Prosser High grad takes Dallas Cowboys offense to No. 1

So it’s safe to say Prosser High grad Kellen Moore is doing a great job as the Dallas Cowboys’ offensive coordinator.

After four weeks of National Football League play, the Cowboys are the No. 1-ranked offense in the league, averaging 509.5 yards per contest — even though Dallas is off to a 1-3 start.

But I have to laugh, because the number of tweets after Cowboys games from angry fans wanting the Cowboys to fire Moore is amazing.

Here’s a thought for you Cowboys fans: Maybe you should worry about your defense, which is ranked 30th out of 32 teams.

By the way, Green Bay has the second-best offense right now at 445.5 yards, while the Seahawks have the No. 3 offense at 416.2 yards per game.

Unfortunately, Seattle has the worst-ranked defense, sitting at No. 32 at 476.8 yards a contest.

The difference between Seattle and Dallas? The Seahawks are 4-0, while the Cowboys are 1-3.

Tri-City Dust Devils

That answer we were all looking for on what the Tri-City Dust Devils’ situation for 2021 will look like?

Hold off on that for awhile.

Major League Baseball (MLB) and Minor League Baseball (MiLB) have been in talks since last year to determine a new Professional Baseball Agreement (PBA).

The talks, for months, have been contentious.

But now, the parties seem to be doing a better job of working together.

On Sept. 30, the latest PBA between MLB and MiLB — an agreement that has lasted over a century — expired.

Major League Baseball decided last year that it wanted to streamline its organizational system with Minor League Baseball.

So when this latest version of the PBA — which was a 20-year agreement — expired, MLB’s idea was to eliminated some 42 minor league teams across the country.

It has sparked nothing but frustration and outrage among community members of those teams that were possibly headed for affiliation elimination.

That list at one time included the Dust Devils, who have been an affiliate of the San Diego Padres for the last few years.

The Dust Devils franchise was on the original list of the 42 teams being cut that a New York Times story had back in December.

But since then, there has been discussions that Tri-City may survive the cut.

While we were all expecting the negotiations to be completed by the end of September, that hasn’t happened.

And it’s fair to say both parties are trying to work out the final details of a new agreement.

DG Elmore, the chairman of MiLB’s PBA negotiating committee, released this statement last week:

“For more than a century, Major League Baseball (MLB) and Minor League Baseball (MiLB) have worked together to grow the game of baseball into America’s Pastime. The current agreement between MLB and MiLB expires today.

“Minor League Baseball’s negotiators have been meeting with MLB to reach a new agreement — one that would continue the relationship Major League Baseball and preserve affordable, family friendly entertainment in each of our 150 communities across the nation.

“Minor League Baseball will continue to work in good faith over the coming weeks to reach a well-designed and fair agreement that meets MLB’s player development needs and continues the relationship between the teams for generations to come.”

It might take as much as two more months to get things straightened out.

Brent Miles, team president of the Dust Devils, said he didn’t want to talk about anything until the negotiations are complete.

But here are a few things we do know:

▪ MLB wants to get rid of any short-season leagues that begin in mid-June. In the Northwest League’s case, the season would actually begin in April and run through Labor Day weekend. That’s a change from 78 regular-season games to about 140.

▪ MLB and the short-season Appalachian League — with teams in Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia — have agreed that the minor league will become a summer wood bat college league.

▪ It’s possible that not all eight current Northwest League teams may survive any cut.

▪ And Miles has made it clear earlier this summer that there will be Dust Devils baseball in 2021. What that looks like is still unclear.

It could be as a long-season affiliate. Or it could be as a franchise in the West Coast League, the region’s premier summer wood bat college league, which would start in June.

Nothing is clear just yet.

And it looks like we’ll have to wait for at least three weeks to two months to get an answer.

College athletics

• Lewis-Clark State College was named the men’s basketball preseason favorite in the Cascade Collegiate Conference coaches poll, released on Wednesday.

What makes it interesting is LCSC is now a full member of the CCC after playing as a member of the Frontier Conference – with teams in Idaho and Montana – for years.

LCSC has one Mid-Columbia connection on its roster: senior Jake Albright, who spent two seasons at Walla Walla Community College.

LCSC opens its season on Nov. 27 against former Frontier Conference foe Montana Tech at the two-day Taco Bell Shootout in Caldwell, Idaho.

The remaining top four picks in the 12-team league are College of Idaho in second, Oregon Institute of Technology in third, and Southern Oregon in fourth.

• I checked on the Air Force-Navy college football game last weekend (Air Force won 40-7) to see how Richland High grad Lakota Wills did at linebacker for the victorious Falcons.

But it turns out Wills has taken a turnback year at Air Force.

Air Force cadets can take one turnback year during their time at the academy, especially if they feel they need the break.

It makes sense for Wills. This was to be his final season for the Falcons, and at the time when he made the decision, there was no guarantee that any football games would be played.

As it was, anywhere from 35 to 40 cadets took turnbacks for this semester — a number of them being regular starters, such as Wills.