The Gallow | Randy Galloway

Nobody would have thought that I would be the one.
Ryder?
Sports talk?
Baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball.
Oh, it's a big mic.
Oh, OK.
All right.
Yeah.
OK.
Now I get it.
We're going to have a lightning strike, boys.
What happened over there, Grego?
We had a little lightning strike right outside the window.
All right.
All right.
Here's a tip for all these Americano League teams.
Don't do it.
You said tip.
Yeah, tail fair.
The peak.
I would.
Keep jamming.
To take a colon.
Nothing but a big Gen X jerk off site.
This is a little lighter.
What?
I don't know if somebody would hear that.
Bullshit.
I'm back.
I'm anxious.
Oh, to all of you out there in the land of podcasts.
It is the 25th of August.
This is your dark companion.
I would be my grinder.
Here inside the nurturing biosphere of the mothership prepared
to bring to you episode 145 of your dark companion.
And I am very, very excited about this one today because they said
that this could not be done.
They said there is no way you can possibly get him.
Well, all I did was ask.
I just asked, said, you want to do this?
I was already for none.
I don't think so.
But instead, I got, yeah, let's do it.
And because of that, because of that simple question and that simple answer today,
we are joined by one of the most seminal sports personalities we have ever had in our Fairburg.
It's really a very short list when you think about it.
Because all of these guys that you might think of in that conversation did for a long time.
They were all very, very successful.
But there aren't many who have risen to the top of the craft in two media.
One, two medium.
He did it in print and radio.
He did it in print at the Dallas Morning News and Fort Worth Star Telegram.
He did it in radio, had WBAP and ESPN radio.
Right now, you must know who we're talking about.
We were talking about the one and only, the one of a kind, the one of one, be great, Randy Galloway.
Hi, Randy.
I tell you what, I tell you what, Ryner.
I would have, I would have come on earlier if I know what I was going to get that kind of introduction.
And thanks, the only reason I'm on, many thanks to Ms. Ashley of your staff.
If it hadn't been Ms. Ashley, I would, you know me and Zoom.
I'm not exactly Zoom literate.
And so she worked all that out for me.
She's good that way.
She's very good that way.
We're damn glad to have her.
How you doing, man?
Well, as I tell everybody, I'm doing better than I deserve.
So I think I'm ahead of the game.
It's, if I can continue to do that, then I'm going to be very pleased.
But know everything is, thank goodness everything is good.
Health wise, not only in my case, said my age, but also my entire family.
And as you know, my now, Ryner.
And as you've always known, really because of health and see, health is the number one thing.
Then you get to a certain age and it really is the number one thing.
Yeah.
You grew up and it's the number one thing, but you're young and you're spry and you're thinking,
don't worry about that later.
And then you do get to that certain age and it dominates.
All of a sudden, all of a sudden, it dominates in ways that it never had before.
I'm one of the lucky ones too, because I'm doing good, you know?
But it can all change on a dime for us.
Absolutely.
We had to do that thing.
So I live, as we talked about before in the past,
I live the good retirement life and I really like doing nothing and I'm damn good at doing nothing.
And I kind of like to keep it that way.
So that helps a lot.
I don't have any worries about deadlines or can I break that story or can I get that story?
And I did that for a long time and I don't have it.
Don't have it on my brain anymore.
You didn't know enough of that to last you three lifetimes.
50 years in the newspaper business, it's very thankful that all that was in this market,
this great market.
And 33, about what, 33 of those years or so were as economists where you've really not any other job.
A beat man for the Rangers for 10 years and all that.
In all jobs, you have to, you have to come through for the paper.
But boy, when you're a columnist, you know you got to come through and then,
then you get into radio and I was doing the radio 29 years.
And Ryder, man, you really know that story.
You got to come through because you've got those,
man, those money pinchers and those people who really don't know a damn thing about radio,
but they're, they're expecting you to turn a profit or if you know what I mean,
you know that story.
Oh, I know that story very well.
They don't know anything about how you do it.
They just want you to do it.
And if you don't do it, you're going to find somebody who will.
Oh, that's what they're looking for.
I was thinking about today a little earlier.
I was thinking about when did I first start seeing your byline pop up in the Dallas morning news?
And I remember that about the time I started seeing your byline pop up,
there was another guy who seemed to show up in the Dallas morning news at about that same time.
And I thought, you know, these guys are the two young guns over there.
And it seems like I could be wrong, but it seems like the first thing you did over there
was cover the Dallas shaper house.
Oh, no, no.
Actually, I go, I go back with the first byline you that you may have seen,
I was back to probably in 1964, but it was part time.
I was covering a high school football.
Yeah.
And I had a pretty good run at it.
Thank goodness.
The big by the big ball.
So over there at the time Walter Roberts and like what I did.
And I covered a couple of districts for him and covered Friday night games.
And then he calls me one day and said, I had flunked out of North Texas.
And that wasn't hard to do either.
I just flunked out.
And I was getting ready to go back to school.
And Walt says, why don't you go to Port Arthur?
And I went to the Port Arthur news for 13 months.
And then he called and brought me back.
So the first thing I did full time at the morning,
you starting in late 65 to 66 there was high schools.
And I covered high schools for a year.
And then in the next year, I went to the next year I covered the Mavericks.
So you did, you didn't see me on the Maverick beat.
I love that Maverick beat.
My first taste of professional type of jocks and people.
And I didn't love that.
And the great Clip Hagen was a coach.
He had been around a few blocks.
He knew you got to handle himself.
Tough guy.
My boy was good to break in with Clip Hagen.
Now you said the Mavericks.
You mean the Shepard House, right?
I mean, it's a Shepard.
I'm sorry, God.
Okay.
Yeah.
I meant the Sheps.
How can I help everybody?
Yeah.
I had to make that ABA days.
Yes.
The ABA days.
Shepard House.
Yeah.
One of my real regrets in this world.
And one thing I'd really like to do over on.
And I can't explain why it was this way because I could have done this.
I really wish I would have gone to a Dallas Shepard House game somewhere along the line.
And I didn't know that.
I even hear that.
I think you would have loved it.
There were some characters, man.
You were not at the doctor 19-year-old Dr. J in town at the Dallas Convention Center.
Remember that place?
