STICKY DOORKNOBS

Some of world's toughest athletes in Andrews tonight, Wednesday

I don't have that many guilty pleasures. I can tolerate the occasional Barry Manilow song; I read two Billie Letts books and really like them, and I enjoyed "Enchanted" more than "Made of Honor," but beyond that I don't get hung up on quick-fix entertainnment that carries an emotional pow.

Unless its bullriding. My wife and I really got into bullriding three or four years ago, even traveling to Nashville and Oklahoma City one year when we made eight stops following the PBR, or Professional Bullriders, tour. I've forgiven the sport its apparent need to become the next NASCAR although I could really do without the incessant advertising on the riders' clothing, an image that lessens the whole deal for me but undoubtedly makes the sport a bundle. There is rarely a bare spot to be found on a bullriders' get-up, and I understand that's one of the ways the PBR flourishes.

All this is forgivable because bullriding is just so darn exciting to watch. So let that be your notice: The PBR will be making a stop in Andrews tonight and tomorrow night at the Andrews County Arena. Chutes open at 7:30 p.m. There'll be 50 riders tonight and 50 more Wednesday and the riders on this stop are not just some guy the league contracted with they found on a ranch who needed a few extra bucks ... many of the riders strapping it on in Andrews are among the world's best: Adriano Moraes, a three-time world champion in his final season before retirement will be there; so will MIke White, a quiet, likable champion; Cody Lostroh, currently No. 2 in the world, and Travis Briscoe, the No. 6 rider, will all be there.

Tickets are only $20 or $30 and are available at Cavenders in Midland. If yo go ... you'll likely have a load of fun.

Why today's baseball is not like yesterday's (Reason No. 453)

Because Monday afternoon on ESPN Radio, Sports nation cohost Orestes Destrade said this, when asked who he thought will be the next 300-game starting pitcher in Major League Baseball:

"It's generally accepted in today's game that the new 300 is widely considered to be 250ish."

Huh?

Model Behavior

Hey, who says kids aren't learning from their baseball role models? This second baseman definitely emulates Pudge Rodriguez and about 300 other baseball players.

Speaking of Little League, some of the funniest radio I've heard lately is coming from Mike & Mike in the Morning on ESPN. Mike Greenberg, the non-athlete of the radio team, has recently stepped up to be the manager of his young son's coach-pitch Little League team.  Greenie told his listening audience this morning he booted a little kid off the team for crying in the pregame meeting before the first game. He also played a tape of a pregame "pep talk" he gave to his 7-year-olds, telling him while the other team may be trying to "just have fun out there" his team is all about winning. "It's win or die for us, boys." Greenberg pokes great fun at the overemphasis we place on winning and it is making for some hilarious radio. You can hear it mornings on 1510 AM in Midland.

K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K

I remember clearly, or at least I THOUGHT I remembered clearly, watching a high school baseball game when I first came to work in Midland 20 years ago and seeing a young kid strikeout 18 batters. Surely some kind of high school or district record, I thought.

I have never forgotten that day. Well, EXCEPT FOR THE MOST IMPORTANT PART. But regardless precisely how many the kid struck out, it was still a work of art what Eric Boyt did that afternoon.

Eric graduated from Midland High in 1988, but before he walked across the stage, he climbed on a pitcher's mound that spring and did his finest Mike Scott impression, throwing split fingered heat that twisted and turned batters until they looked like Reggie Jackson after one of his monumental whiffs.

It was April 12, 1988 when Eric went over to the Permian High School baseball field and struck out nine straight batters, boom, boom, boom .... it remains one of the best athletic demonstrations I have ever seen. He struck out one Permian batter who swung at the ball after it had bounced in the dirt in front of the plate. That year was also the year Abilene Cooper won the state 5A baseball title ... but the Cougars couldn't beat Eric, who beat Cooper by identical 2-0 scores.

When he went into a playoff game with Plainview and the mighty Willie Ainsley, who was already a serious prospect for the Houston Astros, he carried with him a 0.72 ERA. Ainsley parked one over the leftfield fence as Plainview fans chanted "POINT 7-2, POINT 7-2."

As for the 18 strikeout game against Permian 20 Aprils ago, scratch that: it was 15 strikeouts. When sportswriters get old, their memory doesn't go, it just revises things to suit their nostalgia stories.

Fifteen, though, is still quite a feat. Eric played at Southwestern University in Georgetown and bursitis benched him for good, forcing him into bean counting, his second profession. Eric is back in Midland after several years in Houston and has a great story.

Jerry's Kid

Grumpy about the tax to fund the Scharbauer Sports Complex? Lose sleep over the economic development tax?

Count your blessings you don't live in Arlington and are helping pay for something so big that it would take two or three Jerry Lewis Telethon's to pay off.

We should be thankful the watch doggers at Jessica's Well don't live there, too.

