Why Cliff Lee is Forcing My 88-Year Old Neighbor to Drink More Scotch

The question “What will Cliff Lee do?” is on your mind, my mind and especially my fabulous 88-year old neighbor Frances' mind. (you MUST read the story the Dallas Morning News did on her during the MLB playoffs, click the link).  Every time she takes her four-pound yorkie Molly out for a walk, Frances stops by my place to ask if I have any updates on Cliff Lee.  I don't know what Lee's doing but I do have a little something from the Rangers.

I talked to CEO Chuck Greenberg on Friday.  He, of course, was part of a contingency that included assistant general manager Thad Levine and co-chairman of the board Ray Davis who visited with Lee, his wife Kristen and agent on Thursday at Lee’s home in Arkansas.

Greenberg wouldn’t divulge much other than to say they presented Lee with a complex menu of options.  I got the impression the Rangers weren't interested in a long term deal a la the Yankees seven year offer. Greenberg indicated that the Rangers would prefer to do a shortER term deal.  But when it's all over, what he indicates doesn't mean a dang thing.  It's all about what Lee agrees to do.

I could continue but you can watch the interview for yourself here.

Enjoy.

Mavs Don't Want to Get in a Small Ball Race with the Nuggets

Notice the new neck tatts

The Mavericks towered over the Nuggets shortened lineup on Wednesday night in a 102-101 win.  Dallas hopes to use size to its advantage again on Saturday when the two teams meet at the AAC.

With multi-tattooed tall guys Chris Andersen and Kenyon Martin recovering from offseason knee surgery and Nene a late scratch because of a groin strain, the Nuggets didn't have a player on the floor taller than 6'9 during the game's 48 minutes. 

Between us girls, if a roster says a player is 6'9, it's more like 6'7.   They all lie.  I got in trouble once when I interned for the Rockets for revealing a Hall of Fame player's real height.

I digress.

What's the Mavericks philosophy when playing a team that goes small?  Try and stay big.

"We've got to try to keep our length in game as much as we can," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said after practice Friday morning.  "That’s one of our real defining attributes."

That doesn't mean the Mavericks are going to go big at all costs.  They'll size up the matchups and hope to take advantage.

"There are times when sizing down makes sense," Carlisle added.  "We looked at it a bit in the first game anything’s in play."

College Football......Boone Pickens Style...Trust Me, It's Good

There are times you shoot a story and it’s just fine. It’s lovely. You learn a thing or two and move on from there. Then there are times you spend an evening learning more than you ever thought you would and come away amazed. The latter was the experience I had shooting a piece with Dallas billionaire Boone Pickens.  Here's the link to the story that aired on CBS11.

I’ve wanted to attend an Oklahoma State football game with the 1951 graduate for years figuring a story would offer a unique perspective and interest viewers. Our schedules finally aligned and I got the chance to travel with him, some of his employees, friends and colleagues to Stillwater for the Cowboys game against Texas A&M.  I knew it would be fun but I didn’t know I would learn so much about this 82-year old man who has the stamina and character of someone 50 years his junior.

His schedule is exhausting. Take this particular Thursday, for instance: He worked a full day and then hopped on his plane to Oklahoma while still monitoring various business activities back in Dallas.  At the same time, he’s enduring my dumb questions, along with a more thought-provoking discussion with a newspaper reporter from the The Daily Oklahoman. He also had some employees on the plane so they could discuss a few issues. 

View from Suite

Once he’s off the plane, Pickens does a fair amount of entertaining and greeting the hoards of people who want to meet him.  From the OSU athletic director to the basketball coach to various school personnel, they all wanted to say hello. This was before Pickens had even walked into his eponymous facility. Once he was inside Boone Pickens Stadium and gotten his usual pre-game ice cream and tried to make his way to his suite, he was stopped time and again by friends, well-wishers and, frankly, fans. 

I walked around the stadium before the game to talk to people on campus. He has rock star status. One tipsy frat told me “T. Boone is my homie!!!!” Okay, a little beer might have gotten said frat a little more fired up than usual but I got the impression most of the students feel the same way. He has a real connection with the student body. They think he’s cool.

His suite, located on the 50-yard line and next to the university president’s box, is honestly one of the nicest I’ve ever seen. Rich wood cabinets, gorgeous wallpaper and beautiful furniture decorate the luxury box. That’s just the beginning. The food was amazing: freshly picked tomatoes and squash from a local farmer’s market were served for the halftime dinner along with some beautiful steak. Dried fruit, various dips and these amazing, impossible to stop eating jalapeno-cheddar pretzel bites served as appetizers.

