The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Category: Dallas Stars (Page 1 of 10)

All In On the Stars

October 1, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Scattershooting while wondering whatever happened to Dexter Clinkscale…

If you’re the Cowboys and you’re trading for a starting cornerback, what better way to insure that your new player will fit in with your secondary than  if that player is already out with an injury? Jerry Wayne sent two draft picks to the Steelers last night for Joey Porter, Jr. He has three total interceptions in his three years in the NFL. He hasn’t played a down this year because of a nagging back injury and will not suit up against the Texans this Sunday. I’m not sure how this helps Christian Davis.

The Houston Texans are 0-3 and their quarterback, C.J. Stroud, looks absolutely lost. Good thing they’re hosting Dallas this Sunday. If there’s one thing the Cowboys defense can do, it’s make mediocre quarterbacks look like Joe Montana. Remember Russell Wilson throwing for 450 yards and three touchdowns against Dallas last year, a couple of weeks before the Giants cut him? Remember J.J. McCarthy lighting up the Cowboys for 250 yards and two scores? The Vikings demoted him to third string and then traded him to New York. Jordan Love aired it out for 337 yards and three TDS and Caleb Williams totaled 298 yards and four touchdowns in wins for the Packers and Bears. I’ll also mention Bryce Young’s three touchdown passes and Bo Nix’s four touchdown tosses to beat Dallas last year. And I’ll point to Jaxson Dart’s three touchdown passes against the Cowboys on opening night this year. Receivers are running wide open and wild through the Dallas secondary again. I’m thinking Stroud has a career game this Sunday. And then gets traded to Carolina in November.

I have no confidence in Arch Manning. None. He is still paralyzed in the pocket and looks like he’s never seen a zone defense before. Texas has plenty of weapons on offense but, because of their quarterback, they’re struggling to score 20 points. Manning holds the ball way too long, locks on receivers way too early, misses wide open targets, and takes unnecessary sacks. The Longhorns have a potential national championship caliber defense that should keep them close in every game, and Arch should get a little better as the season moves forward. But it’s hard to imagine him leading the ‘Horns to a title.

It came down to the Rangers and Astros. One of the two teams was going to be the first in Major League Baseball history to qualify for the playoffs with a losing record. It seems like that distinction would fit the Rangers’ history and narrative better than Houston’s, but the Astros were able to win their last regular season series and the Rangers couldn’t. Yikes. The Rangers have finished with a non-winning record in nine of the past ten seasons, the exception being their World Series Championship year of 2023. It’s more than obvious now that the 2023 Rangers, to a man, had career years they haven’t been able to match since. Their runs per game average was lower this year than it was last year! It’s time to blow this whole thing up. Past time. This isn’t working. I would keep Nimmo, Wyatt, Jung, Zeke, and Latz. That’s it. Everybody else is on the table. It will be difficult to move some of the pieces–no-trade clauses and bloated contracts are a barrier. But I’m guessing Chris Young is on the phone right now doing everything he can to remake this thing. Give Skip a break, man. Bless his heart.

I’m nauseated by the television networks and streaming platforms promoting their NBA games with footage and pics of Luka Doncic and Jalen Brunson. Luka is the NBA’s scoring leader from last year and Brunson is the Finals MVP for the champion Knicks. They were both Dallas Mavericks. Together.

The puck finally drops on the Stars season tomorrow night against St Louis! Yes!! The one dependable, consistent sports entity in my life that never fails to thrill me with joy and hope and breathless expectation. This is the year, right? It has to be! If Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin are both healthy, then everybody’s healthy! And rested! And hungry! This is certainly Benn’s and Seguin’s last chance to win the elusive Stanley Cup. Why not? Robo is playing for another contract. Mikko is motivated after last year’s postseason disappearing act. Wyatt is faster and stronger. Otter’s as good as there is in the NHL. This is it! I can’t wait for all the poke checks, trapezoids, face washings, five-holes, top shelfs, flying Chiclets, drop passes, hat tricks, power plays, slap shots, one-timers, biscuits in the basket, Razor Reaugh’s linguistic largesse, and grinders and goons getting chippy and chapped in a jam-packed barn!

