Day 2 of Spring Football Previews for Red Raider fans. Today we’ll focus on the WR corp with Don Williams of the A-J. He’s got a good write-up that you can sink your teeth into today before show time hits.

It’s Thursday so that means Cultural Index Time. Today we ask you for your All-Time Favorite Paul Newman movie. Good luck trying to narrow it down folks. Hud? Cool Hand Luke? Cars? Let us know starting today at 3p.m. on SportsRadio 1340 The Fan. You can listen live online free everyday so there’s no need to ever miss out.

Aside from news of the day and Texas Tech we’ll feature your thoughts on our running topic of the day. Today we want you to give us those athletes that gave away promising careers due to bad choices. We look for the ultimate screw-ups. From Steve Howe to one-hit wonder Timmy Smith. You could even say some stars gave away a lot of their talent like Mickey Mantle. Had Josh Hamilton not missed those seasons to drug use and suspension, where would he be today? Looking forward to your thoughts on this one.

Of course you’re welcome to post your thoughts on all of our topics right here each day, pose any questions you have for the show or otherwise. We’ll use some of the best stuff on the air each day. Thanks for being a part of the show, you guys make going to work fun!

Hyatt

Another Big 12 game and another loss for Billy Gillispie’s Texas Tech Red Raiders. More and more it becomes painfully obvious that Tech has little to no Big 12 level scoring punch outside of Jordan Tolbert. The thing that still impresses me is how hard this team is playing compared to the squads of the last few years. The defense has been very good, even when resorting to “junk” defenses like they did quit a bit last night in the back-alley brawl with Kansas State. I still think the Red Raiders pick up a conference win before it’s over. One night Tech will be hot, the opponent won’t be and the Red Raiders will capitalize.

There is a lot of cool stuff off the court for this team including the rising fan-favorite Luke Adams. Nick Kosmider from the A-J tells the story today of how he continues to inspire kids with hearing problems that he’s shown they can overcome. Good read.

A couple of days ago Chicago Now Blogger Gregg Fort told you about Gummers. He was talking about those folks that mess things up when you’re flying. Bad news. They’re also on the roads driving. . . sorta.

Yesterday was a day filled with me just trying to dodge the Road Gummers. You know them. If they’re in the right lane, they must cross all the way across four lanes of traffic to get in the left lane. They drive 30 mph down the “turn lane” using it as a merge lane causing everyone actually trying to turn to dodge and weave as they motor down the road on their cell phone.

Road Gummers are also the ones that go through the drive-thru at Whataburger and site there for 10 minutes trying to decide between Whatasized or not. When they get up to pay they take another ten minutes trying to find exact change in the cup holders.

Road Gummers are also a joy to get behind when you’re getting onto Loop 289 or any other major freeway. They inch their way along the access road, slowly make their way on the merge ramp, get to the end and … stop. And Wait. And Look. Then after 274 cars have gone by they inch onto the freeway and immediately go over to the far left lane and drive 49 mph and gum that up. It’s what they do. They’re Road Gummers.

Meanwhile back in the Big 12, Interim Commissioner For Life Chuck Neinas  proved he’s not the man to go buy a car with yesterday. Neinas boldly told the West Virginia Mercury News

“They will be with us come July 1, 2012,” Neinas said of the Mountaineers, “and we’ll play the football schedule in the Big 12 Conference.”

Neinas also said that if WVU needs help paying the exit fees to the Big East the Big 12 might just hand over some cash to make life easier.

Nice call Chuck. The price of poker just went up if I’m the Big East. Five million dollars? Naw, let make it 7 just because we now know the Big 12 is willing to pay to make sure they have a football schedule before July 4th.

Can you imagine buying a truck with this guy?

“Hey, dealer! I need a truck by lunch and I’m willing to pay. What ya got?”

Now that’s some hard-line bargaining.

UPDATED AT 11:44 A.M.

We also want you to weigh in on our Fan Feedback Poll of the Day Question. If you could spend an entire year inside any pro sports organization, with all-access, go to all meetings, see all operations; which organization would you choose and why? You can attack it merely from the sports side, you can look at it from the business side and maybe translate it to whatever you do in life. Looking forward to your responses here and on the show tonight. We’ll read some of the best one’s on the air!

We’ll hit all of this stuff today on The Show, visit with National Football Post guru and Next Mayor of Las Vegas, Joe Fortenbaugh, preview the Lady Raiders trip to Stillwater and get your feedback on the Domino’s Fan Line. Get ready. We’ll see ya at 3p.m. on The Fan. Don’t forget you can listen online every day. FREE even.

