1. M
NFL Cowboys’ Hayes among finalists for Pro Football Hall of Fame 7D
Sports D
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
IN MY OPINION MAVERICKS 107, CLIPPERS 102
IF HOWARD CAN’T SHOW UP, Mavericks hold off
MAVS NEED TO SHIP HIM OUT depleted Clippers
One thing for sure: You’d the most recent head-scratch-
Whether it’s his ankle or The team from Los Angeles
at least show up for the er of a four-game stretch.
attitude, Josh Howard pushed Dallas to the limit
fourth quarter, and that’s Down to eight players in
isn’t getting the job done. before fading late.
more than we can say about uniform with Baron Davis,
DALLAS — Admit it, you the Mavericks’ Josh Howard. Zach Randolph, Chris Kaman
By JEFF CAPLAN
jcaplan@star-telegram.com
showed up at the AAC Tues- Jeez, I hate picking on and Jason Hart on the shelf
day night thinking that may- Josh like that, but there it is. DALLAS — Perhaps it’s too ear- with injuries, the Clippers led
be the injury-decimated Los It wasn’t so long ago that ly to ponder the contender vs. by five points with 2:39 to play.
Angeles Clippers would be Josh was my favorite Mav to pretender question for the Dal- “It was just a weird, weird
JIM REEVES
forced to pick five guys out of talk to when I showed up at las Mavericks — weird things game,” Dirk Nowitzki said.
revo@star-telegram.com
the crowd in order to field a the AAC. I loved his talent happen in the NBA (see Celt- “But the only thing that I guess
team, and you just might get looking for a 3, when the and his potential. Now, he ics) but their focus seems ripe counts is we found a way to
Clippers guard Mardy Collins, for examination.
a chance to play in your first game came down to the final sees a guy coming with a win.”
right, knocks the ball away from
NBA game. minute of play, as seemingly notebook or a tape recorder, Tuesday night’s late rally Rather than Gerald Green,
the Mavericks’ Josh Howard.
And, of course, you’d be every Mavs game does, no he scuttles out of the room that nipped the decimated Los other bench players getting
right there on the floor, matter who they’re playing. AP/DONNA MCWILLIAM Angeles Clippers 107-102 was
More on REEVES on 4D More on MAVS on 5D
TCU MEN 85, TEXAS TECH 80
Frogs show resiliency, BCS CHAMPIONSHIP GAME | NO. 2 OKLAHOMA VS. NO. 1 FLORIDA, 7 P.M. THURSDAY, KDFW/4
Attitude check proved
turn back Tech rallies
TCU holds off the Red Raiders to beat its second Big 12
opponent on the road this season.
motivational for Sooners
By MERCEDES MAYER
mmayer@star-telegram.com
LUBBOCK — Most college
basketball players would
take an Edvinas Ruzgas- BCS busts A look at Oklahoma’s four-game losing streak in BCS bowls:
style slump.
The junior was shooting
37.7 percent from 3-point
range and averaging 10.4
points going into Tuesday’s
game against Texas Tech.
But in the past four games,
he was down to 26.1 per-
cent from beyond the arc
and 7.5 points per game.
Ruzgas’ breakout game
came at just the right time
TCU’s Kevin Langford, center, had
for TCU.
to work for his 14 points against
Ruzgas hit 5 of 9 3-point
Texas Tech. AP/ZACH LONG
attempts and scored a ca-
reer-high 24 points as TCU beat Texas Tech 85-80 before
10,202 fans at United Spirit Arena.
“I needed to have a good game and shoot the ball well,”
Ruzgas said. “Finally guys found me and I hit my shots.”
The Frogs (10-5) scored a season-high in points for the
second consecutive game while taking a one-game break
from Mountain West Conference play.
Ronnie Moss scored More on TCU on 4D
COLLEGE FOOTBALL | TEXAS
Finishing 12-1 focused the
eyes of a nation on Texas AP/ROSS D. FRANKLIN
GETTY IMAGES/DOUG PENSINGER
2007 Fiesta Bowl Boise State 43, Oklahoma 42 (OT)
2008 Fiesta Bowl West Virginia 48, Oklahoma 28
Quarterback Pat White tormented the Sooners for 150 yards Boise’s trickeration put the cap on a classic in which the teams
Monday’s Fiesta Bowl victory concluded a football season
rushing and passed for 176 yards with two touchdowns. combined for 22 points in the final 86 seconds of regulation
in which the Texas Longhorns achieved something difficult
for them to do — exceed expectations. It’s unlikely to earn
them much support for No. 1 when the final polls come out,
but keep eye on this team next fall. Jimmy Burch reports, 2D
ONLINE EXCLUSIVE
JOIN THE ABC
CAMPAIGN!
Jennifer Floyd Engel is
encouraging all dis-
gruntled Cowboys fans
to join her “ABC – Any-
one But Cupcake” Cam-
paign. Hear all about it,
and see who wins this
week’s ‘Dumber Than
We Thought’ award in
her weekly podcast at star-telegram.com/hate.
Business Omni will house AFC for 2011 Super Bowl 1C
Fans’ Insider Bowls leave 34 questions unanswered 3D SPECIAL TO THE STAR-TELEGRAM
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/ CHRIS O’MEARA
Colleges Texas added to list of Hogs’ top 10 victims 4D
2005 Orange Bowl Southern Cal 55, Oklahoma 19 2004 Sugar Bowl LSU 21, Oklahoma 14
High schools Mansfield ends drought vs. Summit 9D Matt Leinart threw five touchdown passes as the Trojans claimed The Tigers shut down an OU offense that was averaging 45.2
the national title in a battle of undefeated teams. points per game to win the BCS national title.
NBA, 5D NHL, 6D
PHI 104 OKC 107 WAS 2 DET 3 CHI 6 The aftermath of last year’s bowl loss s OU-BYU open ’09 in Cowboys stadium 2D
SO
was significant.
HOU 96 NYK 99 PHI 1 CLB 0 PHX 0
layed the groundwork for the goals “That Monday we were still fired up,”
CHA OT 114 CHI 99 MIN 1 PIT 3 LA
he recalled. “We weren’t really down. We though we thought we were. [The loss] just
BOS 106 SAC 94 BOS 0 ATL 1 ANA set by players and coaches alike.
ORL 89 NO BUF 4 FLA 4 SJ knew that all our goals were still out there made us work that much harder.”
WAS 80 LAL OTT 2 TOR 2 CAL
in front of us. That just because you lose An offense that scored 702 points and
By MIKE JONES jjones@star-telegram.com
MIN 94 CAR 3 COL 2
When Oklahoma linebacker Travis Lewis one game to the [then] No. 5 team in the a defense that rebuilt itself after the loss
MEM 87 NJ 2 NAS 1
walked into the weight room early on the nation, it doesn’t count you out. of middle linebacker Ryan Reynolds to
morning of Oct. 13, two days after a loss to “The whole attitude of the team turned become one of the country’s top ball-
Baseball 3D NFL 7D
Texas that most felt eliminated the Soon- around after that game because we knew hawking units notwithstanding, attitude
Briefs 9D Pro hockey 6D
ers from BCS championship contention, that we weren’t perfect. We weren’t the so- played a major role in salvaging a possi-
Colleges 2-4D Scoreboard 9D
he noticed something that, in retrospect, called best team in the nation, even
High schools 8-9D Soccer 6D More on BCS on 2D
NBA 4-5D TV/Radio 9D