El Dorado

[Hostile]

Every time I see TO called El Dorado it reminds me of a poem by Edgar Allen Poe. Before anyone asks I learned of this poem from a John Wayne movie of the same name, El Dorado. James Caan's character, Mississippi, quotes verses of this poem a couple of times.

ELDORADO
by Edgar Allan Poe
​

(1849)
​

​

Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.​

But he grew old-
This knight so bold-
And o'er his heart a shadow
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.


And, as his strength
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow-
"Shadow," said he,
"Where can it be-
This land of Eldorado?"


"Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied-
"If you seek for Eldorado!"​

​

El Dorado means "the gilded one" in Spanish, or to cover with a thin layer of gold. The Spanish Conquistadors learned of a land called El Dorado where gold was supposedly in such abundance that the King actualy rolled in gold dust to give himself a fine color. They Conquistadors never found the land of El Dorado. For this reason El Dorado has come to symbolize the search for wealth and gold.

Ever since we learned this was TO's middle name it has amused me for these reasons. We're looking for gold by bringing him here. The gilded cup named for Lombardi. Will we like the Conquistadors, never find it? I don't know. No one does.

Regardless of whether we find these riches or not, I think we need to listen to the advice of the Pilgrim Shadow of Poe's poem. We need to "ride, boldly ride." In other words, take our chances.

Is trusting TO taking a chance? In my book, yes. I don't think constantly searching for ways to blame him for not being able to walk on water is healthy or productive. I don't like the guy, but I refuse to involve myself in the witch hunt that has become so avant garde.

 

[gbrittain]

That is how I feel about Owens. Is he a cool guy you want to hang out with? No. Did I want him on the Cowboys? No.

In the end what I want and what I think means nothing. The fact is he's a Cowboy now. His talent his unquestionable.

I am hoping for the best and not looking to crucify him over and over for the things he has done in the past. I will be judging TO for what he does in a Dallas uniform from this point on.

 

[iceberg]

Every time I see TO called El Dorado it reminds me of a poem by Edgar Allen Poe. Before anyone asks I learned of this poem from a John Wayne movie of the same name, El Dorado. James Caan's character, Mississippi, quotes verses of this poem a couple of times.

ELDORADO
by Edgar Allan Poe
(1849)

Gaily bedight,​

A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.

But he grew old-​

This knight so bold-
And o'er his heart a shadow
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.


And, as his strength
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow-
"Shadow," said he,
"Where can it be-
This land of Eldorado?"


"Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied-
"If you seek for Eldorado!"



​

El Dorado means "the gilded one" in Spanish, or to cover with a thin layer of gold. The Spanish Conquistadors learned of a land called El Dorado where gold was supposedly in such abundance that the King actualy rolled in gold dust to give himself a fine color. They Conquistadors never found the land of El Dorado. For this reason El Dorado has come to symbolize the search for wealth and gold.

Ever since we learned this was TO's middle name it has amused me for these reasons. We're looking for gold by bringing him here. The gilded cup named for Lombardi. Will we like the Conquistadors, never find it? I don't know. No one does.

Regardless of whether we find these riches or not, I think we need to listen to the advice of the Pilgrim Shadow of Poe's poem. We need to "ride, boldly ride." In other words, take our chances.

Is trusting TO taking a chance? In my book, yes. I don't think constantly searching for ways to blame him for not being able to walk on water is healthy or productive. I don't like the guy, but I refuse to involve myself in the witch hunt that has become so avant garde.

i've calmed quite a bit since my own stance / tirade when he was signed. while i didn't swear off the cowboys, or to ever post in newsgroups again - i did say how i felt and i do feel strongly about it. but like you - and now to the realization of many, nothing we can do about it. he's got 2-3 years tops before he either blows up again or finishes his contract and well, we put up with switzer (although i liked switzer) and gaily and by now many of us that have followed this team has had to put up with their own TO at one point or another.

one of the things i've learned the hard way is people do what they do regardless of your trust in them. if they backstab, your back is as good a target as any. if they lie, your ears will hear it too. this isn't to say people can't change, they can. for me to "believe" he wants to i need to see him put the team ahead of himself and for it to stay there.

and just grimmace the next few years away like we've all had to do at one point or another.

