03:01 AM CST on Thursday, November 24, 2005

By CHUCK CARLTON / The Dallas Morning News

Whoever said it’s the thought that counts for holiday gift giving never received a flannel shirt, stocking cap and underwear instead of an electric vibrating football game.

Focus on the thinking, instead of the thought.

Do your homework on a sports gift. For example, don’t give a Cowboy fan anything in black and gold, just because it’s NFL licensed. Keep anything burnt orange away from Aggies you know.

Consider the following list a beginning, not an end.

Try to find likes and dislikes. Is the subject a fan or a participant? Traditional sports, or extreme ones?

And never give flannel shirts, stocking caps or underwear.

E-mail ccarlton@dallasnews.com

Fat interior design

Meet the sports poster, redone for the 21st century and the 12-year-old in all of us.

Fathead.com

Online retailer Fathead.com offers life-sized cutouts of NFL players or helmets that can be attached to walls. Roy Williams is the 11th best-selling player.

Online retailer Fathead.com offers life-sized cutouts of NFL players or helmets that can be attached — and easily removed, they say — from bedroom walls and offices.

Fathead, launched on Sept. 8, has a solid fan base with Cowboys fans. Their helmet (right, $95) was the second highest selling, behind Pittsburgh but well ahead of the Eagles.

In player sales, Roy Williams (above, $145) ranks 11th and Julius Jones ranks 12th. The top five players: Michael Vick, Ben Roethlisberger, Brett Favre, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.

Don’t underestimate the importance of hero worship. According to the Washington Post, Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito kept a poster of former Philadelphia Phillies slugger Mike Schmidt in his chambers.

Not home to watch the big game? SLING IT!

The Slingbox isn’t targeted specifically at sports fans. But the new communications product makes the list because it is so cool in concept and execution. It’s hard to ignore as the ultimate road warrior gadget — even though it never travels.

Slingbox connects your home TV and your computer, anywhere on the planet.

The device fits between your cable or satellite box and your TV. Add a broadband connection and router, which can come from your home network.

The result: You can watch your local TV stations and even change channels via your laptop computer as long as you have a broadband connection. You can view the Mavericks-Spurs game in Boston, Paris or Osaka on your laptop by using the software that comes with Slingbox and providing your user name and password.

The video isn’t broadcast quality, but most reviews say it is as good or better than most streaming video on the net. There are no monthly subscription fees, either.

It’s a new product, so the quality of the software should continue to improve.

It retails for about $250 and is available at most major computer and electronics stores as well as major online retailers.

For the couch potato

Anybody can buy Bull Durham and Hoosiers for the stocking of their favorite sports fan and call it a day.

It’s harder to find a particular movi that will produce an incredulous look and an eventual smile.

Here are some obscure but gift-worthy sports-themed DVDs. Don’t worry. There isn’t a Side Out or Youngblood in the group. Most retail for $14.99 or less with the exception of The White Shadow.

61*

Even Yankee haters will wince about what happened to Roger Maris as he pursued Babe Ruth’s season home run record in 1961. Director Billy Crystal knows his subject by heart. Barry Pepper and Thomas Jane are letter perfect as Maris and teammate Mickey Mantle.

Rocky III

OK, the first one got the praise and Oscars. But the third one in the series propelled Mr. T and Hulk Hogan to icon status. Some people think the movie is as much about T’s character, Mike Tyson forerunner Clubber Lang, as it is Rocky Balboa. You have to love any movie that has sports artist LeRoy Neiman playing a ring announcer.

The White Shadow (first season)

The fondly remembered series, released on Nov. 8, was ground-breaking because it accurately depicted both an urban high school and basketball. The kids look, talk and interact like ’70s teens. Star center Warren Coolidge reverse dunks like a prime-time player. Even coach Ken Reeves has a nice shot. At 6-6 and with a knee brace, actor and former collegiate player Ken Howard resembles the typical NBA 12th man he was in the show.

Rudy

Before he became Frodo’s gardener, Sean Astin added a new chapter to Notre Dame football history as real-life walk-on Rudy Ruettiger. With the Irish now back in the Top 25, this could be a great warm-up for a BCS game. Look for a very young Vince Vaughn as Jamie O’Hara.

Prefontaine

The name has receded into history, but in the ’70s, no American runner was bigger than Steve Prefontaine. He made track a spectator sport at Oregon before an untimely death. Jared Leto captures the driven Prefontaine. The supporting cast includes R. Lee Ermey (underplaying a role for a change). Some people may prefer the other Prefontaine movie, Without Limits, starring Billy Crudup as Prefontaine.

Miracle

People still get lumps in their throats thinking about the 1980 U.S. upset of the great Soviet hockey team. This movie is for them and anybody who remembers that moment. Kurt Russell looks, sounds and acts like U.S. coach Herb Brooks down to the polyester pants in a role that deserved an Oscar nomination.

The Gumball Rally

This relic from the ’70s remains the first and best movie based on the Cannonball Run unofficial coast-to-coast race flaunting of the 55 mph speed limit. It’s also the most realistic, thanks to the absence of Dom DeLuise and aging Rat Packers.

Net Worth

In a Canadian made-for-TV movie, hockey star Ted Lindsay tries to start a players union in the 1950s. Bad things happen. You’ll never look at Gordie Howe or the Conn Smythe Trophy quite the same way after this movie. And you may understand why players have been distrustful of management since.

Le Mans

Steve McQueen, fast cars and ground-breaking cinematography.

Root, root, root for the home team …

For those fans who love everything about Big D including its teams, here’s a gift breakdown.

