The Baseball Times In Arlington blog is also covering this stories and I’m sure their comments will be as good as always. BTIA is the best blog out there covering the Rangers and I’m sure they’ll be able to put this in perspective as the night goes along.

I’ve obviously been to countless games and announced countless games at many stadiums around the country and it crushes me that a fan might die in a situation like this. The saddest part is that his young son was there and saw it all, saw Daddy going for a foul ball that I’m sure he wanted to give to his kid.

I’m not sure what stadiums can do to completely prevent this, but higher railings perhaps mad of plexiglass where the fans could still see, much like you see in some outfield bullpens, might be a start. I know we can’t “legislate common sense” but at a certain point we do need take care to do whatever rational steps can be done.

Make no mistake, I’m not blaming the fan, the Rangers or anyone here. This happens. The question is what can we do to minimize the chances of it happening again???

Our hearts go out to this man’s family. Not only to him but to Josh Hamilton as well. In an odd way he becomes that pitcher that throws the ball that kills a batter. No, it wasn’t directly his fault in any way, but Hamilton now gets to add that to the list of burdens he gets to shoulder, fair or not.

It’s a good thing Hamilton has strong shoulders and an even stronger foundation these days. Hopefully he’ll be able to share that with this fan’s family.

Hyatt

1.  Barry Trammel nails it in his blog for the Oklahoman this week when he talks about the collusion and other nefarious deeds going on right now between the Big 12, ESPN, Fox Sports and the Longhorn Network. Already we are seeing the cash grab by the networks using the Longhorn Network as their proxy. All the while Big 12 Commish for Life, Dan Beebe, will stand by and let this transpire because it is the best way for him to keep his job, err I mean keep the Big 12 together. Remember we said this Texas Tech fans; it’ll be the Red Raiders that see their game moved from the regular cable or over the air package this year to the Longhorn Network. That’ll force Texas Tech fans to have to subscribe and pay dollars to Austin or miss the game. Can’t wait for the calls to start coming in that week. . . In the words of Bob Uecker, “Hey buddy, great conference!”.

2.  That Major League Baseball still allows the All-Star game to decide home field advantage in the World Series is proof that Bud Selig and the Lords of the Realm shouldn’t be allowed to make major decisions like fries or baked potato or regular or super regular… The only sport where the rules actually change depending on where the game is played during the championship decides it with an exhibition game? Still? Sad. Maybe someday the sad sacks at the NFL will wise-up and have the Hall of Fame Game determine the final possession of the Super Bowl. Then maybe folks would watch. . .

3.  David Feherty is the most interesting person on TV right now. If we didn’t have him right now, CBS would pay writers thousands of dollars to create him.

4.  The best part of the Roger Clemens trial is that it won’t take too long to find 12 or so jurors that don’t know anything about him. . .

5.  Remember last spring how everyone in the U.S. was gonna boycott the All-Star Game in Phoenix because Arizona had a Governor that dared to want to enforce the law of the land? How’s that going? Oh wait, it’s not. Wonder why? Maybe it is because those in baseball realize the great rewards and opportunities that the United States has afforded them and their families…Lesson learned.

Hyatt

McIlroy has all the makings of the young star golf needs right now. No matter what happens Sunday, he’ll be a big story.

That said, who are some of the other people in sports, athletes, coaches, announcers, owners, you name it; that you really find interesting? What is it about them that you find compelling?

Tell us here and we’ll use your best answers on the show come Monday.

In the meantime, enjoy your Saturday and stay out of the heat here in West Texas. Just brutal out there today!

Hyatt

Who are some of the other

5 THINGS WE KNOW ON A FRIDAY

1.  I don’t care what his ranking is or where he is on the leader board at the U.S. Open right now. The person I’d least like to play for cash would be Phil Mickelson. He’d end up driving my convertible away from the bar I’m afraid.

2.  While I’d still have no problem if Nolan Ryan replaced Ron Washington at any time, the biggest cog still missing from last year to this year for the Rangers is Clint Hurdle. I think he brought something to that clubhouse much more than just letting guys know there was something called the “opposite field”.

3.  It is great to have Texas Tech Basketball legend Bubba Jennings back in the fold after all these years, uh I mean months. . . er, days? No. Seriously, I think it is great that new coach Billy Gillispie didn’t feel like he had to reinvent the wheel at Tech the way so many coaches do when they come to a losing program. Sometimes you have to look around and realize you have some great people that may not be being utilized the best way or even in the right job spot. Business folks could take a less from that as well.

