The Last Cowboy: A Life of Tom Landry Book excerpts...Landry died a Giants fan?

[jobberone]

All this may be true but I'm sorry. I have my doubts a man with as great a character as Tom Landry would completely turn his back on the Cowboys. Maybe his widow if the reports are correct. And I have no doubt that Tom still loved the Giants organization. That's where he got his start, made Huff a HOFer, and refined the 4-3 which made him at the start.

 

[theebs]

Read brad shams book stadium stories, Landry told tex to find a new coach because it was going to e his last year and that was 87 . Tex was going to hire schottenheimer and wade phillips.

Landry changed his mind and came back in 88.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

Read brad shams book stadium stories, Landry told tex to find a new coach because it was going to e his last year and that was 87 . Tex was going to hire schottenheimer and wade phillips.

Landry changed his mind and came back in 88.

I really wish Landry had done that. The lowest point in all my time rooting for the Cowboys was the way Jones treated Landry. Would that that could have been avoided.

Uhg. Uhg. Uhg. Uhg. Someone else has to own this team! Let's all chip in and buy it. If we both throw a measly 2 mil each into a hat, I'd bet we can come up with the cash. I'm making a trip to my storage locker right now to get my share of the cash. Who's in?

 

[CooterBrown]

I really wish Landry had done that. The lowest point in all my time rooting for the Cowboys was the way Jones treated Landry. Would that that could have been avoided.

Uhg. Uhg. Uhg. Uhg. Someone else has to own this team! Let's all chip in and buy it. If we both throw a measly 2 mil each into a hat, I'd bet we can come up with the cash. I'm making a trip to my storage locker right now to get my share of the cash. Who's in?

Let me go downstairs and rev up the money machine, but don't wait on me. Adjusting my machine to duplicate these new bills they keep coming up with may cause a slight delay.

 

[SportsGuru80]

I would not doubt that... Jerry Jones has been the worst thing for this beloved franchise.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

Let me go downstairs and rev up the money machine, but don't wait on me. Adjusting my machine to duplicate these new bills they keep coming up with may cause a slight delay.

Funny story. One day I went into work and saw Melanie, one of my co-workers, putting laying a 50 dollar bill onto the color copier and hitting the start button. So I went to my manager and told him what I just saw. He said he asked her to. I was like, "What????" Turns out he had received what he believed was a counterfeit 50 dollar bill and he wanted to compare it to a color copy of a real bill. He showed the counterfeit to me. It looked pretty real, but the paper didn't feel right, despite being wadded up a bunch, and the water mark was there, but didn't jive just right. Melanie was unsuccessful in making the copy anyway. The color copier had a built-in feature that brings up an error message if you try to copy money.

 

[CooterBrown]

Funny story. One day I went into work and saw Melanie, one of my co-workers, putting laying a 50 dollar bill onto the color copier and hitting the start button. So I went to my manager and told him what I just saw. He said he asked her to. I was like, "What????" Turns out he had received what he believed was a counterfeit 50 dollar bill and he wanted to compare it to a color copy of a real bill. He showed the counterfeit to me. It looked pretty real, but the paper didn't feel right, despite being wadded up a bunch, and the water mark was there, but didn't jive just right. Melanie was unsuccessful in making the copy anyway. The color copier had a built-in feature that brings up an error message if you try to copy money.

Hope the feds don't read this. They have no common sense, common decency, or sense of humor. They would probably charge Melanie and your boss with "conspiracy to counterfeit".

 

[bayeslife]

Big deal, I root for the Dallas Cowboys, not the the Dallas Tom Landry's.

This whole "boo hoo it's so hard to be a Cowboys fan" mentality around here lately is disturbing.

 

[Alexander]

Several thoughts:

1. What was Jerry supposed to do, keep Landry as head coach indefinitely? The game had clearly passed him by.

People romanticize Tom Landry since he was such an icon. I was angry at the time mainly because it is a shock when someone that significant is simply and ungracefully swept aside.

But Landry needed to go. We were no longer the smartest team in the NFL. We were getting brutalized when we started playing the NFL's powerhouses like the Bears and 49ers. The talent level in particular had really dwindled. There needed to be change.

While I did not hold it against Jones personally as bad as a lot of people, it certainly could have been handled better.

There is one fact people always overlook and that is Coach Landry himself. He felt entitled to stay in a way and mentioned he wanted to continue coaching into the 1990s unless he was fired. Jones even offered him a million dollars to stay on in the organization in another capacity and Landry never gave him an answer.

We had to move on and if he became a "Giants fan" after that, oh well.

 

[MissionCoach]

Long time Cowboy fan here. Tom Landry is one of the greatest and most innovative coaches in NFL history. Tom Landry is the reason why the Cowboys became America's Team and so many of you here today are Cowboy fans (although you may not know it). To speak about him or remember him as anything different is blasphemous to Cowboy History...period!

 

[Alexander]

Long time Cowboy fan here. Tom Landry is one of the greatest and most innovative coaches in NFL history. Tom Landry is the reason why the Cowboys became America's Team and so many of you here today are Cowboy fans (although you may not know it). To speak about him or remember him as anything different is blasphemous to Cowboy History...period!

Anyone who watched the team during that period acknowledges his greatness and the fact he put the organization at the top. Who is disputing otherwise?

