Another accolade for Andy Dalton

Because NFL veterans tend to back out of the Pro Bowl, don't be surprised if you receive a phone call today asking if you want to play right cornerback for the NFC in the NFL's All-Star game.

That said, it still does not take away from the fact that former TCU quarterback Andy Dalton is going to Hawaii to play quarterback for the AFC after Mr. Gisele Bunchden lucked his way past Balitmore for a trip to yet another Super Bowl. Tom Brady's absence from the game allowed for Dalton to get the invite.

Dalton was a first alternate to go to the Pro Bowl, and will play in one of the few football games that Americans don't watch. 

Also of note, Dalton won the NFLPA's Emerging Player Award recently, too. I have no idea what that award is, but good for Dalton.

Dalton going to the Pro Bowl ends what was a fantastic 12-month stretch:

* Dalton wins the Rose Bowl for TCU
* He is drafted in the second round by the Bengals, who need a QB because Carson Palmer has told team owner Mike Brown he would rather never play again than play for his team.
* Dalton becomes the opening day starter for the Bengals, and beats the Browns in Cleveland in his first career start.
* Dalton leads the Bengals to a 7-4 start.
* The Bengals finished the regular season with a 9-7 record, and a wildcard appearance.

Dalton finished the season passing for 58.1 percent of his passes for 3,398 yards, 20 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.

With a full offseason and an entire year of starting on his resume, Dalton should do nothing but improve in his second year. Now, if he can just get rid of Mike Brown as the team's owner ...

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Dear Indianapolis: Pray for good weather, but prepare for mockery and ridicule

This year's Super Bowl will bring with it an air of smugness and superiority unseen since the last time the New York Giants played the New England Patriots in a Super Bowl. The difference was when the Giants beat the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII in 2008 the game was played in the warm weather of the greater Phoenix area, so even the national media couldn't complain too loudly because they were warm.

Super Bowl XLVI will be held in Indianapolis, Indiana where the weather is what the kids call "awful". 

According to Weather.com, the weather in Indianapolis right now is currently 51 degrees with rain and wind. Tomorrow, a high of 37. It is supposed to be in the high 30s, and go with overcast skies, for what will feel like an eternity.

Indy is holding this Super Bowl as a basically a 'Thank you' from the NFL to the city for building a new stadium a few years ago. It's the same reason Detroit hosted the big game in 2006 and Jacksonville had it in 2005. None of these cities will ever again get this game.

When Detroit hosted the Seahawks/Steelers at Ford Field it drew a big break with moderate weather for that time of year; it was also smart enough to put nearly everything right in the middle of downtown, and it then flooded the city with cops so people could walk around at all hours. It wasn't a bad Super Bowl, even if the game was a snore.

Indianapolis actually is quite adept at holding big events from Finals Fours to the Indy 500, and even an NBA Finals once. Should have been two NBA Finals, but that's a much longer rant (thanks, NBC and NBA refs). It now features a pedestrian-friendly downtown with adequate hotel space, nightlife, etc.

The best Indy can hope for is moderately decent weather and no snow to help avoid some of the negative backlash from hosting America's ode to excess. Drawing the NYC and Boston area media is already bad luck, and a bad start.

Even though Indianapolis once had an advertisement that said, "Move over New York, apple is our middle name" (not kidding) this city should best be preared to hear how much it sucks.

The good news is that the Indy Super Bowl will likely be a far greater success than the Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington Super Bowl held last year at Jerry World. Indy actually has snow plows, more events will be centrally located and won't require 30 minute drives, and all ticket-carrying patrons should have a seat to watch the game.

 

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Quote of the day

Stephen Colbert: “There's an old saying about those who forget history. I don't remember it, but it's good.” 

 

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Perry Jones needs to get mean before going to the NBA

WACO - In the final minute of Baylor's 89-88 loss against Missouri this afternoon the best player on either roster spent most of the time on the bench, and not in foul trouble.

Baylor sophomore Perry Jones III is an NBA lottery pick, but Saturday's game was proof that while he may not want the NBA lifestyle just yet, his game isn't ready, either.