 

[wileedog]

Is trusting TO taking a chance? In my book, yes.

I don't know, for my part I just don't see much downside.

I fully expect TO to be on his best behavior this year.

I also fully expect that some time next year or the year after some WR will get more money than him and the fireworks will start. Whatever.

His deal is structured that he can be cut at any time with minimal cap hit. If and/or when TO shows his spots again, there will be a massive media firestorm and thousands of "We told you so" articles written, but honestly I don't think the players take the media *nearly* as seriously as we do.

Even now there are players in Philly who say there was really nothing all that bad about TO and who don't really understand why a fairly common contract dispute got overblown into "TO destroyed the Eagles!!!! Just like he destroyed the 49ers!!!!! (pay no attention to the years of bad drafting and trying to get out of cap hell and bad management in SF, it was TO ******!!)"

He will probably act up, and when he does he will get cut, and the media will do their drama act. But I expect life at Valley Ranch will go on just fine thank you very much, and hopefully we will have gotten a year to 3 of great production from a very, very good WR before it does.

 

[fortdick]

This thread is a little too sophisticated for me. Kinda like Masterpiece Theater.

But it was a great movie!

 

[Hostile]

I don't know, for my part I just don't see much downside.

I fully expect TO to be on his best behavior this year.

I also fully expect that some time next year or the year after some WR will get more money than him and the fireworks will start. Whatever.

His deal is structured that he can be cut at any time with minimal cap hit. If and/or when TO shows his spots again, there will be a massive media firestorm and thousands of "We told you so" articles written, but honestly I don't think the players take the media *nearly* as seriously as we do.

Even now there are players in Philly who say there was really nothing all that bad about TO and who don't really understand why a fairly common contract dispute got overblown into "TO destroyed the Eagles!!!! Just like he destroyed the 49ers!!!!! (pay no attention to the years of bad drafting and trying to get out of cap hell and bad management in SF, it was TO ******!!)"

He will probably act up, and when he does he will get cut, and the media will do their drama act. But I expect life at Valley Ranch will go on just fine thank you very much, and hopefully we will have gotten a year to 3 of great production from a very, very good WR before it does.

If there are issues, that is the time they will probably occur. Good point.

 

[The30YardSlant]

Is trusting TO taking a chance? In my book, yes.

With the way his contract is structured, it doesnt seem to to be that big of a risk, at least not compared to what Philly did.

That being said, he is still a ****** and a media ***** whom I strongly dislike. If helps us win a title though, I'm sure I'll get over it.

 

[silverbear]

Wow, I never knew that poem was by Edgar Allen Poe... when I was in my early teens, I was a huge fan of Poe's short stories...

I'd heard the poem before-- in the John Wayne movie of the same name, the James Caan character (Mississippi) kept reciting bits of it...

It doesn't really sound like the few Poe poems I've known...

Amazing what you can learn hangin' out in here...

 

[wileedog]

If there are issues, that is the time they will probably occur. Good point.

Unfortunately that scenario has two pitfalls.

If said WR has worse numbers than TO, he will pout and say inferior receivers are making more then him. He will cause trouble to get thrown out.

If said WR has better numbers than TO, he will pout and say the system is holding him back with all this giving the ball to JJ and throwing to these TEs. He will cause trouble to get thrown out.

There's a small optimistic part of me that wants to believe perhaps TO is a little older and a little wiser now and will just take it in stride. Then there's the rest of me that laughs at the small optomistic part of me.

The other Bad Scenario is if/when Bill retires Jerry (heaven forbid) hires another Campo-type puppet to succeed him who TO will run roughshod over. That's actually the worst possible case.

I don't expect that scenario as much however because I like to think that Jerry has learned at least some of his lesson, and I think Bill will have a very strong say in who his successor is here.

 

[jterrell]

Very interesting comparison there between poem and ego/man.

In the end I am rather with Hos, I dislike Owens as a person but see little reason to ride shotgun over him waiting to cheer his otherwise human frailties.

