Run Adrian Run

   I don't know if you have been keeping up with Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, but I have. Adrian is close to breaking a record set by Eric Dickerson back in 1984. Dickerson, a former standout at SMU, ran for 2,105 yards in the '84 season as a member of the Los Angeles Rams. It remains the single season rushing record in the National Football League. Previous posts on this blog will attest that I am a SMU man with a great admiration for Dickerson..
... But I also have been a longtime follower of Adrian. I watched him play for Palestine High School in East Texas as he single-handedly destroyed Tyler High School with almost 300 yards rushing. At the college level, Adrian just added more punch to the high octane offense of the Oklahoma Sooners as they blistered the Texas Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl. Now Adrian is at the professional level and the starting tailback of the Minnesota Vikings. I am a blue-blooded Dallas Cowboy fan, but I still check on Adrian to see how he is doing. I was crushed last year when he suffered a major knee injury to his ACL but knew he would rehabilitate the joint to regain his lofty status. This year he has been on a tear to prove he is the best. Eight games of over 100-yard rushing, and 3 games over 200 yards toting the pigskin. Adrian's first coach was his Dad,..and his Dad instilled in him a never-give-up attitude. If you don't bust through the line the first time, keep hitting it until you do. His Dad gave him the nickname A.D... it stands for All Day. That's how long he will keep running the ball looking for daylight. Yesterday the St Louis Rams had A.D. bottled up for most of the game,..but then WHAM!! Peterson ran right up the gut of the Rams defense for 82 of his 212 yards on the day and another score in the 36-22 Minnesota win.

 With two games remaining in the 2012 regular season, A.D. is 293 yards behind Dickerson's record. I am hoping my Cowboys make the playoffs...but I am also pulling for A.D. to break the record...His fans in Texas & Oklahoma are pulling for him..

Rangers in Remission?

   Right off the bat let me say I am NOT a fan of the Texas Rangers. In the late 1960's I lived in Washington DC and would only attend Washington Senators baseball games to see the opposition teams. During that time I would always see one fan who was a regular in the center field bleachers. At each game he would drape a full size sheet over the wall that read: "Washington, First in Peace, First in War, Last in the American League."
  In 1970 I returned to my home state of Texas and just two years later the Senators followed me and became the Texas Rangers. All through the 1970's, 80's, and 90's they continued to be the doormat of the junior circuit of Major League Baseball. Each owner taking over the team thought he would be the one to put the team into the winner's circle. From Bob Short to Brad Corbett to Eddie Chiles to Norm Green to the current owners, millionaires have gone broke trying to make winners of the Rangers. In the early 2000's the team did seem to make some progress as they contended for the division championship, and in 2010 and 2011 made it to the World Series for the first time, only to settle for second best.

  Now the nucleus of the team seems to be departing for greener pastures. During the recent winter meetings of the Major League Owners, Rangers management was so intent on trying to sign ace pitcher Zach Greinke they neglected to mind their own staff. Not only did they lose out on acquiring Greinke, but Ranger pitcher Ryan Dempster signed with the Boston Red Sox, catcher Mike Napoli also signed on with the Bosox, and fan favorite Michael Young was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies after twelve long years with the Rangers. The management of the Rangers seemed to be asleep at the wheel as former MVP Josh Hamilton inked a deal with the California Angels, giving him 125 million dollars over the next five years. Ranger's management response? "We were waiting to talk to Josh." Evidently they have never heard the phrase, 'You snooze, You loose.'  Hamilton, who drove in 125 runs last year, will now join Angel sluggers Albert Pujols and Mike Trout in the same division with the Rangers. Throw in the fact that former Ranger pitcher C.J. Wilson now calls Anaheim home and suddenly the rivalry has gotten a lot hotter between the two teams. Before Texas can even think about competing for the Western Division title, they need to find some quality players to start the season. Right now it would appear to us outsiders that the rats are deserting a sinking ship. 
  

Good News Thursday

Some days are just better than others... Case in point, Thursday, November 15th, 2012. I awoke to find an email

from a book club in England that wanted to promote one of

my books to their club members. England has just about equaled 

the United States in sales of my books, so naturally I jumped

at the opportunity and granted them permission. I emailed 

them a photo of the cover and also a detailed synopsis of the

storyline. I was pretty excited about that until this afternoon

when I received the following in the mail.