4. The Windy Man sculpture is back in Lubbock. Surely this means we’ll get no rain and be punished even harder right? Of course if it rains this weekend. . .

5.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. is gonna win at Michigan again. It just isn’t going to be this week. If he can get some Sunoco Fuel into that #16 Greg Biffle is going to Victory Lane this Sunday. If not, watch for Matt Kenseth to show up and blandly make everyone look like they have their learner’s permit.

Hyatt

If Major League Baseball really wants to do something right, different and unique it should embrace its past and go to two 15-team leagues with the top five in each league making the post season. The story has been making the rounds the last few days that Houston and Arizona would be the top candidates to move to the AL from the NL to balance out things

As much as I love the idea of the Astros and Texas Rangers battling it out every year for a play-off spot I like the idea even more of getting rid of divisions in baseball and going back to pre-1969 baseball.

Like we said last week about NASCAR the future of sports leagues will be embracing what makes them special and unique and not trying to copy the NFL or any other homogenized product. Baseball gave away part of what made it special over the years but now has a chance to get it back. I hope they take the “risk” and do something bold.

I think you’d have all sorts of drama with the new format all year long, plus you eliminate the stupidity that is winning a four-team division like the Rangers currently play in.

Just for fun, if the season ended today in the AL Boston, New York and Cleveland would be in and Detroit and Texas would battle out the Wild Card spot under one proposal. Sounds good to me.

Richard Justice down at the Chronicle had some thoughts.

As for you Astro fans out there, what do you think? Good idea or bad. What about baseball fans in general, would you get behind the new look MLB? Let us know and we’ll talk about your posts on the show today.

Hyatt

It seems President Obama has made his way to Texas, watch out for the fires, but can’t find his way to meet with Governor Perry to look him in the eye and explain why Texas can’t get federal disaster relief money to help rebuild after the thousands of acres scorched so far by wildfires this spring.

It’s really getting under my skin that the President seems to be playing politics on this one, paying Texans back for not voting the “right way” in the last election cycle. Reeks of Chicago ward-style politics, which isn’t surprising. My biggest gripe is that it is OUR money in the first place. We sent it there and now we need it back. There is no such thing as federal money. It is all derived from the states and the residents of those states. When they need it back, they shouldn’t have to beg or wonder if they’re being punished for being Republican or Democrat. Folks deserve better.

Dirks good and all. . .

We love the run the Mavs and Dirk Nowitzki are on right now. We think Rick Carlisle is a solid coach. He lost his mind for a bit yesterday though when he told ESPN that Dirk is one of the top-ten all-time players in NBA history. Dirks playing great and at times is one of the greats in the game right now, but please, he’s not top-ten material. Not yet.

We had great debate on this subject on the show yesterday (click on any podcast link for the FREE Trial ) and in just one break I came up with ten players quickly that are better than Dirk. I’d like to hear your list and get your feedback on this one, so post your thoughts on the site today and we’ll revisit the matter tonight on the show.

And then there are the Rangers . . .

Wait til June. The season will finally start then. Good news was Tommy Hunter hitting 93 on the gun yesterday in a rehab start. Bad news was that he seems to have pulled a groin. Ouch.

Last night the offense continued to struggle. I’m trying to decide how much of this to put on Ron Washington and his insistence to over-manage and out-think himself at times with line-ups, days off and how to employ a guy, like say Napoli. Washington is so much better when he doesn’t have options, but that’s a story for another day. Can the absence of Josh Hamilton really have this much of a domino effect on who sees what pitches? I don’t think so. Man, biggest loss of the off-season may be Clint Hurdle. . .

Finally. . .

Great news to hear yesterday that the funding was finally in place for Texas Tech to build a clubhouse at the Rawls Course for both teams and regular folks alike. The building will be equal to the course, which means it’ll be amongst the finest in all of college golf. The impact of this on the Tech golf programs will be felt soon. I honestly think Greg Sands and JoJo Robertson will be holding a Big 12 Championship trophy in the near future. Much like track under Wes Kitley, these programs are on the verge of exploding I think. I will of course miss changing shoes in the parking lot, balancing on one leg or hanging off the tailgate of my truck, but I guess you give up a few things with progress.

