{"id":101155,"date":"2025-12-26T06:52:32","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T06:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/101155\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T06:52:32","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T06:52:32","slug":"boy-was-i-wrong-about-the-rangers-again-and-the-cowboys-not-trading-micah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/101155\/","title":{"rendered":"Boy, was I wrong about the Rangers (again) and the Cowboys not trading Micah"},"content":{"rendered":"

What a year: First the Mavs traded their best player<\/a>, then the Cowboys traded their best, then the Rangers nudged out the best manager they\u2019ve ever had. I mean, what\u2019s next? Melt down Dirk\u2019s statue? Rip out the Ring of Honor? Hitch up the Commissioner\u2019s Trophy like George Costanza did and drag it around the parking lot?<\/p>\n

What\u2019s everyone around here got against Hall-of-Fame talent all of a sudden?<\/p>\n

The good news is, at least it kept me in columns. Normally the boss is forever knocking on my inbox, wanting to know what\u2019s up. Between firing Nico Harrison<\/a> and lamenting the loss<\/a> of Luka Doncic, Micah Parsons and Bruce Bochy, I had an answer before rolling over and going back to sleep.<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd, left, and general manager Nico Harrison, right, discuss the trade of Luka Doncic before an NBA basketball game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Cleveland. (AP Photo\/Sue Ogrocki)<\/p>\n

Sue Ogrocki \/ AP<\/p>\n

Cowboys<\/p>\n

Be the smartest Cowboys fan. Get the latest news.<\/p>\n

By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Not every topic was as black-and-white. The big stuff seemed pretty obvious, even to me.<\/p>\n

The little stuff? Not so much.<\/p>\n

Consider George Pickens, the Cowboys\u2019 now-and-then superhero. Never know which George you might get<\/a>, which is the only way I can explain all the waffling from yours truly this year in columns and podcasts, seemingly from one week to the next.<\/p>\n

Does he need to grow up, as I quoted his old coach after he got here?<\/p>\n

Is he the greatest talent they\u2019ve ever had at receiver, as I said later?<\/p>\n

Should they keep Pickens and trade CeeDee Lamb?<\/p>\n

Surely they can\u2019t invest $100 million in a guy this unreliable, can they?<\/p>\n

The range of these sentiments and other regrets constitute my annual exercise in \u201cThings I Wish I Hadn\u2019t Written or Said,\u201d now available in a boxed set.<\/p>\n

From the top:<\/p>\n

February roared in like a lion with news of Luka\u2019s exit in the middle of the night. Took me a few minutes to realize exactly what had happened. All I could tell at first was that they\u2019d acquired Anthony Davis. Great! Only after the fog lifted did I deduce it was at the cost of Luka. No! Following a quick consultation with my colleague, Tim Cowlishaw, and boss, Damon Marx, someone suggested perhaps it would be best if Tim wrote immediately<\/a> and I came back with something after a good night\u2019s sleep<\/a>. In fact, I may have suggested it. No telling what I might have written in such a state.<\/p>\n

Figuring even Jerry Jones wouldn\u2019t double down on the miseries of local fans so soon, I wrote in mid-February, \u201cNo matter what you hear these days, the Cowboys aren\u2019t actually shopping Micah Parsons<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe not in February they weren\u2019t, but soon enough they would. Seemed unthinkable at the time. Should have known better. Jerry majored in \u201cunthinkable\u201d at Arkansas.<\/p>\n

\"Green<\/p>\n

Green Bay Packers Micah Parsons speaks at his introductory news conference Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo\/Morry Gash)<\/p>\n

Morry Gash \/ AP<\/p>\n

Confession: The boss really ought not let me go to spring training. The combination of sunshine, fresh air and unadulterated optimism apparently impairs my judgment. Every year it\u2019s the same<\/a>. I look back in December and note a higher percentage of regrets from Surprise than at any other time of year. I purposefully dialed it back this spring, and still this came out<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cAdolis is back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just the same, I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if he got it going again in Philadelphia<\/a>. He doesn\u2019t have to carry the Phillies\u2019 lineup, and the clubhouse ethos is too strong there to let him sulk.<\/p>\n

The Rangers swung and missed on both counts, a chronic condition.<\/p>\n

Seems like I also wrote in March that Kumar Rocker was closer to making the rotation than Jack Leiter. In my defense, I got bad intel.<\/p>\n

A columnist\u2019s epitaph, no?<\/p>\n

In April, I wrote that the Cowboys\u2019 running back situation was such a mess, they had to make it a priority in the draft. Javonte Williams? If he was any good, the Broncos would have kept him, right? So what do the Cowboys do? Wait until the fifth round to take Jaydon Blue, who didn\u2019t even start for Texas at the end. If I was right about Blue, I was wrong about Williams. Best Cowboys back since Zeke Elliott in his prime. He was so good, in fact, the Cowboys won\u2019t be able to afford him<\/a>, meaning they\u2019ll have to draft someone better than Blue next spring. The good news is, it shouldn\u2019t be difficult.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

BTW: Turns out the Cowboys only made Rico Dowdle seem like the second coming of Adrian Peterson, even after he called them out ahead of time. Say what you will about these Cowboys, they\u2019re remarkably zen.<\/p>\n

