dbair1967
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No, this has nothing to do with in game luck, a ball bouncing our way or maybe a call going for us that maybe shouldnt have (albeit rare).
A few friends and myself were discussing some things and how they worked out for us, and we have been almost insanely lucky at times. I'm sure many will be able to add to this thread, but here's a few that come immediately to mind:
1) Without question IMO the luckiest day in franchise history happened on the last Sunday of the 1988 regular season. We were tied with the Green Bay Packers for the worst record in football but the #1 overall pick would have went to them via a tie breaker, all they had to do was lose on the road at the heavily favored 7-8 Phoenix Cardinals. The Packers were a terrible team, had won only one road game and been shutout 3 times that year. But they inexplicably won the season finale, and combined with our loss we gained the #1 overall pick, which we used on Troy Aikman.
2) 1964, Roger Staubach was clearly the best player in the draft, but because he had a 5yr commitment to the Naval Academy, teams ignored him in the draft. We selected him in the 10th rd (KC also drafted him, in the 14th) but he chose to sign with us instead.
3) 1977. Tampa Bay had the first pick of the draft. They decided to take former John McKay USC RB Ricky Bell, leaving Tony Dorsett there at #2. We traded a bunch of nothing to Seattle to get the 2nd pick, and Tony Dorsett became a Cowboy. Supposedly McKay went against the wishes of numerous people in the organization who wanted Dorsett over Bell.
4) 1985. Dallas uses a 5th rd choice on RB Herschel Walker, then of the USFL. Walker would then later be traded to Minnesota, in the most one sided deal in league history.
5) 1990. Jimmy Johnson badly wants an impact defensive player and has his sights set on LB's James Francis and Lamar Lathon. He also loves DT Ray Agnew. He tries unsuccesfully to trade up numerous times and once these guys are all gone, he "settles" for a trade up with Pittsburgh to draft RB Emmitt Smith with the 17th pick.
6) Tony Romo was a relatively unimpressive rookie free agent QB in 2004. He is likely to be cut and almost assuredly would have ended up in Denver. Surprisingly however QB Quincy Carter is released after failing a drug test, and it opens up a spot for Romo to be the 3rd string QB behind Vinny Testaverde and Drew Henson.
7) 1998. Jerry is desperately trying to trade up with Arizona to draft DE Andre Wadsworth. The Cards GM (forget his name) remarks after the draft that "what did people want us to do, hand them a super bowl" because they believe Wadsworth is a once in a lifetime DE. Reportedly Jones offered the 98 1st and 2nd, and the 99 1st to move up 4 spots to get Wadsworth. Those 3 players end up being Greg Ellis, Flozelle Adams and Ebenzer Ekuban. Ekuban was never more than an average starter, but Ellis and Adams have had very solid NFL careers, Wadsworth never amounted to anything because of injury, but even when healthy did little.
A few friends and myself were discussing some things and how they worked out for us, and we have been almost insanely lucky at times. I'm sure many will be able to add to this thread, but here's a few that come immediately to mind:
1) Without question IMO the luckiest day in franchise history happened on the last Sunday of the 1988 regular season. We were tied with the Green Bay Packers for the worst record in football but the #1 overall pick would have went to them via a tie breaker, all they had to do was lose on the road at the heavily favored 7-8 Phoenix Cardinals. The Packers were a terrible team, had won only one road game and been shutout 3 times that year. But they inexplicably won the season finale, and combined with our loss we gained the #1 overall pick, which we used on Troy Aikman.
2) 1964, Roger Staubach was clearly the best player in the draft, but because he had a 5yr commitment to the Naval Academy, teams ignored him in the draft. We selected him in the 10th rd (KC also drafted him, in the 14th) but he chose to sign with us instead.
3) 1977. Tampa Bay had the first pick of the draft. They decided to take former John McKay USC RB Ricky Bell, leaving Tony Dorsett there at #2. We traded a bunch of nothing to Seattle to get the 2nd pick, and Tony Dorsett became a Cowboy. Supposedly McKay went against the wishes of numerous people in the organization who wanted Dorsett over Bell.
4) 1985. Dallas uses a 5th rd choice on RB Herschel Walker, then of the USFL. Walker would then later be traded to Minnesota, in the most one sided deal in league history.
5) 1990. Jimmy Johnson badly wants an impact defensive player and has his sights set on LB's James Francis and Lamar Lathon. He also loves DT Ray Agnew. He tries unsuccesfully to trade up numerous times and once these guys are all gone, he "settles" for a trade up with Pittsburgh to draft RB Emmitt Smith with the 17th pick.
6) Tony Romo was a relatively unimpressive rookie free agent QB in 2004. He is likely to be cut and almost assuredly would have ended up in Denver. Surprisingly however QB Quincy Carter is released after failing a drug test, and it opens up a spot for Romo to be the 3rd string QB behind Vinny Testaverde and Drew Henson.
7) 1998. Jerry is desperately trying to trade up with Arizona to draft DE Andre Wadsworth. The Cards GM (forget his name) remarks after the draft that "what did people want us to do, hand them a super bowl" because they believe Wadsworth is a once in a lifetime DE. Reportedly Jones offered the 98 1st and 2nd, and the 99 1st to move up 4 spots to get Wadsworth. Those 3 players end up being Greg Ellis, Flozelle Adams and Ebenzer Ekuban. Ekuban was never more than an average starter, but Ellis and Adams have had very solid NFL careers, Wadsworth never amounted to anything because of injury, but even when healthy did little.
uke: :ralph: 
