Sports Girl Next Door

COWBOYS Pre-season football is officially on the clock!  The Cowboys have played two pre-season games and Dak Prescott has impressed the Cowboys and just about everyone in the NFL. He was the 37th pick in the 4th round of this years NFL Draft, coming out of Mississippi State. My favorite part of this is my friends who are MSU fans now have to cheer for the Cowboys!! *** We've had injury plagued seasons for the past 5 years... or more, and it seems like Jason Garrett (Cowboys Head Coach) and his staff are getting smarter about mixing the first and second string players during pre-season games. *** Prescott started the first game of pre-season vs. the Los Angeles Rams , completing 10-12 passes for 139 yards and 2 TD's. One of which was to Dez Bryant . Yes, he's back and feeling great from his foot injury that kept him out of most of the year last year.  Romo started the second pre-season game vs. Miami and completed 4 of 5 passes for 49 yards. Two...

GO RANGERS !!! 63-46 1st in AL  (With our win tonight, we're 0.5 games ahead of Cleveland) 3rd in MLB  (4 games behind Chicago Cubs in 1st) JD made some trades this week before the deadline Tuesday.  We didn't get starting pitching, but we did get a relief pitcher who proved to be worth his paycheck tonight, Jeffress , from the Brewers.  We also obtained Carols Beltran from the NY Yankees. Normally we're giving the Yankees players and paying their salaries for years on end. So this is a first. Beltran will primarily DH for us, with Prince Fielder out for the season with a neck injury. I heard JD talking about this trade and he kept talking about how Beltran is 39 years old and gives us even more veteran experience in the post-season. I'm pretty sure he skipped August and September and only talked October baseball when talking about this guy. So, clear your calendars. We're going to some playoff games and hopefully a World Series!  ...

GO RANGERS !!! 61-44 2nd in AL  (Indians lead, we're 1.5 games ahead of Toronto) 4th in MLB  (2 games behind Chicago Cubs in 1st) There are 57 games left in the season... in order to win 100 games, we will need to win 39 of the 57. That is 68% of the games left. Since the All-Star break, we've won 46% of games played.  So, the numbers may not match up for the 100 game goal. But who cares?!?! I think the Golden State Warriors proved that regular season win records don't mean as much as if you could win it all!!  Last night...  I was fortunate enough to attend the Rangers game last night. Yes, where Michael Young was inducted into the Texas Rangers HOF. And maybe even more remembered for Mitch Moreland's Walk-off Home Run in the bottom of the 9th! The evening started off with a wonderful ceremony and a really cool tribute from former teammates of Michael Young. Watch the 2 min video on Twitter . Jeter is on there!!! #RE2PECT ...

Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation: I arrived at the Omni Hotel in Dallas, TX early this morning to attend an event... College Season Kick-off Event, hosted by the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation .  As I pull up to the Omni, I see three Chicago Squad Cars. Instant lump in my throat...   I don't know if they were here to attend the service or to help out while DPD honored their fallen brothers.  I do know that within the event I was attending, there were 20+ Policemen and women attending the event.  You see, the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation has a program called Badges for Baseball . They help build turf baseball fields in inner cities, then connect the local Police Departments with the kids in their city, then they... PLAY BALL! They also teach a mentoring curriculum and build relationships with these kids!  That is the one common thread across every platform I've heard anyone speak from... be involved in your community. Don't just "love" them - SERVE...

So, you go on vacation for the July 4th weekend... and here's what you miss... GO RANGERS !!! 54-36 1st in AL  (barely, 1 game ahead of the Cleveland Indians) 3rd in MLB (yes, I upped my stats to include all MLB, go big or go home) 1. We don't have a pitcher who can get us out of 5 innings. We are wearing down our bullpen.  2. When do Yu Darvish and Colby Lewis get back? Should we just trade Yu? I'm game!  3. We lost 5 out of 7 game to the Minnesota Twins!!!! The team ranked 28 out of 30 teams in Major League Baseball. And three games we lost by double digits! 4. Over/Under... Rangers win 100 games. What say you? 5. It is already the MLB All-Star Weekend!! I'm watching the Home Run Derby right now... pretty amazing. Miami isn't known for having great sports fans, but their HRD candidate, Giancarlo Stanton is killing it! I've never wanted anyone to do as well or better than Josh Hamilton in NYC. ( I still think that is different, Ha...

GO RANGERS !!! 39-25 1st in AL West 1st in AL Y'all... we are 1st in the American League and 3rd in all of MLB!!! What? Without Nelly, without Hamilton, without Yu, without Fielder ( except the last few games ), without Choo... yup. This team, no matter who is on it, finds a scrappy way to win, and have fun doing it!  Newbies...  Mazara has gone lights out. Many are saying he's on his way to be the Rookie of the Year . He is leading our team and three major stat categories:  10 HR's (home runs) .313 AVG (batting average) .363 OBP (on base percentage) The only two stats he isn't winning in, Ian Desmond, our acquired player this off-season, who converted from an infielder to an outfielder, is leading our team with 42 RBI's and 76 Hits.  Pitchers...  Cole Hamels has over 2k strikeouts! He is the 77th player in history to accomplish this record and the 7th active pitcher to do so. **Can you name the other six?** Hamels has...