D Magazine presents StrongSide

Guest: Zach Wolchuk of 105.3 The FanPreseason is over and the Cowboys’ roster is set. The highlights: a notable trade for Broderick Jones, a shakeup in the RB room, and a very unexpected development at backup quarterback. Where do you want to start? Let’s keep it on the Cowboys. I’m out of town next week, so this is our chance to talk about this team together before the season starts. Let’s go on...

Guest: Shehan Jeyarajah of CBS SportsThe fighting Texas Rangers are still fighting and, as of this recording, are no longer in first place in the American League West. They also, for one brief, glorious moment, were above .500 again. But we’ve talked about this before. Here’s what I want to ask. At one point this week, every team in this dogshit division was below .500 and all of them have a negat...

Guest: Rhett Lashlee Head Coach of SMU FootballOur long, local, not-really-a-nightmare-but-not-very-fun-dream is over. The Mavs and Stars have settled their beef, releasing a joint statement Monday declaring that they “reached an agreement that resolves the outstanding matters between the two organizations.” We’ve talked plenty about what the last 10 months looked like. We know what 2031 is going...

Guest: Lee Nguyen Head Coach Trinity FCSo let me get this straight – the Cowboys signed Quinnen Williams to a big ol’ extension, for more $35 million annually over three years, which is the second highest among defensive tackles. And they did it really early, with minimal drama. How’s this all sitting with you? We lost Don Nelson over the weekend at 86 years old. He did a whole lot for the Maveric...

Guest: John Owning of The Cross Chop PodcastThis damn baseball team. Last week, we led the show talking about the Rangers, who were coming off taking four of five against Seattle and Tampa. They proceeded to lose every game since. So not only are the Rangers no longer in first place, and not only are the Rangers no longer above .500, they did not buy or sell at the trade deadline. What… the … hell...

Guest: Monica Paul of the Dallas Sports CommissionOn Friday Rangers went into the biggest series of the season and took three out of four games against Seattle to widen their division lead to two games before taking the series opener against Tampa. But seeing as how this team is still just three games above .500, do you think that’s the statement ownership needs to let this team go out and buy? Of...

Guest: Saad Yousuf of The AthleticKyrie Irving. Cooper Flagg. Zaccharie Risacher. The Mavs now have three No. 1 overall picks on their roster, after Dallas acquired Risacher from Atlanta for Ryan Nemhard and a top-55 protected second-round pick, which is like kevlar vest levels of pick protection. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say he probably won’t wind up like the first two guys, so what’s the r...

Guest: David CastilloMLB season returns on Friday, and the Rangers will begin the second half in first place in the AL West. Let’s have some fun with predictions: where do the Rangers finish the season, do they make the playoffs, and how many moves will they make by the trade deadline? What is BZZR and why is it the new broadcasting partner for the Texas Rangers? I have a suspicion that it's n...

Guest: Tim MacMahon of ESPN and The Hoop CollectiveThe new head coach of the Dallas Mavericks is… Dusty May? The Michigan guy? We’ll talk to Tim MacMahon shortly about why May and how this came together, but for now, what’s your take on Jason Kidd’s replacement? So that’s the coach. But how do May and Masai Ujiri and Mike Schmitz want to build this roster? We’ve got our first glimpses on Tuesday,...

0:00 - 1:17 Intro 1:18 - 25:16 Jalen Brunson reaches the mountain top 25:17 - 31:12 Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup 31:13 - 38:50 Keaton Wagler scouting report 38:51 - 53:35 What will the Mavs do on draft night? 53:36 - 1:23:28 Shaq Moore of FC Dallas talks World Cup —-------------------Like and subscribe to our channel if you enjoy StrongSide. If you'd like to read even more great journalism a...

After years of anticipation, the World Cup is finally here. Are you into it, or has the adjoining layers of nonsense – high ticket prices, watering down the field, visas – taken some of the joy out of it? We’re gonna talk to the man himself about it shortly, but Friday marks the 15-year anniversary of the greatest moment in Mavs history. You and I met for the first time like two weeks after this w...

The first big domino of the future homes for was the teams’ decision to split up after spending more than 30 years in the same place. Now we’ve got the second: the Mavs have picked their site, and in a mild upset, it isn’t the City Hall site. Instead, the Mavs are staying in Dallas by way of building over the old Valley View mall. The Stars are on the move to Plano as well. What a tough 24 hours f...

