Whitt's End: Would A Mavs NBA Title Mean An Asterisk?

Whitt's End: DFW Sports-Radio Ratings And Our Sports Notebook - Including How Few MVPs The Metroplex Has Produced and the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals Dream

Whether you’re at the end of your coffee, your day, your week or even your rope, welcome to Whitt’s End 5.15.30 …

*Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley’s hearts and heads might be in the right place when they worry about player safety in saying they think the NBA season should be canceled. But a champion should be crowned, sans asterisk.

Lance Armstrong won seven Tours de France. Barry Bonds hit 73 homers. Reggie Bush won the Heisman. The Rams beat the Saints in the NFC Championship Game.

Regardless of drugs or scandals or blown calls, America doesn’t do asterisks. You know what we remember from the 1999 NBA Finals? Tim Duncan’s dominance of the Ewing-less Knicks. Avery Johnson’s clutch jumper in Game 5. The Spurs beating the Knicks in an era of violent, physical basketbrawl.

You know what we don’t focus on? Any asterisk that might have been tied to a lockout-shortened season of only 50 regular-season games.

If the Dallas Mavericks are allowed back on the floor for the 2019-20 NBA season, and then win a playoff game ... a playoff series ... or even something more?

It'll count in the books. And it'll count in our memories.

*The quarterback without a contract is a favorite to be NFL MVP. So says Las Vegas of the Dallas Cowboys’ Dak Prescott.

According to the wise guys, Patrick Mahomes is the best bet at 4/1, followed by Lamar Jackson (6.5/1) and then Dak (9/1). Bottom line: Vegas expects Prescott to have a better season than Russell Wilson, Tom Brady, Kyler Murray and Drew Brees. (Next time you consider taking ESPN’s Mike Greenberg seriously, this week he touted the Jets’ Sam Darnold for the award. No, for real.) 

If 2019 was any barometer, to win 2020 MVP Dak better put up 3,000+ yards passing, 1,200+ yards rushing and 43+ combined touchdowns. Not that outlandish, I guess, since last year he went 4,902/277/33.

If he flirts with Jackson’s award-winning numbers, it would be one of the best seasons ever by a DFW athlete. But would it be the greatest?

Despite our championships, Hall of Famers and braggadocio, the Metroplex has enjoyed only eight true “MVP” seasons. Just one of those belongs to the Cowboys. No Dallas Star has ever won the NHL’s Hart Trophy (Joe Nieuwendyk won the Conn Smythe as playoffs MVP during their 1999 run to the Stanley Cup). Dirk Nowitzki’s magical 2011 NBA Playoffs triumphs over LaMarcus Aldridge, Kobe Bryant, Russell Westbrook-Kevin Durant-James Harden and LeBron James-Dwyane Wade-Chris Bosh came after a regular season for the Dallas Mavericks in which he finished only sixth in MVP voting. The six MVPs belonging to the Texas Ranges are diluted, in that they were only an American League – and not overall baseball – award. A couple other magical years belong to Heisman Trophy winners, and an unprecedented golfer.

My Top 10 Greatest Single Seasons in DFW Sports History

10. Jeff Burroughs, 1974 – Powerful right-fielder hit .301 with 25 homers and a league-leading 118 RBI to keep the upstart Rangers within five games of the eventual World Series champion A’s in the AL West.

9. Juan Gonzalez, 1998 – In one of the most prolific run-producing seasons in baseball history, he drove in 35 runs in April, had 101 RBI at the All-Star break and wound up leading the AL in doubles (50) and RBI (157).

8. Dirk Nowitzki, 2007 – Shot 50 percent from the field, 41 percent on 3-pointers and 90 percent from the free-throw line, to dig the Mavs out of an 0-4 start to a franchise-record 67-15 regular season. On the heels of the heartbreaking 2006 NBA Finals to the Heat, he averaged 25 points, nine rebounds and three assists but played poorly in a shocking loss to the Warriors as the No. 1 seed in the playoffs.

7. Pudge Rodriguez, 1999 – It took quite a performance to beat out a pitcher that went 23-4 with a 2.07 ERA, 313 strikeouts and more first-place votes, but the Rangers’ star did just that in edging the Red Sox’s Pedro Martinez. Pudge hit .332 with 113 RBI while leading baseball by throwing out 41 of 75 attempted base-stealers and committing only seven errors in 1,200 innings. He set an AL record for most homers (35) by a catcher, became the first catcher in baseball history with 20 homers/20 stolen bases and produced a 20-game hitting streak.

6. Juan Gonzalez, 1996 – In leading the Rangers to their first ever playoff berth, he hit .314 with 47 homers and 144 RBI and then, for good measure, homered five times in four games of the ALDS loss to the Yankees.

5. Davey O’Brien, 1938 – On a team that allowed only 60 points in 11 games, the diminutive quarterback was the Horned Frogs’ offense. He amassed 2,000 yards and 22 touchdowns in leading TCU to the National Championship and winning the Heisman.

4. Josh Hamilton, 2010 – He led the Rangers to their first World Series, winning a batting title (.359) and hitting 32 homers with 100 RBI despite missing 29 games with an injury. With four homers, seven RBI and a record six intentional walks, he won ALCS MVP in the Rangers’ six-game vanquishing of the Yankees.

