Mobile Monday: Turkey Hunting, Baseball and Easter

Thursday we headed out to East Texas to do a little Turkey hunting. Ok, "we" went camping. I basically was in charge of finding fire wood and guarding the stuff while "they" went turkey hunting as 'this dog don't hunt' so to speak but waking up Good Friday to this view totally makes up for the 'cold-night-sleeping-on-an-air-mattress-I-think-I-am-a-princess-and-believe-a-motel-is-roughing-it' girl. That's not really true. I don't need a hotel room but I would prefer one, for sure! My sister in law and I were talking on Easter about this. She loves to hunt but she agrees the best option is a motel room somewhere with plumbing and a shower. It's the little things in life. :-) Anyway, it was beautiful as you can see and I heard my first Turkey and while my brother and my guy think it's funny, I honestly thought at first that they sounded like a barking dog. They are incredibly loud though and really pretty. The colors are amazing in the feathers. I have never imagined the colors of browns. Just beautiful.


Saturday we had baseball tickets and it was a totally fun first time at Rangers Ballpark for my young friend which was fun to share. It was also Yu Darvish Bobblehead night. We had a great time and the ballpark was rocking. There was a couple behind us that got engaged.


Nolan Ryan and Sam Houston made an appearance. Oh, and the Rangers won! Earlier in the day we had made cupcakes, colored eggs, and I decorated the lamb cake for Sunday. We had the first Easter egg hunt. It was a super busy day!


Sunday was all about the family stuff. We had more egg hunts, dinner, and the cake, which turned out...not too shabby. The kid LOVED it and that's what mattered. I want to make the tradition my grandma started something to carry on.

I hope everyone was able to find blessing this weekend.



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Texas Rangers Tuesday: No worries Blog!

The Nolan Ryan talk has slowed down. The local media seems to agree now, Nolan will likely stay. Does this mean we can actually talk about the TEAM?

My friend Rachel had a time hop quote of David Murphy Monday that said: "What would Texas Rangers spring training be without some drama?" Murph said that 2 years ago after Chuck Greenberg's exit and Michael Young's mad round 3 or 4.

Do you know how I know the Rangers have actually made it? We have quarterback controversy. No, this isn't Danny White and Roger or Steve Pelluer and Troy or Tony Romo and... Tony Romo but we have drama. We have evolved from the "will the Rangers finish at .500?" days to the "the Rangers did WHAT?" we have today! No, it isn't just about the loss of Michael Young, Josh Hamilton and Mike Napoli. No, it isn't about who will be the Opening Day starter. It will be Yu. No, it isn't about how well Gentry and Martin can fill some rather big and a little crazy shoes. This team has true drama. People are fighting to RUN it! Grown men who brought the first World Series to North Texas and a second the next year, are fighting for power! Nobody fights to run the Cowboys. Jerry had managed to screw that up all by himself. Nobody fights to run the Mavs. Mark has managed to go from an NBA championship two years ago too the cellar today. Yes, those teams are different sports and different situations but simply the fact that people have been fighting for the Texas Rangers since MLB put the club on the auction block in 2010 says it all.

Maybe now things will quiet down and we can focus on the good things we have seen so far. Maybe now we can talk about how positive Derek Holland's start for Team USA was Sunday. How he got himself out of a jam and kept the team in the game until they managed to score and win. Maybe now we can talk about how nice it is to know Yu has a real shot at being exactly what Jon Daniels and his scouts have thought and why he convinced Nolan Ryan to bid on this kid. Maybe now we can talk about why it is important to get Profar at bats even if they come in AAA. Maybe now we can turn our attention to hating Scott Boras for not getting Elvis an extension even though we all knew that wasn't likely. Whatever the next chapter in Rangers baseball brings us, isn't it nice to know that Rangers Nation has a real future? For those of us who lived through the days when the Rangers season ended before the All-Star break. For those of us who have pinched ourselves until we bruised the last three years making sure this wasn't all a dream. For those of us who still hurt at the words "Game Six" (I am really sorry I had to go there my friends) this team has so much positive that even a Nolan Ryan VS Jon Daniels fight couldn't dampen our excitement over the Texas Rangers season that starts up in about 19 days! We are living in a baseball town now and this is Rangers Country!!




"Dallas" Remembers JR:


If you saw JR's exit Monday (tears, so sad!) you may have recognized a few actual Dallas locals namely Jerry Jones who said that JR told Jerry he didn't care what he did in HIS town as long as the Cowboys won and Mark Cuban who said JR hated losing more than Mark does and when the Mavs won the NBA Championship JR sent Mark a note saying 'About time.' This was a nice touch if a little ironic given the amount of SUCK both teams are dealing with right now. JR would NOT be happy with either of these clubs now!



Simply,
Laura
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Texas Rangers Tuesday: Don't Panic! JD Interview UPDATED BLOG!!!

Jon Daniels is trying to push Nolan Ryan out....or is he?

Nolan Ryan is a Texas hero and Texas Rangers legend. He is leaving the Rangers because he lost the power struggle. Or is he?

Dallas-Ft Worth sports media is spinning out of control with wild speculation about my favorite team and frankly it's annoying. They know a lot of nothing and read between the lines more than I did in my last relationship (or whatever that was).

I don't really care what inside, unnamed sources say. I love and respect both of these men for their work on this team. I posted on my Facebook wall today that I have had to sit through some terrible baseball over my 42 years. Some really bad baseball.