Jones was pushed around and dominated by Missouri forward Ricardo Ratliffe all afternoon. Jones finished with 8 points with four rebounds. His 7 field goal attempts were the fewest by any Baylor starting player. 

Some of this is on Perry Jones, and some of this is on his teammates. He has to shoot more, and his teammates have to force the ball into his hands more. He is their most talented player.

Ratliffe, meanwhile, went off for 27 points and eight rebounds.

Jones may may be too nice right now to be a dominating college player, and too soft for a hard interior game. He is 6-foot-11, 235 pounds but he does not have enough weight or the attitude to play a hard game around the basket. Jones has a power forward-type height and tweener-type game.

Saturday may have been an aberration, or the product of playing against a very good opponent. Against Kansas and its lottery-pick forward Thomas Robinson earlier in the week, Jones scored 18 points with five rebounds. So it's not as if Jones has vanished against good opponents all season.

Jones did not come out after his freshman season because he said he did not want the NBA lifestyle just yet. He will be a lottery pick this summer if he decides now is the time, but if he truly wants to be a dominating player he has to start by taking more than just seven shots and sitting on the bench in the final minute of a close game.

 

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Fearle$$ football predictions

The Big Mac Blog began this season with $50 of Monopoly money. I plan to mock bet $10, against the line, five games from college/NFL every week to determine whether I should make my second career as a gambler.

Ohhh ... it's good to be me; I went 2-2 last week. I am now at plus $70 for the season. Daddy needs a new pair of everything!

Most recent results
1. Saints (-4) at 49ers. SAINTS. LOSS
2. Tim Tebow at Patriots (-13.5). Patriots. WIN
3. Texans at Ravens (-7.5). Ravens. LOSS
4. NY Giants at Packers (-7.5). Giants. WIN

This week's picks
1. Ravens at Patriots (-7). RAVENS. I can't see this being a blowout.
2. NY Giants at SF 49ers (-2.5). GIANTS. I plan to keep picking against the 49ers until they lose, including next season.

 

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One of Fort Worth's best burger places is about done with its expansion

These pictures are not the best, but it should give you some idea that the popular Fort Worth burger spot, Dutch's, is about done with its ambitious expansion plans.

The restaurant that is all but located on TCU's campus on University Drive has been working on re-doing its back patio, as well as adding a second deck that will have a roof. Both the top and bottom patio are expected to be completed in the next three weeks, give or take. Not quite in time, however, for the Super Bowl.

A Dutch's employee told me that the total capacity of both floors will be just under 100, and there are early ideas to expand even further over the roof. Both floors will be fitted with large screen TVs, and be suitable for any climate. There will be fans for the warmer months, which these days includes January, and a heating system that far exceeds the stand-alone heaters that usually accompany outdoor restaurant patios.

The top floor will be available to rent out for parties and private gatherings.

Sounds good. In all candor, Dutch's could serve its patrons from a dumpster and I very likely would endorse this place.

Click here for their website.

 

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A former Dallas Cowboys QB's daughter, Gina Carano, can succeed where few others have

The new Steven Soderbergh action movie "Haywire" opens today and the early reviews for the flick starring MMA star Gina Carano are mostly positive.

The movie also stars Fort Worth's own Bill Paxton.

FASCINATING FACTOID: Gina's father, Glenn Carano, was a quarterback and a second round draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys in the 1977 draft. Glenn played for the Cowboys from 1978 to 1983 appearing in 36 games. He led the Cowboys to a 10-9 win against the Bears on Thanksgiving Day in 1981 when he completed 6-of-15 passes for 131 yards.
If memory serves, the final margin was provided when Ed Jones blocked a Bears' extra point attempt in the fourth quarter.
Carano was Danny White's backup that season, and on the sidelines when the Cowboys lost in the NFC title game against the 49ers via Dwight Clark's "The Catch". 

His daughter, Gina, has surpassed his popularity and become a massive MMA star/sex symbol for ... well, obvious reasons.
Haywire is her first movie. Historically women have not fared too well as action stars because audiences haven't bought in.