3. Doak Walker, 1948 – SMU’s superstar did it all on his way to the Heisman, rushing for 600 yards, throwing 53 passes, making 16 receptions, scoring 16 touchdowns including one on a punt return, intercepting three passes on defense, averaging 42 yards per punt and booting 22 extra points.

2. Emmitt Smith, 1993 – With him in uniform for the full 60 minutes the Cowboys went 15-1, the only loss in the Thanksgiving ice courtesy of Leon Lett. He missed the first two games in a contract dispute, but returned to win the NFL rushing title, MVP and Super Bowl MVP. He ran for 1,486 yards, caught 57 passes, scored 10 touchdowns and led Dallas’ game-winning, division-clinching drive in overtime at the Giants despite playing with a separated shoulder.

1. Byron Nelson, 1945 – The Waxahachie-born, Fort Worth-bred golfer had what Tiger Woods calls “one of the greatest years in the history of sports.” Nelson entered 30 tournaments, winning 18, finishing first or second an unfathomable 25 times and producing a record 11-event winning streak. (Tiger’s longest streak is seven, spanning two seasons.) He won 10 of those 11 tournaments by 4+ strokes and captured the year’s only major, the PGA. Nelson’s season is often discounted because of World War II, which briefly took top competitors such as Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan and Sam Snead off the tour and into uniform (Nelson suffered from a blood disorder that exempted him from duty). Sandwiched around the war, however, Snead played enough to win six tournaments; Hogan five.

*While The Fan and The Ticket continue to jockey for supremacy in April’s DFW sports radio ratings, one of America’s most recognizable brands – ESPN – remains Dead Men Talking.

It’s confounding why Cumulus, which operates both The Ticket and ESPN 103.3 FM, allows the station to be the mess in the grocery store aisle in which there is absolutely no clean-up. The “world-wide leader” on TV, ESPN is a cellar-dwelling non-factor on local radio. My theory is that, by controlling ESPN, Cumulus figured to de-claw one of The Ticket’s competitors, combine the stations in advertising sales and double-team The Fan.

Alas, The Fan is as strong as ever. And ESPN – despite nationally recognized personalities, the home of Mavs’ games and experienced voices with local currency such as Steve Dennis, Tim Cowlishaw, Chuck Cooperstein and Mark Elfenbein – is wholly insignificant. Minimal resources are implemented, and their two original weekday shows aren’t marketed. Result? ESPN is a donkey in a two-horse race. It airs nationally syndicated TV (Golic & Wingo) in the morning, something called JaM Session with Jean-Jacques Taylor and Matt McClearin in midday, and DAC with Dennis and Cowlishaw in the afternoon. Their combined ratings wouldn’t fill up grandma’s sewing thimble.

There are 32 rated stations in DFW. Among its desired demographic – Men aged 25-54 – ESPN ranks 28.

April’s DFW Radio Ratings:

Overall: Fan 3.6/ Ticket 3.2/ ESPN 1.0

Morning: Fan 2.6/ Ticket 2.5/ ESPN 1.5

Midday: Fan 4.6/ Ticket 3.0/ ESPN 0.8

Afternoon: Ticket 4.0/ Fan 3.1/ ESPN 1.3

*Day 65 without sports … One of the most amazing “sports” streaks in DFW history belongs to my old radio partner, NBC5 long-time sports anchor Newy Scruggs. He claims not only that he doesn’t like Seinfeld, but that he’s never seen a single episode. Unfathomable, in that the show is not only the greatest in TV history but also one of the most ubiquitous.

Shrugs Newy, “I just never watched it.”

For the record, he also claims to have never seen The Sopranos, The Office, Game of Thrones or Friends. He swears he owns multiple TVs.

*The Colonial on June 11 is scheduled to be golf’s first tournament back from COVID-19. Because of the intrigue of no galleries, handshakes or high-fives, it will also be the Fort Worth tournament’s most anticipated TV event since Annika Sorenstam teed it up with the boys in 2003.

*Day 66 without sports … There are some civil cases on hold because of the city shutdowns, and that sucks. But there are also, according to a lawyer buddy of mine, petty criminals who have been forced to sit in jail for two months – instead of getting bonded out within two hours. And that really sucks.

*Major League Baseball is pondering a truncated 2020 season with 82 games, a Fourth of July “Opening Day,” no fans and 14 playoff teams. Of course, when baseball owners and players start negotiating you know everything will come down to money.

Not fan entertainment. Not competitive balance. Not safety. Money.

*Day 67 without sports … Pales in comparison to the more than 80,000 Americans lost to COVID-19, but the virus is taking a bite out of the Dallas we knew and loved. Gone in just the last week: The Lizard Lounge (after 28 years in Deep Ellum), Highland Park Cafeteria (after 95 years of serving home-spun food in Casa Linda) and Jim Schutze (after 22 years at the Dallas Observer and 40 in DFW newspapers).

Plano-based J.C. Penney might join the casualties, because – in part – it’s inexplicably paying executives $4 million in bonuses just ahead of bankruptcy filing. Good riddance.