I bring all this to your attention because Pickens doesn’t do anything halfheartedly. From his business interests to his passion for Oklahoma State, he’s all in at all times. We had a microphone on Pickens while he watched the game. We typically get the best stuff for our stories during these moments because many people forget they are on-camera. Pickens watched the Texas A&M/Oklahoma State game with binoculars. When I was logging the tapes we shot, I could hear him telling his wife, Madeleine, information on the players any college football scout would appreciate.  He understood the plays and knew in-depth details about almost every OSU player.

He’s a man concerned with details. He’s given around half a billion (with a B) dollars to Oklahoma State University. That money has gone towards both the athletic and academic programs. I asked him what was important to him in regards to the athletic department and the answer surprised me. Yes, the facilities are vital and, to me, Boone Pickens Stadium seems like the college football equivalent of JerryWorld.  Beyond that, Pickens is focused on two other elements: the food and beds.

“I am confident that a kid playing up here when he goes back to wherever it is Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Houston, when he goes back in the summer what does he talk about?” Pickens asked me. “He doesn't talk about the stadium. He'll talk more about what he has to eat. We really have good food.”

He wants the athletes to eat well and knows how important it is to their success. He also knows how much it costs: about a million bucks a year.

Why beds?

"A bed is very important to an athlete,” he explains. “He wants one long enough.”

Pickens has had former Cowboys players who are now in the NFL tell him they miss the beds at Oklahoma State more than anything else.

We got back from Stillwater around 11:30 pm. On the way to the airport, I asked him what his upcoming schedule was like. He had a full work day on Friday before flying to his ranch later that evening for a function on Saturday. Then it was on to California for an event at the Ronald Reagan Library, followed by meetings in Washington D.C. before heading back to Dallas for a Thursday morning breakfast meeting.

I was tired from the trip and exhausted just hearing his schedule. How does he do it? 5-Hour Energy? Starbucks triple espressos?  My personal fave, Tall Skinny Caramel Lattes?  No. Pickens has never had a cup of coffee in his life. He’ll drink herbal tea. He eats pretty well, save for an admitted sweet tooth.

I think it all goes back to a certain passion for winning.

“I've always said show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser,” he said. “I am competitive and I want to win.”

Simply put, that’s his philosophy and he seemingly applies it to every, single thing he does.

It’s obviously working.

Leading the Band

My Favorite Story:

There were some good ones that night.  It was hard to pick one. 

Pickens is one of the most even keel men I've met, excuding a calm confidence.  He would cheer and "wave the wheat" when Oklahoma State scored.  He was cordial and friendly, yet pretty business-like during the game except when the band played outside his suite. Members of the OSU band stopped by his suite to perform. Pickens had grabbed a snack and was heading back to his Cowboy-orange leather seats when heard the band just outside his suite entrance.

“That’s my band!” he exclaimed with a huge smile.

Then he proceeds to go into the hallway of suite level at Boone Pickens Stadium and not just listen to the band. No no no, to borrow a phrase from Roy Williams. Pickens went out there to lead the band. He knew the words, he knew what to do and he proved to me, once again, that billionaires, at least this one, simply do it better.

Are There Football Spies Among Us? TCU Thinks So

TCU's Gary Patterson thinks there's a spy in the college football ranks.  Not quite 007-style but he does think the Baylor Bears got an edge on Saturday in something that someone saw at a Frog practice or scrimmage.

Patterson says the Bears ran a particular play against his team that has only been run by one group.

"Our own offense," he said.  "When would you have seen that?  Sometime in the spring in a scrimmage? Some other time?"

"I've been playing Art Briles going back to Houston and he's never lined up and ran a read option out of a double-wing, tight end formation, ever. But there's only team that ever has: our offense. So where would you see that?"

"People come to our scrimmages in the spring and the fall," he explaines. "There (are) a lot of guys that are ex-coaches now that can write down on a piece of paper how you defend each other."

It's one reason why he limits media access to practice.  Like most programs do, TCU only allows media members to attend and shoot practice during particular drills.  Practices are also, typically, closed to the public.  He admits he'd rather be overcautious in this area.

Even Patterson admitted he got some video from a newscast "five or six years ago" out of Lubbock that fired his kids up. "It's my job to help you do your jobs," he said referring to the media. "It's also my job to help my kids not get beat."

Patterson isn't the first coach to believe that there are football spies out there or that opposing teams can learn something from watching local newscasts.  When I covered the University of Tennessee, there was a rumor going around that a Vol scout was in Atlanta one weekend and saw something that the Bulldogs were working on in video used on an Atlanta affiliates 6pm newscast.

Who knows. 

The Cowboys took advantage of the Redskins a number of years ago when they charged admission to training camp.  Then-coach Dave Campo sent one of the Cowboys scouts to watch Redskins practice.  That Redskins game on September 18, 2000 resulted in Campo's first win, a game ball for the scout AND yours truly!

TCU vs SMU: The Lesson Gary Patterson Learned from the 2005 Loss

It's the battle for the Iron Skillet.  4th-ranked TCU puts its 3-0 record on the line when they play 2-1 SMU on Friday in University Park.  The Frogs will be the highest ranked opponent ever to visit Ford Stadium.


The Famous Skillet Getting Air-Time

Honestly, many of the current TCU players have no clue what the Iron Skillet is. 

"Isn't it something you cook in?" half-joked safety Tejay Johnson.

The trophy for the winner of this game was born after the post-WWII college football boom, according to both schools.  TCU and SMU students created the ceremonial trophy that was given to the game's winner.  The tradition died but was resurrected in 1993.

TCU's Gary Patterson has only lost once to SMU in his ten years as the Frogs head coach.  That one loss came on September 10, 2005 when the then-Phil Bennett coached Ponies beat TCU 21-10, ending the school's six-game win streak over the Mustangs.  It was the Frogs only loss of the season. 

The loss came a week after TCU had upset 5th ranked Oklahoma in Norman.  Let down game?  Trap game?  What happened the week between the OU win and the SMU loss?  Patterson explained during his weekly media briefing on Tuesday.

"The mistake I made is that I shouldn't have let anybody come to my practice," Patterson said.  "I was asked by my marketing group if I would allow media to come see our team because nobody had really showed up and we'd been 5-6 before in 2004."

"I let people come down and talk to my players on the field after practice on Sunday and treat them like celebrities.  That's the way they played all week.  They didn't concentrate they didn't do anything they needed to do to get ready for the ballgame."

So is Patterson doing anything differently this week, after the win over Baylor?  Well considering it's a short week and the game is this Friday, they'll be in shorts all week.  Patterson has found it keeps them fresher when they don't have a full week between games.  Another lesson learned.

Cowboys Locker Room Report: Don't Believe the Hype

That's what a number of Cowboys players were trying to tell the media today, doing their best to channel Public Enemy.  Unfortunately, I don't think we're the ones that need convincing of that.

Safety Gerald Sensabaugh brought up the fact that the Cowboys are constantly mentioned in the same breath as this year's Super Bowl.  Receiver Roy Williams alluded to it, as well. 

To that you have to ask - isn't it the Cowboys themselves that are doing it?  Remember quarterback Tony Romo on stage at the Cowboys training camp kickoff party in San Antonio telling fans that he would "See them at the Super Bowl!!!!!".

Pet Friendly Paradise: Hotels That Get it Right

MSNBC has a nice little piece on pet-friendly hotels in the U.S.  While I haven't stayed at any of the properties profiled, I have braved the plane hell and hotel hassle of bringing my dog with me on the road and found some great options.

Birdie in San Antonio

All Kimpton properties are pet friendly.  I brought my dog, Birdie, to Seattle where we stayed in the Alexis Hotel   which is within walking distance to Pike Place market.  It was fabulous.  They had a gourmet dog-bone welcome gift for Birdie, as well as their own beautiful lab on staff.

From Seattle we stayed at the Pacific Palisades hotel in Vancouver, another Kimpton property which welcomed us with open arms.  Birdie's gift was a simple little travel dog bowl from Ikea.  They were nice enough to decorate it and it's become our travel bowl for her any time we're on the road.  It was a cheap little item that the staff put some effort into making special.  Smart gesture on their part as it has become a lasting, warm memory for our family.

Many more pet-friendly hotels come to mind.  Birdie has visited the Hotel San Jose in Austin, a few Ritz-Carlton properties, the Omni Hotel in Corpus Christi and Hotel ZaZa in Houston where she got on tv when a local station did a story profiling hotels that have "gone to the dogs".

We've also stayed in New York's Waldorf-Astoria, where the doormen absolutely fell in love with Birdie.  I was surprised at how accommodating they were.  They were just fabulous. 

The security guards at a particular office building on Park Avenue didn't appreciate it, however, when she decided to use the bathroom on their greenspace outside the skyscraper (of course, we picked it up!) When a dog's gotta go, she just has to go.

Some Advice: 
Check the hotel's website regarding its pet policy but go the extra step to call the property directly.  With Kimpton properties, you know they are pet friendly but you still have to let them know you are coming with your pet.  Also some hotels use their own discretion.  The Waldorf-Astoria's website said one thing, while the representative from the hotel said another.

Some hotels charge crazy-high fees while others allow pets for free.  It's on a hotel by hotel basis and it's always better to call the property and get a contact name of a hotel representative in case there's any discrepancy or confusion.