NEFTALI! BALL GAME!

This is what playoff baseball is all about.  Determination, competition, and the long ball.  Just when people thought Nelson Cruz was dead, he blasted a ball over the moon and into the left field stands. If he can get and stay hot, the Rangers are looking even better.

And how about people questioning why Ogando was moved to the pen? Is Ron Washington not the smartest man alive? What a great display of pitching by Ogando to come in, in a very tough situation after the rain went away. ALCS baseball being played at its finest.

This is Rangers baseball.

Hey, 3 games away from getting back to the WS.

p.s.

GAME OVER!

Email us your tips or links: tips@boomicon.com

This is the curse of LeBron James. Cowboys up 24, and we choke it in the 2nd half. Eagles up 20, and they choke it in the 2nd half. I mean how much more obvious could this be.

Dear LeBron,

Please leave the Cowboys alone and find another team.

Sincerely, Cowboys Fans.

Email us your tips or links: tips@boomicon.com

yahoo – DeAngelo Hall didn’t hit Tony Romo in the ribs Monday night as planned. Other than a stationary sideline hit on Dez Bryant(notes), he didn’t do much helmet-laying on anyone. The biggest contribution made by the Washington Redskins cornerback was to the guys wearing white; Hall allowed Dallas to successfully convert a 3rd and 21 late in the game while he was locked up in man coverage on Bryant. He then capped it off by getting a facemask penalty on the same play that put the Cowboys in field goal range.

Hall did excel in one area though: post-game profanity percentage. As our buddy Dan Steinberg of the DC Sports Bog noted, DeAngelo dropped six bad words in 46 seconds. (At least somebody on the Redskins is good under two minutes.) His rant included complaints about the refs, references to rocket scientists and a Freudian command issued to a reporter.

Transcript via Steinberg, audio via 106.7 The Fan:

Q: People when they watch on TV will say D, he got beat on the play, but you guys had zero help.

Hall: “They can say whatever the [expletive] they want to say. I could care less.”

I think he means he couldn’t care less. Because if he could care less, then he’d be bothered by the fact that I say Hall is like Darrelle Revis, only DeAngelo lets people stay on his island 60 minutes a week, rent-free.

Q: [Blitzing seven] worked for you guys a lot earlier in the game.

Yeah, but sooner or later somebody’s gonna [bleeping] figure it out. You don’t have to be a [bleeping] rocket scientist to figure it out after a while

Is that a dig at Jason Garrett, Jim Haslett or rocket scientists?

Q: The facemask was just a bad break, grabbing at –

It was a [bleeping] terrible call. I told the ref he should [bleeping] lose his job. [To another reporter] Man, back up off me, man. [Back to the question] Like I said, I told the ref after that call, that might have been the worst call of the game. He gonna get some demerit points for that call, because that wasn’t no facemask.

The facemask was a pretty tough call but there’s a certain irony in Hall putting in a pitiful performance that helped his team lose the game and then calling for someone else to lose their job because of their own pitiful performance. As for the “back up off me, man,” our Doug Farrar thinks it proves definitively that DeAngelo doesn’t like any contact.

It some imaginary world way out in Washington D.C., I could have sworn that Rex Grossman said the Redskins were winning the NFC East and that DeAngelo Hall was going to destroy Romo and the Cowboys. Like, I coulda sworn that I heard and blogged bout all this… But you know what, Rex being Rex, DeAngelo being DeAngelo, and the Redskins being the Redskins. The Cowboys are the better team and Romo with the cracked rib proved he was a winner last night.

15-1

Email us your tips or links: tips@boomicon.com

Title says it all.

Do we hate to much on ESPN? After all, they seem to ruin all things that are good for everyone.

Email us your tips or links: tips@boomicon.com

(Not the pre-teen)

HOUSTON – Texas Parks and Wildlife officials say a fish caught by a pre-teen girl in a suburban Houston lake last month was a red-bellied piranha.

It’s only the second piranha ever verified in Texas waters and the first in nearly 30 years.

The hand-sized fish chomped down on piece of hot dog used as bait at the 23-acre lake at Harris County’s Tom Bass Park.

When adults with the girl saw the fish’s razor-sharp teeth, they turned it over to authorities.

Parks officials told the Houston Chronicle the notoriously aggressive meat-eating fish likely was dumped in the lake by an aquarium owner.

The fish is illegal in Texas but officials say it’s easily obtainable on the Internet.

The only other verified Texas piranha came in Kendall County in 1982.