*For my money, FX’s mockumentary What We Do In The Shadows is the best, funniest 30 minutes on TV. Yes, it’s about vampires. But it has nothing to do with vampires.

*Day 68 without sports … I’m no medical professional, but I’m pretty sure wearing a mask under your chin is as ineffective as wearing a condom on your scrotum.

*Despite reports that countries that have eased social distancing restrictions are seeing a spike in coronavirus cases, there are those amongst us that can no longer be inconvenienced by waiting. It’s like they’re at a red light and – danger be damned – just decide to recklessly floor it through the intersection. Reminder: There are consequences to our actions.

*Rangers should be getting ready for a big weekend series hosting the Red Sox. NBA Conference Finals – Mavs-Lakers in the West? – should be starting Sunday. We should be gearing up for Saturday’s Preakness. I should … not be missing sports this much.

*Day 69 without sports … Bought a new TV online this week. Because every day since March 11 is “Cyber Monday.”

*To the business community, Tesla hinting it might move its headquarters to DFW is the equivalent of Zion Williamson saying he wants to be traded to the Mavericks.

*There are only two quarterbacks with 40 wins and 15,000 passing yards in their first two NFL seasons: Dan Marino. Dak Prescott. I kept hearing that the Cowboys are disrespecting Dak, but how is that possible when their offer on the table (per Fish's reporting on CowboysSI.com) – five years, $35 million per year, $106 million guaranteed – would put him in the range of the highest-paid player in the history of football?

*Hot.

*Not.

*Mavs owner Mark Cuban was asked by President Trump to offer his thoughts on sports, etc. as America attempts to re-boot. One of his ideas: Asking if anyone (see: him) can write a check to U.S. Treasury to bolster the Paycheck Protection Program.

The answer Cuban received: “Treasury said no.”

I’m not smart enough to begin to comprehend why that shouldn’t be allowed to happen.

*Day 70 without sports … I heard the familiar, distinctive sound of something I thought I’d never hear during a pandemic: Ice. Cream. Truck. Can’t be “essential,'' can it?

*Speaking of Newy, I was reminded that he’s been at NBC5 since 2000. I’d forgotten that he replaced not Scott Murray, but Brian Jensen. Got me to thinking: Who did co-icons Dale Hansen and Mike Doocy replace? Answers: Somebody named Carl Arky was at Channel 8 before Hansen took over in 1983, and Doocy’s predecessor in 1994 was Craig James. Yeah, it’s been a minute.

*In its new TV ad, Domino’s says “we’re committed to putting food on your family’s table … ” Cool! For free?! Oh. No? What a rip-off. In other words, they just mean “we’re committed to still turning a profit in the middle of a financial crisis.” Do people really fall for this crap? Insulting.

*Day 71 without sports … #MILF was trending on Twitter on, of all days, Mother’s Day. Sometimes you just have to laugh.

*In April the price of groceries rose 2.6 percent, biggest monthly increase since 1974. And this, while gasoline prices are at record lows. Hmm. People are driving less and eating more. Wait, did I just become an economist?!

*TCU landed its biggest blue-chip recruit ever in Galena Park North Shore 5-star running back Zach Evans. But Gary Patterson better find his short leash. Evans, considered the state’s best running back prospect since Adrian Peterson, was suspended three times last year as a high-school senior – including once for not putting his cell phone away before a playoff game.

*Day 72 without sports … Saw a guy on Twitter refer to Costco enforcing customers to wear masks as a “draconian measure” threatening his “precious, God-given liberties” over something “weaker than the regular flu.”

Really? The regular flu kills more people each year than tornadoes and not wearing a seat belt. So maybe next time a tornado warning is issued, get your macho butt in your car, ignore your seatbelt and speed directly into the twister’s path? Also, the Costco “boycott” is a sign of our stupid times. Goes like this:

Costco: You can’t shop here unless you wear a mask.

Customer: Oh yeah, well if you make me wear a mask I won’t shop here!

Costco: That was easy.

*For the first time in its 73-year history, there will be no Little League World Series.

*Day 73 without sports … Throughout his stay in the hospital for Leukemia – covering 79 days, two rounds of chemotherapy, one emergency trip to ICU and lots of bleak periods – our goal for Dad was to be patient, follow guidelines and get back on the golf course by Father’s Day. He played nine holes this week, even birdieing the Par 3 17 at Cleburne Links. Thanks for all your prayers.

*First touchdown in the history of the Cowboys: Jim Doran, on a 75-yard pass from Eddie LeBaron, Sept. 24, 1960 at the Cotton Bowl. Most recent score: Michael Gallup, on a 45-yard pass from Prescott, Dec. 29, 2019 at AT&T Stadium.

*From the Dept. of Unintended Consequences: New York City has gone 60 days without a pedestrian death, longest streak in its recorded history.

*Day 74 without sports … Unless you count the nonsense going “live” this weekend: UFC, NASCAR and German Soccer. Which we don’t. Streak continues.

*This Weekend? Socially distanced birthday party of six on Friday. Socially distanced tennis on Saturday. Isolation Last Dance finale on Sunday. As always, don’t be a stranger.