Cowgal
05-21-2004, 11:57 AM
Alex Rodriguez returns to Texas this weekend as a New York Yankee. With the Cowboys, do we have to go all the way back to Calvin Hill playing for the Redskins to compare the situation?
Probably. They didn't have free agency in the days that it really mattered. In the '90s, for the most part, the Cowboys fans couldn't get too upset about the players that left. Still, with free agency in the NFL, the great players don't usually leave. Emmitt Smith left, but it was long after his great days were done. Baseball created that style, and I think it alienates the fans. I think it's silly how fans are upset with Alex Rodriguez. That's all kind of goofy to me, but football doesn't do it and that's one of the reasons football was able to shoot forward in the '70s and '80s to become the dominant game in America. The players had a certain identity with the hometown team, and the fans liked it that way.
But wasn't it always easier to love a player when he was coming to Dallas – players like Deion Sanders and Charles Haley?
This is what I have always found funny – and I may have been on the outside looking in too long – but I do find it funny how people would boo Deion Sanders and Charles Haley. It's a great line from a Jerry Seinfeld routine years ago: Fans cheer for the laundry. I think that's unfortunate. I don't understand it. If you don't like Deion Sanders and you're booing him in San Francisco because he wears a different shirt, I am still booing the guy. When I watched John Elway play, I was basically a cheerleader in the booth and people were critical of me, asking me how I can be so excited. I am getting paid to watch this guy play. It doesn't bother me that he has a different jersey on. Fans, to me, are just silly that way. Even when I was just a pure fan, when I saw greatness, I respected it and I cheered it. Just because they change shirts doesn't mean anything to me.
Somebody who has never changed shirts is Larry Allen. Is he going to have to change his habits a little?
I don't understand what's going on with Larry Allen. I think the Cowboys would like to dump his salary and move on, but nobody's going to pick up his salary. I would like to think he's going change his habits. He shouldn't be that old. He may be an older 32, but linemen, especially as good as Larry Allen was, should be able to play into their mid-30s. And that's why Jerry Jones gave him the huge contract. Now, it looks like a huge contract they are going to have to eat, because Allen is looking like he's not worth the money. If he can find the motivation to get in shape and get back to anything close to what he was, the Cowboys' line problems are pretty much over. If he doesn't, it not only causes problems on the offensive line, it causes problems with the salary cap. Larry Allen is a big problem right now, and they need to find a way to fix it. I don't know if they can.
Bill Parcells doesn't seem like the kind of guy who can kiss and make up. Wouldn't you find it hard to believe that he and Allen have?
I don't think they can, and I don't think they will. But I like that. We've been a long time with Barry Switzer, Chan Gailey and Dave Campo, who also had to kiss up to the players, and the inmates were running the asylum. Jimmy Johnson didn't tolerate it, and Bill Parcells doesn't tolerate it. Parcells strikes me as a guy that, once you get in his doghouse, you might as well get used to eating dog food because you ain't ever getting out. I don't think Larry Allen ever will.
With Troy Hambrick gone, Julius Jones will be thrust into a big role. Are you of the belief that a team needs a franchise back to contend for a Super Bowl?
I don't know that you need a franchise running back, but I know you don't need Troy Hambrick. If Julius Jones is the running back that the Cowboys think he can be, then the Cowboys are going to be better. If Jones is not the running back the Cowboys think he can be, then the Cowboys are still going to be better. Hambrick does nothing for this team, and it was time to move him out. I don't know what Jones can do. It will be the story line of the early part of this season. The Cowboys took a high draft pick and passed on two guys that everybody else said were great. I still say if Steven Jackson and Kevin Jones turn out to be great players and Julius Jones is average or below average, then there will be some grief to pay for that. You don't need a franchise running back, but it can help as the Cowboys showed all the way through the '90s. The bottom line is that I am more than fine with Hambrick being let go.
Probably. They didn't have free agency in the days that it really mattered. In the '90s, for the most part, the Cowboys fans couldn't get too upset about the players that left. Still, with free agency in the NFL, the great players don't usually leave. Emmitt Smith left, but it was long after his great days were done. Baseball created that style, and I think it alienates the fans. I think it's silly how fans are upset with Alex Rodriguez. That's all kind of goofy to me, but football doesn't do it and that's one of the reasons football was able to shoot forward in the '70s and '80s to become the dominant game in America. The players had a certain identity with the hometown team, and the fans liked it that way.
But wasn't it always easier to love a player when he was coming to Dallas – players like Deion Sanders and Charles Haley?
This is what I have always found funny – and I may have been on the outside looking in too long – but I do find it funny how people would boo Deion Sanders and Charles Haley. It's a great line from a Jerry Seinfeld routine years ago: Fans cheer for the laundry. I think that's unfortunate. I don't understand it. If you don't like Deion Sanders and you're booing him in San Francisco because he wears a different shirt, I am still booing the guy. When I watched John Elway play, I was basically a cheerleader in the booth and people were critical of me, asking me how I can be so excited. I am getting paid to watch this guy play. It doesn't bother me that he has a different jersey on. Fans, to me, are just silly that way. Even when I was just a pure fan, when I saw greatness, I respected it and I cheered it. Just because they change shirts doesn't mean anything to me.
Somebody who has never changed shirts is Larry Allen. Is he going to have to change his habits a little?
I don't understand what's going on with Larry Allen. I think the Cowboys would like to dump his salary and move on, but nobody's going to pick up his salary. I would like to think he's going change his habits. He shouldn't be that old. He may be an older 32, but linemen, especially as good as Larry Allen was, should be able to play into their mid-30s. And that's why Jerry Jones gave him the huge contract. Now, it looks like a huge contract they are going to have to eat, because Allen is looking like he's not worth the money. If he can find the motivation to get in shape and get back to anything close to what he was, the Cowboys' line problems are pretty much over. If he doesn't, it not only causes problems on the offensive line, it causes problems with the salary cap. Larry Allen is a big problem right now, and they need to find a way to fix it. I don't know if they can.
Bill Parcells doesn't seem like the kind of guy who can kiss and make up. Wouldn't you find it hard to believe that he and Allen have?
I don't think they can, and I don't think they will. But I like that. We've been a long time with Barry Switzer, Chan Gailey and Dave Campo, who also had to kiss up to the players, and the inmates were running the asylum. Jimmy Johnson didn't tolerate it, and Bill Parcells doesn't tolerate it. Parcells strikes me as a guy that, once you get in his doghouse, you might as well get used to eating dog food because you ain't ever getting out. I don't think Larry Allen ever will.
With Troy Hambrick gone, Julius Jones will be thrust into a big role. Are you of the belief that a team needs a franchise back to contend for a Super Bowl?
I don't know that you need a franchise running back, but I know you don't need Troy Hambrick. If Julius Jones is the running back that the Cowboys think he can be, then the Cowboys are going to be better. If Jones is not the running back the Cowboys think he can be, then the Cowboys are still going to be better. Hambrick does nothing for this team, and it was time to move him out. I don't know what Jones can do. It will be the story line of the early part of this season. The Cowboys took a high draft pick and passed on two guys that everybody else said were great. I still say if Steven Jackson and Kevin Jones turn out to be great players and Julius Jones is average or below average, then there will be some grief to pay for that. You don't need a franchise running back, but it can help as the Cowboys showed all the way through the '90s. The bottom line is that I am more than fine with Hambrick being let go.