May brought the addition of Pickens, who came with enough baggage for a Taylor Swift world tour. All duly reported in this space. The column didn\u2019t outright diss the deal<\/a>, but it raised more red flags than a parade through Tiananmen Square.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if they do re-sign Pickens?\u201d I wrote then. \u201cHistory says that\u2019s not a good gamble, but it\u2019s never stopped Jerry before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Take one of at least four.<\/p>\n

And counting.<\/p>\n

Drove up to The Star for a column in May on Camp Schotty<\/a>. Didn\u2019t commit anything overtly egregious, though the lone player I quoted, Kaiir Elam, didn\u2019t make Thanksgiving, which probably says something.<\/p>\n

Summer came and went without much commotion, at least partly because it\u2019s mostly vacation. Wrote a fun column on Deion Sanders<\/a> at Big 12 Media Days in July. Made it through without so much as a ripple before this:<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time in a long time, Colorado football matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yeah, sure.<\/p>\n

Colorado football matters as much as any program can where the conference\u2019s highest-paid coach won exactly one league game this fall; the guy who money-whipped him with a $54 million extension last spring is leaving next spring; and the school is on the hook for the athletic department\u2019s record $41 million deficit.<\/p>\n

Unlike Paul Finebaum, official Svengali of the SEC, I didn\u2019t grab the reins of the Arch Manning bandwagon<\/a>. Didn\u2019t so much as book a seat. But I did write that, if he came anywhere close to his uncles or gramps, he\u2019d be the best quarterback in UT history. Still time to make that come true, I suppose. But, for now, as family goes, Arch\u2019s game more closely resembles that of his father, Cooper, who, unfortunately, was a wide receiver.<\/p>\n

BTW: Finebaum\u2019s assurance that Arch would be the best SEC quarterback since Tim Tebow didn\u2019t make it past mid-October, when the ESPN sage orchestrated the greatest retreat since Napoleon put it in \u201cR\u201d in Moscow:<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we all jumped the gun.\u201d<\/p>\n

We?<\/p>\n

Got a little carried away in September with the Rangers\u2019 sweep of the Brewers and asked one of the Little Rascals<\/a>, Michael Helman, if the Rangers\u2019 playoff chances weren\u2019t as good as anyone else\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Turns out there were at least 81 reasons why not.<\/p>\n

Additional note: After I wrote, \u201cIf Helman keeps this up, we should name a condiment after him<\/a>,\u201d an overly judicious copy editor argued that Hellmann\u2019s brand of mayo comes with two \u201cL\u2019s\u201d and two \u201cN\u2019s.\u201d Fortunately, literary justice prevailed.<\/p>\n

Couldn\u2019t get a handle on the last of the Iron Skillets. Pretty much wrote off the Mustangs after their awful defensive performance against TCU while proclaiming the Horned Frogs\u2019 chances in the wide-open Big 12 as good as anyone\u2019s.<\/p>\n

As good as anyone not named \u201cTexas Tech,\u201d anyway.<\/p>\n

In my advance for the Texas-Georgia game in November, I wrote that the Longhorns\u2019 difficult schedule would soon ease up.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce the Aggies get through with them, that is.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you think Steve Sarkisian used my closing statement as bulletin board material, you\u2019d first have to believe he got so deep into the column. As for you, dear reader, many thanks for hanging in there with me. I know it wasn\u2019t always easy, but, as coach counsels, you took \u2018em one at a time. I crammed 200-plus into 48 hours to come up with this list. If that\u2019s not a lifetime\u2019s penance, I don\u2019t know what is.<\/p>\n

Twitter\/X: @KSherringtonDMN<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Manchester<\/a>Friday\u2019s TV\/Radio listings (Dec. 26)<\/a><\/p>\n

Manchester United takes on Newcastle United in a traditional Boxing Day matchup in the Premier League.<\/p>\n

\"FILE<\/a>Charles Barkley suggests Mavs should \u2018move on\u2019 from Anthony Davis, turn to Cooper Flagg<\/a><\/p>\n

Barkley gave his vision for Dallas\u2019 future on the ESPN broadcast of the Mavericks\u2019 Christmas Day game against the Warriors.<\/p>\n

\"Cowboys<\/a>Watch: Cowboys insiders break down Dallas\u2019 Christmas Day win over Commanders<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite being eliminated from playoff contention, the Cowboys delivered a spirited performance on Christmas.<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Mavericks dealt difficult blow in loss to Warriors in Cooper Flagg\u2019s Christmas debut<\/a><\/p>\n

It was a difficult holiday for Dallas, as Anthony Davis went down with yet another injury in the loss.<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Javonte Williams, Malik Davis display resilience by powering Cowboys\u2019 rushing attack<\/a><\/p>\n

For Dallas, Christmas Day was about Williams and Davis and the value they possess.<\/p>\n

For more sports coverage from The Dallas Morning News, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To view subscription options for The News and SportsDay, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What a year: First the Mavs traded their best player, then the Cowboys traded their best, then the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3230,6348,1044,102,113,104,2582,103,46291,5962,5963,2638,4646,7702,6538,260,537,429],"class_list":["post-101155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-arch-manning","tag-ceedee-lamb","tag-cowboys","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-mavericks","tag-dallas-news","tag-deion-sanders","tag-george-pickens","tag-javonte-williams","tag-jerry-jones","tag-luka-doncic","tag-micah-parsons","tag-nico-harrison","tag-texas-am-aggies","tag-texas-longhorns","tag-texas-rangers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}