Go Stars.
Allan

Offseason Comes Early

May 1, 2026 / / 0 Comments

https://media.sportsnaut.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=788,height=444,fit=crop,quality=90,gravity=auto,sharpen=1,metadata=none,format=auto,onerror=redirect/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/NHL-Stanley-Cup-Playoffs-Dallas-Stars-at-Minnesota-Wild-28850711.jpg

Now what are we supposed to do for the next month?

Sign Jason Robertson to a long term deal. Take the Captain’s “C” away from Benn and give it to Robo. See what you can get for Myers. And everybody rest up. Have a great long offseason for the first time in years and gear up for another run. The window is still wide open on this team.

Our Old Testament God

April 29, 2026 / / 0 Comments

It’s been a long, long time since the Dallas Stars were eliminated in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, but after last night’s lethargic Game Five loss to the Minnesota Wild, they’re on the brink. The Stars were sloppy and slow last night in front of the home crowd; every pass seemed like it was a half-second late and a half-inch behind. Dallas has not scored an even-strength goal since Game Two, nine days ago! And the attrition is brutal; we’re losing one defenseman a night. Nils Lundkvist went down Saturday with that awful face laceration and Arttu Hyry left last night with a leg injury.

The beautiful thing about playoff hockey, and the only slim glimmer of hope I have, is that, typically, one game doesn’t have much to do with the next one. The Stars are a great road team and it’s possible their desperation and a little puck luck could result in a crazy 6-1 win in Game Six tomorrow in St. Paul. Then the deciding Game Seven is at home, which is where you want all your Game Sevens.

The Stars have turned bad playoff series around before and they’re capable of doing it now. Otter’s been great in goal and the offensive lines are certainly getting their chances. It’s just that nothing’s bouncing right, and I think they’re starting to feel it. Wyatt Johnston has a total of one point in this series at even-strength; Mikko Rantanen has zero. They’re too talented to go down like this. We’ve said for a month that this series would take seven games. There’s no reason to move away from that thinking now.

Well. Maybe a couple of small reasons.

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“This is what God the Lord says–he who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it,
who gives breath to its people,
and life to those who walk on it:
I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness;
I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people
and a light for the Gentiles,
to open eyes that are blind,
to free captives from prison,
and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.”
~ Isaiah 42:5-7

The God of the Old Testament is not dead.

The God of Genesis, our Creator God, is still creating today. He is still creating breath today. He is still breathing his divine breath into his people today. He is still giving life.

The God of Exodus, our liberator God, is still delivering today. He is still liberating people. He is still setting people loose and releasing them fully. He is still granting freedom.

What our God has done in the past, he is doing right now today. For you. For your church. For your loved ones. For your city.

This is who God is and what God does. Yesterday, today, and forever.

May we join him. May we partner with our God in breathing new divine life into tired and worn-out souls. Into fatigued and weary saints. Into fading churches and discouraged ministers and exhausted shepherds. May we join God in liberating people from the sins that hold them down. From the burdens that cause their shoulders to stoop. From the bars of shame or addiction or abuse or tradition or doubt that have closed them in.

To his eternal glory and praise!

Peace,
Allan

Sing Loud, Die Happy

April 20, 2026 / / 2 Comments

We’ve got Minnesota right where we want ’em. The Wild outplayed the Stars in Saturday’s Game One up and down the ice for the entirety of all three periods. They out-skated us and out-hit us, they won every face off and beat us to every loose puck, they out-shot us, out-fought us, out-hustled us, out-goalied us, and killed us on special teams. It was Game One. Again. For the eighth time in the Stars’ past ten playoff series. We’ve got ’em right where we want ’em.

