The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS -- Labor Day has come and gone. So has Halloween. As we approach Thanksgiving, there is still plenty of football to be played in the NFL -- but not by Randy Moss and Terrell Owens.

The two aging, high-profile, high-maintenance wide receivers are either unwanted or unneeded, and it appears their careers may be over.

Owens, 37, conducted a personal workout last month to show the league that his surgically repaired knee was again ready for the rigor of Sunday afternoons. But none of the 32 teams bothered to show up for it.

Local businessmen Doug Miller and Chuck Greenberg will not bid to purchase the Stars, meaning the door is open for Vancouver businessman Tom Gaglardi to become the new owner.

A complex group of lenders is trying to sell the Stars, and Gaglardi has made a $267 million "stalking horse" bid that is part of a prepackaged bankruptcy hearing in a Delaware court. The court proceedings are needed to help make sure there are not further lawsuits from the 40 lenders, some of whom might not be paid.

As part of the proceedings, the court allows other bidders to put in bids that would trigger an auction in November. The deadline to submit a bid is Saturday, and Miller and Greenberg had been working feverishly to get their bids in on time. However, both said Friday that they have alerted the courts and lenders that they are out of the bidding process.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Whitey Herzog, who can be found in the Hall of Fame, often said the better the bullpen, the smarter the manager.

By Herzogian logic, Ron Washington of the Rangers is the Stephen Hawking of the postseason. Washington has the best bullpen and a 2-0 lead over Detroit in the American League Championship Series.

Those two items go hand-in-hand.

DALLAS -- Big pickups with small V-6 engines -- the red-haired orphans of truck country -- always occupied the back rows at Prestige Ford in Garland, Texas.

AUSTIN, Texas — A gut-busting dinner, including a triple cheeseburger, pizza, fajitas, two chicken-fried steaks and pint of ice cream, sent some Texans over the edge.

Death row inmate Lawrence Brewer’s food order seemed more like a feast fit for an army than a man headed to execution. Now, because of public outrage, it’s last special meal that will be made for condemned prisoners.

SEATTLE -- Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington was scheduled to spend Monday evening at the Oakland premiere of "Moneyball," the true story of how Brad Pitt smote the ground, discovered advanced statistics and waved his magic visor over a ragamuffin group to turn the Oakland A's from misfits to winners.

Among lots of details bound to be omitted for the art of filmmaking: the A's ability to help themselves by owning AL West opponents in head-to-head competition.

Maybe they can adapt that for the Rangers' movie, if that story ever gets told.

Troy Aikman has spent a lifetime in the crosshairs of finger-pointers.

At Oklahoma, UCLA and with the Cowboys, the quarterback has always seemed to be in people's sights.

In the wake of three Super Bowl championships and induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the targeting has continued. But now, a new generation of fingers, who knew not Aikman the quarterback, are beginning to take aim.