The Dallas Convention Center?
Yeah.
It was like, yeah, it couldn't have more than 9,000 people.
I mean, the Shepard House weren't going to draw 9,000.
But we all went to concerts there.
And pretty big time shows.
And you can only get like eight and nine in there.
But Dr. J comes to town 19-years-old with the Virginia Squires.
They had just signed him.
He was the talk of the league as much as there was National Talk at that time about the ABA.
But man, I remember writing a story.
The advance on the game going, you got to come and see this guy.
You got to see Big Afro, Duncan, Duncan, Duncan, man.
And he put on a show.
And the Shepard drew about 3,000 that night.
A little over.
I think it's about 3,800 or something.
A great crowd for the Dallas Shepard House.
But I cannot believe you missed that game.
You must have been out of town or something.
No, I think I just had my head up my ass, man.
I thought it was.
I just had my head up my ass like a little about a lot of things over the years.
Yeah, I know.
I was right there with you on that.
All right.
What was your, how did you make your way up through the ranks at the morning news after the Shepard House?
What was your next thing?
I would say that was the Rangers moved here in 72.
Well, 71 in first season 72.
And once again, Walter Rousen said, I want you to be a beat man.
Along with Merrill Herford.
Remember that name?
It covered.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Covered the Dallas Seagulls, minor league baseball here forever.
And Merrill and I were on the beat.
And that was a, well, that was an awakening there.
Now, you know, the first manager I ever, first manager I ever covered was Ted Williams, who just treated me.
And I think all the writers would say that if they were alive.
I don't know if any, I don't think any others are alive from that first year.
But David think maybe it was the time, Sarah got the time.
But the, yeah, Ted Williams.
And then that was followed by Whitey Herzog briefly.
And that was followed by Billy Martin.
So I said, boy, I hit the dry effect with those three guys.
You'll learn a lot.
You will learn a lot with that, that trio.
But I did that for 10 years.
Love covering baseball.
Absolutely loved it.
Then Skip Bayless got into a, he was our columnist at the morning news.
He got into a spit fight.
I'll use that word trying to clean it up.
With morning news management over, I guess a lot of different things.
Skip was a strange cat.
But he got, and he ends up going to the, to the time, Sarah, and then it was Dave Smith,
the boss, as you will remember.
And Dave Smith called me and said, you are the columnist, you and David Cass Stevens.
Y'all are going to be the columnist.
And I went, I don't want to be the column.
Luckily, he just said, go to hell, you are the columnist.
And of course being the columnist was the best thing could have happened to me.
But I really love the baseball beat.
Like, I like that.
I like baseball people.
Talked me a heck of a lot.
Be stand up.
If you, when you write something bad, and of course I would.
When you're critical, and you're throwing stuff down in the paper,
you got to show up the next day.
You got to show up because they're looking for you.
They might not say anything.
But they are, they're looking for you down in that clubhouse.
It taught you a lot of good values that I carried throughout my whole career.
That was 10 years on the Rangers.
And you were known for all of those things too.
You were always known as somebody who's going to be tough on those who work doing their job right
or work doing their job well, or we're trying to put something over on everybody.
But you're also very, very, very fair.
And you wouldn't show your face in the place the next day.
Well, thanks, but you learn that in baseball.
Just like I said earlier, and that was something that carried over in 85 then.
I started doing the radio when you kind of get into that thing you say on the radio.
But you know, with the, with the column job comes a lot of cowboy stuff.
And then it becomes a lot of Maverick stuff.
The Maverick said come to town.
Later, the stars come to town.
And I tried to carry that thing from baseball over and all that too.
And a guy still bring that up. Well, at least you showed up.
You know, and you don't, as I always say, you didn't walk in there with your shoulders all roared back like anybody.
You know, without a look on your face like anybody want to say anything to me,
because you could get your ass whooped in a hurry.
If you're going to be, you're going to be a smart ass about it.
But you walked in there looking about halfway confident, trying to as confident as you could.
And you're hoping they don't want to say anything.
But if they do, you got to be ready.
You got to be ready for a comeback.
And you got to be ready for an argument.
And you hope nobody just hauls off and rocks you with a hard ride or something,
which luckily that didn't happen.
A lot of good arguments in strong arguments along the way.
But I do thank you.
If you show up, and you know this better than anybody,
if you show up, you earn the jocks respect.
I mean, they have a lot of respect for us in the media.
But if you show up, whatever respect, there is just a smidge,
but or a smudge, I guess, but it's,
you'll find out you would earn their respect.
Yeah, it's grudging respect, but they do notice it, you know?
Yeah, without a doubt, grudging it.
Who was especially tough after you would write something about him and then show,
show up the next day, the way you always did.
Who was especially tough in the, you know,
I don't think anybody was Will Clark was just kind of an A whole.
He was in Will Clark when he got here.
Of course, I was well in the column work by then,
but was kind of an AOE the way, but I kind of liked him.
I mean, it's just, you know, you know how he was.
You know that Will Clark personality.
But I, in my days as a beat writer in baseball,
really, nobody was, you know, where you would say,
boy, there's, there's some guys you like, some you don't,
but nobody you would go, man, that, that guy, whatever,
I wish they had trading or something.
And then you get into cowboy, I had some, I had some great arguments with Dion Sanders.
Just the way he was still don't like him to this day.
But there were a couple of great arguments that took place.
But mainly I kind of started those because I would add things like,
why do you want you to say that?
You're trying to wreck this team.
Well, of course, that's what's that going to do?
That's going to light him up because I meant to do it.
And so I kind of, I kind of initiated that.
I didn't, you know, I didn't find anybody that was here that I just thought,
wow, wow, that they're that bad to me.
And probably a lot of them should have been because, you know, as we pointed out earlier,
I was always amazed, my opinions have sports opinions.
And boy, you and I made a living for a lot of years.
We did.
Give me sports opinions, but how it, how it, it lights people up.
It likes listeners and fans and readers up.
And it lights participants up.
And I'm going, boy, thank God I don't cover religion or politics because those are the things that really,
you think people should take totally serious and get emotional about.
And they still do.
But I don't know if it's any, hey, you can take politics, you can take religion.
But I don't know if they get any more serious about that.
And they do about their sports opinions.