But this blasphemous commentary is over the top. Just because he was an all-timer does not mean the game did not evolve beyond him. That is how it was at the end of his coaching career. I revere the man as much as anyone for his significance to the club and to the sport, but there are certain realities that simply cannot be ignored because he has been installed into sainthood.

 

[dropdeadfred5]

The game did not evolve beyond him. He was very set in his ways but there is no real evidence that he was behind the times.

The PROBLEM was that because of Bum the organizaton was rotten. Scouts were cheap and not very good; and Tom was having problems getting good assistant coaches because Bum was not willing to spend any money on them

You put that together and you see the problems: poor scouts means poor drafts; poor assistant coaches weakens everything else.

And sadly Gil really had not been good at spotting talent for several years there by the end.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

This is surprising and then it's not.

Surprising that Tom would actually die a giants fan because of the owner.

Not surprising that Tom would actually die a giants fan because of the owner.

 

[Alexander]

The game did not evolve beyond him. He was very set in his ways but there is no real evidence that he was behind the times.

Bringing in west coast offensive concepts and hiring people like Paul Hackett is pretty good evidence. The flex was also running its course after a very long reign.

The PROBLEM was that because of Bum the organizaton was rotten. Scouts were cheap and not very good; and Tom was having problems getting good assistant coaches because Bum was not willing to spend any money on them

I agree with this. Bright was an awful cheap owner and the coaching staff that Landry had at the end was missing people like Ditka, Stallings etc.

You put that together and you see the problems: poor scouts means poor drafts; poor assistant coaches weakens everything else.

And sadly Gil really had not been good at spotting talent for several years there by the end.

Yet some core pieces to the Johnson Cowboys like Michael Irvin, Ken Norton, Kevin Gogan, Chad Hennings and Kelvin Martin were drafted in Brandt's last few drafts. There was a horrible stretch in the mid-1980s that was pretty devastating.

 

[junk]

People romanticize Tom Landry since he was such an icon. I was angry at the time mainly because it is a shock when someone that significant is simply and ungracefully swept aside.

But Landry needed to go. We were no longer the smartest team in the NFL. We were getting brutalized when we started playing the NFL's powerhouses like the Bears and 49ers. The talent level in particular had really dwindled. There needed to be change.

While I did not hold it against Jones personally as bad as a lot of people, it certainly could have been handled better.

There is one fact people always overlook and that is Coach Landry himself. He felt entitled to stay in a way and mentioned he wanted to continue coaching into the 1990s unless he was fired. Jones even offered him a million dollars to stay on in the organization in another capacity and Landry never gave him an answer.

We had to move on and if he became a "Giants fan" after that, oh well.

My only concern was the way it was handled. It was time to move on.

Now, if we could just move on from our current general manager, things would be great. He can even organize his own press conference.

 

[dropdeadfred5]

"Bringing in west coast offensive concepts and hiring people like Paul Hackett is pretty good evidence. The flex was also running its course after a very long reign."

The WCO is stil around so how is it past the time?

The flex could still have worked but there was no longer the personel that could either play in it or coach in it enough. Does not matter what kind of scheme you have- if you do not have the talent it will not work

 

[Alexander]

The WCO is stil around so how is it past the time?

The west coast offense was beginning to take hold as Landry was ending his career. The fact he went towards it instead of sticking with his pro set motion-based offense is a pretty clear indicator his systems were no longer puzzling to the rest of the league.

The flex could still have worked but there was no longer the personel that could either play in it or coach in it enough. Does not matter what kind of scheme you have- if you do not have the talent it will not work

There is a reason nobody has attempted to coach a true Flex defense since Landry. It was also modified by under-tackle concepts and even the 46 craze.

He was an innovator who had basically run out of innovations. No shame in that at all. If there is one thing the NFL proves every year is that it adapts to concepts that revolutionize the game.

 

[Zimmy Lives]

People romanticize Tom Landry since he was such an icon. I was angry at the time mainly because it is a shock when someone that significant is simply and ungracefully swept aside.

But Landry needed to go. We were no longer the smartest team in the NFL. We were getting brutalized when we started playing the NFL's powerhouses like the Bears and 49ers. The talent level in particular had really dwindled. There needed to be change.

While I did not hold it against Jones personally as bad as a lot of people, it certainly could have been handled better.

There is one fact people always overlook and that is Coach Landry himself. He felt entitled to stay in a way and mentioned he wanted to continue coaching into the 1990s unless he was fired. Jones even offered him a million dollars to stay on in the organization in another capacity and Landry never gave him an answer.

We had to move on and if he became a "Giants fan" after that, oh well.

What is sad is that the Landrys were Christians yet they let their pride and pettiness rule in the end. The Landrys ruled Cowboy land and enjoyed perks many could only imagine. I disliked the way Coach Landry was fired but I was even more disappointed by the way the Landry family handled it. Aw well, we are all human.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

I would not doubt that... Jerry Jones has been the worst thing for this beloved franchise.

That worst thing just so happened to hire Jimmy Johnson. The guy who basically brought you 3 Superbowl trophies. You know...more Superbowl Trophies then anyone previously had brought to the Cowboys.

So, yeah, he was absolutely awful for this franchise.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

The worst thing also fired Jimmy Johnson. How many years are we going to live off those 3 SB's?