He came to a Mavs game wearing a Shaq jersey and Mav cap. He's friends with Shaq but it was probably still the kind of goofball move that only the jerkiest pull.

In the end I think he is Deion Sanders, a hired gun and very real talent who will never be a guy to be proud of.

 

[lurkercowboy]

I like Poe's poetry but in this one, he overuses the rhyme, shadow and Dorado. Over and over, it gets repetitive with those same two words.

Has anyone read "Bells"? Now that is a poem that uses repetition right. You have to read aloud to get the full effect.

THE BELLS


by Edgar Allan Poe
(1849)

I

Hear the sledges with the bells-
Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells-
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

II

Hear the mellow wedding bells,
Golden bells!
What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!
Through the balmy air of night
How they ring out their delight!
From the molten-golden notes,
And an in tune,
What a liquid ditty floats
To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats
On the moon!
Oh, from out the sounding cells,
What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!
How it swells!
How it dwells
On the Future! how it tells
Of the rapture that impels
To the swinging and the ringing
Of the bells, bells, bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells,bells,
Bells, bells, bells-
To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!

III

Hear the loud alarum bells-
Brazen bells!
What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!
In the startled ear of night
How they scream out their affright!
Too much horrified to speak,
They can only shriek, shriek,
Out of tune,
In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,
In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire,
Leaping higher, higher, higher,
With a desperate desire,
And a resolute endeavor,
Now- now to sit or never,
By the side of the pale-faced moon.
Oh, the bells, bells, bells!
What a tale their terror tells
Of Despair!
How they clang, and clash, and roar!
What a horror they outpour
On the bosom of the palpitating air!
Yet the ear it fully knows,
By the twanging,
And the clanging,
How the danger ebbs and flows:
Yet the ear distinctly tells,
In the jangling,
And the wrangling,
How the danger sinks and swells,
By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells-
Of the bells-
Of the bells, bells, bells,bells,
Bells, bells, bells-
In the clamor and the clangor of the bells!

IV

Hear the tolling of the bells-
Iron Bells!
What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!
In the silence of the night,
How we shiver with affright
At the melancholy menace of their tone!
For every sound that floats
From the rust within their throats
Is a groan.
And the people- ah, the people-
They that dwell up in the steeple,
All Alone
And who, tolling, tolling, tolling,
In that muffled monotone,
Feel a glory in so rolling
On the human heart a stone-
They are neither man nor woman-
They are neither brute nor human-
They are Ghouls:
And their king it is who tolls;
And he rolls, rolls, rolls,
Rolls
A paean from the bells!
And his merry bosom swells
With the paean of the bells!
And he dances, and he yells;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the paean of the bells-
Of the bells:
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the throbbing of the bells-
Of the bells, bells, bells-
To the sobbing of the bells;
Keeping time, time, time,
As he knells, knells, knells,
In a happy Runic rhyme,
To the rolling of the bells-
Of the bells, bells, bells:
To the tolling of the bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells-
Bells, bells, bells-
To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.

-- THE END --

 

[RCowboyFan]

Very interesting comparison there between poem and ego/man.

In the end I am rather with Hos, I dislike Owens as a person but see little reason to ride shotgun over him waiting to cheer his otherwise human frailties.

He came to a Mavs game wearing a Shaq jersey and Mav cap. He's friends with Shaq but it was probably still the kind of goofball move that only the jerkiest pull.

In the end I think he is Deion Sanders, a hired gun and very real talent who will never be a guy to be proud of.

 

[djmajestik]

Funny I learned that in grade school by heart and to this day can still recite it, great poem, love Poe!!!

Every time I see TO called El Dorado it reminds me of a poem by Edgar Allen Poe. Before anyone asks I learned of this poem from a John Wayne movie of the same name, El Dorado. James Caan's character, Mississippi, quotes verses of this poem a couple of times.

ELDORADO
by Edgar Allan Poe
​

(1849)
​

​

Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.​

But he grew old-
This knight so bold-
And o'er his heart a shadow
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.