Geena Davis gave it a shot in the 1996 movie 'The Long Kiss Goodnight' with Samuel L. Jackson.  Not a bad movie, and Geena Davis was good, but the movie didn't score a huge hit.

Bridget Fonda wasn't too bad in the 1993 movie, 'Point of No Return'.

Even the very fit and strong Jennifer Garner in the TV hit Alias while fun and entertaining lacked a certain physical element.

Carano, however, possesses a certain weight and a physical element that few female stars have ever possessed. She's good looking, but she also knows how to fight. You can easily buy Carano beating the hell out of someone whereas believing the smaller Bridget Fonda working over a bad guy is harder to believe.

 

 

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C.J. Wilson didn't think the Rangers were going after Yu

At 7 p.m. tonight Yu Darvish is scheduled to meet the FW/d media with his first press conference since he agreed to a six-year, $60 million deal.

Six years ... for a pitcher ... moving on.

I was clearing out my audio recorder this morning and came across an interview from the morning of Dec. 7, 2011 in the lobby of the Anatole hotel in Dallas. C.J. Wilson was chatting with reporters after he had agreed to a five-year, $77.5 million deal with the Angels when the subject of a certain Japanese pitcher came up.

Wilson was saying why the Rangers were going to be fine, and showering Derek Holland and Matt Harrison with praise when a reporter asked Wilson, "Knowing what you know about that organization do you think they will turn to Yu Darvish and try to get him?"

Wilson said: "Yu Darvish is going to be so expensive, I mean if it was a cost thing with me then I think it may be the same situation with (Darvish). I don't know how that works. I am not doing the books. The Rangers obviously have a very big TV deal coming in and that's how were factoring in the huge offer they made to Cliff Lee. The main thing is they have Josh, Nelson, Mike, Kinsler, and all of those guys that are coming up on free agency as well. They are going to have to make some difficult decisions there as well. They may have to lose another guy at some point. You never know."

 

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Why do people not like Baylor coach Scott Drew?

WACO - About 90 miles apart tomorrow afternoon three of the nation's top 7 basketball teams will be playing:

No. 5 Missouri (17-1, 4-1 Big 12) at No. 3 Baylor (17-1, 4-1) in Waco at 1 p.m. ESPN
No. 7 Kansas (15-3, 5-0 Big 12) at Texas (12-6, 2-3) in Austin at 3 p.m. CBS

There is no better team in Texas than Baylor, and there may not be a better player in the country than Baylor sophomore forward Perry Jones III. Which leads me to Baylor coach Scott Drew.

Hired in 2003 to rebuild the destroyed Baylor basketball program, Drew has somehow made Waco a destination for some of the state's top basketball players. How? Got me. When I interviewed Perry Jones III last month - click here for the interview - Jones said the reason he came to Baylor was the head coach.

For years I had heard rumblings that Drew rubbed people the wrong way. Not Bob Knight rubs people the wrong way, but that there was something about the guy that opposing coaches didn't like.

Perhaps because he was winning at Baylor, landing sought-after recruits, or that the crusty 'old guard' coaches didn't care for his style.

The media, however, is not among that group. When I met him last month in his office he could not have been any more gracious and kind. Why does this perception exist?

He laughed when I asked him this and shook his head yes.

"I think if you look at a presidential race every year, he gets 51 percent he's going to win which means there was 49 percent that aren't going to like him," he said. "Human nature is if you are in the spotlight, some people are going to like you and some people aren't going to like you. What matters to me the most are the people that know me. If my friends think I'm screwing up or need to focus and do better in certain areas, I take that. If it's somebody that doesn't know me, and it's perception or gossip, no. The older I've gotten I don't pass judgement on people until I get to know them personally rather than go on what I hear or read."

Was I wrong with that perception?

"I think you hit on it; you look at Billy Donovan at Florida. He has a lot of success, he's a young guy," Drew said. "The team does well and then over time I think you earn respect. ... As our program has gotten better, and over time, Coach Rick Barnes is the longest tenured in the Big 12. Coach (Bill Self) and I came in at the same time. My relationships with the Big 12 coaches is better than it's ever been."

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Quote of the day

David Letterman: There is no off position on the genius switch.

 

 

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