Hyatt

Breaking up is hard to do. Just ask anybody. There’s hurt feelings, you fight over wagon wheel coffee tables and usually some one throws out a box of t-shirts that you’ve collected since high school. It can get ugly.

Just ask Texas Tech and Texas A&M officials.

One of the big things we’ll be talking about today is the cannon shot fired by Texas Tech A.D. Kirby Hocutt towards College Station yesterday in the A-J. Hocutt says, and that he’s backed by his coaches, that either A&M plays Texas Tech in all sports or it’s none.

“We discussed it with all our head coaches,” Hocutt said, “and that’s something we as an athletic department and we as a group of coaches feel strongly about at this time.”

As the Aggies exit to the SEC looms we’ll see more comments like this from A.D.s around what’s left of the Big 12. You’ve got the specter of the Border War between Kansas and Missouri coming to an end after 150 years of pure, awesome William Quantrill fueled hate. You’ve got Texas and A&M trying to figure out if it’s ok to date again on Thanksgiving or whether they should wait a while til it feels right.

Now, you’ve got the Red Raiders saying either you play all of us or none of us. Does it have to be that way?

We ask you today, should it be all or nothing? Do you want Texas Tech to play Texas A&M in any sports, let alone football? If not, why?

It reeks of punitive action by Hocutt and Texas Tech over something that I don’t think Tech needs to be upset about. A&M only did what so many Texas Tech fans wanted to see the Red Raiders do: leave the dying Big 12. A&M had a stable place to go in the SEC, one that doesn’t have to work around The Longhorn Network, an interim-commissioner for life and the Fake Dan Beebe on Twitter making more sense than the actual “leaders”. Had Texas Tech gone to the Pac-12 like so many wanted, it would be Tech fans saying teams like Baylor and Kansas don’t need to have hard feelings towards them, Tech’s just taking care of Tech. Well, same goes for the Aggies.

Personally, if it works for some Tech sports to play A&M and the coaches agree, let ‘em play. If it doesn’t work or if the coaches don’t want it, then don’t play them. But to issue an edict of all or nothing implies that it is a punishment to A&M for doing what Tech couldn’t do but wanted to. That seems silly to me.

I still that that the future of “leagues” will actually be schools playing some sports against certain school and then playing other schools in other sports. What works for football, might not work for basketball. What’s good for a basketball league – not so good for tennis. In the coming years because of budget constraints and other factors, don’t be shocked to see it happen.

So, what are your thoughts? Keep playing the Aggies? Drop ‘em. All or Nothing? Let us know.

We’ll hit the air at 3p.m. today on The Fan. Be sure and tune in where ever you on with our free, live online streaming via www.1340thefan.com . Looking forward to your comments and input today.

Hyatt

Just saw where the Powerball lotto is up around 150 million dollars. Not a bad little tax problem to have I must say for a dollar “investment”. I rarely play but for some reason it will occasionally grab my attention and dollars. I don’t even pretend it goes to public education any more. I just figure I’m buying a “dream” and paying a “stupid tax”.

Let’s say today though that you did hit the lotto and suddenly had the kind of millions to bestow on Texas Tech that many Red Raiders wish they had. I hear a lot saying that if Tech had a T. Boone Pickens the school would get a lot more out of it than Oklahoma State has so far. . .

So, what would you do with your cash? What would you fund at Texas Tech? Would it be sports-related? Would you do something for the school or college you got your major in? I’m interested to see how creative y’all can get with this today.

Don’t forget that if you live outside the Hubbaplex you can catch our show every day live via www.1340thefan.com where you can also download the smart phone app for SportsRadio 1340 The Fan. I also encourage all of you to give our podcast a FREE TRIAL right now. That’s the best way to never miss a segment, an interview or any discussions about your Red Raiders, Lubbock and West Texas news. Click on any podcast on the front page of our site and begin the journey.

Have a great Sunday and we’ll talk to you on the radio come Monday.

Ryan Hyatt

I had no idea growing up what Rodney Allison or Rick Bullock sounded like. I didn’t know that Jim Carlen had a southern drawl or that Gerald Myers voice could get high-pitched when he got fired up. I didn’t need to. I had Texas Tech play-by-play voice Jack Dale providing all the description I needed, giving life and color and personality to all those Tech greats and more. Jack was Texas Tech sports to me growing up, more than any player or coach ever could be. For over 50 years, Jack Dale was the common thread that ran through all Texas Tech fans, more than any player or single moment ever could. Jack was Texas Tech.