And particularly when they don't agree with you.
And I always had a, you, you had this too.
I always had, hmm.
And I guess kind of a blessing because it, I mean, people, it draws people to read.
What's that idiot going to say today?
Or what, what's that SOB going to say?
What's he going to write today?
It, it kind of draws people in there.
But I, so I guess if it's kind of a blessing, I was always kind of still kind of amazed about that.
About how sports opinions can really fire people up and light people up.
And what, yeah.
It does cut both ways too, you know?
Yeah.
Alright, let me ask you this.
Who are some of the guys you liked?
Maybe because they were stand up guys or maybe just because, maybe just because you got a good vibe off of them.
Who are some of the guys that you liked?
You know what, they're just me and of them.
And I, you know, a guy like Buddy Bale, you know, I really loved him.
But write him down the line.
Those, those early Rangers Toby Harrow and, and guys like that.
But then write on to Fergie Jenkins comes here.
Just the greatest and Al Oliver.
Same way.
When he got here, I'd already had a reputation for being Kent Tancarist or whatever.
Uh, no, not, I never found him that way.
I don't think any other writer here did either.
But then as we move Mickey Rivers loved Mickey Rivers, I still list him.
It's one of my all time, one of my all time favorites.
And you know, you get to the Cowboys and, uh,
who are knowing getting to know Troy Ackman as a raw rookie and then watching him develop over the years.
Uh, man, I appreciate being just watching that and watching what happened.
Uh, Michael Irving.
I still say it may be one of my all time favorites like in this latest thing on Netflix now.
Uh, that's out.
Mike, I mean,
Michael Irving and maybe the best on there just for flat ass honesty.
I mean, he says things.
I'm even going, Mikey, you probably shouldn't have said that.
But I mean, that's, that's just Michael.
Always a great quote.
Always, uh, a guy that, uh, could, uh,
signs up the situation for you with a great quote and people to read.
The Galilee column and they were going, boy, that's,
that's good.
Well, the main reason it was good because Michael had given me good stuff.
Or if they say, that's, that column sucked.
Then I could go, well, Michael didn't have the good.
He didn't have his good stuff today.
But I've got, but so many.
I mean, Darryl Johnson, guys, right on Jason Whitten.
I mean, uh, all Nate Newton.
And, uh, you know, I love the Nate, the fact that the Nate Newton story to become
what he became on the football field and all his problems off the field and,
and everything else.
And now look at him today.
And I mean, you, you can turn a life around quite frankly.
Now, Michael was a guy that, Michael Irvin, I got to say this.
I mean, I've never seen a better teammate.
I've never, in any sport, I've never seen a better one.
But, uh, then you take him off the field and God knows where he,
where he was going to go or what he was going to do or the trouble that he was going to get
in.
But team mate, you always ordered Michael.
You always wanted Michael on your team without a doubt.
Yeah.
I always found him to be just amazing to talk to.
Amazing because he was personable.
He was funny.
He was smart.
But he knew what he was doing.
He knew how to work the media.
I mean, he came without a doubt.
Yeah.
I mean, he came here knowing that he had that.
He always said deep in the Miami hood is where he was raised.
But there must have been somebody in the hood that had some common sense
because Michael has, he has a lot of that again on the football field
that sometimes common sense escaped him when he got on the streets.
If you know what I mean.
Yeah.
I did.
How'd you and Jimmy do?
I tell you what, Jimmy first got here.
That's a great question because people think Jimmy and I were tied all along
and we became very tight.
But I didn't like him for one reason, Troy Ackman.
But I thought he didn't like Ackman and I thought that was stupid.
In a way, I was kind of right.
I think he had questions about Ackman and I was, I was ripping Jimmy
and sometimes stupidly like the Herschel Walker trade.
And by the way, Jimmy made the trade.
If you watch the Netflix show, you know what I'm talking about.
What is it, the gambler and his cowboys?
Yes.
Jimmy made the damn Herschel Walker trade.
We can talk about that later.
But when he made that trade, I'm going, he didn't get enough.
Well, what I didn't really, I mean, those players are not guys that are really going to help
a team that needs a lot of help.
And you remember those days?
That was a 90 and 1990.
And God knows they were, they were hurting for talent.
But of course, what I didn't realize is how he had arranged the draft picks
where he cut, he only kept, I called the quarterback.
And I stayed through the first Super Bowl, maybe the second,
but he only kept the quarterback there, Ike.
But by dumping those other players, he got better draft picks.
And Bob from Minnesota and what he did with those draft picks was great.
I mean, it made, really made the dynasty happen or hell make it happen.
But the, I mean, I was critical of that.
And Jimmy and I had some blowout arguments.
I mean, that would, you mentioned that earlier.
I should have thought about that.
Jimmy walked, I mean, he was in a press conference one day and I asked a question.
Maybe it was a smart ass question.
And he said, I'm not taking, I asked the first question.
He said, he's asking, I'm leaving.
He locked out.
Well, all the TV guys and the other writers are gallantly dead.
They had to get stories, Mike.
Yeah.
You did nothing in Johnson.
You know, God, they were mad and I felt, I really did.
I felt awful.
But we had a long talk.
I ran into him in the parking lot about, I had about 30 minutes later.
Rich Dyle Ripple was out there.
And so Jimmy, me and Dyle Ripple sat there and talked about an hour.
But I remember after the infamous Detroit playoff game in 91,
eightman calls me eightman.
It done his media stuff and he's sitting at the locker room.
Nobody's there.
I walked by.
I wasn't going to talk.
He said, hello or whatever.
And he said, eight.
And I come here and I went over there and he said, I'm out of here.
I said, you're out of here.
What?
He said, I'm through with this team.
I cannot play for that man, meaning Jimmy Johnson.
And I said, wow.
He said, I'm asking for a trade.
I pull out the, pull out the old reporter's notebook in the pin.
And I went, well, I was saying, I'm writing this, Troy.
And he said, write it.
Write the damn thing.
And he said, I'm not playing for that man.
I'll be out of here hopefully by tomorrow.
I'm calling Lee, meaning with the Lee Steinberg, right?
Was he an agent?
And I'm calling him and I'm through with this.
I'm not playing.
He doesn't want me.
I don't want to be here.