That’s badass. I’m completely 110% jealous of this kid. What? It’s a girl! No way, I’m even more impressed. This girl has to be pulling boyfriends left and right in 5th grade. I also love how the fish is illegal in Texas, but it can easily be obtained on the Internet. There is literally nothing you can’t get on the Internet. Love it.

Email us your tips or links: tips@boomicon.com

ESPN Dallas – Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo declared himself ready to play in Monday night’s game against the Washington Redskins despite a fractured rib.

“I’m getting better as the week goes on,” Romo said on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown. “I’ll deal with it over the course of the next month, but I’ll be good to go this week.”

Romo also suffered a punctured lung in last week’s comeback win over the San Francisco 49ers, but a CT scan Thursday indicated that injury had healed. Romo, who keyed last week’s rally by completing 12 of 15 passes for 201 yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter and overtime after missing almost the entire third quarter, has said all along that pain would not prevent him from playing.

Romo, who is officially listed as questionable, did not practice until Saturday this week. He had done some light throwing earlier in the week, including Wednesday, when he was fitted for a Kevlar vest to protect his ribs.

Romo also had a message for the Redskins’ DeAngelo Hall: He’ll be coming after him, too.

Romo’s injury is no secret, nor is the notion a foe will try hitting him where it hurts to see just how well his protective vest and painkilling medication really work. Usually, though, that goes without saying. Hall went ahead and said it, declaring, “I want to get a chance to put my helmet on whatever’s hurt.”

He added: “I’m going to be asking for some corner blitzes.”

Tough talk from a guy who has a total of one sack in 103 games, and it wasn’t even his own doing. He got a half-sack as a rookie in 2004, and another half in 2008.

Romo actually wouldn’t mind seeing No. 23 coming his way.

“If he’s blitzing, that means he’s not covering,” Romo said. “So we’ll attack his guy he’s covering.”

Receiver Dez Bryant (bruised quadriceps) and running back Felix Jones (dislocated shoulder) are also listed as questionable but expected to play against the Redskins. Receiver Miles Austin is out with a strained hamstring.

Multiple sources said Romo, Bryant and Jones all participated in Sunday’s walkthrough.

If there’s one thing I like, it’s shutting up the critics. Dirk winning the NBA Finals was top 1 professional sports moments for me. It just doesn’t get much better than a highly criticized athlete proving the entire world wrong when the entire world retracted it’s statements about him. Let me explain, world to Dirk 5 years ago: You are never going to win a championship. World to Mavs 1,2,3,4 years ago: Mavs will never win a championship with Dirk. Past summer: LeBron will never win a championship. But then, you have everyone contradicting themselves, the same people who said Dirk would never win, now said LeBron would never win. Putting themselves in a win-win position, or, win-lose. So now, Romo has literally been called out by the world of football that he will never touch the 2nd round of playoffs. YouTube videos and shit flying off the walls. Look, I believe in Romo, and if that means it’s going to take 4 more months for him to win the Super Bowl, then it’s going to take 4 more months. If he proves he can win the Super Bowl tonight, then he does it tonight. Which he’ll do because we’re going 15-1.

wow, I will be referring back to this in January.

really bro, you’re a Seahawks fan? Go to 1:55.

… and for all the hate, there is love.

p.s. what’s with people doing these weird self imposed videos?

Email us your tips or links: tips@boomicon.com

ESPN – Texas A&M is set to join the Southeastern Conference, the league said Sunday, possibly signaling legal hurdles have been cleared for the Aggies to leave the Big 12.

The SEC announced the move will be effective next July, and said Texas A&M will participate in all sports during the 2012-13 academic year. That gives the SEC 13 members and its first addition since South Carolina and Arkansas joined in 1992.

The Aggies’ defection from the Big 12 had been held up by the possibility of legal action from Baylor and other members, but sources told ESPN’s Joe Schad that the school’s play in the conference next year is “unconditional.” If any school, including Baylor, files litigation against A&M, it would be addressed at that time.

A Big 12 administrator said neither the SEC nor Texas A&M have asked any of the Big 12 schools to waive their right to sue. The person spoke Sunday night on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

A&M’s rights change in course was due, a source told ESPN.com’s Andy Katz, to the sense the Big 12 will now stay together following the Pac 12′s decision not to expand. The source said there is now no longer any fear that the remaining schools will claim they were financially damaged by the Aggies’ departure.

SEC presidents and chancellors voted in favor of the move on Sept. 6, and a source said A&M’s negotiation of an exit fee with the Big 12 “will now begin in earnest.”

“We are excited to begin competition in the nation’s premier athletic conference,” Texas A&M President R. Bowen Loftin said in the statement.