Jack passed away Friday night at age 79.  I still have a hard time typing it, let alone believing it.

Like nearly any Texas Tech fan over the past half-century I grew-up listening to Jack call Red Raider sports. I was already at Texas Tech as a student working at the campus station, KTXT, calling games and doing sports casts before I even realized that there was another way to do play-by-play on the radio. It is a good thing I heard some others around the country like Brad Sham or Frank Fallon because I had quickly realized that there was no way one could match Jack Dale in the play-by-play department. After calling a few games I was convinced I would have to get out of the business because I had no chance of doing it the way Jack did it, which was and is the gold standard.

Luckily folks around here were forgiving of the rest of us and realized there could only be one Jack.

For me, my earliest memories listening to Jack take me back to my bedroom as a kid growing up in Amarillo and Canyon. Somewhere along the way I found a little plastic basketball goal with a little ball. I taped the goal on the wall above my desk and I’d listen to Jack call Texas Tech games and I’d play along. When the Red Raiders would shoot, I’d shoot. I’d get frustrated when my shots didn’t go “up and in!” as often as the Red Raiders did.

It was there in my room, so many nights and afternoons that I heard Jack craft the perfect word-picture of Texas Tech sports. Whether it was Gerald Myers teams on the court or the Red Raiders on the turf of Jones Stadium, the real thing could hardly compare to what Jack brought to us over the airwaves. Somewhere along the way, I must have picked up enough of Jack’s love for Tech that I would not only go there, but also get into broadcasting myself.

I first met Jack when I was working as a student at KTXT. One of the perks of the job was that you could go cover the regular Monday morning presser at the Letterman’s Lounge at Jones Stadium featuring coaches and players. To the veteran reports of print, radio and TV, this was a dreaded “have to” assignment. For us kids it meant FREE Whataburger and the chance to rub elbows with folks that might actually give us a JOB someday.

I remember in the late 80′s sitting in awe each week that I got to do this. Each week you could count on Jack to be there as well. Jack was perfect during some of those rough times when either Gerald Myers would have a struggling squad ( all too often those days ) or Spike Dykes would be peeved about something Norval Pollard or Don Williams had written in the A-J. ( all too often in those days )

When things would get a little tense or down you could count on the elder statesmen in Jack to come through with a good question or a line that would help the coaches relax or give them something positive to say. It was a trait in Jack that I would just be beginning to see. Not just the great broadcaster, the man that so many looked up to for what he did on the air, but rather the human, compassionate, considerate and gentlemanly side of Jack that I’d come to appreciate so much more as the years would go by.

I could bore you with story after story of working with Jack, of launching SportsRadio 1340 The Fan as Lubbock’s first all-sports station in 1996 or simply of just being around the man, but we’d be here for a long time if I did that so I’ll try and focus on a few that illustrate the man.

Jack was kind enough in 1990 to give me a huge shot calling play-by-play on KFYO. At the time I’d been calling Lady Raider games on KTXT and KJAK-FM (thanks Woody!) but I was still pretty raw even if I was passionate about it. My toughest job was to try and not rip off Jack’s signature calls too much.

At the time the SWC still played double-headers with the women playing at 5 and the men at 7p.m. KFYO had the rights to the Lady Raider road games back then so Jack would announce the women’s game first then call the men’s game. Imagine that! That spring at the SWC Tournament the Lady Raiders would have a conflict in start times for their semi-final game against Texas while the men were in a “play-in” game with Texas A&M. Kermit Davis anyone?

So, that Monday before the tournament, Jack asked me after the Monday presser if I’d be interested in going to Dallas and calling the Lady Raider game on KFYO. Everything after that sorta became a blur. For a college kid, it was like getting called up to the Majors. I remember standing in the parking lot North of Jones Stadium and Jack saying that I’d need a little money to cover expenses and whatnot. At that point it hadn’t even dawned on me that I’d get paid! As I’m standing there, Jack proceeds to pull out his wallet and peel off about four 100 dollar bills.

I just stood there staring at them. I hadn’t seen a lot of 100 dollar bills growing up. I just kinda looked at him and stood there, not reaching to take them as they were offered. Finally, Jack cleared his throat a bit and nicely asked, “will that be enough?”.  I finally snapped out of my trance and said, “thank you, of course!”, and began to figure out whether my car could make it to Dallas or not. . .

Later that week I would call the Lady Raider’s first ever victory over the Texas Lady Longhorns.

