1. Josh Hamilton is human. Josh Hamilton may or may not have had a “relapse” as reported Thursday night by many media sources. It doesn’t change who he is or who he wants to be in the future or how people should look at him. He’s flawed. Just like you. Just like me. If you liked him before, like him even more now. Why? Like him because whatever it is in your life that you can’t quite master, he’s going through the same battle-just in front of the cameras, in the papers and on the internet. When that happens, it really doesn’t matter how much money you make or who you are. Think about it and get back to me…

2.  Les Miles has more to be ashamed of today than Josh Hamilton. Miles most likely was sober when he publicly ripped a kid whose greatest crime was not wanting to be mis-coached by Miles at LSU and have to be defended by Bobby Hebert. Maybe there is a reason why Miles never got his dream job. . .

3.The most impressive thing to me about Texas Tech’s signing class is that no one bailed. A brutal finish to the season, a tumultuous off-season that saw a contentious departure of your defensive coordinator and other position coaches yet they still didn’t lose and in fact added. Impressive. Texas Tech fans should feel good that recruits seem to be looking at the school, the program and the experience in total.

4.  If Texas Tech ever wears silver or red helmets under Tommy Tuberville I will lead any effort necessary to make sure he has to watch the Tech-OSU game tape for 24 hours straight.

5.  I have been told by two folks outside the Big 12 footprint that The Longhorn Network is going to undergo significant changes and restructuring and that it will no longer be a barrier to Texas joining the Pac-12 or other conferences in the future. Seems the House Of The Mouse has realized the Network is an albatross costing them not just money, but the ability to control college sports by using it as a bargaining chip. The Mouse hates that. Will it lead to a new round of realignment talk? Of course. Will anything happen? Ask @DanBeebe on Twitter…

I welcome your comments, thoughts and anything else you’ve got today. Post ‘em here and share with your friends.

Hyatt

1. The legacy of Joe Paterno should be the cautionary tale of what happens when people, groups and institutions engage in the Cult of Personality, which is what happened at Penn. State. At a time it was all about the ideals and principles Paterno espoused and supposedly represented. After a time it became about Paterno. It became about protecting the Institution of Paterno Football. When you hear people say, “Joe Paterno WAS Penn. St.” it is very telling. We’ll let y’all chew on that for a while. Some won’t like it. That’s ok.

2.  The AP reports that Pat Sajak and Vanna White used to knock down a few margaritas in between tapings of shows back during the day. Makes sense. That’s the only way most can watch it now… Knowing now that Vanna was a little tipsy makes me want to find that legendary poster she made in the 80′s. . .

3.  I have no problem with the Texas Rangers resigning Josh Hamilton as long as it is for 4-years and is heavily loaded with incentives for games played over 125 per season. Anything more than that will be foolish money. I can’t see the team getting a deal done before spring training as Hamilton wishes, and why should they? I’d like to see how he does this year, can he stay on the field and what will his bat look like. More than willing to risk it.

4.  Chicago Now has a new blog by a guy that says he’s gonna write about Pork. He hasn’t written about Pork yet, but he has talked about Journey, leisure suits and spices. We’ll be waiting for the pork. I’ve often thought the world needed more blogs about leisure suits and I’m pleased this man is bravely jumping in to fill the void.

5.  There are reports that Texas senatorial candidate Craig James called Texas Tech coaches during games while working for ESPN. This would explain the broadcasts on ESPN a bit. . . No word if he called Newt Gingrich last night during the CNN debate to see if he’d mention his name a few times.

Hyatt

5 Things We Know On A Friday:

1.  While the Texas Tech Lady Raiders scrapped and did the best the could against Baylor Wednesday night, the real loss was the rule of law, once again in the Hubbaplex. The local D.A. had another chance to issue an arrest warrant for Baylor’s Brittney Griner for her assault on Jordan Barncastle 2 years ago and chose not to uphold the law. I’m still disappointed in that decision. Not so much for Barncastle, she’s long moved on, but rather for the rule of law in general. I’m tired of folks thinking they can get away with criminal activity just because it takes place at a sporting event. Why should that matter? I can’t do what Griner did at my work-place, why should she get a pass at The United Spirit Arena? A criminal assault took place in front of several officers and others that day. None did anything. The main reason is because they know schools like Tech don’t want the “negative publicity” of a cop doing their job on a basketball court. Looks bad…  well—so what? Someday I hope we’ll get past this idiotic idea and start to enforce law no matter where. It’ll eliminate a lot of the crap most folks have railed against over the years on our show. . .