 

Immediate Release:

PublishAmerica is proud to announce ‘Vietnam Shooter’ by Ron Stone has reached a milestone.  Amazon.com has notified PublishAmerica the third novel by Mister Stone has exceeded the twenty-five hundred mark in sales of both ebooks and print in the United States, Great Britian, and Germany.  Amazon.com has over seven million books listed in its library and Mister Stone’s Vietnam Shooter has moved into the top fifteen per cent of book sales. PublishAmerica is exceedingly proud to include Ron Stone among its valued list of authors.

Mister Stone lives in Denison, Texas and a complete list of his books can be found on Amazon.com at the following site:

http://www.amazon.com/Ron-Stone/e/B004C64JLO/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

They can also be ordered from Books-A-Million and Barnes & Noble.

PublishAmerica is the home of 40,000 authors. PublishAmerica is a traditional publishing company whose primary goal is to promote and encourage the works of its authors.  PublishAmerica offers a distinctly personal, supportive alternative to vanity presses and less accessible publishers.

  

Not a bad way to wrap up the week...and I still have Friday to go !

  

Dallas Cowboys show emotion

It was a must game for the Dallas Cowboys if they want to be in the playoffs this season. And fate threw them a curve just before this important game with the Cincinnati Bengals. Saturday just prior to the departure of the flight to Ohio, Dallas Head Coach Jason Garrett had to tell his players that one of their teammates was dead and another in jail on charges of intoxication homicide. In the wee hours of Saturday morning after a night of drinking and partying, nose tackle Josh Brent lost control of his car and it flipped over and crashed. Longtime friend Jerry Brown, a linebacker for the Cowboys, died in the crash and his body was pulled from the burning vehicle by Brent. The two had been teammates and roommates at the University of Illinois and Brent was instrumental in getting Dallas to sign Brown when he was released by the Indianapolis Colts in August of this year. All of this was on the minds of the Cowboys as they now had to return to business and face the vastly improved Bengals on Sunday. Cincinnati played the better game, but missed out on opportunities to put the Cowboys away. Dropped passes by the Bengals and busted plays allowed Dallas to hang around as they entered the fourth quarter of the contest. Leading 19 to 17, Cincinnati had to watch as Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo led his team down the field toward the inevitable end. With four seconds remaining in the contest Dallas called upon field goal kicker Dan Bailey to connect with a forty-yard effort and the ball sailed through the uprights as time expired. Dallas 20, Cincinnati 19. Now with the game behind them, the emotions started to flow. Players and coaches let down their 'tough guy' images and cried like babies. In the locker room Garrett even took a phone call from Jerry Brown's mother as she expressed her appreciation to the team for remembering her son. It was a deeply stirring moment for the Cowboys at a time when they desperately needed the win to stay in contention in the NFC Eastern Division...and it may be the moment they finally came together as a team in 2012.

SMU Wins Again...

    The SMU Mustangs defeated Southern Mississippi University 34-6 on Saturday. The win moves SMU to an even record of 5 wins and 5 losses overall, but they are 4-2 in Conference USA. Mustang quarterback Garrett Gilbert ran for two touchdowns and threw a nine-yard pass to Darius Johnson for another score. Fullback Zach Line ran for 94 yards and a touchdown, moving into second place on the all-time SMU rushing list, behind only Eric Dickerson. The loss was the tenth of the season for the Golden Eagles.