This and that.
And we talk a little bit more and I'm thinking, I got this story.
What?
I have hammered down today.
The old Dallas Morning News is going to be very proud of me on this one.
And then I get up and I went, Troy.
All right.
I said, I may have to agree with you.
I don't think Jimmy.
I don't know whether he thinks you're his guy or not.
He said he doesn't.
I get up and he went, wait a minute.
He said, don't write any of that.
And I went, Troy.
I'm kind of cussing him now.
We've said here.
I mean, come on, man.
He said, well, I tell you what I'm saying that.
I need to talk to Lee.
I need the agent again.
And I went.
And he said, I promise you this.
Where are you going to be at noon tomorrow?
I said in the office meeting the Morning News office.
He said, all right, give me the number.
I gave him my straight line at the morning news.
He said, I will call you at noon tomorrow, I promise.
And you can have the whole story.
I said, all right.
At about five to 12, the next morning, the phone rings.
It's eight minutes.
He said, you will not believe what happened.
I said, what?
I figured I was losing my story.
And he said, walk in today.
He kind of clear out my locker in the season.
And I get where Jimmy wants to talk to.
He said, I go down there.
And he said, I was pretty cold.
I went, yeah, what?
Because he's really mad about not starting that Detroit game.
As you will remember.
And that's starting the previous game either.
So Jimmy says, Troy won't tell you right now.
This team is yours.
I am turning it over to you.
Who you want is your office of coordinator.
And Aitman said, I just sat there and looked at him.
He said, no, the team is yours.
Who do you want?
Receiver wise.
Who do you want?
Office of line.
You tell me you are totally in charge of this team.
You like the office of coordinator.
And Aitman has a North Turner.
Aitman went, I love it.
He went good.
And we're giving North a new three year contract.
North a three year contract.
And he said, it's yours.
It's your team.
Take it and run with it.
So Aitman went, I'm here.
I said, well, I'm kind of pissed off.
I like the other story a lot better.
Just from a newspaper standpoint.
But I'm very happy you are still here, actually.
Because I like dealing with you.
He said, thank you.
And I said, I like the fact that now you are in charge.
And the rest is history.
They win the Super Bowl at you.
That next season.
So you know, you, you stories like that.
I tell these stories just sitting around.
And my sonny laws, my daughters, my wife.
They all go, you got to write a book.
I said, I'm not writing a book.
I'm not writing a book.
But they're always only about writing a book.
And I go, you know, if you write a book, you got to be honest.
And there's a lot of things I'm not going to be honest about.
Because, you know, you learn them through, well,
through people's trust.
And they might not want that story out there.
So I'm not putting the, so no, I'm not ever writing a book.
But I love though, I do love those kind of stories.
Yeah, you got to love those kind of stories.
And I'm for what it might be worth.
I will join in with them saying, yes, you do need to write a book, Randy.
You do that too.
And by the way, I'm too lazy now.
It's just like a bit of the retirement game too long.
Once you're there, it's going to hurt again.
It's, well, you know, the retirement, when I retired,
I went, in fact, I said, I'll never work past 65.
And then I'm 65 and I go, well, I like this.
My wife's going, you know, are you going to give up that money?
I mean, newspaper money.
And it's start telegram and the radio money.
And I went, well, yeah, that's a good question.
And so I keep working.
And then it gets to be about 68.
Now, I said, all right, here's my deal at 70.
I'm out.
And so it gets me 70.
And the paper wanted me to stay.
The radio was changing over, you know, all that story.
And the radio was changing.
And I said, no, they're talking to me.
You're not leaving.
And I want you out of leaving.
So I retire at 70.
And everybody, family, and everybody I know went,
you can't stay out of it.
You cannot.
And I've shocked them all because I've not only stayed out of it.
In fact, when I retired, Mike, I went,
no more radio, no more TV, no more writing, nothing.
I am going to be sitting down in Parker County,
out there in the ranch land, going to have a horse behind me,
play a little goth, and not going to do anything.
But then, you know, people call your friends, people you like.
They call, you got to come on the radio here and there.
And you start doing that.
And I still do that.
But for the most part, I don't, I don't do, you know,
I do stuff that I like to do.
But if somebody's calling and they're, I don't care who it is.
A lot of times it's been ESPN, some 30 for 30 stuff.
But if they're calling and it's, uh, uh, Galloway,
can you come to Dallas?
No.
I'm not going to Dallas to do two hours of TV stuff.
And I just, I turned it down.
And I've done that repeatedly.
I did it one time.
Uh, they taught me into it.
Remember that it was a 30 for 30.
Mike, I still show it on ESPN.
And of course, you can pick it up.
Streaming.
Yeah.
Is that what Carter lost about the scandal of Dallas Carter
Haskoo, uh, in the 80s?
And so they call me on that.
Why wouldn't Covert Haskoo?
I did do a lot of call.
That thing was such a hot story.
I probably did four or five columns.
I'd politely you know, you're not an A-hole about it.
Politely, I said no.
I look, thank you and I appreciate interest.
But look, I'm just, I'm not interested.
And then they said, well, they call back and some of the women
that were producing the thing.
Call back and said, can I or director call you?
And he called and he, you know, it's this and that.
Uh, no money.
I mean, you don't get paid for anything.
But he just, I finally went, all right, I'll do it.
I went to Dallas three different times doing this.
Three damn times, different times.
Driving over there, driving back.
I'm cussing myself to get over there.
And it's two hours, three hours.
And then you, they call and can you come back?
We just want a little more.
And I went, I know the case too.
You're doing all that.
It'll probably end up five minutes.
But in this case, it really didn't.
But then I see the final product.
Mike and I went.
And today it's still the same.
And it's what, ten years later.
Almost ten years later.
I see it.
It comes up and I go, I'm really glad I did that.
I'm really glad I did it.
But I don't want to do anymore.
And I remember when the NFL films call, the NFL network
and they're doing something on Jerry.
And they went, can you come to Frisco for taping?
I went, look, I don't take this the wrong way.
But no one held no.
I'm not driving.
Where I'll be up to Frisco.
And they call me back.
And they went, what if we send a limo?
I went, oh, God.
So I went, all right, send a limo.
So I get, they send a limo all the way to Alito.
