By luck or design, SportsDay's reporters have tracked down the news at home and abroad

10:00 PM CDT on Saturday, July 8, 2006

By CHUCK CARLTON / The Dallas Morning News

The writers remember: Rick Gosselin | Bill Nichols | Cathy Harasta | Chip Brown | Gerry Fraley | Gary Jacobson | Frank Luksa

Sometimes, a scoop involves planning, inside knowledge and intense interviewing.

Sometimes, breaking news comes from something as simple as being in the right place at the right time.

One of the most famous behind-the-scenes stories in SportsDay's 25 years came about via a chance meeting at a Mexican restaurant.

Jerry Jones was in the process of buying the Cowboys from Bum Bright in 1989. People were wondering about the fate of legendary coach Tom Landry, although the die had been cast. Coach-in-waiting Jimmy Johnson arrived in Dallas by private jet and was part of a meeting between Jones and Bright.

After Jones and Johnson escaped from Bright's office and went to The Mansion on Turtle Creek, Jones recommended a quiet spot called Mia's.

The restaurant also happened to be the dinner destination of Morning News college writer Ivan Maisel.

"It's better to be lucky than good," said Maisel, now with ESPN.

He was going with his future wife, Meg, who had just returned from an extended business trip. After spending three hours in The Mansion's lobby, Maisel had asked his office for a break.

As Maisel and his date waited at the door for a table, Jones and Johnson walked past. A stunned Maisel waited and followed the pair to the bar.

"I walked up and tapped Jimmy on the shoulder, because I was covering college football," Maisel said. " 'What are you doing here?' he said. I asked, 'What are you doing here?' "

After a brief conversation, Maisel exited through the back door, so as not to spook Jones and Johnson. The frantic search for a pay phone in the day before cells took him down an alley and to a gas station. His first call was to Chris Worthington, then the No. 2 person at SportsDay.

Maisel remembers explaining everything in about three seconds.

"The adrenaline was in full course," Maisel said.

Maisel wanted to know what to do. Worthington suggested calling a photographer, a suggestion for which Maisel will always be grateful. J. Mark Kegans arrived and photographed a cooperative Jones and Johnson.

On the way out, they walked past Maisel.

"I guess you got what you came for," one of the two said.

The next day, the story ran on the front page of the Morning News , sending a message of a celebratory dinner and a done deal.

On this page are some other SportsDay back stories from the reporters who covered the events.

E-mail ccarlton@dallasnews.com

Story: Despite two Super Bowl victories, Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson aren't meant to be together in the same franchise.

The back story: This is my 17th year with SportsDay, and one moment clearly stands out from the rest. Ed Werder and I were covering the 1994 NFL meetings in Orlando, Fla., for SportsDay, and we were sitting in the lobby bar with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. At 3 in the morning.

The Cowboys were coming off back-to-back Super Bowl championships, and we were discussing the importance of the various elements in that success. How important, Jones asked the two of us, was a franchise quarterback like Troy Aikman? How important was an NFL rushing champion like Emmitt Smith? How important was this? How important was that? This went on for five to 10 minutes. Finally, Jones asked us, "How important is the head coach?"

Jones concluded that 500 coaches could have done what Jimmy Johnson had done as head coach of the Cowboys in 1992-93. And Jones told us so that night. The internal struggle for credit and control between owner and coach had reached its apex.

Less than eight hours later, after hearing what Jones had to say, Johnson left the meetings in a huff. Less than a week later, Johnson was no longer the coach of the Cowboys. And the team that rose so quickly to prominence in the 1990s began its slow decline.

Story: The Stars win the 1999 Stanley Cup, stopping the Buffalo Sabres on the road in Game 6. Brett Hull delivers the game-winner in triple overtime.

The back story: Everybody had the plan down that night. If the Stars and Sabres went to overtime, we were going to hold the paper until the latest possible moment.

We were sitting there watching this terrific game. One overtime. Another overtime. You're writing things down and looking at your watch, wondering if you're going to get anything into the paper.

Then, in the blink of the eye, you've got the goal.

You make the one phone call after writing 10 different stories, substituting the winning and losing teams. Then all hell breaks loose, with people shouting, "No goal!" Then [Buffalo coach] Lindy Ruff is on ESPN as we head to the elevators, sounding angry.

After we filed our stories, we spent about three hours in the locker room, not knowing if we made the paper or not. We were talking to the team doctor, who gave Tim Cowlishaw really good stuff about six guys with torn ACLs who had "flu-like symptoms" four days earlier.

When we got home, the first thing we did was go to the airport gift shop. Sure enough, it was there: Stars Win.