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Coconut Cream Dr Pepper is back and it’s just as wonderful as I remembered! It’s been a couple of years since Dr Pepper first gave us this glorious option and then took it away almost as soon as it arrived–I didn’t realize how seriously they were using the phrase “limited edition.” For almost two years now I’ve been lamenting its demise and begging for its return. It’s back now–for how long, I don’t know–and it is still, by far, the very best of the many different flavored Dr Peppers. The coconut flavor is really strong–you smell it before your first sip and it lingers even after you swallow. It smells like summer and it tastes even better. And, yes, we are stocked up at Stanglin Manor.

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I have just ordered a book based on a review by D.J. Bulls in Restoration Quarterly, and I’m planning to read it before the end of the week. The book is called Sing Loud, Die Happy: An Exploration of How God’s Gift of Song is Meant to Change Us. The title is intriguing enough, yes? The author, Jim Thompson, surveys the entirety of Scripture to present a comprehensive case for the paramount priority of singing for the individual disciple of Jesus and for his gathered church. According to D.J., Thompson explores the whole of Church history and encourages us to reinvest in singing. He also quotes from a variety of historical Church and music figures, including Aristotle, Martin Luther, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Bono. Here’s a quote from the book:

“We do not sing in worship to reflect our moods any more than our sermons should reflect our pet theories on the Gospel. Rather, quite bluntly, we sing in an effort to take us away from what we think and draw us toward what we ought to think, feel, and experience. We sing to create a mood more than to reflect one.”

And, from the last chapter, a list of ten encouragements for all of us:

1 – Sing with your family.
2 – Be a part of a church that enjoys singing and whose singing reflects the variety of song found in Scripture.
3 – Join a church where the song leaders aren’t trying to be faddish Christian celebrities but are shepherding people by inviting them into the transformative power of singing together.
4 – Learn and sing along to new music.
5 – Remember and sing along to old music.
6 – Look at people when you sing.
7 – Sing when you don’t feel like it.
8 – If you can’t sing with your lips, sing with your soul.
9 – Gather some friends for a sing-along.
10 – Sing with people different from you.

Singing is not only what we do; as children of God and followers of Christ Jesus, it is an important part of who we are.

Peace,
Allan

Chasing Stanley’s Chalice

April 18, 2026 / / 0 Comments

The greatest annual postseason in all of sports gets underway late this afternoon, and I am absolutely beside myself with giddy anticipation over the multiple two-and-a-half-hour heart attacks I will endure over the coming weeks. The Dallas Stars, who have been to the Western Conference Finals the past three straight seasons, are dropping the puck against the Minnesota Wild in what will definitely be the most thrilling matchup of the first round and, potentially, of the entire tournament.

Just push “PLAY” on the video below. Go full screen and turn the volume way up. Feel your pulse quicken. Notice the catch in your breath. The gulp in your throat. The butterflies doing somersaults in your stomach. The urge to throat-punch anyone not wearing Victory Green.

The Stars finally addressed their one glaring need, the one thing that has kept them out of the Stanley Cup Finals the past years: toughness. They’ve been ramping it up all season. They are physically forechecking now, from goal line to goal line, throughout the lineup. They have two 40-goal scorers in Wyatt Johnston and Jason Robertson, a superstar sniper-scorer in Mikko Rantanen, and one of the NHL’s top power plays. Miro Heiskanen is probably the best two-way defenseman in the NHL, and I’ll take Otter in net right now over anybody else in the league. One of the Star’s major strengths, their incredible depth, is being tested right now with Roope Hintz out for at least the first two games. But they entered last year’s first round without Miro and Robo and still came out on top.

However, almost all that one says about the Stars can also be said about Minnesota. Two 40-goal scorers, a violent forecheck, and depth. These two teams are about as equally matched as you can get. And I can’t wait.

It’s going to be tight. The energy is going to be over-the-top, the desperation will be palpable, the bodies will be flying, the hits will be bone-rattling, the momentum will be constantly shifting, and the margin of victory will be measured in inches and seconds. Bring it on.

Does anyone know a good cardiologist?

Let’s Go Stars!
Allan

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