I'll hear a farm road five.
And pick me up, take me to take me all the way to Frisco
to the Cowboy Howard Key headquarters.
I get out and I got a pseudo.
They said, yeah, it'd be best to wear a task.
I put a, I know the pseudo in years.
Got a pseudo and all the writers.
That bunch, all the more to you, David Moore
and all his bunch, Clarence Hill, Serene Williams.
They're all out in the lobby because something was going on.
I don't know what it was, but their head to big
and a bunch of TV guys.
And they see me getting out of the limo with a pseudo.
You talk about catching the hell.
Oh, man.
I just say, oh, I caught a bag of hell over there.
Anyway, go in and do it.
Pass out with that.
Yeah, without a doubt.
And you know, you do it.
And then I do the show.
Then Dow Riffle wanted to take me around, showed me the,
and I really was glad about that.
Showed me the whole setup that they had.
I've never been to the,
I'm sure you've been to their kingdom out there, but man.
No, actually, I have it.
Yeah.
Well, that was the first time I'd been in the only time,
but we did kind of a tour of the whole thing.
And then I got back to limo,
right back to, road back to Alito.
But basically now,
like Miss Ashley sets up a zoom.
So I went, hell, yeah.
Runner, when you called, I went, well,
I hope he says zoom and you're dead.
And then zoom was a,
zoom when I was talking to groups, I believe.
Yeah, groups.
He went, hey, zoom and be fine.
I went, yeah, man, let's zoom it.
So this is, this is perfect right here.
And I still do.
To this day,
a century time,
and I've been retired 12 years,
but for 12 years, that's hard.
Man.
I know.
But, you know,
I know what I said while myself after I said that.
But, you know, I still do.
I've done two radio shows with friends of mine
who want to talk about this Netflix deal
on the Cowboys.
And so people you know,
and, you know,
people you like, Mike,
I want you to do something.
You do it.
And I'll still do an occasion.
I remember one time we had,
I get a call.
We're doing the,
Mike Riner life story.
Doc Oh, Mike Riner, man.
We're going to Doc Oh,
and I went,
and the lady went,
would you be interested in being only?
And I said,
sign me up,
and I'm praying.
I'm saying,
can you come to Dallas?
And she says,
where do you live?
We'll have to send the crew out for you.
And I went,
God bless you.
So we sent right here in this room,
right here at this bar,
and she said everything up,
and then the Mike Riner.
We did the Mike Riner shows.
I went,
that's first class right there.
They came to you over the day.
So that was,
that was a,
that was a good moment.
And by the way,
four or five of those,
four or five dudes,
they say,
okay, we'll be it.
I said,
look, I'm not driving the Dallas.
I got no interest in it.
And God,
I miss,
oh, man,
Javier's,
I miss,
Bob's stinking chop.
I miss me as
Tex Max.
Yeah.
Didn't want to bite.
You miss Joe Millers?
Oh, God,
Joe Mill,
Louie's a miss,
Louie's still going now.
Yeah.
Which we lost Louie too,
but,
oh, Joe Millers.
No, man,
that was,
but, um,
I'm just,
I can get over there,
but if I start drinking
couple of margaritas,
I'm not going to get back.
And I want to,
that's an hour and a half
on the road.
And I don't want to,
I don't want to chance it
over the deal.
But,
uh, yeah,
it's, um,
uh,
like that micrannor documentary.
And so, what do we call that?
The life and time
for micrannor,
whatever it was.
But, uh,
and by the way,
I watched it later,
she sent it to me.
She did a hell of a job on that.
You had to,
you never,
you never talk about crystal bus kids.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's what it was.
Yeah.
She was good.
She did a good job.
She knew where Alito was.
Oh,
man.
Um,
let me ask you this,
of all the guys,
all the great guys
that great collection
of great writers,
great sports minds
that they had
at the Dallas Morning News,
the Star Telegram.
Who were some of your favorites
and the ones
that you respected the most?
The, uh,
without a doubt,
I grabbed,
when I was in the eighth grade,
I came home from Leeds,
Junior High,
in Grand Prairie,
where I grew up
and lived forever
for 60 years.
And, uh,
Dallas Times Arrow
was on the, uh,
Broadway.
I go in,
it was on the,
I go in,
it was late in the afternoon,
I've been at track practice
or something.
Pick that paper up,
and as always,
here we took the morning news
in the morning,
Times Arrow at night.
Picked up,
go to the sports section,
Mike,
and looked over
him,
was over him,
was left inside.
There's a new name,
and I read that,
column,
and the first thing I thought of,
I want to be him.
This was the eighth grade.
This was the first column,
blacky share of dead,
for the, uh,
Dallas Times Arrow.
And boy, I went,
and my, my mama,
God bless her,
worked at the Dallas Morning News
in the Food Department,
for Julie Bennell.
That's the famous name
from the past.
Oh, yeah.
And, uh,
remember that?
Yeah, and,
she worked in there for her
and she got home
and I told her,
I went,
I want to be this guy.
She said,
you want to be a sports writer
and I went,
yeah, she said,
who's that?
I said,
blacky share it.
And, um,
one of the highlights
of my life,
and it's been a long life,
thank God,
and hope it lasts longer,
but, um,
was really later on getting
to know blacky,
becoming a friend of blacky,
hanging out with blacky
and I think blacky
like me,
uh, too.
So, I,
I think it was a mutual thing,
but,
not mutual from the standpoint
of the respect I had for the man.
I just,
I thought he was the greatest,
but,
let me tell you,
I,
what was going on here?
Mike,
and it started in the,
uh, with the newspaper war.
It's the same.
It takes a war to do it.
Yeah.
But the writers at the morning news,
and then starting in the,
uh,
eighties,
uh,
the, uh,
very early eighties
and going into,
going to 1992
when the time Cheryl folded,
uh,
we had the greatest
sports sections in the country.
Now, I was the guy,
uh, that had been traveling the country,
uh,
back cover in baseball.
We didn't have the,
our cowboy beat writers,
Gary Cartwright,
a great one,
to start with,
and it was Bob St. John,
Sam Blair,
our columnist,
uh, you know,
they were on the road,
but that was like eight
or nine times a year,
and you go in on Saturday,
and you're out of there after the game,
or on Monday morning.