Send us your thoughts on these subjects and more today. We’re always looking for more feedback. Follow us on Twitter as well, RyanHyattWHShow, for updated show notes as they happen.

Hyatt

1.  The Kevin Harvick-Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman-Juan Pablo Montoya feuding and fighting is great for Nascar. It’ll be interesting to see if any of the sponsors of those drivers, sponsorship dollars totaling over 100 million dollars to the sport, will allow Nascar to punish these drivers with any thing more than “double-secret probation”. Some how I doubt it. These fights get eyeballs on the TV and garner the sponsors millions in return. Have at it boys!

2.  Phil Jackson is the single most over-rated coach of all time in any sport. Name any team he elevated and made better beyond their talent. Name anything he won when he didn’t coach the best player in the game at the time. Can’t do it.

3.  The magic number for the Texas Rangers is five. As in, be within five games of the division lead at the end of May and life will be fine. I can’t blame Ron Washington of Mike Maddux for any of their moves and decisions right now because the have no options. There are no buttons to push. Get the team healthy, get the bullpen back to something that looks like normal and we’ll see what the real Rangers of 2011 can look like. Til then, Go Mavs.

4.  Great to see LCU hosting NAIA regional baseball action later this week. If  you can, make it out to Hays Field and watch some great ball starting this Thursday.

5.  Fire keeps burning up Texas and Texas keeps waiting to hear from Washington and the Obama Administration when we’re gonna get Federal Disaster relief and get OUR money back to help us fix what’s burned and fight what’s burning. President Obama can find UBL but he can’t seem to find time to do what’s right for Texas. Politics much? Remember, it’s our money and we want it back.

Hyatt

Give me too much time in the morning and you end up with an extra piece or two on the site. That’s what the bosses have worried about for a while. . .

THAT WAS GOOD, RIGHT? RIGHT?

Trying this morning, like many Texas Ranger fans, to figure out if last night’s start for Colby Lewis was an improvement or not. He looked better early, actually had 90mph velo, and got guys out. It looked good. Then, in the fifth, it looked like the Lewis we’ve seen most of the year. I guess we’ve got to look at it as progress that Lewis hung around as long as he did, but at the same time it is beginning to get more than worrisome each time he takes the ball. At this point, I’d much rather see Ogando stay in the rotation than Lewis…scary. Let Lewis go AAA for a few weeks if he has another bad start or two. Can’t do it now because of the lack of depth ( let’s not talk about the AARP closer situation right now ) so Lewis buys a little time.

If you want to read a great thought-piece about this, plus enjoy some very well reasoned comments, go to TBIA this morning.

The best thing about being a Ranger fan right now is the fact that they have some major issues with injuries to star players, starting pitchers that aren’t performing to expectations and, well, Ron Washington, and they’re still leading the division. I love it. I always wondered what it would be like to root for and follow an organization like that.

FROM THE INTELLECTUAL GOLD MINE THAT IS FACEBOOK

Those that keep up with my facebook page know that we have some spirited discussions from time to time that have nothing to do with sports. Yesterday we opined that we were trying to decide what move would improve the country quicker: The elimination of the Department of Education, the Department of Energy or the Department of the Interior?

As you can imagine it got a lot of response. Some worried about protecting the lizards in the permian basin. Some were sure I’d close all national parks and turn them over to Six Flags. Others wondered why we couldn’t close all three.

The biggest immediate impact on the country in a positive nature would be to eliminate the Department of Energy. A waste of time and money, a vestige of the Carter Administration ( do you need another reason to close it? ) and a barrier to real energy reform and security for the country – I’d eliminate it in a heartbeat. Here’s a nice up-to-date read for you on Energy from the folks at Heritage Foundation. You’ll like it.

The Department of Education would come in second. It does nothing to improve your childrens’ lives. It does suck a lot of money away from your school though and destroy the ability for those closest to the situation to really take control of the issues facing educators today. Other than that, it is a great idea. There is nothing that the federal government can do on the education front that can’t and shouldn’t be done locally.

As for the Department of the Interior, if congress would do their job and take control away from the unelected bureaucrats that now make law instead of enforcing, it would serve a purpose. As it is, it is merely an extension of the current administrations war on U.S. energy independence.  Dump it.

Now it is your turn. What would you eliminate at the federal department level and why? What would you keep and why. Look forward to reading your thoughts today.

Hyatt