By ANDY NEWBERRY, Scripps Howard News Service

The Texas Rangers may have been a sleeping giant the rest of the American League hoped would never wake up.

The Rangers weren't usually the worst team around. They would score some runs, put a couple of guys in the All-Star Game and then wilt because of heat or lack of pitching.

In almost any walk of life, one of the most important things is Plan B.

The best-laid plans don't always work out perfectly. Sometimes you miss a turn and an alternate route is preferable to turning around.

When the Dallas Cowboys didn't call on draft day, we had to find another job. When my wife didn't land a rich movie star, I became a good Plan B.

The Dallas Cowboys were one of the most impressive teams in the NFL on Sunday.

For three quarters.

Tony Romo was an excellent quarterback.

For three quarters.

As a result of Romo's mistakes, the Cowboys had a historic meltdown in a 27-24 loss, their first loss after holding a 14-point fourth-quarter lead in franchise history.

The Texas Rangers put the American League West away last September with one hand tied behind their back.

They won without their best player on the field. The 2010 American League Most Valuable Player did less than Jorge Cantu to help the Rangers down the stretch.

If you want proof that winning cures just about everything, look at the Texas Rangers' performance at the trade deadline.

Texas traded four prospects, or suspects in some cases, to solidify its shaky bullpen.

Brilliant is the consensus on the work of general manager Jon Daniels.

I was going to be a little sad when Sunday afternoon's Women's World Cup ended regardless of the result.

But the result certainly didn't help matters as I hurriedly packed up and came to work.

My daughter, Andi Nicole, had become very engaged in watching the U.S. women, and the team had provided many across this nation a lot of excitement.

The Texas Rangers probably needed a very short-term memory to get to the World Series a year ago.

They had to forget past failures in July and August. They had to bury playoff busts at the hands of the Yankees.

They had to forget their manager's embarrassing drug mishap and their history of ineptitude on the pitching rubber.

Like most players who hit the 3,000-hit mark Derek Jeter's best days are behind him.

And this Hall-of-Fame magic number really wasn't necessary to get the face of the this era's New York Yankees to Cooperstown.

Jeter's place in history was probably secure when he made that improbable flip relay to retire Oakland's Jeremy Giambi in that 2001 playoff game.

Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington has known all year that he'd be packing for a trip to the All-Star game.

The beauty is that the skipper for the American League champions will be taking Michael Young with him, not meeting him there.

There was some thought this spring that the seven-time All-Star would be playing elsewhere by now.

The Texas Rangers haven't exactly been as hot as the Texas weather lately, but neither have their American League West brethren in Seattle, Oakland or Anaheim.