They’re still constructing the Dallas Cowboys’ new stadium, and if you’re one of those people who thought the Cowboys were too iconic a franchise to fall prey to stadium naming right, well, stop being so foolish.
It looks like Jerry Jones and company are leaning toward AT&T Field.
The Dallas Cowboys are in serious discussions with AT&T Corp. to name their new $1 billion stadium AT&T Field, according to a document obtained by the Star-Telegram.
The deal would include “media rights,” which would allow the Cowboys and AT&T to almost exclusively distribute Cowboys content on local television, radio, Internet and wireless devices, according to the document. The dollar value and length of a potential deal were not specified.
Some obviously aren’t happy about this, but it kind of seems inevitable. (We still think someone in Texas should be forced to use “Enron Field” for eternity. The brand synergies are infinite; we will at least know what kind of phone Terrell Owens is taking out of the goalpost and calling his agent with.
We haven’t been to McAfee Coliseum this year — and judging by the attendance figures, few of you have either — but much ado has been made about the upper deck’s All You Can Eat package, which is $35, not counting medical bills. How much could you eat?
Much credit to the ink-stained wretches of the Bay Area, many of whom have stepped up to give it a shot. So far, the winner, from the Oakland Tribune, is Pat Craig. His booty:
Four dogs, one order of nachos, a bag of peanuts, an ice cream sandwich and a bag of popcorn
(Actually, Eric Louie of the Contra Costa Times did knock down 12 hot dogs.)
Not bad, but surely, someone out there can do better. Though eating a full bag of peanuts is quite the underrated endeavor. We salute all those who undergo such a physical challenge.
For those of you who saw Wade Boggs on “Baseball Tonight” this weekend — the one ESPN show we never, ever miss — you are probably wondering the same thing The Sports Hernia was wondering: When’s “Road House 3″ coming out?
Boggs is one of several Hall of Famers who will be guesting on “Baseball Tonight” throughout the season. As much as we look forward to Ozzie Smith’s appearance, we do hope they invite Jim Rice, just to be mean.
The highlight of Boggs appearance was the pleasant reminder of just weird Boggs was. The guy knew exactly how many balls he’d lined foul into the right field stands. The level of obsession it requires to be a professional athlete is terrifying sometimes.
The life of an NBA entourage member is a hard one. Even though it may offer an otherwise unemployable sect of society the opportunity to live an exciting, fulfilling life vicariously through a pampered professional athlete, there is legitimate “work” to be done in order to maintain a prime spot in the posse pecking order.
Radar showcased some of the more preposterous acts of personal servitude some of these professional hangers-on have subject themselves to and, not surprisingly, Ron Artest’s requests are extremely demanding and imbecilic.
Crazy Sacramento Kings forward Ron Artest has a paid personal assistant who “fields late-night requests for organic cookies” and is developing Artest’s line of athletic wear. The assistant was also (seriously) recently asked to “remove what Mr. Artest thought were giant snake eggs in his backyard.” (They turned out to be mushrooms.)
You can almost smell the insanity, can’t you? Although, “Giant snake eggs in his backyard” seems like it would be a perfect lyrical refrain from Junta-era Phish. (Ed. Note: Please no Phish references on Deadspin. Thank you.)
Former major leaguer Scott Spiezio’s tumultuous battle with alcoholism has been marred by some ugly incidents. But even though the 35-year-old Spiezio had some extremely heavy baggage, the Atlanta Braves took a flyer on the guy, hoping he could get his life together and earn a spot on the Braves roster at some point this year. It didn’t work out.
This past weekend Spieizio was released from his minor league contract with the Richmond Braves. Why? Well, it’s pretty easy to figure out, but here’s how Braves’ GM Frank Wren put it:
“[Here’s what] We asked him to do: No. 1 is to continue his aftercare, which included testing, No. 2, that he attend AA [meetings] and No. 3 he would show up at the park every day ready to play. And yesterday he was not ready to play.”
“Not ready to play” seems to indicate a major backslide in Spiezio’s recovery. Obviously, dude’s got some troubles that baseball can’t fix. At least now Spiezio will have more time to dedicate to his Ozzfest-y band, Sandfrog. Sandfrog is scheduled to come out with a new album soon, titled “The Offseason,” which will include songs about Spiezio’s personal problems, plus a song dedicated to deceased Cardinals’ pitcher Josh Hancock. That album sounds like a really, upbeat toe-tapper.
We don’t have the heart, really, to check in with any of our Detroit Tigers friends, right now, from longtime Deadspin commenter fave Alex Balk to Ben Mathis Lilley to Defamer’s Mark Graham. Not much is worse than expecting your team to dominate, and then watching as they start out two-and-freaking-10.
Nobody seems to understand what’s going on with the Tigers, least of which their manager, who is surely sucking down Winstons at four times his usual rate. Not only are the Tigers losing, they’re getting shut out, and their pitchers are dropping and, man, everything’s falling apart. Some are already writing the eulogies.
We don’t think it’s time to write off the Tigers just yet, but we do feel bad that it has to happen to that fanbase. Those guys are on the good side of the force. If a preseason favorite was going to collapse …. the Tigers would have to be considered the most tragic. But it’s early.
Tigers blog Bless You Boys has the most alarming comparison; the season so far has been like watching Tigers pitchers field in the 2006 World Series. Poor guys.
Carmelo Anthony, on the heels of one of the biggest wins for Denver of the season, continued his bad habit of doing something stupid at just the wrong times this morning: He got a DUI.
He has already apologized to the team.
“[Anthony] cooperated by consenting to a blood test, the results of which will not be available for approximately two weeks,” [Anthony’s lawyer] said in a prepared statement. “There was no accident and no one was hurt. Like anyone in a similar situation, Carmelo has to wait for the results of the blood test. He regrets putting himself in this situation. In the meantime, Carmelo will try to stay focused on his family and his team. Carmelo apologizes to his fans, the Denver community, his teammates and the Nuggets’ organization for the distraction this is causing them.”
Seriously, just when everything is seemingly running smooth for Carmelo, this stuff seems to pop up. The good news? Nobody snitched.
Back in 1988, there was some sort of network program called “War Of The Stars,” We’re guessing it was like that “Network Stars” show, but, you know, less popular, and with more Dick Van Patten. Well, NESW Sports has dug up archive footage of a young Michael Jordan playing basketball against … Martin and Charlie Sheen.
We don’t want to give away the winner, but we will remind you that this Michael Jordan moment is being broadcast by Dick Van Patten. Television production values were so much higher in the ’80s; we’ve degraded so much.
They’re still constructing the Dallas Cowboys’ new stadium, and if you’re one of those people who thought the Cowboys were too iconic a franchise to fall prey to stadium naming right, well, stop being so foolish.
We haven’t been to McAfee Coliseum this year — and judging by the attendance figures, few of you have either — but much ado has been made about the upper deck’s 
Former major leaguer Scott Spiezio’s tumultuous battle with alcoholism has been marred by some 
We don’t have the heart, really, to check in with any of our Detroit Tigers friends, right now, from longtime Deadspin commenter fave 
Carmelo Anthony, on the heels of one of the biggest wins for Denver of the season, continued his bad habit of doing something stupid at just the wrong times this morning: 