And, as his strength
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow-
"Shadow," said he,
"Where can it be-
This land of Eldorado?"


"Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied-
"If you seek for Eldorado!"​

​

El Dorado means "the gilded one" in Spanish, or to cover with a thin layer of gold. The Spanish Conquistadors learned of a land called El Dorado where gold was supposedly in such abundance that the King actualy rolled in gold dust to give himself a fine color. They Conquistadors never found the land of El Dorado. For this reason El Dorado has come to symbolize the search for wealth and gold.

Ever since we learned this was TO's middle name it has amused me for these reasons. We're looking for gold by bringing him here. The gilded cup named for Lombardi. Will we like the Conquistadors, never find it? I don't know. No one does.

Regardless of whether we find these riches or not, I think we need to listen to the advice of the Pilgrim Shadow of Poe's poem. We need to "ride, boldly ride." In other words, take our chances.

Is trusting TO taking a chance? In my book, yes. I don't think constantly searching for ways to blame him for not being able to walk on water is healthy or productive. I don't like the guy, but I refuse to involve myself in the witch hunt that has become so avant garde.

 

[ghst187]

That being said, he is still a ****** and a media ***** whom I strongly dislike. If helps us win a title though, I'm sure I'll get over it.

:lombardi:

:toast:

 

[SALADIN]

Desperado

By Don Henley & Glenn Frey

Desperado, why don't you come to your senses?
You been out ridin' fences for so long now
Oh, you're a hard one
I know that you got your reasons
These things that are pleasin' you
Can hurt you somehow

Don't you draw the queen of diamonds boy
She'll beat you if she's able
You know the queen of hearts is always your best bet

Now it seems to me, some fine things
Have been laid upon your table
But you only want the ones that you can't get

Desperado, oh, you ain't gettin' no younger
Your pain and your hunger, they're drivin' you home
And freedom, oh freedom well, that's just some people talkin'
Your prison is walking through this world all alone

Don't your feet get cold in the winter time?
The sky won't snow and the sun won't shine
It's hard to tell the night time from the day
You're losin' all your highs and lows
Ain't it funny how the feeling goes away ?
5Desperado, why don't you come to your senses?
Come down from your fences, open the gate
It may be rainin', but there's a rainbow above you
You better let somebody love you
(let sombody love you)
You better let somebody love you
before it's too late


~I'm trying not to fall in love with this team

 

[Dale]

A big part of me really likes this signing just because of the attention it has given us once again. It's very similar to Deion's signing, in that you're bringing in a high-profile, loud-mouthed player that everyone loves to hate. Oh, and he's among the best in the game.

His presence just completely changes the makeup of this team, and people across the league so desperately want to see this fail because it's the ultimate pairing -- the team they hate with one of the most hated players.

It might fail. But then, without him, would this team really be a strong contender? No, in my opinion, but I could be wrong.

But what if it doesn't fail? I know there's risk involved, but it's not like we're risking anything with his talent. He's sure to make everyone around him better. And even those that think he'll blow up here generally seem to think he'll be fine Year 1 due to the "best behavior thing." There'll be bumps, but a major, franchise-toppling blowup? I doubt it.

Plus, and maybe I'm naiive, but I truly believe Parcells can make this work. I strongly felt this would be Parcells' last season here two months ago. After seeing and hearing some things since, barring his health, I don't feel that way any longer.

There's just too much upside here for me not to like this.

 

[Echo9]

He came to a Mavs game wearing a Shaq jersey and Mav cap. He's friends with Shaq but it was probably still the kind of goofball move that only the jerkiest pull.

He is also friends with Jason Terry

 

[Juke99]

Well, since we're going musical here...

But he's our jerk now.

 

[5Stars]

In keeping with Hostile's theme, here is a poem by E. A. Poe that remindes me of the period between when Jimma left and Parcells arrived...

"I became insane during long intervals of horrible sanity."

 

[jterrell]

He is also friends with Jason Terry

I read that but I am pretty sure he doesn't own matching suits with Terry the way he does Shaq. They hang together in Florida and TO fancies himself a bball player as well.