The Best Dallas Sports Stories Told on StrongSide in 2024

This is the hardest post of the year. This is my favorite post of the year. That distinction exists because of the people I was lucky enough to build StrongSide with: smart, quirky, original, and passionate people about what we do.

How to condense 52 weeks of their words into one post?

My best effort begins with this brutal Cowboys season, whose games were made all the more interesting by Jake Kemp’s Monday morning column, although the topic touches on how the franchise brought this about. Joining him this time was Rivers McCown, who has long been one of the smartest national minds who writes about the NFL and now blesses StrongSide with two Cowboys pieces a month.

This is why they are different. On October 10th, for reasons that still infuriate me to this day, there was a news cycle about Ezekiel Elliott’s lack of cars. It didn’t matter that Elliott was more thoroughly washed than the Ferrari on the showroom floor; Zeke is a name, Cowboys is a brand, and it’s just a simple idea that needs to stick. But it turns out that, earlier that morning, Rivers dropped an article explaining why Rico Dowdle was the only Dallas running back worth a touchdown. You could have been carried away by the noise, or you could have read Rivers and become wiser. (Just imagine if a Cowboys running back had a 1,000-yard season?) And I’d be remiss not to shout out Dan Morse, the first StrongSider to do such a good job since 2021 until spring. You’d be hard-pressed to find a better postmortem of Dallas’ playoff disaster against Green Bay than his.

Moving on to the diamond, I like Jamey Newberg’s writing for many reasons, but he never really makes me feel something. This piece, in which he chronicled his trips to the All-Star Game and Adrian Beltre’s Hall of Fame induction with his son, Max, fits the bill. Elsewhere, Sean Bass brought his sharp eye to Frisco to welcome the revival of Kumar Rocker—and offered a clever theory as to why the unsuspecting would have changed the career of home.

Before joining the team Phoenix New Times in April, we had the luxury of running spring training stories from Zach Buchanan. I ruffled feathers by declaring this, in Ron Washington’s second act, the best Rangers story anyone has written this season. I stand next to it. StrongSide’s new strategy mandates that we continue to employ the services of one of baseball’s best writers who also goes by the name of Zach, so Zach Crizer came on board shortly after Buchanan left us. I love the way he thinks, and the way he writes, and this piece about Jacob deGrom’s return to the world he created is a wonderful example of both.

I’ve said this before, and I’ll keep saying it: there’s no three I’d rather count on the Dallas Stars than the three we’re announcing on StrongSide. Sean Shapiro had the story of Esa Lindell working to save the Jokerit, his hometown hockey team, for a cool 10 months before it became a national talking point once the team visited Finland . Speaking of the said trip to Finland, Robert Tiffin went with him for the trip, and I felt like I was there with him reading this story. I enjoyed his pride in Finnish culture so much that I almost envied him when he jumped into the Baltic Sea. Almost. Here’s something that many writers should be jealous of: David Castillo’s refusal to let language get in the way of pronouncing it as he sees it. You don’t have to believe me, check him out in the successful silent era of Thomas Harley.

For hoops, Brian Dameris foresaw the Mavs return to prominence long before it became known. Who better to write than Nico Harrison telegraphing every step of his plan to rebuild the Mavericks roster? Also before the turn: my old podcast partner, Austin Ngaruiya, when he told everyone a year ago that Dereck Lively was more ready than we thought. So I can’t say I’m surprised to see that he was right again when he warned people not to expect superstardom from Lively in his second NBA season. Iztok Franko is a big thing on Substack these days, but he’ll always be part of the family here too. There was no one I wanted to read more after the PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford trade season than him. Josh Bowe just came on board this month, but read his first piece and tell me he’s not going for a monster 2025. On the Wings side, nobody matches players like Dororthy J. Gentry; I loved reading her on Jacy Sheldon’s trip to Dallas. And the biggest story between now and May will be whether UConn star Paige Bueckers makes it to the Wings. Justin Carter set the stakes better than anyone in town.

The list goes on. Jeff Miller boasts few people in town can compare, and my favorite was this obscure origin story by Ed Belfour that even Shapiro wasn’t. hear it first. Once Dallas Trinity FC became a thing, I knew I wanted to read Jon Arnold’s story of where the team was going. He was not disappointed. For that matter, as soon as Klay Thompson signed with Dallas, I knew I wanted to read Alex Siquig’s write-up about him from a Warriors fan’s perspective. It’s one of the best written pieces we’ve done all year. Zac Cadwalader emailed me out of the blue asking me to write about Dez Caught It’s enduring power, and I’m so glad he did. I had the opportunity to work with Jarrett Van Meter back in StrongSide’s first year, and I quickly learned about his ability to uncover a great hoops story in places others wouldn’t think to look. He did it again this summer, to Fabian Romo, a UTA alum who is one of the best basketball players in the world.

All of this before we enter our home team. Bethany Erickson could have just given you the history of every North Texas Olympian. Instead, he did and they have built an interactive map showing each of their hometowns. Will Maddox continues to grow as a football writer, as evidenced by this article on former interim coach Peter Luccin. Who can communicate with the mascot? Tim Rogers, that’s him—and he made Peruna spill the oats. Brian Reinhart is one of the best food critics in America, and as he likes to remind us every now and then, he could be one of the best baseball writers, too, if he wanted to be. like that. Then there’s Zac Crain. We have all said and will continue to say how much his absence affects us D. At this point, I’ll just say, for as many great things as he did, I always enjoyed the gems he sprinkled on the Mavs, like the beauty of watching Kyrie Irving, or his love and forever for Dennis Smith. I know he would love to watch this team.

Ultimately, even though StrongSide is bigger than my words, it’s up to me to set the tone. I’ve done my best to do that with my profile of Tim Martin, whose job to create a great NBA player is probably the most unpleasant thing about him. Dr. Keith Meister is one of the most talented people I have ever met. What is even more remarkable is his desire to save baseball instead of taking the low road and collecting the profits that come with being the most famous elbow surgeon. I had the pleasure of talking about photography with now-former Ranger Nathaniel Lowe, and learning about Dallas’ best-kept basketball secret, the SwinCity League. And I’d love to be able to write about the greatest era in Dallas sports history, which includes the renaissance of SMU football but doesn’t really include that Paul-Tyson fight.

It’s been a good year. I can’t wait to see what 2025 brings.