Troy Aikman: Hall of Fame

[dalboy]

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:...229_aikman.jpg
my favorite player of all time is Troy. My favorite Cowboy moment is with troy, it is when he was was holding the #1 sign up in superbowl 92. I was crying on the ground when he left. but I rememberd no one will ever forget the name Aikman.

I could stay here all day typing about aikman but I won't waste your time its just I still wish he was playing.he is what you would call the great american player. he is one of those guys who walked the walk but barely talked he just did what he was payed to do win championships.

[bbgun]

This is one of my favorite photos of him. Even though we didn't prevail that day, he never ever gave up.

[jesusdlg]

Originally Posted by Hostile

On the 6 year anniversary of the announcement of his retirement we Honor him.

I have a story that I want to one day tell Troy Aikman, not that I expect him to care. Maybe he will. I've shared this with the forum before.

My Grandfather played and scouted for the Packers. My whole family are Packers fans. The first game I ever watched was the Colts vs. Cowboys in Super Bowl V. My Grandpa, dad, and uncle were all upset at one point over Unitas not playing. So, wanting to impress them I announced that I was a Cowboys fan and they all were telling me that was great.

[View Full Quote]I had no idea they meant for that day only, and I think they had no idea I meant forever. Grandpa died a year later and every summer for 2 weeks we went and stayed at my Grandma's in Albuquerque, New Mexico. One summer all the kids were swimming and I was watching a pre-season game, Cowboys vs. Steelers and my Grandma came in to ask me why I wasn't swimming with the rest of the crew.

I told her that I wanted to watch the game and to my surprise (she hated football) she sat down and asked me to explain the damn game to her. She had already had a few when she arrived and was feeling no pain. At one point in the game Madden was talking about Landry's love for Bill Bates because "he hits anything that moves." By this time Grandma was into it. I mean really into it. She would stand up (unsteadily) and shout "kill him, break his legs" on just about every solid tackle. I was laughing my rear end off.

So Bates has to tackle Franco Harris on one play and Franco just destroyed him. Madden said, "Mr. Bates, welcome to the NFL." My Grandma told Madden to shut up. The very next play Bates knifed through and absolutely drilled Franco. He blew him up. He got "Jacked Up" kind of hit. I remember Franco's shoes flew off. Madden said, "Mr. Harris, welcome back to the NFL." Grandma lifted her bourbon glass in tribute. I roared.

We had a ball. It created a bond between my Grandma and me. To the shock of the family she announced she was a Cowboys fan too. We talked after every game for the next 3 years. Bill Bates was her favorite player.

In 1988 my Grandma, a voracious smoker, got lung cancer. In October of that year, the Cowboys stunk, and we got the call that she was dying. All the grandkids were asked to come say goodbye. One by one we went in to see her and say our goodbyes. I was the last.

She said to me, "Oh Mikey, what are we going to do about our Cowboys." She knew. Sick as she was she had paid attention. I said, "don't worry Grandma, the Cowboys are going to draft Troy Aikman, the QB at UCLA and win two more Super Bowls." She smiled, squeezed my hand, and went to sleep, exhausted from her day. It was the last thing anyone ever said to her and the last thing she ever said. She died in her sleep that night.

The Cowboys went 3-13, Jerry bought the team and hired Jimmy to replace Tom Landry, and we drafted Troy Aikman. Even though his rookie year was rough I could see the greatness in him. I still say he is the most poised QB I have ever seen in the pocket and what else can you say about his accuracy?

After the Cowboys won Super Bowl XXVIII and everyone had left my apartment I had one thing left to do. I went out on the balcony and looked up to heaven and talked one last time to my Grandma. "We did it."

Troy Aikman will always hold a special place in my heart because of that promise being fulfilled.

What a great story!, congratulations for those great moments!



Go Cowboys!

[rcaldw]

I've often thought that "you don't pick your favorite players, your favorite players pick you."

By that I mean, you don't have very many TRULY favorite players, and the ones you do have you can't really fully explain why they turned out to be your favorites, as compared with the MANY players that you just like to watch and root for.

Your favorite players are the ones you live and die with. Your favorite players are the ones that you could almost (I said almost ), leave your favorite team over if they were to be traded. Your favorite players are the ones that you bask in their glory and hurt in their failures.

Some of your favorite players are great, some of them are just good but for some reason they captured your imagination.

In baseball, I had Cesar Cedeno. For some reason, as a kid, he was just the greatest player I thought I had ever seen play. In baseball I've never had another favorite player like that.

In basketball it was Lew Alcindor, who became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Later it was Robert Reid of the Rockets, and now it is Dirk of the Mavs.

But football was always my favorite sport, and in football it was Roger Staubach, followed by Tony Dorsett.

And in then in 1989 along came Troy Aikman. One of those rare favorite players. My imagination was captured in the Cotton Bowl game when he was playing for UCLA.

I hoped that we could get him, would get him, with the #1 pick for the 1989 season.

Wish came true, then the ups and downs of 89-91.

Listening to all the doubters. Listening to some idiots along the way like Skip Bayless and Terry Bradshaw. All bashing Aikman in their own way.

Then 1992, and vindication.

The rest is history.

I wish for a new favorite player in football. Don't have one at the moment. Have my favorite team, always, the Cowboys. But don't know when another Staubach, or Dorsett or Aikman will come along.

As I've often thought, you don't choose your favorite players so much as they come along and choose you.

[bbgun]

My imagination was captured in the Cotton Bowl game when he was playing for UCLA.

I remember staying up late the following week to watch him play in the Japan Bowl on ESPN. He played like crap, but it mattered not.

[the big 88]

Aikman was one of a kind, it was devestating to see his career end the way it did