How Early Can We Consider It a Lost Season for Rangers?

Most of the Gametime in Arlington archives paint my favorite baseball team, the Texas Rangers, in a rather positive light. This blog entry sure as hell ain't one of them.

I'm about to fall off the proverbial baseball ledge due to the extraordinary number of patients checking into the Rangers infirmary. It's out of control. A bad horror movie. Someone stop the bleeding. Any help - Dexter Morgan? ... Yeah, that's the thing. There is no help. This team's descent into a quicksand of irrelevancy is picking up major steam.

See You Sunday Afternoon: Mavs Force Game 7 in Hectic Series

If "blood pressure monitor" shows up a few times in my Google search history, it's because I may require one before the end of this insane Mavs-Spurs series in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.

Here's how the series has gone, leading up to the deciding Game 7 on Sunday: Spurs by 5, Mavs by 21, Mavs by 1, Spurs by 4, Spurs by 6, Mavs by 2. Sure, the Mavs won Game 2 by a lot, but that game wasn't on mainstream TV. The rest of these games have all been televised. And they've all been heart-pounding.

The 8 seed Mavs are not supposed to be playing with the 1 seed Spurs. San Antonio had lost only five games since the All-Star break. Dallas, still led by a former NBA champion in Dirk Nowitzki, is relishing the role of underdog. And it's a beautiful thing to see.

Music Review: Chevelle & Nothing More in St. Louis

St. Louis - It had been way too long since I rocked out in person. It recently dawned on me that I hadn't been to a rock show in years, perhaps dating as far back as Chevelle in November 2009. Yowza, right?

Chevelle started touring this month and St. Louis was the second stop on April 5 at a stellar venue called The Pageant. The icing on the cake was the opening band, Texas rockers Nothing More. I heard about the San Antonio quartet from The Music Enthusiast blog that follows the local Dallas rock scene. This so had to happen.

It made for the perfect weekend getaway. Nothing More opening for Chevelle in St. Louis, roughly 3 hours, 45 minutes away from our residence in Overland Park. Balcony seats were available at an affordable price.

The best part of the concert was meeting Jonny Hawkins (at left), lead singer of Nothing More, after their set. We instantly related to each other, discussing topics ranging from general Texas awesomeness, to living the engaged life (he recently got married), to the local Dallas rock scene. The five-minute conversation time-warped me back to the mid-2000s when my brother Dave and I used to talk with Kirk Baxley, lead singer of Greatness in Tragedy, after his shows. He was genuinely nice, expressing gratitude for our support while inquiring about our interests and remembering our faces every time. Jonny was the same way. It made me so glad to spend my hard-earned money to take the trip.

A Way-Too-Early Rangers State of the Union

OK, it's only five days after Opening Day, but I still have some big-picture observations on the state of the Texas Rangers. The Rangers took two of three from the Phillies and dropped a game at Tampa Bay to arrive at 2-2. Here we go:

Could 2014 Be a Catastrophe for Texas Rangers?

Just about any other year, with five days remaining until Opening Day, I'm so sports giddy that shortly before I fall asleep at night, I recite the Texas Rangers batting order and starting rotation in my mind - maybe twice through for good measure.

Heading into 2014, however, I'm about as comfortable listing the Rangers rotation as I am on the Superman ride at Six Flags. Yeah - eek. The Rangers don't have much of a rotation. They have an infirmary. It led me to thinking on my car ride home from work:

Could this season be a complete disaster? 

As Rangers Enter Spring Training, No One More Important Than Yu Darvish

Photo credit: SI.com

It's a beautiful time of the year, when hope springs eternal for just about every squad in Major League Baseball. Four of the most adrenaline-pumping words in sports - "pitchers and catchers report" - appear on the calendar, just in time to look ahead to warmer weather, green grass, melting snow (at least here in Kansas City) and a brand new season of America's pastime.

It's common for baseball fans to look into their crystal ball and formulate optimistic hypotheses around this time of year.