Darrell K. Royal died today

    It is not often an SMU man has anything good to say about the University of Texas, but today one of the great ones died after a long bout with Alzheimer's disease. Darrell Royal was one of us when you were born and raised in the Lone Star State...but even
that is not totally correct.
   Royal was born in Hollis, Oklahoma and was a standout high school player. Famed coach Bud Wilkinson of the University of Oklahoma came courting the Royal family and young Darrell was the one player he wanted that year. Royal played quarterback and defensive back for the Sooners and his 18 career interceptions for Oklahoma still stands as a school record. Football was everything
for Royal and after a couple of stints as an assistant coach he got his first Head Coaching position at Mississippi State and then the University of Washington. At the ripe old age of 32 he took over the Head Coaching job of the Texas Longhorns, who were coming off three consecutive losing seasons. Royal would put the Steers on a winning track for the next twenty years, winning 167 games, losing 47, and tying 5. Texas also picked up three National Championship trophies in that time, becoming top dog in 1963, 1969, and 1970.
   In the early sixties Royal and one of his assistant coaches, Emory Ballard, would devise the Wishbone Offense and the Longhorns
became almost unbeatable. The triple-option offense gave Texas rushing yardage in the 300-400 yards per game category and wide receivers became almost just another blocker. Royal heaped the praise on Ballard for the Wishbone and he became Head Coach at Texas A&M, but they remained best friends over the years.
   While most of the country drooled over Bo Schembeckler at Michigan, Woody Hayes at Ohio State, or Bear Bryant at Alabama, we Texans had DKR and his Longhorns to bring home the bacon.
In 1969 #1 Texas played #2 Arkansas in Fayetteville for all the marbles. In the last minute of the game the Hogs led the Horns and had Texas stopped at the Arkansas 46 yard line. Going for it on 4th down, quarterback James Street threw a 43 yard pass to tight end Randy Peschel, who was bumped out at the three yard line. Two plays later  Jim Bertelson bulled his way into the end zone for a 15-14 win for Texas. I wasn't there but I saw it all on the radio as Kerns Tipps called the game on the old Humble Network of the Southwest Conference.
   Royal may be the only person named to the Sports Hall of Fame in Oklahoma and Texas. Born in the dust bowl of Oklahoma in 1924, Royal never changed his personality. If he told you something, you could take it to the bank as gospel. Never favoring the passing game, where 'three things can happen and two of them are bad', Royal's teams rarely threw the ball. The coach was also

a family man, not only to his but to his players, who he kept in touch with over the years. A football coach to the end, but so much more..
Footnote: Last Saturday against Iowa State, the Longhorns first play against Iowa State saw them come out in the Wishbone formation as a tribute to former Coach Royal.

    

The New Coach Cometh?

    The 2012 edition of the Dallas Cowboys are the epitome of puzzlement. Before the season began there was talk of a possible Super Bowl appearance for this team (not from me).  I figured an 8 win/8 loss season was the best they could ask for in 2012. Now as they pause in mid-season after another loss to run their record to 3 wins and 5 losses, and third place in the NFC Eastern Conference, a new problem arises.
    Head Coach Jason Garrett, a man that can see the positive side of any problem the size of Hurricane Katrina, has another worry at night. No it is not the shenanigans of wide receiver Dez Bryant, nor the injuries to prized running back DeMarco Murray, nor the inability of left tackle Tyrone Smith to keep defenders off of quarterback Tony Romo.
   Sunday the National Football League voided the contract binding Head Coach Sean Payton to the New Orleans Saints.  At the end of the current season he will become a free agent and can sign with any team he wishes. To the uninformed this may look like just a footnote, but in Dallas it has a non-ending echoing effect. Payton was an assistant coach and offensive coordinator for the Cowboys before departing in 2006 to take on the job in the French Quarter.  He did such an outstanding job the Saints won 62 games in six years and hoisted the Super Bowl Championship trophy in 2010. Payton has just recently built a million dollar home in Dallas and has strong ties with the front office in Dallas. It was Payton who tutored rookie quarterback Tony Romo when he first came to Dallas as a free agent, and it was Payton who designed the offensive game plans for Dallas under then Head Coach Bill Parcels.
   Garrett took over as Head Coach of the Cowboys midway through the 2010 season when team owner Jerry Jones dismissed Wade Phillips. Since then Garrett's Cowboys have won 16 games.. and lost 16 games. He insists on calling the plays for the Cowboys and shows no imagination from the sidelines. If Jerry Jones is serious about the 'window of opportunity' closing on the current edition of the Cowboys, maybe it is time for a change in the Head Coaching position. Of course there would be some changes at Valley Ranch. Where Garrett is lax and easy going with the players, Payton would return them to a more disciplined organization (he was an assistant to Bill Parcels, the original task master).

   The Cowboys have eight games remaining this season. Two with the Washington Redskins, two with the Philadelphia Eagles, and one game meetings with Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and New Orleans. Somehow I don't see my 8-8 prediction coming to fruition.  There is an old rule in the game of tennis. If what you are doing is winning the game, don't change what you are doing,...BUT if what you are doing is losing the game, then CHANGE what you are doing. Are you listening Jerry Jones?