Boy, was I wrong about the Rangers (again) and the Cowboys not trading Micah

What a year: First the Mavs traded their best player, then the Cowboys traded their best, then the Rangers nudged out the best manager they’ve ever had. I mean, what’s next? Melt down Dirk’s statue? Rip out the Ring of Honor? Hitch up the Commissioner’s Trophy like George Costanza did and drag it around the parking lot?

What’s everyone around here got against Hall-of-Fame talent all of a sudden?

The good news is, at least it kept me in columns. Normally the boss is forever knocking on my inbox, wanting to know what’s up. Between firing Nico Harrison and lamenting the loss of Luka Doncic, Micah Parsons and Bruce Bochy, I had an answer before rolling over and going back to sleep.

Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd, left, and general manager Nico Harrison, right,...

Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd, left, and general manager Nico Harrison, right, discuss the trade of Luka Doncic before an NBA basketball game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Sue Ogrocki / AP

Cowboys

Not every topic was as black-and-white. The big stuff seemed pretty obvious, even to me.

The little stuff? Not so much.

Consider George Pickens, the Cowboys’ now-and-then superhero. Never know which George you might get, which is the only way I can explain all the waffling from yours truly this year in columns and podcasts, seemingly from one week to the next.

Does he need to grow up, as I quoted his old coach after he got here?

Is he the greatest talent they’ve ever had at receiver, as I said later?

Should they keep Pickens and trade CeeDee Lamb?

Surely they can’t invest $100 million in a guy this unreliable, can they?

The range of these sentiments and other regrets constitute my annual exercise in “Things I Wish I Hadn’t Written or Said,” now available in a boxed set.

From the top:

February roared in like a lion with news of Luka’s exit in the middle of the night. Took me a few minutes to realize exactly what had happened. All I could tell at first was that they’d acquired Anthony Davis. Great! Only after the fog lifted did I deduce it was at the cost of Luka. No! Following a quick consultation with my colleague, Tim Cowlishaw, and boss, Damon Marx, someone suggested perhaps it would be best if Tim wrote immediately and I came back with something after a good night’s sleep. In fact, I may have suggested it. No telling what I might have written in such a state.

Figuring even Jerry Jones wouldn’t double down on the miseries of local fans so soon, I wrote in mid-February, “No matter what you hear these days, the Cowboys aren’t actually shopping Micah Parsons.”

Maybe not in February they weren’t, but soon enough they would. Seemed unthinkable at the time. Should have known better. Jerry majored in “unthinkable” at Arkansas.

Green Bay Packers Micah Parsons speaks at his introductory news conference Friday, Aug. 29,...

Green Bay Packers Micah Parsons speaks at his introductory news conference Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Morry Gash / AP

Confession: The boss really ought not let me go to spring training. The combination of sunshine, fresh air and unadulterated optimism apparently impairs my judgment. Every year it’s the same. I look back in December and note a higher percentage of regrets from Surprise than at any other time of year. I purposefully dialed it back this spring, and still this came out:

“Adolis is back.”

Just the same, I wouldn’t be surprised if he got it going again in Philadelphia. He doesn’t have to carry the Phillies’ lineup, and the clubhouse ethos is too strong there to let him sulk.

The Rangers swung and missed on both counts, a chronic condition.

Seems like I also wrote in March that Kumar Rocker was closer to making the rotation than Jack Leiter. In my defense, I got bad intel.

A columnist’s epitaph, no?

In April, I wrote that the Cowboys’ running back situation was such a mess, they had to make it a priority in the draft. Javonte Williams? If he was any good, the Broncos would have kept him, right? So what do the Cowboys do? Wait until the fifth round to take Jaydon Blue, who didn’t even start for Texas at the end. If I was right about Blue, I was wrong about Williams. Best Cowboys back since Zeke Elliott in his prime. He was so good, in fact, the Cowboys won’t be able to afford him, meaning they’ll have to draft someone better than Blue next spring. The good news is, it shouldn’t be difficult.

Dallas Cowboys running back Javonte Williams (33) flexes after scoring a touchdown during...

BTW: Turns out the Cowboys only made Rico Dowdle seem like the second coming of Adrian Peterson, even after he called them out ahead of time. Say what you will about these Cowboys, they’re remarkably zen.

May brought the addition of Pickens, who came with enough baggage for a Taylor Swift world tour. All duly reported in this space. The column didn’t outright diss the deal, but it raised more red flags than a parade through Tiananmen Square.

“And if they do re-sign Pickens?” I wrote then. “History says that’s not a good gamble, but it’s never stopped Jerry before.”

Take one of at least four.

And counting.

Drove up to The Star for a column in May on Camp Schotty. Didn’t commit anything overtly egregious, though the lone player I quoted, Kaiir Elam, didn’t make Thanksgiving, which probably says something.

Summer came and went without much commotion, at least partly because it’s mostly vacation. Wrote a fun column on Deion Sanders at Big 12 Media Days in July. Made it through without so much as a ripple before this:

“For the first time in a long time, Colorado football matters.”

Yeah, sure.

Colorado football matters as much as any program can where the conference’s highest-paid coach won exactly one league game this fall; the guy who money-whipped him with a $54 million extension last spring is leaving next spring; and the school is on the hook for the athletic department’s record $41 million deficit.

Unlike Paul Finebaum, official Svengali of the SEC, I didn’t grab the reins of the Arch Manning bandwagon. Didn’t so much as book a seat. But I did write that, if he came anywhere close to his uncles or gramps, he’d be the best quarterback in UT history. Still time to make that come true, I suppose. But, for now, as family goes, Arch’s game more closely resembles that of his father, Cooper, who, unfortunately, was a wide receiver.

BTW: Finebaum’s assurance that Arch would be the best SEC quarterback since Tim Tebow didn’t make it past mid-October, when the ESPN sage orchestrated the greatest retreat since Napoleon put it in “R” in Moscow:

“I think we all jumped the gun.”

We?

Got a little carried away in September with the Rangers’ sweep of the Brewers and asked one of the Little Rascals, Michael Helman, if the Rangers’ playoff chances weren’t as good as anyone else’s.

Turns out there were at least 81 reasons why not.

Additional note: After I wrote, “If Helman keeps this up, we should name a condiment after him,” an overly judicious copy editor argued that Hellmann’s brand of mayo comes with two “L’s” and two “N’s.” Fortunately, literary justice prevailed.

Couldn’t get a handle on the last of the Iron Skillets. Pretty much wrote off the Mustangs after their awful defensive performance against TCU while proclaiming the Horned Frogs’ chances in the wide-open Big 12 as good as anyone’s.

As good as anyone not named “Texas Tech,” anyway.

In my advance for the Texas-Georgia game in November, I wrote that the Longhorns’ difficult schedule would soon ease up.

“Once the Aggies get through with them, that is.”

If you think Steve Sarkisian used my closing statement as bulletin board material, you’d first have to believe he got so deep into the column. As for you, dear reader, many thanks for hanging in there with me. I know it wasn’t always easy, but, as coach counsels, you took ‘em one at a time. I crammed 200-plus into 48 hours to come up with this list. If that’s not a lifetime’s penance, I don’t know what is.

Twitter/X: @KSherringtonDMN

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