👋 Good morning! It’s Friday! The weekend is so very close. You’re just a few hours away from getting to mute Microsoft Teams notifications for a few days. That Friday beer is calling your name. Tomorrow’s mid-afternoon nap is only a day away. But don’t lose focus now. Finish the week strong. — Bobby Karalla

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott dropped a couple F-bombs in an interview yesterday in Oxnard while saying how motivated he is to lead this team back to the playoffs and, hopefully, beyond. This is a family-friendly newsletter so you won’t see those quotes here, but follow the link and you’ll find them.

Our Clarence Hill has previously written about how Dak isn’t concerned with criticism and understands the high expectations that come with being not only the signal-caller for the Cowboys, but also one of the highest-paid athletes of all-time. Embracing the pressure and heat, rather than trying so hard to ignore them that they just become distractions anyway, will hopefully help No. 4 keep a clear mindset this season.

It does feel important to remind everyone that Dak finished second in MVP voting in 2023. He’s suffered some random and gruesome injuries these last few seasons that were completely beyond his control, but the dude can really play. And with CeeDee Lamb on one side and George Pickens on the other, he has a chance to put up even better numbers this year than he has at any other time in his career.

Team success is obviously more important than individual success, and despite the many important questions this roster faces and, well, several decades of saying this but coming up short, this Cowboys team has lofty goals.

“Schotty said it day one we showed up. If you don’t want to win the Super Bowl, don’t think we can win a Super Bowl, then don’t come to Oxnard and you’re in the wrong place,” Prescott said. “We know the standard when you wear the star. We know the expectations. And I credit Schotty for not shying away from it. I don’t think anybody’s ever heard me shy away from it. So it’s just making sure everybody understands that. We have to think that. We have to manifest that.”

Dak feels good and this club believes it has the talent and the juice to go all the way. Let’s hope it’s a special season.

Despite losing a couple guys this offseason due to a cap crunch, the Stars still have one of the deepest, most talented teams in the NHL. But questions about their D-men still persist. Our Sam Nestler identifies and tries to answer a few of them here, making the case that if Nils Lundkvist can take a leap, these problems become a little more simple to solve for the team. Lundkvist has been touted as a great offensive player who then let his defense suffer, then reversed course in hopes of securing more playing time. Then he got hurt. He’s faced his fair share of challenges, but if he can put it all together this season, he’ll get plenty of playing time and the Stars will be able to answer many of those questions.

Three of the Dallas Mavericks’ most important players are recovering from varying degrees of serious injuries and ensuing surgeries. Which one worries us the most, and why? We answered those questions and more on yesterday’s show. Shoutout to the Diehards for giving us plenty of great questions to answer in the third and fourth segments too!

Be warned, MLB: The Texas Rangers bats are starting to heat up. The DLLS Rangers crew has more on that on yesterday’s show.

After a brief hiatus, the DLLS Wings show is back! Check out yesterday’s episode as Erika, Dorothy, and I recap the Wings’ dominant win in Seattle and talk All-Star, CBA negotiations, and the second half of the season.

There is only one Clarence Hill.

Be sure to subscribe to our shows wherever you listen to your podcasts. Traffic can be the worst, and one of the best ways I get through it is by listening to the audio versions of our DLLS shows. You should, too!

Bobby Karalla
DLLS Sports Head of Content​
[email protected]