COWBOYS: America’s team might be trying to muscle into Wal-Mart territory as America’s retailer. Just about anything that can carry a star can be found on the team’s Web site. But we couldn’t actually find a holiday natural — a star shaped like the star. An interesting offering was a light-up snowman ornament, resting on a football ($9.99). It plays music and lights up when you press the bottom.

RANGERS: No jokes about asking for starting pitchers. One possibility is the Ranger gift basket — OK, metal pail — that includes a cap and game-used baseball for $25. You also can have your name laser engraved on a full-sized Louisville Slugger for $60. A mini-bat goes for $22.

MAVERICKS: Mark Cuban’s blue sport coat has yet to appear among the team’s merchandise. But his team clearly thinks outside the box on merchandise. Besides scores of expected items, there’s an air freshener modeled after a jersey ($2.99), marketed to those who’ve never inside a locker room after a game. Also unique is the Leather Mavs Bear ($27.99) featuring a fresh-off-the bike bear in riding leathers, sunglasses, earrings, NBA Logoman chain and a Mavs hat. Send one to the NBA office.

STARS: A Mike Modano jersey goes for $459 online. But you can get a bargain on a jersey bearing the name of a 500-goal scorer for just $69.95. Pat Verbeek? No. Joe Nieuwendyk? No. The mystery scorer is current Colorado center Pierre Turgeon (below). As Stars fans know all too well, he recorded just 42 of those goals in three Dallas seasons. The Frisco StarsCenter had about 25 Stars Turgeon jerseys earlier this month.

Fantasyland

For those with big budgets or big dreams, Neiman Marcus has become a traditional starting point.

The hard-to-fit-under-the-tree gift this year from the Neiman Marcus catalogue is a full-sized replica of Dan Wheldon’s winning car from the Indianapolis 500. Also included is a simulator and flat-screen monitor so you can compete with drivers from Pole Day to Bump Day. The video game includes the Brickyard, Texas Motor Speedway and other IRL tracks. The down side? The game includes race introductions by ABC voices, which means Todd Harris.

Cost: $65,000. For an extra $5,000, you can add a 2006 Indianapolis 500 hospitality package for two.

Home cooking

How do you dress up the humble crock pot, which is useful but not necessarily stylish? Slap a NASCAR logo on it. Crockpotcraze.com has slow cookers featuring 17 individual Nextel Cup drivers, including Jeff Gordon and the retired Richard “the King” Petty. So just try to match the Home Depot colors of Tony Stewart with your décor. The item lists for $59.90.

Joystick time

The majority of games are released in the third and fourth quarter, specifically targeting the holiday market. Most games do an obligatory upgrade, but newer is not necessarily better.

“Sometimes a game comes out that is graphically amazing,” said Dan Morris, associate publisher of PC Gamer, “but the realism of the game play takes a step back or the game contains a design bug.”

Here’s Morris’ pick of the top sports games. Game heavyweight EA Sports has four of the top five. As usual, consider the game platform (PC, Xbox, PS2, etc.) and ratings.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2006

Morris rates this the best of the golf games and one of the best overall. This version adds a rivals mode that allows you to play stars from various eras, from Scottish golfer Old Tom Morris (no relation) to Fort Worth’s Ben Hogan to Arnie and Jack.

Madden NFL 2006

The 800-pound gorilla of sports games is back, bigger and better than ever. New is a superstar mode that allows you to create a player from his first contract signing to early endorsements to putting together a dream crib that hopefully looks nothing like the Madden Cruiser.

Blitz: The League

You’ve probably seen the ads featuring Lawrence Taylor. Think of it as counter-programming to Madden by game-maker Midway. “It definitely has the dark side of sports,” Morris said. “It’s a sports game with a narrative.” The on-field action is solid, Morris said. It contains violence, blood and strong language, which makes it exactly like the NFL.

NBA Live 2006

The game gets high marks from Morris for a detailed approach, thanks to motion-capture technology. “The characters are as photorealistic as computer graphics can get,” Morris said. “You can see sweat in individual drops.”

Fight Night Round 2

Fighting games clog the market, but a good boxing series has been hard to find until now. “It’s a very detailed controller system,” Morris said, who described it as infinitely more realistic than most fighting games. “It’s very nitty, gritty boxing.”

Reading material

Several literary heavyweights have hit the shelves for the holidays. We’re still waiting for the definitive Richard Hidalgo biography, since every other player/coach/team has been covered.

The Education of a Coach

Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Halberstam ventures back to sports. He goes behind the scenes with the world champion New England Patriots in search of Bill Belichick’s elusive personality and apparently finds it. His next book will be in search of the Patriots defense.

The Drive From Within and When Nothing Else Matters Michael Jordan’s Last Comeback

The first book gives you the authorized Jordan, straight from No. 23 and co-author Mark Vancil. Jordan credits his success to teamwork, which means we all must have greatly underrated Bill Cartwright, Luc Longley and Bill Wennington. The second is a warts-and-all portrayal of Jordan in his last hurrah with the Washington Wizards. Author Michael Leahy, a Washington Post staff writer, shows a side of Jordan that has eluded most media.

Now I Can Die in Peace

Ever wondered what you were missing by not having your life revolve around a seemingly cursed baseball team? ESPN.com’s Bill Simmons gives the New England spin as an opinionated, witty, pop-culture-versed, 30-something member of Red Sox Nation. Of course, the book ends with the 2004 World Series.

No Excuses

If anybody should be allowed self-pity, it is Ken Maynard. He was born without the lower portions of his arms and legs. He became a junior high football lineman and champion wrestler in high school. The title came from the advice Maynard got from his parents.