I moved to Texas when I was 10 and I quickly adopted the Rangers but before becoming a die-hard,10 year old Ranger fan I was a Chicago Cubs fan. I have cried for both teams. Let's not even talk about the 2003 NLCS Game 6 loss and I still go into a fetal position over Game 6 of the 2011 World Series. I suffered for my baseball.  I cried and died for my baseball.

You have to understand when the guys in my office see me....they want to talk sports. I have a former minor league player who comes to me to debate every detail of Rangers baseball. I have a LSU fan who comes to talk all sports. I have a Rangers fan/Aggies fan who comes to...drive me crazy. I have another Aggies fan/Astros fan who comes to remind me....baseball could be a lot worse! I am not your average female. When my company rewards me for a good job, they buy me Mavs tickets. When vendors want to woo me they take me to Rangers or Mavs games.

So, here is my take: DFW sports media are bored.  The Mavs are, let's face it,  just terrible.  The shortened NHL season has taken it's toll on the hockey excitement and this town has a hard time getting too excited about hockey until the playoffs.  The Cowboys died the same death they have been dying in December for a decade and a half.  You can only debate the "Romo issue" so much before you become bored and they have been debating Tony Romo for at least 6 years.  Jerry Jones is wheels off.  That's not news.  Jerry-World is obnoxious.  This is old news.  The best team in town is still the Texas Rangers for the 4th year in a row and Spring Training is extra long this year (thanks to the World Baseball Classic). Nolan Ryan may just have some health issues that he doesn't want to share with the world.  He has had heart problems in the past.  He may be mad that they reduced his power also, I don't know.  The front office is saying all the right things.  Mr. Simpson, one of the owners, has insisted the team is not forcing out Nolan.  Jon Daniels has issued a statement that he reports to Nolan Ryan.  Jon Daniels will be on at 11:30 this morning on ESPN radio to talk about this.  My guess is that he will manage to do what he alway does, calm the fear and make everything seem ok. 

Everyone breath.  Baseball hasn't started yet and to steal a line from Tony Romo: if this is the worst thing that ever happens in my life, my life will be ok.  We have another 26 days before the games count.  We have another 4 months before everyone starts talkng about the Cowboys Super Bowl 2013. (Yawn).  We have another 32 minutes before someone starts trading Tony Romo for a case of Campbells soup and 17 First Round Draft picks (That GM Jerry will waste on defensive lineman when the problem is the o-line but that is another blog!)

I don't know  if Nolan Ryan is going to stay or go.  I don't know if the Rangers will win a World Series in the next 5 years. I don't know if Jon Daniels is a Ninja.  I don't know the calorie count on an entire sleeve of Thin Mints (Please don't tell me.)  I don't know if I am going to fall in love again and get married and have a baby (Okay, I do know that. I am but let's pretend)......the only thing I know is this, Life is a ride filled with ups and downs and half the fun in every ride is the struggle.  So let's all just enjoy the ride.  Any day WITH Texas Rangers baseball is a good day!

UPDATE:
I just listened to Jon Daniels' interview on ESPN radio regarding the Nolan Ryan situations and to say that JD is as clueless as me seems to be accurate.   JD describes his relationship with Nolan as a good working relationship.  He said they have a lot in common with respect to their view on baseball and family.  He indicated they have had a lot of success working together and he wants this to continue.  According to JD there is no change in the way things will be done and that although he ultimately would have final say, he supposes, on baseball decisions, that isn't really the way they have ever worked.  They seem to listen to each other and make a group decision.  Based on this interview, JD seems confused as to what is going on.  As confused as I am and he speculates the reason this has been blown out of proportion is that Nolan hasn't addressed this issue with the media and therefore the media is going to unknown sources behind the scenes with unknown agendas.   Basically, JD indicated that he saw Nolan all weekend and that Nolan gave him no indication there were problems.  With that in mind, JD did indicate that he thought Nolan had some things he was thinking through.  He did not elaborate on what those 'things' were.  JD: Nolan and I are talking.  We talk everyday....Between the two of us, there is nothing that needs to be said but I can't speak for the others involved.

My take:
If there is a problem it is with ownership and Nolan and it is clear that JD and Nolan are fine.  I don't think there is anything else that we can speculate on.  I believe that, from Jon Daniels perspective, this is all a lot of extra stuff and he just wants to talk on the field and his team. I can't say this interview made me feel any better however whatever this issues is, this needs to be worked out with Nolan and the rest of ownership.  Which, by the way is what Richard Durrett basically just said as well so I must be a baseball genius because I typed that before he said it! 

3/23/16 Update:
Nolan left the club and now works for the Astros.  JD is still with the club.   Rumors flew on this forever before the October moment when Ryan finally stepped down.  The club has survived.  I was disappointed and upset that JD and Nolan couldn't get it together but it is what it is.   Nolan will forever be one of my favorite Texas Rangers and JD is the man in charge, without a doubt now.  By the end, it was clear that Nolan was probably being forced out.  Some folks don't like JD because of it.  It doesn't matter because I am sure that JD doesn't lose a lot of sleep over it.

For the record, the best teams in town right now may be the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Stars.  I have no hope for the Cowboys and the Mavs are just horrible, in spite of the fact that I will forever love Dirk.  


Simply,
Laura