard penalty. Now I have been officiating for over 13 or 14 years and having a coach go ballistic on me before but when the coach started to question my integrity he got to me for a fleeting moment. He was complaining that the other teams coaches were on the field. He said, "if you have any integrity in you at all you'll throw a flag on the other coaches for not getting back!" I said, " now coach would you want the referee throwing a flag on you from his sideline?" He said, "yes if I was on the field". I said, "right". End of conversation! I guess when he saw that he wasn't going to rattle me he decided to back off. The rest of the night went without a peep from either coach and they shook my hand and thanked me after the game. Unfortunately, this has become the norm and each year the coaches have become more and more aggressive. If it were not for the 4 other guys on that field I believe I would turn in my stripes. I love those guys and I love the time I spend with them good and bad games!

Long Time Coming!

Since, I first heard that there was a new baseball team coming to Texas and that team was coming to a location close enough for me to get to as a kid, I have been a Texas Rangers fan. Those of you that know me know how much I love the sport of baseball and usually by this time of the year I am routing for anyone who is playing against those danged Yankees! Well, this year will be no exception, because those danged Yankees have to come through Texas !!! That's right , bring on the Yankees and this time we or my Rangers have the advantage! I don't hate the Yankees, as a matter of fact I used to pretend to be either Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, or Yogy and spent days wishing I would have lived in the time of "The Babe". I guess it's sort of like my beloved Dallas Cowboys, you either love them or hate them.

I was worried that this day wouldn't come again this year after the Rangers dropped two at home against the Rays, but just like the rest of the season the Rangers proved that they belong in the elite of baseball this year. So bring on the "Cinderfella" story, bring on the Yankees, and bring on anyone else that stands between my beloved Rangers and a World Championship!!

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE CLAW, IT'S TIME FOR THE ANTLERS AND IT'S TIME FOR THE TEXAS RANGERS!!! GO RANGERS GO!!!

Hog Heaven

As a Texas Rangers, Dallas Cowboys, and Arkansas Razorback fan I am in serious "Hog Heaven" right now! The wife and I had it all planned out, first we go to the Razorback game this Saturday in the Dallas Cowboys Stadium, from there we would just walk over to the Texas Rangers Ballpark and watch game 3 of the ALDS, and top that off with a Dallas Cowboys game Sunday against the Titans. We bought all the tickets and were ready to go until TBS threw a monkey wrench into the operation by scheduling the ALDS game 3 at approximately the same time as the Razorback game! RATS!! A tough decision had to be made so I sold our Razorback tickets, which lead to snears by my fellow Razorback fans. The way I look at it, the Razorbacks will be back in Dallas next year, but who knows when the Rangers will be back in the Play-offs again and eventually the Razorback Fan friends will forgive me! GO RANGERS!!! GO HOGS!!! and GO COWBOYS!!!