While there were no surprises at the top of the Statesman’s Big 12 quarterback ratings today (Chase Daniel sits ahead of Sam Bradford, Graham Harrell and Colt McCoy), some Aggies might find it a little disconcerting that their helmsman Stephen McGee sat in eighth place.

And he that might not be the end of his descent. Fran’s biggest cheerleader is stuck in what appears to be a  good, old-fashioned quarterback controversy with sophomore Jerrod Johnson. Coach Mike Sherman refuses to acknowledge it, but when do they ever?

For my money, I say Johnson is the starter by the Miami game. It’s too bad. McGee was a gunslinger at Burnet before seeing his passing skills deteriorate in Fran’s anemic option offense. Now he’ll have to sit on the sideline and watch another gunslinger come of age in the pro-style offense he probably should have been running all along.

A few months back, I wrote about the Austin Ice Bats and how hockey still persists in corners of the state where minor league teams failed. For example, Lubbock, where the Red Raiders club team won the Big XII championship with 13 Texans, as well as students from as far away as Stockholm, Montreal and Philadelphia. Their existence is the reason why there’s still a sheet of ice in town.

Which is great for everyone who wants to use it, but still not necessarily a boffo business. The program is approximately $40,000 in debt, including a rent payment to Lubbock for the use of City Bank Coliseum and an overdue electric bill (think Pat Knight worries about electric bills?).

Thus, coach Paul Fioroni, well-known in the South Plains for his own charitable efforts, is soliciting donations for his program, which is a 501(c)(3) non-profit.

…we are running out of time and are very close to ceasing operations regarding the Tech Hockey program and all ice skating events and programs involved with us….Tech Hockey runs all hockey and ice skating at Texas Tech University and in the City of Lubbock and if we are not here, then its all gone and probably for good….

How can Odessa, Texas have a full time skating rink and Lubbock, Texas not? How can Oklahoma University have a full time skating facility with full support from their school and Texas Tech University not?

That’s right - we can’t let those Sooners be more forward-thinking than West Texans. Give them half a chance and they will get the jump on curling too!

NASCAR’s Pennsylvania 500, that is.

From SI.com’s Tom Bowles:

According to sources, Barack Obama’s campaign is in talks to become the primary sponsor of BAM Racing’s No. 49 Sprint Cup car for the Pocono race on August 3. Details of the agreement are expected to be worked out over the coming days….

Racing sources claim one of the options being considered would allow individual campaign donors to get their name on the race car for as little as $100….

Ken Schrader will drive the entry, a Toyota, at Pocono for BAM, which is outside the top 35 in owner points and must qualify for the race on speed.

Wouldn’t it be highly metaphorically embarassing if Schrader didn’t qualify?

I’m thinking John McCain might want to counter with a sponsorship for this.

“Mr. Jones,” if you’re nasty. Or, the Cowboy Formerly Known as Pacman Jones.

Second-generation Longhorns legend Huston Street is soooooo in trouble in with his wife. Come to think of it, what’s the statute of limitations for underage drinking? From Sports Illustrated :

On how he met his wife, Lacey
She doesn’t like me to say that we met on Sixth Street, but we met on Sixth Street, at a bar in Austin. She was 18, I was 20. Then she played hard to get. She didn’t return my calls for two months—literally. And I called a lot. Four times a week. Embarrassing, but it worked.

On how the Austin native got his name
My parents wanted a Texas-type name without naming me exactly after a city. There are actual Huston Streets out there. One of my favorite things is when people come up and say, “I live on Huston Street, in Georgia!” I’m like, “Awesome, man. I have nothing to do with it.”

The greatest - and only - Texas born NHLer is former New York Ranger Brian Leetch, who was born in Corpus Christi (his father worked for Shell) but moved to colder climes (Connecticut) soon after.

Katy native Tyler Myers, drafted 12th overall today by Buffalo, is more connected to the state. His family moved to Calgary when he was ten, but it started for him with the Houston Aeros.

Also heard the NHL draft commentators mention that Drew Doughty, the #2 pick, is named after Drew Pearson. Apparently his mother was a Pokes fan (does that make them Canada’s team?).

I shall keep my fingers crossed that Dallas youngster Cason Hohmann joins the Portland Winter Hawks and gives me a lifelong Texan to write about on this day in 2011.

