Dez Bryant

oh wow! You mean there are Cowboys NOT named Tony Romo?

Apparently the Cowboys still enjoy some semblance of being America’s team or whatever cause the Redskins/Cowboys Monday Night Football game got the highest week 3 ratings EVER!  Eva eva? Yes, eva eva. But then again, the NFL is rising in popularity all around so maybe all credit shouldn’t be given to Cowboys marketing and the storied rivalry between them and the Skins.

I fell asleep on this super exciting game right after one of the teams kicked the 5th field goal. Don’t ask me which one cause I don’t like lying in public.

I think the game played out as expected with both defenses playing hard and the stars having a good showing (Demarcus Ware and Brian Orakpo, for example). And at the end, being personified by whichever QB made the last critical mistake. Which in this case was Redskins QB Rex Grossman. I wonder what his haters are saying this morning?

The real story of the week was whether Tony NoNo would play with the cracked rib and miraculously healed punctured lung he sustained in the game against the world famous San Francisco 49ers. And, also,  whether CB Deangelo Hall would take a hurting to any of NoNo’s injuries. Tony delivered. Deangelo lost his package.

I hope Romo doesn’t read a lot of sports sites. Really, no athlete should. But Romo especially given the fact that if he paid attention to what’s said about him even he wouldn’t know what to think of himself.

Romo has been crucified and resurrected more times than any QB in recent memory. I hear there’s a 3rd testament to the bible in the works that covers only Romo’s career. He has been carried to the morgue then dug up and paraded through the streets like a hero several times this season already—and it’s only Week 3.

Why can’t the media just finally decide how fucking good they think Romo is or isn’t and stop taking us on an emotional Romocoaster?

Here’s the real as I see it. As a QB, Romo is…OKAY…GOOD…SOLID…RESPECTABLE. He’s not in my top 10, he’s not elite, but he’s not terrible, embarrassing , middling or below average. He’s just fine. He’s in a comfortable quarterback suite that features a three tier bunk bed with Jay Cutler on top and Mark Sanchez on the bottom. #NoRomo (I’m sorry, but why is his name so much fun!)

Romo makes some critical mistakes at some of the worst times.  Sometimes he wins in spite of them and sometimes he loses badly. That’s what makes him GOOD and not great. But he’s not the only person on the team and he damn sure doesn’t coach himself. Ain’t nothing in this world wrong with having a solid QB. In fact, in this league it’s a blessing.

But back to my point. Romo is 31…he’s not a youngin anymore. We should have decided what we think about him already. But because sports is nothing without superlatives, and “good” just isn’t a good enough in the world of SEO, we are alternately told that Romo is huge disappointment or a gigantic under-appreciated success depending on whether a groundhog sees his shadow that day or not.

Quite frankly, I’m tired of it.

I remember one of my favorite players, Demarcus Ware, complaining about his ranking on the NFL Top 100 players list among other griping about not getting his due. It’s quite possible Ware doesn’t get his due in part because people are too busy talking about Romo to realize there are other Cowboys.

The great talent that is Dez Bryant could barely get a mention until the world found out he was in diamond debt. Nary a peep about Miles Austin until he dated and then promptly dumped hot hottie Kim Kardashian.

The next time people are so inclined to discuss how good Romo is consider it a well-worn NoNo and give some lip service to one of the other Cowboys. Sean Lee perhaps?

Dez Bryant: the Rookie Who Refused

With a lockout appearing more and more likely by the day, players need to be focused on what really counts—their own pockets. And no matter how disrespected a teammate may have felt by you refusing to carry pads rookie-initiation style, the way to mend fences can’t be spending over $54 thousand dollars on a dinner. Not in this economy. Not right before a lockout. And certainly not under the watch of NFLPA President DeMaurice Smith.

Inspired by Bryant’s astronomical dinner tab, the NFLPA has created a contest called “Rookies—Carry the Pads! What you can buy for $54,896 (Besides a Steak Dinner at Pappas Bros.)”

“The contest asks rookies to devise a plan for spending and or investing $54,896. The owner of the best response will win a reasonable $150 dinner for two.

The program also attempts to illustrate the enormity of the figure. Per the Palm Beach Post, rookies have been given these six alternatives for $54,896:

1. Condo in Tampa/St. Pete, fully furnished

2. 4 years college tuition at University of Texas at Dallas for your child

3. Funding for a foundation that changes the lives of inner city youth

4. Five months lockout insurance

5. Something else…

6. $1 million (deposit $54,896 and invest it for 37 years at 8% return)”

I love this idea and the longer Smith is in his position the more impressed I am with this man. While the NFL is focused making player’s better citizens—which is important—the NFLPA is focused on giving players a more realistic view of their lives.

I think that the goal of fixing player behavior (which is perceived to be more out of control than it is) is a good one; however it can also be accomplished by teaching players more about life and reiterating to them how consequential and fleeting time in the NFL can be. We don’t need players faking happy go lucky and charitable, we need players that can find genuine happiness, and develop a drive to be responsibile in spite of what the professional athletic environment may inherently encourage its employees to do.

With this lockout looming, it’s become more and more clear that the owners have very little motivation to aggressively work to prevent it. News hit a couple weeks ago when the NFLPA debuted its NFLlockout site, that the lockout could potentially financially benefit owners even as it devastates parts of many local economies as well as wasting a year of playing time in a game where players’ careers are already limited by age. Every year counts to these guys. They know this. But they need to understand that every dime does too.