White end: 1.21.21
Whether you’re at the end of your coffee, your day, your week, or even your rope, welcome to Whitt’s End…
*Looks like the stars aligned Thursday night with the Dallas Mavericks to continue one of the most impressive months in years and Be “the thing” again in the NBA.
Recent victories over the best-recorded team in the league (the Warriors), one with nine games in a row (the Bulls) and another with 11 games in a row (the Grizzlies) have propelled Dallas up the rankings and onto the front burner. Now the Suns major has come to town, accompanied by TNT’s weird but not injured star Deandre Ayton. With a superb steal and a hat-trick, the Mavs took an eight-point lead at halftime and held that through three quarters. They beat Phoenix by 10 points. And they gave more three points (11-8). And they caught the sun under 50 percent (45.3). Add all that and… I’m still not sure how they outperformed, 35-19, in the final quarter of an eight-point loss.
Tim Hardaway hit a few seconds open (one from each corner) in the last two minutes. Devin Booker made a monster block in an aggressive campaign by Dorian Finney-Smith. A guy named Bismack Biyombo did paw plays in paint. Luca only took three shots in the fourth. Galen Bronson once again struggled against long-range defenders, making six high turnovers in the season. In the end, the Mavs only managed to accumulate six points in the last seven minutes. It’s hard to beat a good team when two key ball players (Bronson and Donchik) unite for 14 turns.
They pride themselves on the new and improved Elite Defense. But up against The Suns, they get a reminder of what it’s like to have a championship defense.
The trade deadline is coming, February 10th. I know we all want “stars”. But if Dallas through trade improves his defense and recovery, he might also get the Mavs closer to where they want to go.
*Quite frankly, It doesn’t really matter if Mike McCarthy stays or moves on as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Because – I’ll say it again – training is the most overrated aspect of sports.
Give me the best players with the worst coach and I’ll beat your team of the worst players with the best coach. number? McCarthy hasn’t fundamentally changed his technique or substance since 2020 when he finished the Cowboys 6-10. The reason they improved to 12-5 in 2021 was the arrival of Micah Parsons and the return of Dak Prescott. Do you think training is the key?
Bill Belichick is the god of football who has had one playoff win in eight seasons without Tom Brady.
Same for the San Antonio Spurs kings, Greg Popovich, who in his 19 years with Tim Duncan won five NBA championships but without him didn’t breathe the Finals and the last two seasons missed the playoffs.
In baseball, revered manager Joe Toure won four World Championships with the Yankees, but in another 17 seasons with four different teams—without the likes of Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera—he has only gone twice beyond the season.
Moral of the story: Cowboys fans should be happier that Will McClay is making more of a comeback than “Charlie F*ckaround.”
*Last week’s loss included an unfathomable extension of the Cowboys drought. Since they aren’t playing the Buccaneers in Tampa this weekend, they’ll go 30 years without a win on the road. The last one: 1992’s “How” bout cowboy?! NFC Championship game in Candlestick Park. Since then they are 0-8.
*Brady has thrown more touchdowns since he turned forty (168) than Troy Aikman has thrown his entire career into (165). For what it’s worth, Brady (44) is bigger than remaining NFC coaches Sean McVeigh (35), Kyle Shanahan (42) and Matt LaFleur (42).
*Fantastic hiring at Gary Patterson for the University of Texas. And Steve Sarkissian’s vanity is propped up to let another big character with a huge resume into the club. Patterson has built legendary defenses in the TCU.
Believe me, when you are 100yTidy Defense Allowed to dash over 200 yards per game and a whopping 57 points to KS at home, you need all the help you can get in defense.
*Do you want to see something as mysterious as madness? Come back and see Dallas’ final drive against the 49ers. In the second play, Prescott turns a pass in the flat left to Tony Pollard for 10 yards. It should have been so much more. Receiver Amari Cooper was up front in front of the blocking, by design. But he runs carelessly like he’s on tour, eventually not putting a pinkie on the 49ers defender who continues unimpeded to push Pollard over the border.
I’m not saying that Cooper didn’t care enough; She told him his body language.
*The Mavs have now caught 22 consecutive opponents under 50 percent shot, The third longest streak in the NBA this season. But in those games, they are “only” 14-8.