The Rangers managed to get themselves no-hit on Monday in spite of opening the game with three consecutive walks. Impressive stuff! Is there some larger takeaway besides a bad day at the office, and is a combined no-hitter more embarrassing than being taken down by just one guy? Story that flew under the radar this weekend: the Mavericks won their legal battle with the Stars and now control the Am...

The Mavericks decided to fire Jason Kidd. What now and why? The Dallas Cowboys are heading into voluntary OTAs. So, what’s still to-do and what’s worrying you the most? Which position groups could derail this season before it starts? The Rangers feel tethered to being one game under .500. It’s been a little bit since we talked about the local baseball team, so let’s do a Rangers vibe check. On the...

Well, the NBA draft lottery has come and gone and, surprise, the Mavericks had bad luck again! Seems they really did use up every bit of good juju last year getting Cooper Flagg. This time around, Dallas has the ninth pick, which is one spot lower than the projected lottery odds had them going in and outside of where we saw the sweet spot of this draft. Cool stuff. On Friday, Jim Nill addressed th...

When we recorded our last episode, we both had a feeling the Stars were in trouble. Turns out our worst fears were realized pretty quickly, as they got bounced in Game 6 for their earliest playoff exit since 2022. You buying this as a one-off or do you think this is a sign of a deeper issue that needs to get fixed? The Mavericks found their Nico replacement, and it’s a pretty impressive name. Masa...

Some things in life are not worth the wait. That Cowboys draft was. Now that we’re on the other side of this thing, and Caleb Downs is in our lives, are you as fired up about how well that went as I am? It wouldn’t be the Cowboys if something weird wasn’t going on, though, and something weird is definitely going on with George Pickens. Last week, the team announced he’s playing on the franchise ta...

We have a series. The Stars and Wild are tied at one game apiece, with Dallas dropping the series opener before rallying in Game 2. You were pretty jacked up last week. You still feeling that way as the series shifts to Minnesota or you more like that dude Colin Blackwell knocked the fuck out? The Mavericks lost a lottery coin flip with New Orleans on Monday that bumps them down to eighth in the d...

Six long, excruciating months later, we are finally free of this cursed Mavericks season. Dallas finishes the season 26-56, which tied the for seventh-worst record in the league. Cooper Flagg was awesome–maybe so awesome that the league gives him Rookie of the Year like they should. Other than that, Mike, what did we learn? Let’s talk about the other Dallas pro basketball team because there’s cons...

The NBA was having a nice little Rookie of the Year debate, and then Cooper Flagg up and decided to drop 96 points in two games. The only rookie to do that before him? Wilt Chamberlain. In so doing, Flagg also became the first teenager in history to have a 50-point game. Can we stop talking about Kon Knueppel now? The NHL regular season doesn’t end for a few more days, but we know the Stars’ first...

Machine was the optimistic one of the two of us about the 2026 Texas Rangers, and so far, so good. The Rangers are 4-1, but better still is how they’ve looked getting there. You have to encouraged right now, right? Mark Cuban, come do our podcast! Because it seems like every time the man does one, tea gets spilled. The latest and greatest happened this week on the Intersections podcast, which is h...

At long last, after months of frustration and repudiation and very little spending, Opening Day is here! We’ll get into the nitty gritty with our guest Zach Wolchuk, but let’s do the top-down view now. Texas’ over-under for wins is 83.5 and more or less a coin flip with Houston for second place in the AL West. Will Texas exceed or fall short of those projections? Speaking of narrow margins, Cooper...

Last week on this program, I got real mad about the Cowboys doing next to nothing in free agency. Since then, they’ve done less than nothing, because somehow, the talent got worse on defense. Cobie Durant is coming in on a one-year deal from the L.A. Rams, but out went Osa Odighizuwa, who was traded to the 49ers for a third-round draft pick. I give up, man. Last week, we had a bit of a revelation...

The Cowboys: they’re doing things! The highlights were Monday, when Dallas traded a 2027 fourth-round pick to Green Bay for defensive lineman Rashan Gary and signed safety Jalen Thompson from Arizona on a three-year deal worth up to $36 million. We’re going to talk more about both guys with Bob Sturm, but why has the Cowboys free agency approach failed? Last week, we started our draft spotlight se...

Let’s begin with some news we saw coming: George Pickens got franchise-tagged. We’re seeing all the right things out there about how both sides want to continue together long-term, and I’d guess that ends up happening. But the type of franchise tag they gave him tells us this may not be quite as cut-and-dried as people want it to be, right? Good news, Mavs fans: the team is not raising ticket pric...