They were impressed by Mr. Augustin in Portland:

One prevailing thought is that the Blazers intend to trade No. 13 in an effort to acquire a veteran. But [general manager Kevin] Pritchard has made it clear that should the right player come along, he wouldn’t hesitate to trade up and acquire him. If nothing else, Augustin on Wednesday offered Pritchard and the Blazers another appealing possibility, showing that he might be the best natural point guard in the draft outside of likely No. 1 pick Derrick Rose.

“You know what he is, he’s a pure point guard,” Pritchard said. “He’s crafty, he knows how to get in the paint and make the right decisions. And we were talking about it a little bit: The thing about D.J. is he thinks the game very fast. His ability to see the floor and react to the situation — which is what the great point guards do — he does that well. You can tell he’s been a point guard his whole life.”

Actually, Tom Scocca’s Slate proposal to Kobe-ize the NBA doesn’t acknowledge the Mavs’ existence.

Nobody wants to watch basketball from flyover country. Not even people from flyover country want to watch flyover basketball. Witness the San Antonio Spurs, an old-time ABA squad and the greatest basketball team of the current era. Or rather, don’t witness them. The Spurs have won four titles in the past nine years—and have drawn the three lowest NBA Finals TV ratings in that span.

I like the Spurs, personally. I like blood sausage, too, but I don’t expect McDonald’s to start selling it to me. America, as a whole, turns its back on the Spurs. It’s not their style of play that’s to blame. Sure, they’re a grinding defensive team, with two streak shooters and one all-time-great big man who refuses to put up all-time-great scoring performances. But that also describes the Celtics. And the Spurs do whine to the referees a lot, but that never hurt John McEnroe. Besides, none of the complaints against the Spurs explains why the public won’t even embrace them as villains. If rooting for the New York Yankees is like rooting for U.S. Steel, rooting against San Antonio is like rooting against Archer Daniels Midland. What is San Antonio? How can people care about it?…

Not every surviving team would have to be great, but they would all need to have recognizable identities. No more Atlanta Hawks. Instead of trying to rebrand the lifeless New Jersey Nets as the Brooklyn Nets, just send them into limbo. One team from Texas is plenty—let Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili join the Houston Rockets…

Scocca’s kicker is a bit more Texas-friendly:

Alas, David Stern’s NBA is going in the opposite direction. Even as the league basks in a Boston-Los Angeles showdown, the owners are trying to help a consortium of hicks pry rookie of the year Kevin Durant and the Supersonics out of Seattle (Gary Payton! Jack Sikma! The Space Needle!) and move the team to the hick town of Oklahoma City in the hick state of Oklahoma. It’s hard to feel too bad for Durant, though. If he keeps on developing, it’s only a matter of time till he ends up in Los Angeles

A “consortium of hicks?” Wasn’t Steven Soderbergh supposed to make a movie of that novel?

Of course, it’s pointless to take issue with something that is ultimately tongue-in-cheek, but Atlanta’s flyover country? Granted, the team sucks. And I suppose that Delta is about to disappear (or is Northwest taking their name)? And hey, I love Seattle, but if those Okies weren’t in the picture, there is no way that the city would fit into Scocca’s theory. Besides that: Gary Payton and Jack Sikma? What about George Gervin and Swen Nater? Swen Nater! (I just like to say it).

But Scocca’s larger point is something that I actually said myself on someone else’s blog not long ago: In all sports, fans and media will always say how refreshing it is to get a break from dynasties or giant-market teams, but the ratings always say otherwise.

So says Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler about teammate Josh Hamilton in this week’s SI cover story. Hamilton’s certainly making a strong case. He’s making a play for the Triple Crown, batting .328 with 15 home runs and a league-leading 63 RBIs.

But his story is compelling even beyond the numbers. A former drug addict who said he hit rock bottom less than three years ago when he woke up after a “crack binge” in a trailer with six strangers, Hamilton has revitalized his career with the help of Johnny Narron, the brother of former Reds manager Jerry Narron. Narron serves officially as a special-assignment coach for the Rangers and unofficially as Hamilton’s buffer and counselor.

In light of the Mitchell Report and the Roger Clemens implosion, baseball has seen better days. But this guy is certainly someone to cheer for this summer. Check out the piece. It’s a good read.

Stars long done, Spurs knocked out, a Ranger on the cover of Sports Illustrated… it’s baseball time in Texas for at least the next three months.

Though if you still want to close the book on hoops, here’s a good read from ESPN.com on what the future holds for San Antonio.