*Prescott wasn’t great against San Francisco. He slipped too late and on many occasions threw up too late. It’s obviously about the guy who threw for 4,449 yards and scored a franchise of 37 touchdowns, but for all his assets, Duck still doesn’t have that supernatural skill — like Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes — opening his receivers.
However, Drew Pearson calling it “a disappointment of $40 million a year” sounds harsh.
*We think of ourselves enjoying Southern hospitality and all, but Is Dallas really “friendly”? No, not according to a new study on America’s Neighborhood Cities. The research, which polled residents on things like satisfaction with neighbors and a sense of community, ranked Dallas behind Austin and Houston in Texas and barely in the top 20 (19).y) of the 30 largest cities in America. I guess they did the poll last Monday morning after you know what got everyone on the hook.
* Painful as it was – is – the Cowboys’ loss to the 49ers barely cracked the top ten in The most painful end-of-season loss of the Jerry Jones era.
*hot.
*No.
*Cowboys coaches record after the first two seasons: Landry 4-20-2; Jimmy 8-24; Switzer 24-8; Gailey 18-14; Campo 10-22; cut 16-16; Wade 10–22; Jarrett 16-16; McCarthy 18-15.
*good ol cracking barrel, The country store offers comfort food in an atmosphere we all wish America would come back to. Except… In 2014, a waitress at her Tennessee restaurant refilled a man’s water glass with commercial bleach. The jury awarded the guy $9 million and now the country folks don’t handle American values very well. Cracker Barrel is appealing the verdict because it was an “unfortunate and isolated incident that occurred in one of our stores eight years ago”. Warm biscuit. cool response.
*A hilarious ’90s cowboy story I’ve never heard of …until Daryl Johnston told her this week. Super Bowl stealth?!
*Note to companies spamming me: The email address I want you to stop spamming is the same email address you just sent spam to. When you click Unsubscribe, why do you have to type in your address again? It’s like someone calling you and saying “Okay, if you want me to stop calling you, please tell us your phone number.”
what what ?!
*Popular Radio Cowboys voice Brad Sham called his 900th match last Sunday. “I haven’t been fired yet, so let me see if I can stay within a thousand,” he joked. It’s still strange — because Cham left the 1995-97 Texas Rangers games — that the last person to call the Cowboys Super Bowl was Dave Garrett.
*Cough and strong don’t go together but Throw through and do. Awesome, okay. Quite logical.
*27 NFL teams scored more than 500 points in the regular season. only two Failed to win playoffs: 2000 Rams and 2021 Cowboys. ouch.
*The Cowboys have now made 11 consecutive trips to the playoffs without Reaching the Super Bowl, a questionable number in the NFL. Double ouch.
*How do we let resorts get away with charging us a “resort fee”? In the same weak way we allow airlines to slowly raise fares while stopping to serve real food while baggage fees are being processed. Has any wing of the US government failed miserably from the Federal Trade Commission’s Office of Consumer Protection?
*If you had told me before the game that Jimmy Garoppolo would shoot an interception and that the narrow end of 49ers George Kettle would only have one catch for 18 yards, I would have expected The Cowboys won by more than 10 points. Unfortunately, if you had told me the Cowboys would be called for 14 penalty kicks I would have.
*Anatomy of a fiery hail: The many – but probably not the last -, whenever I watched the dying seconds of a Cowboys loss, I wanted to know more why referee Ramon George lined up 15 behind the attack in one game and then fell five yards behind. Defend the last two games in the game. can not be calculated.
*I went to the Mavs game last weekend and here’s ‘Pride Night’, complete with adorable shirts. Look, Texas Rangers, it’s not hard to be thorough Everyone in your fan base. Try it. Dare!
*Watch out for next season. Repetition as NFC East Champions is always suspect, as evidenced by the division producing 17 different consecutive winners. And the schedule for first place — in 2022 the Cowboys will host the Brady Bucks, Joe Burroughs Bengals and visit the Rodgers Packers at the Lambeau — always gives them the bouts. Their last four seasons after the divisional title: 6-10, 4-12, 9-7, 8-8.
*at the end of this week? Saturday, let’s play some tennis, obviously indoors. On Sunday, let’s watch the Cowboys play, let’s watch some NFL games, visibly indoors. As usual, don’t be a stranger.
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