I grew up in NY and really got into sports at an early age at 5 years old. But I'm talking *really* *got* *into* sports. Like my favorite toys being baseball (and football) cards. Reading NFL and MLB almanacs and stuff. I could barely read and do math, but I figured out things like what a good batting average is and if Joe Montana threw 3 times as many TD's as INT's, that's why he was so great.
By the time I was 12 years old, my dad would bring me down to the newstand at the local mall and buy me the DMN, which was usually 1-2 days late, so I could follow the Cowboys there and I always liked to read sports columnists (at that time, when guys were more like Blackie Sherrod and less like Bill Simmons)
Man, I thought there were some writers who were vicious in NY going after Steinbrenner and the Yanks. But these guys in Dallas made the NY Yankee beat writers look like they were sedated. And the letters from the fans, you'd think the Cowboys were the worst organization that ever possibly existed.
Eventually CowboysZone came along and I knew what to expect. Calvin Hill once said to the effect 'if we score 2 TD's in a quarter, they complain that we didn't score 3 TD's. If we score 3 TD's in a quarter, they complain that we didn't score 4 TD's. If we score 4 TD's in a quarter, they complain that we didn't score them in the fan's section of the end zone.'
Part of that is the appeal to me as a Cowboys fan. I think fans having high expectations is a good thing because typically the ownership has to comply with those high expectations.
However, we can't get too down on some of these fans. Hey, this team for the most part hasn't done jack since its last Super Bowl. And I'm not talking 'we haven't won a Lombardi since our last Super Bowl', I'm talking we can't even really come close to making the NFC Championship game, much less making the Super Bowl, much less winning a Lombardi type of jack squat.
Personally, I believe the process of going about to win a Lombardi is more important than anything else. If you get the process 'right', there's a great chance you will *not* win the Lombardi. But if you get the process right time after time, you've increased your chances and that to me is the best way to get another Lombardi.
A lot of it is luck though. Personally, I think the Patriots got lucky. They almost cut Brady for good at one point and had Bledsoe starting for them. Then Bledsoe gets injured...and Bledsoe pretty much never got injured in his career, and Brady turns into Lou Gehrig. And they cheated as well and when they got caught, the commissioner covered it up for them. As much as I didn't care that much for Tagliabue, I think he would've done more about it and would not have covered it up.
The Saints got lucky. No matter what they try to tell you, Drew Brees was going to be a Dolphin. But he didn't pass their physical and went to the Saints because that was his only option to be a starter. Furthermore, if he never suffered that labrum injury, there's a good chance the Chargers keep him and then trade him and the Saints probably could not make that trade or would not have been able to re-build their roster.
Then there's the Eagles. They draft Kolb and it really irks McNabb. They actually bench McNabb in '08 and try Kolb who is so bad that they immediately get McNabb back to starting. Then they trade McNabb and try to start Kolb again, over Vick and Kolb looks awful again and gets injured, so they are forced to start Vick who blossoms...but they had no intention of starting Vick over Kolb until Kolb got hurt.
We haven't been that lucky for the most part outside of Miles Austin. We took Romo from UDFA list, sat him and developed him for 4 years and we prepared for him to take over mid-season in 2006 with the thought that Bledsoe was done with. We were right about it in the end and because Romo was prepared to start, he turned into the QB he was today. Far cry from the Eagles, Pats and Saints, who basically made the wrong decision and were committed to that wrong decision and an injury happened and that turns everything around for them.
My hope is that we get lucky with Garrett. I don't think Jerry was sold on Garrett coming into this season and during the season when Wade was HC. But we were left with no choice but to fire Wade and make Garrett the interim coach and Garrett did a great job as interim coach. Maybe we get lucky and pull a similar situation with Garrett as the Saints did with Brees, the Pats did with Brady and the Eagles did with Vick. And if I could pull that stuff with a HC or a QB, I'd take the HC.
YR
:laugh2:
