Friday Morning Coffee: Mack Brown's Still Got It as Does Brandon McCarthy

Yes, I know the Mavs played and lost last night but something bigger first ...

* While TCU deservedly earned heaps and heaps of praise for its 13-0 Rose Bowl-winning season, when it still comes down to it no one in the state of Texas does recruiting the way Mack Brown does recruiting. He may not be able to coach at all, but the guy gets players.
Gary Patterson may be the best coach in the state, and Mike Sherman is doing well enough in College Station, but neither of these two can run with Mack in terms of swaying a teenager to play football for him.
The news that Aledo running back Jonathan Gray, one of the top recruits in the nation, turned down TCU and Texas A&M for UT should not surprise any of us.

Read the story here

When Mack calls, people still not only answer but they still always seem to say yes.

* Since my predictions usually have a 30-80 chance at success (I was never good at math) I am going to sprain my elbow patting myself on the back.
Before the Mavs' Game 3 in Portland I said Jason Terry would score 20, the Mavs wouldn't shoot the 3 as well, and they would lose.
Blazers 97, Mavs 92
Give the man a cigar!
JET scored 29, Dirk scored 25 and no one else did anything. Two players in double figures? Awful.
Mavs made 13 of 23 free throws, and Wes Matthews went off for Portland with 25.
The Jason Kidd score-athon is over. He finished with 8 points. If he scores more than 16 points in any game the rest of the playoffs it will be an upset.

* The Blazers are 7-1 against the Mavs at home in the playoffs.

* Water For Elephants opens today. We're all fans of Reese Witherspoon, but somehow I think I may miss this ... even if it were playing directly in front of me. I'd prefer to watch Election again.
And in a stunning twist, Star-Telegram movie critic Chris Kelly didn't like Water For Elephants.

Read CK's review of Water For Elephants

* What are the Chicago Blackhawks doing? They go down in the series 0-3, and in the last two games have defeated hockey's best team - Vancouver - by the combined score of 12-2. The series returns to Chicago for Game 6, and now Vancouver is really going to start to feel it.

* By now we should not be surprised, but the percentage of black players in MLB dropped again. The annual study released Thursday by Richard Lapchick's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports at the University of Central Florida (RLIDESUCF) reports that the percentage of black players in MLB is now 8.5 percent. In 1990, it was 17 percent.

* I'm sure Rangers GM Jon Daniels is thrilled to see this, but former "big" acquisition Brandon McCarthy is finally starting to pitch like a major leaguer ... in Oakland.
The former Rangers spare threw 8 innings, allowed four hits and one run with one walk and six strikeouts in a 1-0 loss for the A's last night against the Mariners.
In four starts this season McCarthy has pitched 30 innings with a 2.10 ERA. Where the hell was that when he was sparing it up in Arlington?
And the player Daniels dealt to acquire McCarthy, White Sox lefty John Danks, is now 0-2 with a 3.00 ERA.