I was on two-week road trips.
I was reading papers all over the country,
and boy,
there were some great ones.
My favorite,
the Boston Globe.
Peter Gammons,
became a good friend.
Some great names
up there, Larry Whiteside.
And all their great writers,
and I'm going,
well, we're, you know,
I think we're good,
but we're not that.
And there you could tell,
the budget and everything else
was a lot different.
But then when this thing exploded,
and we,
uh,
we went unlimited budget,
unlimited space,
unlimited staff,
at the morning news.
At the time, Sarah was right there.
There was nobody in America
putting out better newspapers
than right here in Dallas,
and that you could see
the Star Telegram is looking at Dallas
going at that time.
And again, this is the eighties.
Uh, early eighties,
to mid eighties,
and then it kept going.
But they're looking going,
hey, we gotta,
we gotta do some stuff here.
And they did.
They were building their sports department.
So,
yeah, boom.
I mean, I,
it was a great privilege.
Now, people asked me,
would you still,
would you like to be 50 years old now
and doing columns
and doing radio,
and I'm going,
I don't know.
Maybe I'd like to be 50,
maybe.
Yeah, that sounds like a good deal.
Yeah, right.
But,
hey, news favors ain't the same.
And radio isn't the same.
You, you will know.
I get it.
Yes.
It's, it's a totally different animal now.
And the, you know,
I get, I, so I don't know.
But I, I look at the morning news these days
and I, I tell everybody this.
I think the morning news,
one of the few newspapers in the country
still trying to do it right.
Now, I talked to my morning news friends
over there.
We'll mention their names
and they're going,
a lot of it is smoking mirrors
because it's different management.
I mean,
you know, it's,
it's totally different.
People involved the money situation.
But their product,
I think they not only, you know,
they covered,
I think they cover sports well.
Their deadlines aren't nearly as good
but where they're not good anywhere.
Anymore in sports,
you need deadlines.
Yeah.
You need at least a midnight deadline
and you don't have that anymore.
But I think the final product
that comes out,
the one I see online,
let me tell you,
I think that's a,
I still think it's a good news paper
for this day and age.
Now, what we were at the morning news,
but you can't even compare it
because we were working under totally different,
circumstances.
They were,
they loved,
they thought the sports
at that time,
sold newspapers.
And so did the time,
and so did the Star Telegram.
They thought,
we sold newspapers
and by God,
we did sell newspapers.
And we were selling newspapers
but in this day,
they got no respect for us.
I don't think they got any respect,
management I'm talking about.
Corporate.
Yeah.
My worst enemy.
Corporate people.
Yeah.
They don't have to respect the sports.
I've always heard that the guy
who made the big difference
at the morning news
and early took it next level
was Dave Smith.
Well, you know,
without a doubt,
and they,
now we'll say this.
God, I'm trying to think of his name
and I'm embarrassed.
He, uh,
Decker,
uh,
he was the publisher.
Yeah, Robert Decker.
He was a delie.
Robert Decker,
Decker, God.
I mean, embarrassed.
Robert Decker.
Okay.
We've all been there.
Don't worry about it.
Yeah.
I know it.
Well, it's
so old age, it's hell.
And I should know that guy
because he was really good to me.
I mean, I,
I know him,
but I should have jumped
on that name right away.
I know he's retired now.
It starts,
it started with Robert Decker.
He decided
we're going to blow out the
sports section
in the business section.
And I'm sure he had advisors
in there telling him
and there were other people
and God bless them too.
But Robert had to make the decision
to do it.
And with that decision,
unfortunately,
they moved out,
they moved out,
you know, Walter Robertson,
who I'd work for a favor,
and loved him.
You know,
it's been great to me,
but they moved to him out
and into another area
of the paper
and they brought in Dave Smith.
And so that's how Dave
kind of came in,
he came in on a golden parachute
and it just landed
right there,
Deely Square,
and downtown Dallas,
because it was already
loaded up for him.
But what Dave did
was just take that thing
and run with it
and move it to another level.
So, as much as I said,
I hated corporate world,
Robert Decker,
give the credit first to Robert Decker
for setting the whole thing up
and then Dave took it in,
and he carried the ball well
for all of us.
And what I liked about it,
and later I went there,
but the time,
the start telegram in four words,
you could see them,
man, they're,
what's going on in Dallas?
They're building.
They're built.
And they're putting out
of Dave Good News Paper.
Now, we had three good news papers
in our area.
Dave Good News Paper.
And of course, in 92,
unfortunately, the,
the times here,
when I say unfortunately,
because I think competition
makes the world go ramp.
You got to have competition
or those corporate bastards
are going to cut everything
as you will.
Yeah.
But the,
but when the hero folded,
well, you go,
they're going back off now.
We're, those of us
at the morning news,
corporate will back off.
They're credit they didn't.
They didn't back off.
They, they kept it going
for a while.
And, and then it was like,
all right,
we're going to attack Arlington,
which was start telegram.
That was their money train,
Arlington.
And Arlington was a, you know,
booming population wise,
a lot of money in Arlington.
And we're going into Arlington,
which I always said we should do
when I was at the morning news.
And that's kind of how I got
to the start telegram to start with.
And I never regretted that decision
because I was like 55 years old.
And it gave me another kick in the butt.
So you get that kick in the ass, Mike.
And you go, whoo.
You go on with it.
And, uh,
because of these people,
they were paying big money.
And I had no complaint about my salary.
I've told everybody that forever.
People ask this day,
did you do it for the money?
To this day, I get that.
And I go, hell, yeah.
You always do it for the money.
But I had no complaint
about the morning news money.
I was making excellent salary at the morning news.
They treated me great.
But this was even more money.
And Dave and I,
I was kind of the spokesman for the staff.
I think Dave was tired of hearing from me.
So it was, it was a good split.
Even though I spent 33 great years at V though.
And I woke up every day
for 33 years, Mike,
whether it was high school
or doing a column on the cowboys,
ladies, adventure.
And I went, hell,
less loot and burn for a bellow.
That was my,
that was my,
that was my the thing I lived by.
We're going to loot and burn for bellow today.
And they're for a while.
For many years, actually,
when it was morning news,
really cared about sports.
