One of my favorite morning shows is the Fox Business Channel's interesting show Money for Breakfast. Well, how about let's do some Plano Football For Breakfast this morning.

I was alerted to something very interesting, so I had to research it for myself. (quick note: this is not a personal attack, just the truth). The 2008 Dave Campbell's Texas Football lists 20 Top Sophomores for the Class of 2011. Included among these players is Plano WR Collin Brence. The 2006 Texas Football listed 20 Top Sophomores of what should be the Class of 2009 (they say 2008, whatever). Lake Travis' Garrett Gilbert and Aldine Eisenhower's Craig Loston were on there and should be. Unbelievably, Rex Burkhead wasn't.

Burkhead was the first freshman ever to play on varsity. He was on Plano's 7-on-7 team between his freshman and sophomore years. He was in the nine-man rotation on Plano's state championship basketball team. He is the best senior football player in the Metroplex. He has scholarship offers from Nebraska and Texas A&M just to name a few.

Brence wasn't on Plano's state 7-on-7 team last weekend. There were 20 players on the roster. He didn't play on varsity last year, and didn't intercept a pass in a state quarterfinal game against Southlake Carroll as a freshman (Burkhead did). He isn't likely to play on varsity. He may never play receiver at Plano.

I understand this list is partly based on potential, but this just cries of something wrong. It begs the question, where did Texas Football get its information in 2006 and 2008? From former coach Gerald Brence? From one of Plano's assistant coaches? Could this have really happened? Please tell me no. Please tell that when coaches turn in this information, that they understand that these lists must have integrity. I say that as someone that compiled The Dallas Morning News' Area Top 100 for three years.

A Plano insider has told me Brence will be a good football player at Plano. I will be the first one to write about Brence if he's one of the Top 20 seniors in 2011, or even if he's not.  I hope he's a team captain and leads Plano to a state title. I hope he gets a scholarship like his brothers.

Just know where I'm coming from, that I take these lists very seriously. 

1) I woke up this morning to this headline: Mavericks say no to Artest-for-Josh Howard deal. This is a hoax, right?  Because no one in their right mind would pass up getting Artest, one of the top 10 most talented players, for the blabber-mouth, everyone-in-the-NBA-is-smoking-pot Howard. The Mavericks are on the verge of being irrelevent again in Dallas. The Rangers have Josh Hamilton and a bunch of unreal young players. The Cowboys have Romo, T.O. and Pacman. The Stars have Ott and Avery. And the Mavericks turn down Artest, the gritty defensive-minded player who can score, a rare commodity in the NBA? That's crazy. If Artest ends up on the Lakers or the Spurs, that will be the end of Mark Cuban and he'll have to buy the Cubs or Steelers to save face.  

2) By the way, here's dallasbasketball.com's exclusive interview with new Maverick Gerald Green, who is an intriguing acquisition.

3) Is Cowboys' training camp really this close? Nothing gets over-covered in Dallas like Cowboys' training camp. For some reason decision makers like Dale Hansen think it is always he care about in sports in August. Personally, it's still baseball season for me and that's where my attention will be, not on Romo and Pacman.

4) This is going to be an interesting two weeks for the Rangers because they are in this situation: Are we buyers or sellers at the tradeline? Namely, is Hank Blalock being showcased at third base for a possible trade after the team insisted several weeks ago that he was a first baseman now? Here's T.R. Sullivan's preview for the second half. The Morning News' Evan Grant takes a look at the second half.

5) I stumbled across a Washington Post series on Chandra Levy. If you don't remember, Levy's disappearance created a media frenzy and was a daily story on cable before it got lost in 9/11 coverage. Levy's story of course involves a U.S. Congressman, Gary Condit, and the intern, the kind of story the Beltway goes crazy over. It's a good series, not as good as the journalism the St. Petersburg Times rolls out there, but good. This is perhaps the best serial narrative ever.

6) So I just finished the new Daniel Silva book, Moscow Rules, and will have a full review soon. But let me just say, get the book. Silva has really outdone himself with this chilling, so real novel about a Russian international arms dealer. Silva will be at Dallas' Barnes and Noble across from Northpark for a book signing on July 31. 

7) I got a free pass to The Dark Knight, so I'll be going to see the new Batman movie today. I see a movie on its premiere day once a year. This is definitely the one. I'm going to go into this film disregarding the hype of Heath Ledger's Oscar candicacy. I'm not saying he doesn't deserve it. But I always question the media's fixation of an actor who has died before his last film comes out. From the trailers it looks like Ledger is outstanding. But I don't want to be swayed by the media's outlandish hype. I'll also try to get a review from Rangers' closer C.J. Wilson, who told me he would see the movie this weekend in Minnesota. I once did a season's worth of movie reviews with Wilson when he played for the Frisco RoughRiders. He is as knowlegable about films as anyone I know.

8) Nothing like reading Drudge in the morning, who has a stunning report on Obama's upcoming trip to Israel and Europe. Also, found this outrageous story.

9) Is it like 1920 or something? Greg Norman is leading the British Open? I guess let's give credit to his new bride, Chris Evert, still my all-time favorite women's tennis player.