It was a great journalistic experience. From top to bottom, it was a total team effort. It made you feel good to be a part of it.

Story: Twenty-five years of covering the best and brightest for SportsDay.

The back story: In the line of duty, I jumped from a plane, flew (briefly) a plane, rode in an Indy 500 pace car and traveled by train from Chicago to Oakland, Calif., with John Madden. I rode a luge in Lake Placid and a chase boat in the Pacific during America's Cup.

Since becoming a full-time SportsDay employee in September 1981, I have reported for the section from 10 nations and 35 states, with assignments that included nine Olympics, two Super Bowls, two Masters, three World Series and numerous editions of the Kentucky Derby, Indy 500, Final Four and Cotton Bowl.

The strangest interlude came in 1993. I was covering the Blue Jays-White Sox playoff series in Chicago when my laptop shorted out on the day Michael Jordan announced his retirement. I asked to use a demo computer in the window of a store on Michigan Avenue, where I typed a Jordan column while nodding, as pleasantly as possible, to passersby. I paid the store to print the column, which was faxed to The Morning News . And then Jordan had the nerve to un-retire.

Story: Texas wins the national title after Vince Young leads a game-winning drive in the final two minutes against No. 1 USC in the 2006 Rose Bowl.

The back story: Texas fans always feel that their football team should be in the hunt for the national title. And they had to suffer through John Mackovic's 66-3 loss to UCLA and Mack Brown's five-game losing streak to Oklahoma (with two of the losses more closely resembling out-of-control basketball scores).

But then a coach known for trying to control everything, especially how his team was perceived, let go of some control.

Brown conceded it to a street-savvy quarterback with gifts straight out of Greek mythology. The result: A group with a soft reputation in big games morphed into a national champion with a gangsta attitude.

Watching Mack Brown and Vince Young grow their relationship, forming an unlikely yet perfect brotherhood, was one of the more compelling stories I've ever covered. Even in a football- crazy state that has just about seen it all, it was captivating stuff.

Story: Nolan Ryan pitches his record seventh no-hitter against the Toronto Blue Jays on May 1, 1991.

The back story: Every one of Ryan's 129 starts with the Rangers was an event. Ryan had charisma, and there was always the possibility that something special would happen when he pitched.

On May 1, 1991, at old Arlington Stadium, now a parking lot, Ryan made me look like a savant.

MILTON HINNANT / DMN

Nolan Ryan (right) and his early inning curveball convinced Gerry Fraley that Arlington Stadium fans were in for something special.

In the second inning, Ryan struck out Toronto's John Olerud, Mark Whiten and Glenallen Hill. Plate umpire Tim Tschida called all three out on curveballs.

When Ryan had the curveball working early, the opponent was in deep trouble. The sharp benders to the Blue Jays hitters were extraordinary even by Ryan's standards.

Ryan was 44 at the time, and Toronto was an elite team. That did not matter. After what Ryan did in the second, I was convinced he had another no-hitter in him.

The editors in the office laughed when I called to tell them what was going to happen. By the seventh inning, they were scrambling. When Ryan finished off his seventh no-hitter by striking out Roberto Alomar, we were prepared for full coverage.

Story: The Morning News documented steroid use at the local high school level.

The back story: In February 2005, my colleague Gregg Jones and I broke a story that said nine Colleyville Heritage athletes admitted using anabolic steroids, one of the largest cases of confirmed steroid use at a U.S. high school. The story was part of an investigation that revealed widespread steroid use in Texas and helped trigger nationwide discussions about steroids in high schools.

President Bush cited the reports as Congress renewed its scrutiny of Major League Baseball, warning that teens are mimicking their heroes.

Texas and other states enacted laws and policies to help fight youth steroid abuse.

Gregg and I spent more than eight months on the project. Neither of us has worked on anything that generated more response from readers and other media. Coaches and parents from Texas and around the nation requested copies of the stories so they could give them to their athletes and children.

Story: The longtime columnist learns that the Dallas newspaper war has ended in 1991.

The back story: On my way to work a Sunday Cowboys game at Texas Stadium in December of 1991, I discovered I was out of work. I heard on the radio that my employer, the Dallas Times Herald, would fold the next day.

This complicated my future, since I planned to ask for a raise on Monday. Also because the Fort Worth Star-Telegram claimed it had no openings, although editors may have merely recalled columns that I wrote there during the '60s.

Anyway, SportsDay was a major factor in winning the Great Newspaper War in Dallas.

And I was fortunate to join The Morning News staff three weeks later. Thus, I own the distinction of working for all three metropolitan dailies and helping put only one out of business.