At Long Last, SMU Kills Its Death Penalty

For his role, Dale Hansen got death threats, extortion ploys and, um, a dead bird. “It was a black crow delivered right to our office,” recalls Hansen, WFAA-Channel 8’s sports anchor upon the events surrounding his uncovering the SMU football scandal of 1986. “It had a note pinned through its body:…

Whitt’s End: 11.27.09

Whether you’re at the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt’s End: *This year’s Super Bowl halftime entertainment is The Who. What the what? Springsteen. The Who. Next year at SB XLV in Arlington: Lawrence Welk? Maybe I’m just bothered that 1) The…

Is the Reconquista Spreading to England?

Dear Mexican: I live in a little village in England in a house that’s 200 years old, just down the hill from a tiny church that’s so old that it was actually built before God said “Let there be light,” thus proving that Stephen Hawking is a blowhard. The only…

Whitt’s End: 11.20.09

Whether you’re at the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt’s End: *Screw me. I’ve been inside Cowboys Stadium a dozen times now and never noticed there wasn’t an American flag hanging somewhere. JumboJerry will do that for you. When during the National…

June Jones Prefers Hawaii … Over Hardware?

As I write in this week’s Dallas Observer column, SMU picked a bad year to have a good year. And now – on the verge of his school’s first bowl bid in 25 years – Mustangs’ head coach June Jones is picking a strange time to get homesick. Behind freshman quarterback…

Whitt’s End: 11.13.09

Whether you’re at the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt’s End: *OK, so let it be known that my buddy and Ticket founding father Mike Rhyner has been/is calling for a Cowboys’ appearance in this year’s Super Bowl. This, after 14-plus years…

TCU = BCS. WTF?!

Don’t look now, but there’s finally a legit BCS buster. And, even more surprising, the team is right here in our own backyard. Are you ready for TCU in the BCS? For years Gary Patterson’s Horned Frogs have been a power, but just not quite strong enough to win the game that…