The confidence that Jack Dale gave me that week would stay with me for a long time. The friendship he’d give me in the coming years will stay with me for a lifetime however.

Luckily, I got to know Jack the person as opposed to just Jack the broadcaster. As great as he was on the mic, you’d never know it from his eg0-less nature and his humble ways. I think he was uncomfortable as the years went on as he became icon-status. To Jack, I think it just meant that he’d been doing the games a long time, not that he meant so much to so many Texas Tech fans.

Above all else, Jack would be disappointed if I didn’t say that his greatest legacy was his Christian faith. Pure. Simple. Jack didn’t need to make a show of it, because he lived it. To his last days it is what will define him for me. Not the great calls, the landmark moments he captured for generations of Tech fans, not any of that. It will simply be that he didn’t allow any of that to affect him and his devotion to his Lord, his wife and his family.

As we worked together over the past two decades there a re numerous times I will remember when Jack would offer me great advice. Not about broadcasting but about life.

When he heard I was going to be a father he came to me with some great Scripture and gave me some words about being a Dad and a Husband that were perfect. When my grandmother was dying and he saw how it was affecting me, we prayed together one afternoon in our studio. When I saw him for the last time Friday morning he was more interested in my son’s karate classes than he was in talking about him. He was without ego, he was at ease with his departure from this life because he knew he was going to his just reward, his Eternal Peace.

My wish is for Texas Tech fans and others to know that all of us in this business were just like you all. We were in awe of Jack’s talents and we loved his passion for not just the Red Raiders, but for doing a high-quality job because the game, the players and the coaches deserved that effort.  We all appreciated the fact that Jack’s consideration from others made him the rare announcer that wasn’t combative or opinionated. He hated that aspect of the call-in show and the “modern media” I think. He had too much respect for people to be that way. Our business could use a lot more of that these days. I know I could still stand to learn from Jack on that aspect of “doing our job”.

We’ll lay Jack to rest Tuesday, but make no mistake; he’ll live on in all of the lives he touched, from his closest family members and friends, his co-workers and fellow broadcasters and even those fans that only heard his voice come crackling in over the airwaves for nearly 60 years. He’ll live on because he is Forever’s Voice of The Red Raiders.

As for me, thanks to Jack Dale, I can always be that little kid sitting in his room at his desk playing basketball right along with his heroes.  Thanks not just for the memories Jack, thank you for giving them meaning.

Ryan Hyatt

I wish I could put into words tonight everything I’m feeling with the passing of Texas Tech broadcasting legend Jack Dale. I wish I could, but I can’t right now. He meant so much to me as an inspiration to get into the business, as a mentor once I was crazy enough to try broadcasting, and then later as a great friend and co-worker.

Instead, I’ll leave you to the link and the story Don Williams crafted tonight for the Avalanche-Journal. I know they’ll be many more tributes to come for Jack, and I’ll have my own writings later this weekend when the pen inside my brain gets ready to write again, but for now I just want you all to know that there was no finer gentleman, no honestly kinder soul in this cut-throat business than Jack Dale.

Thank you, Jack. I don’t have the words. . .

Ryan Hyatt

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

1. Not sure I’ve ever publicly endorsed a coach for a particular job at Texas Tech in the 17 years we’ve done the show but . . .Billy Gillispie is the right man at the right time for the Texas Tech basketball program. If he wants the job, it will be his by the end of this week.

2.  Pat Knight deserves a lot of respect for the way he exited stage left this year. Frustrated, yes. Angry? Maybe so. Big enough of a man to accept and understand that it’s just business? You bet. He’ll be a fine head coach somewhere down the line, Tech and Lubbock were just the wrong place at the wrong time.

3. The Mike Leach attempt to get the Texas State Legislature to take up his cause will die a quick and quiet death. That is if Rep. John Frullo really wants to: A-Be elected again, B-Work with Texas Tech officials and C-See his Lubbock business survive. Harsh, but true.

4.  The first four days of the NCAA Basketball Tournament are some of the greatest days in sports. Everything after that . . .

5.  10 years later, it is odd to say, but Texas Tech did much more for Bob Knight than Knight did for Texas Tech. If you look at the total scope of the decade, Tech allowed Knight to resurrect a career, get a win record, launch a broadcasting career and get his son a built-in job. After 10-years, the program is pretty much where the Knight’s inherited it. I’m not sure whether I’m more surprised that the Knights were here in the first place, or that it didn’t translate into more success. Either way, every time Bob Knight cashes a check he should write Gerald Myers and Dr. David Schmidly a thank-you note.

Hyatt