That's what we did.
But hey,
but by the way,
you ask about sports riders today.
And I,
I mean, I think the morning news
has two excellent columnists.
I am,
I've always been a Kevin
chairing to huge fan.
A Kalashow has been there a long time.
He kind of replaced,
he was the one guy who replaced me.
And he gets better all the time.
I think the,
I mean, those guys are still great.
They're excellent in Mac Engle.
Same way at the Star Telegram,
the Star Telegram,
you got to carry a lot.
If you're at the Star Telegram right now,
because they just,
the model is sports.
I think they got six guys in sports.
And by the way,
those guys work their ass out.
I can't, I don't even know his name.
I don't know the TCU beat rider.
Excellent.
At the Star Telegram.
The new cowboy,
Clarence Hill was there for years.
He went down to another adventure.
But they hire a guy in Nick Harris's name.
I don't know,
wouldn't know Nick if he walked in my house right now.
But excellent.
He's done a great job on the thing.
These guys.
Yeah.
And Mac Engle is the columnist.
So it's different.
It's not what it was.
But you're still getting high quality.
You know,
high quality stuff for sure.
Oh, Brad Townsend.
Excellent rider at the morning news.
That's another.
That's another.
And I'm,
I know I'm leaving.
Yeah, I know I'm leaving.
Thank you, buddy.
You mentioned Mac Engle.
And as things happen,
he does a podcast,
which we house here in our little podcast.
Are you really?
Yeah, he does.
He does.
Yeah,
Yeah,
All right, good thing.
It's been a lot of fun to get to know him.
It's a good dude.
Oh, yeah, man.
A good guy.
What he does.
You see it.
Very good.
Yeah.
So,
were you happy when the Rangers won the World Series, Randy?
Just a static.
Just,
I mean, I was fanboy.
I swear that thing because.
I know you were.
You'd be lying if you said you weren't, but I,
I was damn fanboy on that.
It, you know,
it's hard to be fanboy like 80 years old,
but an 80 year old fanboy.
And that's what I was.
I was 80 when they won it.
It will be an 80's a good sign, but.
Uh, yeah.
And, and so the fanboy and me came out,
but I had been.
I was still working.
I was covering obviously game six in St. Louis.
Oh, God.
So I saw all that.
And just, you know,
you think it's there.
And, you know,
then you got to do a column on that.
And you're sitting there with deadline.
It really sick.
And you hate to be that way.
But I felt like I had so much invested in the franchise
from 1972 on.
And, uh, I thought that was,
though, I thought the hudu voodoo had totally consumed the Rangers
and never win.
And, uh, I'll be damn.
I'll be damn.
They, uh, they,
and I know there's been two to this season disappointing.
God is it ever.
Last season was wreckage.
Yeah.
But I still,
I'm still not cussing because you got that world series.
Yeah.
That world.
All the time that,
that world series win was the greatest night of my sports life.
And it will never be topped.
I mean, it is.
It's going to get for me.
And I'm cool with that.
I like it.
I'm the same way.
I'm the same way.
So, uh, yeah,
I love that on the,
on the, uh,
on all that thing.
And, and I,
for Rick Carlisle,
Dirk's sake,
you know, I put the second thing as the,
uh,
2011 Maverick World Championship.
Yeah.
I mean, I,
I,
you know, I admit
that one didn't hit me like the Rangers actually within the world series.
But it was way up there and it still is.
Yeah.
And didn't hit me like the Rangers either,
but it hit pretty good.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's exactly right.
And, uh,
that one was a,
uh,
that one was a good one.
So, yeah,
that, uh,
and to see the first Cowboys Super Bowl, too, in 92,
three in 92,
uh, that one I went, wow,
to watch how bad they were just three years earlier.
Jimmy's first year,
and then to win, uh,
I said,
I may not have got along with Jimmy,
but I think I'm going to throw in with him.
I said,
I think this guy knows what he's doing.
And he didn't know what he was doing.
And,
well,
this,
I mean, you ask anybody that played on that team
or anybody who was around at the time.
Yeah.
And those guys all freely admit,
or they,
they have to me anyway,
that the biggest reason that they did what they did
during that time was Jimmy.
And that was just Jimmy.
That is that.
I'm one of those who think
they could have won five straight Super Bowls.
If that bullseye down in Orlando,
and,
and it was building long before Orlando,
but if Egos had just stayed out of it,
I blame Jerry more than Jimmy.
Uh,
maybe I should,
well, yeah,
he got to blame Jerry.
I blame him for everything anyway.
But the,
uh,
if that happened,
I think they could have won five straight.
But they held up,
came after he was gone.
They blew one the next year.
Should have won the Super Bowl then.
Uh,
the next year they,
I mean,
that was a horrible NFL.
Played a bad Pittsburgh team
in the Super Bowl.
They get the Super Bowl with Mary Switzer.
It's like Jerry.
I told you,
500 coaches and all that crap.
But then,
been 30 years, my,
30 years of
Jerry Dust.
And that's all it is.
It's dust out there.
Yeah, it is.
It is.
So did they ask you
to participate in this Netflix thing?
And I don't know.
I heard that.
And that's one of the things
that really got me interested
in making a run at you here today.
Because I heard they did,
and you turned them down.
Yeah, see,
and I don't know if I did or not.
I know Hanson and I were talking.
He said,
that's the first thing he has about,
I'd say four or five people have asked me.
Why aren't you on this?
And I said,
don't know.
But Hanson said,
he did his interview twice.
He went in five hours worth,
two different TV set out segments,
about two years ago.
And now I also,
I talked to Edward,
and he and Gus Gosler
on this thing.
But they did theirs in February.
Yeah.
I'm pretty sure I didn't have a call in February.
I kind of would remember that.
A couple of years ago, though.
And by the way, this goes on and on and on way back.
But certainly a couple of years ago,
I was getting all kinds of calls,
some of the ESPN.
And I would say four or five shows
they wanted me to come into Dallas to do.
I had polite of,
you don't, you know, just no.
politely you say,
hey, you know,
I just don't think I'm interested.
Thank you very much for thinking of me.
And this and that.
Also,
the going back to what did Carter lose?
As much as I'm glad I did it.
And when I see it,
every time I see it,
now I have probably seen it two or three times
since the original came out.