Construction is coming along quite nicely, though, don't you think?

How to be a serious football fan

Step 1. Pick up Dave Campbell's Texas Football Magazine every June.

Step 2. Pick up the first Winter edition of Dave Campbell's Texas Football Magazine in 20 years. On newsstands now.

At first glance, here's an interesting headline for you: "Could 2008 be the year of the Red Raiders?" Something to tie you over till August.

Although he is involved in name only these days, Dave Campbell is one of the finest gentlemen I've ever met in sports journalism; it's great to have a dose of football writing when you maybe least expect it.

Cowboy Nation glum today, but not for long

Being a Cowboy fan is like being a Yankee fan. It's not just an in-season thing, it's an all-year commitment. It's either a daily dose of agony or 24/7 ecstasy.

Cowboys fans are obviously in the agony part as we speak, but that will give way to better times as feelings of Sunday's 21-17 loss fade , and they will.

These guys are not exactly on their last legs. The Cowboys will likely return with even higher expectations as well as the ability to deliver on them next year, especially given the two first-round draft picks they'll have and an off-season that will likely no doubt bring some free agent plucking by The Jerry.

Much of yesterday evening and today has been spent casting blame, but the fact is this: Dallas got beat by a defensive team that finally figured them out. It wasn't Tony's wild weekend in Mexico with Jessica, Patrick Crayton's dropped pass or any single individual that brought this elimination. The Giants had 56 sacks all year but only four against the Cowboys in two previous regular season games. The Giants simply finally figured a way to get to the quarterback. There really is no reason to hang heads, nor is it necessary to call attention to Wade  Phillips' and Tony Romo's combined 0-6 playoff record. If that number jumps to 0-8 next year at this time, then maybe we'll need to sit down an assess.

How obsessed are Cowboy fans? On the dallasnews.com Cowboy blog last night, nine minutes after the first entry was posted following the loss, 51 comments had been left. Fifty-one in under 10 minutes is very impressive and a clear indication of the rabid nature of Cowboy Nation. Unfortunately, the blog was filled with words like "choke" and "losers" and "get rid of blah blah  blah ..."

A lot of people tell me they haven't been able to be Cowboy fans since Jerry came in and bulldozed Landry's legacy almost 20 years ago. It took me a while to get past that, too, especially, having grown up in 1970s Irving, but there just comes a time when you've gotta move on. (Hey, it's OK to like the Cowboys again). And I would think this latest version of the team is enough to shake most anyone from decades of resentment, but some will no doubt never get over it.

The Cowboys are fun again. This morning, sure, not too much fun.

As for the Romo and Jessica story ... bring it on. A good, juicy Mexican getaway side story is far more preferable to the protracted agony of the steroid cloud that hangs over your baseball heroes.

Sorry to be so downright cheery, but despite the darkness of this Monday ... it is great to be a Cowboy fan.

Darkness in Dallas ... Go Green Bay!

GO PACKERS!

If you're in need of a reason to cheer for this team, read this.

Tuesday morning reliever

• It's lucky for you my philosophy is this: one of the most boring topics in the world anyone could ever possibly share with another human being is how one's fantasy sports team performs (or doesn't). Were it not for my steadfast belief that I should keep that to myself, I would be sitting here this morning discussing how Team Lollygag folded like a cheap umbrella after Peyton Manning, Joseph Addai, Marvin Harrison and Randy Moss just decided to quit playing football one by one, leading to my team's five straight losses (after leading the league for much of the year) and a one-and-out humiliation elimination from the MRT playoffs. Be glad you don't have to bear witness to my whining. It could get ugly.
• One thing that has become very clear about the New England Patriots in the last two weeks, and something you have to be feelin' pretty good about if you're  a Dallas fan: The Pats have suddenly become very beatable, which of course translates into Super Bowl championship VI for the Cowboys come February, which will set a record.
• If you're a Tech fan, you've got to be holding your breath that Mike Leach is not wooed away from the South Plains to coach the University of Hollywood Bruins, which fired their coach Monday. UCLA brass have contacted Leach ...
• You just have to go with LSU in the nationa title game, don't ya? Tigers are in a decidedly superior SEC and, as Les Miles says, they are unbeaten in regulation (both LSU's losses have come in OT).
• If the Boston Red Sox land Johan Santana to add to their already superior pitching staff, we should just forego the 2008 baseball season. Don't even bother.

Good Shirt, Bad Shirt

Seen in Lubbock last weekend: A t-shirt with a front inscription that read, "Losing to Tech" and a back side display that read, "Like the Aggies need another tradition."

Funny.

Not funny: The whole Vick 'Em shirt mess with a drawing of Reveille in a noose (which led to a fraternity landing in a deserved suspension)

As if the controversy needed any more fanning, the tasteless T's were chosen as Sports Illustrated's  "This Week's Sign of the Apocalypse" in the magazine's current issue.