2.  Muhammad Ali turned 70 this week. Good for him. I don’t want to upset ESPN or anything, but he’s still pond-scum for the way he treated Joe Frazier. If he were really a man of peace, he’d have done better by Frazier. As it stands, he used his “faith” as an escape for serving his country. . . Of course many will disagree and that’s fine and your right, still- Ali talked one game yet his actions didn’t back it up. Happy Birthday.

3.  When Texas Rangers GM Jon Daniels is old enough to vote, imagine how good the Rangers will be! To get Yu Darvish, who will be a solid 2nd starter, for that money is bold. Now that he’s playing poker against saying they’re not sure if they can afford Prince Fielder-you can bet he’ll get Fielder too. I’ll take Darvish over C. J. Wilson by 2 wins in the regular season plus anything else in October. Who’s with me?

4.  We had a topic this week asking if a 4A or 5A school will ever win another UIL State Championship in Football again here in Texas. I’ll ask y’all. What do you think? It’s been over 30 years. Will it happen again? Why or Why not? I say no, unless they radically change the numbers for these schools West of I-35.

5. If you’re the Governor of Texas and you can’t whip guys name Newt and Mitt, not only should you get out of the race, you might want to resign as Governor and pay back the good folks of Texas for wasting all of our time and money. . .

Hyatt

It’s back. Sorta. Kinda. But it’s back. 5 Things returns for 2012. Feel free to add your comments, questions, helpful household cleaning tips and winning lotto numbers below.

1.  A fine grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup with saltine crackers should be on menu’s at every restaurants everywhere. If I were Governor I’d highly encourage it, if not make it State law. It makes more sense than most of what comes out of Austin these days.

2.  I applaud Penn. State for going “outside the family” in hiring Bill O’Brien as head football coach. I have no idea if he’ll have success or not. It looks like right now a lot of the Penn. State alums are hacked that they didn’t hire one of Paterno’s guys. Typical response at a time like this. The O’Brien hire will help Penn. State move down the road if they rally around him. If they don’t, the school will remain stuck in the mire of their own myopic world for some time to come. It’s their choice.

3.  Say what you want to, but Texas isn’t a football state, a basketball state or a baseball state. It’s a winner’s state. Some folks seem to forget that from time to time.

4.  If I could alter the outcome of any Texas Tech sporting event in history I’d have to go back to 1976 and see what would have happened if the Red Raiders had beaten Houston that day in Lubbock. Most likely a trip to the Cotton Bowl as an unbeaten and a shot at Maryland. The Terps were unbeaten going into that Cotton Bowl against Houston. It very likely could have been a game to decide the National Championship. Pitt would win the Sugar that year with #2USC having a loss out West and the SEC and Big 10 not providing undefeateds that year, Tech may have been able to play their way to a title. Had that happened, how different would the rest of the decade have been and most certainly the 1980′s?  Something to ponder. . .

5.  I have no problem with the Texas Rangers hiring Josh Hamilton’s father-in-law as his personal life-coach and mentor. Whatever it takes to keep Hamilton “right” and productive, the Rangers should do. Now, when it comes to signing him to a long-term contract. . . well, I’ll have other thoughts on that.

Y’all enjoy the weekend and try to pay attention when you’re out driving around.

Hyatt

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

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

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

Another great day in the Hubbaplex. Today we’ll visit with Shaun Lenrose from The Ticket in Dallas about how the Rangers are bouncing back this week as well as Cowboy’s OTA’s and how the Tech guys are doing.

It is also Cultural Index Day so get ready to stretch your mind a bit outside the box of sports.

Of course we’ll also get your thoughts on the Ump blowing the call in the Detroit game costing Armando Galarraga a perfect game. No doubt it was a horrible call, but it does that mean MLB needs to go to full-on replay like the NFL does? You let us know today. As for me, I still say no replay in sports. I can live with bad plays by players, bad decisions by coaches and even bad calls by officials. Life’s hard.

Get your thoughts in now and we’ll read them on the air tonight, or give us a call at 1-966-984-5326 no matter where you are from 3-7 on The Fan!