But I go,
well, I'm glad I did that.
But it was going back to Dallas three different times.
And I know that that can happen.
So I know in that time,
Hanson's going,
they had to call you.
And so I think Hanson put it out there.
They got away, turned them down.
I don't know whether they did or not.
Just to be totally honest.
And here's the Dale story.
And this is why I'm glad.
Actually, it is so well done.
They got away through the BS.
With Jerry.
Yeah.
But it's so well done.
You kind of go,
boy, I'd like to be involved in that.
And that thing is well done.
But Dale goes in and sets for three hours.
He says they're loving it, the crew,
and the producers.
They're laughing.
Oh, that's great.
Mark that.
Now he goes home.
They call him the next day and went,
we need more.
Can you come back tomorrow?
Well, you know, Dale,
he ain't going to pass up a minicamp.
Or a TV cam.
Never seen somebody die.
But he goes back.
He does two more hours.
He did five hours.
And he's setting the record straight.
Mike, he's setting the record straight.
Oh, Jimmy put the Super Bowl winning the dynasty team together.
Not Jerry.
Is this show?
This, the gambler.
Is this thing lead you to believe because of Jerry?
He only had Jimmy to dispute that.
But Dale said he knocked it down side,
but they never ran one thing.
Dale did five hours.
This is an eight-hour show.
Eight segments.
About eight hours worth.
Dale's home for two minutes.
And I said, you know, that's not worth it.
Now, word her.
Edward her and goose guys.
And they're trying to tell the truth, too.
So what they said gets out about it was Jimmy,
but not a lot of it.
And that was right at the end.
That was segment, what?
Seven.
So that was right at the end.
And they, I mean, they're going to set the record straight.
And you had to have them home because they were the guys in Orlando.
They were covering that owner's meeting.
And they were the guys saying,
that Jerry walked up and said,
I'm going to fire that blib blib blib blib.
And just told them right to their face.
That's how the news first got out.
They broke the damn story.
So I don't know.
I don't know what they called or not.
But it wouldn't have made any difference
because I would have said,
Jerry's full of crap on this, this, and this.
He's never full of crap on making money
because he's the best owner I think in the world.
I don't know all the European soccer owners.
But they're ain't nothing like Jerry
in the United States of America,
or Canada, or Mexico.
They know nothing like Jerry
when he comes to making money.
But as a football guy, flaming idiot.
And there's, I mean, that's just,
that's just Jared.
And I like him personally.
I like him, but he's sitting there saying,
he made the Herscheltrade.
He did not make the Herscheltrade.
I mean, it's, by the way, Jerry
was telling us the first two years,
not just me, everybody.
I'm in charge of every, I got to make money.
I got to make money for this team.
I mean, Jimmy's totally in charge of football.
About the third season, it was a little bit of,
yeah, Jimmy and I did this.
And then Jerry on this show says,
Jimmy did not draft the players.
Jimmy drafted the damn players,
when he was here.
Jerry says that deal at famous scene,
our story,
ESPN calls the Cowboys and Goats,
can we put a live camera in the war?
You remember this one, Mike, in the war room.
This one's for the 91, yeah, 91 draft.
Well, the Cowboys, they go to Jerry and Jerry, yeah,
put one in it.
So for the first time ever now,
every war room has a live camera.
They put a live camera in the Cowboys
and when they timed the pickers,
they're on live ESPN for the draft.
Jerry leans over to Jimmy and says,
hey, when the light comes on,
the camera comes on,
kind of turn this way and be talking to me.
And that Jimmy told the story.
Jerry says it in this thing,
this lady's thing on Netflix,
Jerry says that never happened.
Guys are in the war room told us.
And Jerry used to laugh about it.
Now he's saying it never happened.
Oh, that is crap.
But overall,
and then I was wondering in this thing,
Mike, have you seen all eight segments?
No, but I'm like three in.
Okay.
I'm trying to take it slow.
Well, you know, it's good.
I thought there's no way I can set the eight damn segments.
You know, one night,
I binge white.
You got nothing to do, Mike.
You're retired.
So I binge white.
Beans watched.
Four segments.
The last four sets.
I was up to about three in the morning.
But I enjoyed it.
And I did not think I would.
And Jerry, in a lot of play,
Jerry's good in this thing.
I just don't like the fact that he changes the football history with Jimmy.
And with what the cowboys were in the last time we saw him,
that they actually were worth a damn.
And you know how long it's been 30 years.
Yeah, since they've been worth a damn.
But he shouldn't have done that.
Overall though,
pretty good.
Like I said earlier,
some of the Michael Irvings stuff.
I liked all those guys.
Eight men was strong.
Himmit.
Of course, Michael.
I read them down the line.
Yeah, good.
I like the show.
I like it too.
It's a good watch for sure.
And Randy,
man,
I don't know what to tell you,
except number one,
you were greatness.
Number two,
I appreciate the hell out of you doing this, man.
I really do.
Well, I'll say this.
As long as you will send me Ashley to set it up,
because you know I'm going to forget the Zoom world.
I've already forgotten it.
I was trying to show me.
So as long as you were sending me Ashley,
I'll be glad to do it anytime,
because this is the way to go right here.
But thank you for having it.
Thank you.
Thank you for doing it, man.
I hope you were well.
And may you live long and prosper, my brother.
Let's hope, like I said,
I'm ahead of the game right now.
I'm doing better than I deserve.
So I like that part of it right there.
Mike, thanks a lot.
All right.
That is the great Randy Galloway there.
And this has been your dark companion.
We certainly hope you have enjoyed it today.
It's been just a blast talking to Mr. Randy.
We haven't hooked up in a long time.
It's great to see him.
Great to hear from him.
I miss this cat, man.
Anyway, really appreciate everybody watching.
If you like what we're doing here, tell somebody about us.
We're out there on YouTube.
We're out there on Spotify.
We're out there on, I don't know, where do you get your podcasts?
You can find us.
Tell everybody about it.
Spread the word.
Get them all into your dark companion.
Tell them about this one.
Tell them we had Randy Galloway.
And Randy freaking Galloway on here today.
So do that for us.
Bye.
All right.
I like those pants so often.
Your dark companion is a stolen water media presentation.