It’s unclear if the SEC will add a 14th member for next season or go with unbalanced divisions. Rumored possibilities include the Big 12′s Missouri and West Virginia of the Big East.

Texas A&M began the courtship in July, unhappy with rival Texas’ Longhorn Network — a 20-year, $300 million venture with ESPN — and stirred another turbulent period for the Big 12.

The Aggies, who play Arkansas on Saturday, give the SEC entry into major TV markets such as Houston and Dallas.

“Texas A&M is a nationally prominent institution on and off the field and a great fit for the SEC tradition of excellence — athletically, academically and culturally,” Commissioner Mike Slive said in the statement.

Slive, Loftin and others will hold a news conference Monday evening in College Station, Texas.

Four Big 12 teams — Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State — had explored moving to the Pac-12, which decided not to expand this year.

Oklahoma President David Boren said the nine remaining schools besides Texas A&M agreed last week to give a six-year grant of their first- and second-tier television rights to the Big 12. That means all revenue from the top television games — shown currently on networks owned by ABC/ESPN and Fox — would continue to go to the Big 12 even if a school bolts to another league.

That deal, however, had not been finalized.

The Big 12 also ousted Commissioner Dan Beebe last week after five years and replaced him with former Big Eight Commissioner Chuck Neinas on an interim basis.

“I am personally saddened to see Texas A&M depart from the Big 12, and wish I had the opportunity to visit the campus to sit down and talk with their administration,” Neinas said in a release. “We will continue to work diligently in securing the long-term stability of the Big 12.

“Now that the status of Texas A&M has officially been determined, the membership can focus on the desired course for the Conference moving forward. Although no timeline has been established, an expeditious pursuit is anticipated.”

A&M’s official departure from the Big 12 was considered the next step needed to determine where this round of conference realignment is headed.

Once that is done, the SEC can decide on a 14th member, if it wants one and the Big 12 can replace the Aggies.

Texas A&M moved to the Big 12 after 82 years in the Southwest Conference and its departure to the SEC will mark the first time the Aggies won’t be in a conference with rival Texas and Baylor.

Some are worried A&M’s departure will jeopardize the future of the annual football game, currently played on Thanksgiving night, between the Aggies and Texas.

“There is some lamenting about (losing) some of the good competition we’ve had over the years with everyone (in the Big 12),” Texas A&M faculty athletic representative Tom Adair said. “Of course, Texas is the big one. I hope it will be worked out and we will continue.”

It is one of the oldest rivalries in college football, with the teams first meeting in 1894.

Loftin said he’d like to continue the rivalry no matter what conference the Aggies were in when he announced the school’s plans to explore its conference options in August.

However, even if the schools were able to work out a deal to meet for a nonconference football game each season, it would be nearly impossible to guarantee that other sports such as men’s and women’s basketball and baseball would be able to meet their biggest rivals each season.

There are certain things you just come to expect from espn: sports science, tweets from players, 5 hours of NFL countdown on Sunday, and worthless breaking news stories.  That’s why I’m a little shocked here.  When Texas A&M wanted to leave the SEC, it was breaking.  When Texas A&M got declined from the SEC, it was breaking. But now, now when Texas A&M finally makes it into the SEC, they don’t have a breaking news story, and that is probably the most breaking news story of the three. Low and behold, ESPN doesn’t have the inside scoop and they didn’t have a source tell them. They found out because the SEC actually announced it, like good old sports reporting should be – not finding random useless sources and making a story up. Congrats to Texas A&M for finally moving on with life, and congrats to ESPN for truly showing your biased. Texas A&M > ESPN.

email us your tips or links: tips@boomicon.com

(NewsCore) – A 14-year-old girl was hospitalized after her younger sister shot her in the head while “playing CSI” at their home in Logansport, Ind., the Logansport Pharos-Tribune reported Sunday.

Cass County conservation officer Brenda Louthain, who investigated the incident, said the older girl was taken to Logansport Memorial Hospital after being shot by her 11-year-old sister shortly before 10:30am Saturday morning.

The girls’ parents were not at home at the time of the incident.

“[The 14-year-old] has shot pellets in the head area from a 20-gauge shotgun,” Louthain told the newspaper, adding that the shot traveled through a door jamb before striking the girl.

When asked what happened, Louthain said the 11-year-old told officials she was “playing CSI,” referring to the popular crime TV show.

The shot girl’s condition was not reported. Investigations were continuing, but authorities said they were treating the incident as an accident.

I honestly thought we were past this.  So 1999 to shot your sister playing CSI.  You couldn’t use a fake gun either? Come on, that’s bush league.

Email us your tips or links: tips@boomicon.com